About the Project
Re•Storying Autism in Education is a multimedia story making project that brings together Autistic people, family members, educators, practitioners and artists to rethink education in ways that desire the difference of Autism. Autistic students often experience misunderstanding, stigma and violence at school. Our creative research explores new practices to (re)value difference and centre disability justice.
Patty Douglas is the project director and lead researcher on Re•Storying. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Brandon University where she teaches and researches in disability studies, critical autism studies and radical care. Patty’s commitments to the project are multiple and deep—she is a former special education teacher and (m)other of two sons, one of whom attracted the label of Autism. Patty also identifies as neurodivergent and invisibly disabled.
Re•Storying is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant 435-2019-0129.
Our aim is to transform deficit understandings of Autism and explore new practices that affirm difference and forward disability justice.
About the research
Re•Storying Autism: self-representing new understandings of Autism and affirming practice through multimedia story making.
The first story making workshops on the project were held in Toronto in the fall of 2016 with the intellectual and creative collaboration of the Re•Vision Centre for Art and Social Justice and its founder and director, Carla Rice. The project has expanded, holding workshops across Canada (Turtle Island), England and Aotearoa (New Zealand), forming a Collective made up of Autistic people and critical allies, doing screenings and exhibits with community collaborators (ReelAbilities Film Festival, Tangled Art + Disability), and giving professional development forums with educators using findings and creative outputs from the research.
See our Events and Collective pages for more information about how to get involved as an Autistic person, educator or family member, or reach out to us through our Contact page.
People keep telling me it’s so important for me to share my story. I think this is a good way to help start that process.”
– Michael moon, story making participant
Our Goals
Goal One
To co-create new knowledge and proliferate stories of Autism beyond western biomedical deficit understandings.
Goal 2
To decolonize our research and centre women, non-binary, trans, Black, Indigenous and other marginalized Autistic people.
Goal Three
To innovate accessible multimedia storytelling approaches in order to advance affirming practices of inclusion.
Goal 4
To transform deficit understandings of autism in education and intervene in practice.
Goal 5
To provide research training and arts opportunities for autistic and other students, artists and interested community members