Performing Arts Studio West provides training and management for developmentally disabled individuals. The September 18th KNBC features PASW and some of the actors who train there (with video, too). It’s noted that founder and director John Paizis would “like to see the industry begin to cast disabled actors in non-disabled parts, and PASW will continue to provide training and — perhaps more importantly — encouragement.” A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that actress Claire Danes is to play Temple Grandin in an HBO biopic: But maybe some other actress (an autistic actress?) ought to take the part?

Be warned. This post contains a disparate slew of references to martial arts (kind of in a Kung Fu Panda vein); chocolate (M & M’s, even); the use of the r word in Tropic Thunder; Thailand; lots of flies. (And autism, but you knew that.)
No, we didn’t once again see Po the Panda executing his moves against an opponent to get that last pad thai noodle or chocolate bar, with insects buzzing in the background. All the items listed in the first paragraph appear in Chocolate, a martial arts movie from Thailand with an autistic heroine who really knows how …read more

First, I must confess: I was very fond of My So-Called Life, the TV show that brought actress Claire Danes to fame, and that only lasted (sigh) one season. For better and for worse, I still channel “Angela Chase” and hear that voice of teenage girl discontent on seeing Danes’s name—-so now I’m not quite sure how to think of Danes playing autistic scientist Temple Grandin in an HBO biopic. A commenter offers some leading questions about Danes in this role and the August 15th New York Magazine asks about how she’ll be “playing the autistic” in the context of …read more

HBO is planning a biopic of autistic author and animal expert Temple Grandin starring……….Claire Danes, Reuters reports, who would follow in the footsteps of Sigourney Weaver (Snowcake) and Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) in playing an autistic character. The movie has been nine years in the making. My so-called autistic life?