Remembering the Documentary Experience, Part One: "It Began with a Phone Call"

screen capture of Facebook post that started the process

The first I had heard from anybody that they wanted to involve our family in a documentary came on October 10, 2011.  We recently received word that it will be officially live online beginning in September 2013, nearly two years after the initial phone calls.  I posted to Facebook that October day, "...give me a minute..." Had I known it would be almost two years for it to be available I would have said  "Give me 1,051,200 minutes!"  But, you know, that is the nature of film and filmmaking.  These things take much more time than the general public movie-going person realizes.  In fact, I am happy it made it this far and that it will be shown, as promised, and not locked away on some hard drive never to be seen again.

For that,we are grateful.

As the FB post says, I was contacted by Erna Blanche, PhD, who is one of the founders of Therapy West (Therapy West on Facebook), where Elena had attended an early intervention, preschool preparation program for six months.  She is one the foremost OT professionals and educators in the country and teaches at the USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy (learn more here).  I got the call in October even though Elena had left the program on her third birthday six months earlier.  BTW, we love Therapy West and are so grateful for all the wonderful work they did with Elena.  We always say, they gave us our daughter. 

Dr. Blanche had interviewed me once while Elena was in their program.  As I recall, it was to learn more about the Latino perspective on autism.  As the primary caregiver I was the parent who was taking Nicholas to his preschool collaborative class, then Elena to Therapy West, then coming back home for an hour to clean up the place and prep for the college classes I was teaching at the time, only to turnaround and pick him up and then take him to go pick her up.  It was my 7:50am to 12noon Monday through Thursday life for six months.  It was...living with autism.

She must have seen me, the rare Latino dad I suppose, shuttling my kids back and forth between therapy and school, and dealing with all that entails, the good and the not-so-good, and decided I would be an interesting person to interview.  She did (1.), and said I was perfect, and would be in contact with me later regarding a few more things.

Well, after Elena was done at Therapy West and was attending her preschool mixed program in our school district, I had long forgotten what she said and moved on.  So it was quite the surprise to get a call from her, nine months after our interview, and just as she was about to hop on a plane for South America, about an upcoming documentary project focusing on the cultural differences and the reality of minority families living with autism.  It was going to be produced by an Academy Award winning filmmaker named Mark Jonathan Harris (learn more about Mark here) and they were looking for someone with an "articulate" Latino perspective.  And as stated in my FB post, I guess she thought that "someone" could be me. 

Well, I am Latino, and I am an ASD dad, and I do tend to have a unique perspective on most things anyway.

Maybe it could be me?

Coming Soon...

Part Two:  "Meeting Mark and Nando"

1.  I was paid twenty dollars to be interviewed by Dr. Blanche, as it was part of an academic study.  We were not paid to be part of the documentary project or the website.  We did it, and I do this, to raise awareness and promote acceptance.  We were, and are, happy to do it.

From our documentary: "Autism: Rethinking Family"