I made a few mistakes watching this film. I watched it the day before Archie’s birthday, while alone in the house with a bottle of wine, having not had much to drink for six months. I then decided it would be a really good idea to post a sort of running commentary on Twitter. You know, just to ensure total public humiliation. Oh how I laughed the next morning.
Anyway all that aside this is an incredible film. A documentary narrated by Kate Winslet it tells the story of Margret who travels from Iceland to Europe and America in an attempt to better understand and help her severely autistic son Keli. Along the way she meets Temple Grandin, Simon Baron-Cohen and Catherine Lord as well as families living with non-verbal autism who are using typing and letterboards as a method of communication. Towards the end of the film Keli is introduced to a letterboard and now is able to write poetry.
Kate Winslet was so touched by Margaret’s journey that she started The Golden Hat Foundation ‘a non-profit organisation dedicated to eliminating barriers for people with autism around the world, and creating an environment that holds these individuals as intellectually capable’. The name for the foundation came from one of Keli’s first poems:
This boy had a golden hat.
The hat was magical. It could talk.
The boy did not have any voice. He had autism.
His hat was always with him.
His hat was lost one day.
Now he had no way of telling them his stories.
His mom and dad became sad.
They taught him spelling on a letterboard.
It was hard.
end
The hat was magical. It could talk.
The boy did not have any voice. He had autism.
His hat was always with him.
His hat was lost one day.
Now he had no way of telling them his stories.
His mom and dad became sad.
They taught him spelling on a letterboard.
It was hard.
end
Keli Thorsteinsson
If you watch one film on autism this year make it this one. Although I howled my way through the diagnosis scenes this is a film that sends a strong message of hope. It’s not yet known how many non-verbal people with autism have the potential to type as it’s not something that’s really been tried, indeed it has been discouraged. The prevalent view of severe autism is still that if you can’t talk you have nothing to say. More that that, you are not capable of having anything to say. Films such as this challenge this view while organisations such as The Golden Hat Foundation provide us parents with support as we explore our children’s competencies and potential. Important stuff.
A challenging film, it’s also quite a challenge to view it in the UK. Currently you need a multi- region DVD player.
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