"Wretches and Jabberers" is a buddy movie, a road trip movie and a moving adventure. But this new film is different than your typical mainstream fare. The documentary stars two autistic friends and advocates who do most of their communicating through typing. The story follows Larry Bissonnette and Tracy Thresher, as well as their assistants Pascal Cheng and Harvey Lavoy, as they travel around the world, meet other autistic people, and advocate for autism rights.
We talked with the subjects and director of the film Gerry Wurzburg, yesterday. Below: the film's trailer and photos from our in-studio interview.
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The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [6]
An insightful journey. I went to see the film which was remarkable journey into the lives of these two men with autism. The humour, their purpose in life -- lifts a veil on the lost generation of adults.
I was very surprised by the uncritical tone of this story. The process Larry and Tracy use to speak--facilitated communication--has been widely discredited by scientists and autism professionals. "Frontline" did an expose in 1993. Your report never mentioned any controversy and seemed to accept without question that the men were actually expressing their own thoughts. Even as a movie reviewer--hardly an expert--I had my doubts. http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/movies/wretches-a-jabberers-movie-review-and-trailer If you scroll down to the comments, you'll see that this information was not hard to find. I expect better journalism from public radio.
John, thanks very much for doing this story on "Wretches and Jabberers". Tracy, Larry, Gerry, Pascal, and Harvey are helping more people come to the realization that autism need not be the unmitigated tragedy so often reflected in the "conventional wisdom".
the takeaway is a joke - and not a funny one.
Great story - I hope we here in the twin cities have the opportunity to see this documentary. Loved it!
Your snippet on the autism documentary left a broad smile on my weary Friday AM facade.....Despite all the chaos in the world....you can still stream some light for the human condition.
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