''Autism Is a World'' is an American

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

allegedly written in 2004 by Sue Rubin, an

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

woman who is purported to have learned to communicate via the discredited technique of

facilitated communication Facilitated communication (FC), or supported typing, is a scientifically discredited technique that attempts to aid communication by people with autism or other communication disabilities who are non-verbal. The facilitator guides the disabled ...

. It was nominated in the 77th annual

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for

Best Documentary Short Subject This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

. The film is controversial for promoting the debunked facilitated communication technique.

Synopsis

Rubin is an autistic woman who was diagnosed as

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...

in early childhood. The film alleges that at the age of thirteen, she learned to express herself through typing of a computer keyboard, revealing that she was in fact highly intelligent. Rubin's dialogue is narrated by actress

Julianna Margulies Julianna Margulies (; born June 8, 1966) is an American actress. After several small television roles, Margulies achieved wide recognition for her starring role as Carol Hathaway on NBC's long-running medical drama series '' ER'' (1994–2009), ...

Production

The film was produced and directed by Gerardine Wurzburg and co-produced by the

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

cable network. It aired as part of the series ''

CNN Presents ''CNN Presents'' is an American documentary program on CNN weekends. The program used to be replaced with ''CNN Special Investigations Unit'', which features the same documentary format, but differs from it in a number of ways and is shorter in ...

''. Douglas Biklen, the director of the Facilitated Communication Institute, was a co-producer.

Criticism

Autism researchers such as Gina Green of

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

have criticized the film for its positive portrayal of

. Green stated that making a film without "even a hint, much less a disclosure" of the evidence against facilitated communication "is appalling". ''Autism Is a World'' is described as a

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

for the

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

facilitated communication in a report of the magazine ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

''. The Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan (BAAM) pointed out that although Sue Rubin has

2q37 deletion syndrome 2q37 deletion syndrome is a disorder caused by the deletion of a small piece of chromosome 2 in which one or more of 3 sub-bands, 2q37.1, 2q37.2, and 2q37.3, of the last band of one of the chromosome 2’s long arms are deleted. The first report of ...

, which causes handicaps like skeleton malformations and severe developmental disabilities, this issue is not mentioned in the film. In addition, there is skepticism that Rubin, has an alleged IQ of 133, but cannot perform simple tasks independently, needs a 24 hour care and only has the articulation skills of a two to three-years-old child. The Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation, which is a supporter of the Facilitated Communication Institute, gave away 16,000 free copies of the film to public libraries in the United States to promote facilitated communication. CNN supported the campaign for the pseudoscience of supported communication through ad-free broadcasting of the documentary in schools.

Literature

* ''Behinderungsmodelle'' in: Franziska Felder: Inklusion und Gerechtigkeit: Das Recht behinderter Menschen auf Teilhabe, Campus Verlag, 2012, p. 61 & 62

Publishing

* The film was released on DVD in June 2005.

References

External links

*
''Autism Is a World''
at ''

'' {{Autism resources 2004 television films 2004 films 2000s English-language films 2004 short documentary films Documentary films about autism CNN original programming Facilitated communication American short documentary films 2000s American films