Visiting the Sybil Elgar School
To facilitate the education and research behind this project, we have been fortunate enough to have the National Autistic Society (NAS) and The Sybil Elgar School on board. We are grateful that with the help of Heenal Amin, who works at the Sybil Elgar School (a specialist school funded by the NAS) we have arranged a visit to the school where we can truly learn about the work that the NAS and the staff of Sybil Elgar are doing and for us to gain an understanding of autism whilst we see these young people with autism in their natural and everyday environment. It is a great opportunity and a vital part of the research in planning our show as it helps us to become more aware of what autism is and the characteristics in order for us to give a more accurate portrayal and for us to provide an insight into the lives of these young people.
Four of us from the dance group were fortunate enough to be available during the day when we arranged to visit the school. As we arrived we were welcomed by the head teacher and deputy. The day was scheduled to include a tour of the school, a dance performance by us, for the young students and a dance workshop, followed by interviews with a few of the kids. During the tour we were able to see the specialist facilities the school has for the development for the students which was very impressive as the facilities ranged from a sensory themed playground, exercise room with the assistance of an occupational therapist, computer labs, food technology rooms, arts and crafts rooms and so on. We were able to see the staff at work as they were in the midst of interacting with their students during our tour of the school and watched the running of the school. We were able to meet students on our tour and all the students were really friendly and excited to see new faces in the school and were keen to find out who we are.
We then got ready to perform, which was a real honour as the appreciation from the students was like no other we had experienced before. They enjoyed it so much that we had some students get so excited that they joined us on the dance floor. It was such a special experience as they were so willing to try out dance moves and were ready to interact with us. The performance was followed by a dance workshop where all the students joined us on the dance floor and took direction to try some of our moves.
We then moved to the library where we invited some of the young people for an informal chat to help us learn more about them as individuals and more about autism. We spoke with Kane, Paul and Albert who were an absolute pleasure to speak with as they were really open and loved talking. Kane talked about some of his hobbies and baffled us all when he started talking about programming and building software. He was such an intelligent student that he started asking us questions. He spoke about the way he sees autism and told us how he's affected with hyposensitive senses, which gave us an amazing insight into his world and autism as no one could better describe it than the way he did. I asked what this meant to have hyposensitive senses as I didn't really understand and he described this so well when he simply said "I have the hearing of a blind person and the sight of a deaf person". At this point is when I truly appreciated how intelligent these young people are. Paul talked a lot about his dancing and the different styles of dance styles that he likes. He also told us about his experiences of going on Got to Dance and his interest in Britain's Got Talent. His enthusiasm, passion and ambition was a lovely quality to see. Albert aged only 11 told us about his passion for gaming and spoke openly about his experiences of living with autism. It was fantastic meeting the children of The Sybil Elgar School as they are amazing young people.
Lastly we had the opportunity to speak with Lucy, the Head Teacher at the school, who told us about the role that the school play in the children's lives. She explained that the school aims to be a very nurturing place as they provide support for not only the children but to the families as its considered to be like home for some children. The school is pivotal in their lives as it aims to provide positive and a broad depth of experiences by bringing the outside world to them and by taking them into the outside world also. It was great to hear that they try to encourage children to be as independent as possible to get them ready for a meaningful life after they leave the school. Just being in the school environment made us all feel positive as we could feel the love and nurturing qualities in not only the staff but in the atmosphere. From this experience it was clear that the school makes such a difference to the lives of these young people. Lucy went on to tell us what the money we have raised during this project will contribute towards. As the funds raised will be coming from a dance project, they plan to plough the money back into the arts by broadening the children's experiences by possibly taking them to see more performances, West End productions and Sadler's Wells productions. Another ongoing project at the school is to encourage the use of bicycles in an initiative to get active for the Olympics, so funds could also contribute to buying bicycles which is a few of many ongoing projects.
"The whole experience brought back memories of being back at camp in New York where i was counselling autistic adults. I was really comfortable being back in that environment, and felt at ease around these young students and wanted to be there for longer to get to know the children's personalities and spend time with them. I was quite keen to find out how the young children think creatively and perceive things as appose to adults. It was an amazing experience to perform for them as it was different to their daily activities and some kids were so amazed that they got up and danced with us."
Jesal Patel
"When I hear the word "autistic" I pretty much first think of Dustin Hoffman acting in the film Rainman. I guess that was unfortunately the extent of my ignorance on the subject. However the visit to the Sybil Elgar school opened my eyes and mind to so much more. Even though a small amount of time was spent there, what I took away with me was so much more.
Autism affects people in different ways, but what was so amazing to see is how vivacious and interactive these individuals are, and maybe it's because they see the world in a different, and probably even better way - whereas most of us can't even see what's right in front of us. It's clear that the prejudices against autism still exist. But what's not realised is that these people have so much more to offer than given credit for. I wouldn't have swapped this day for the world. I went there to teach but instead I came out being taught."
Seema Patel
On behalf of the whole dance group we'd like to say a huge Thank You to the staff of The Sybil Elgar School for having us there and sharing their world with us. We hope to plan another visit in the near future as the staff were very welcoming and left us with an open invitation to return.