The Silence of Two Hands Flapping
In the previous post, One on One: Advocacy and Presence, I tried to provide a write-up of the content of the speakers in the first panel of the conference, Advocacy and Presence: Communities of Faith Engaging Autism; my first post about the conference, Advocacy. Witness. Hope was the actual speech I gave to close the conference. Both of these posts are very “text-y” and give you, I hope, a sense of the ideas that were presented at the conference.
But not so much of what it was actually like to be there.
Here is one detail:
If you had walked into the McNally Amphitheatre at 4.30pm, you would have seen a crowd of people with hands up in the air, fingers wagging.
Had the entire audience gone autistic?
Back in 2004, when I attended a conference on Disability Studies in March 2004, I learned that flapping is ASL applause. This came right to mind when Jim came up to me after Timothy Shriver had delivered the opening address to the conference: The sound of a few hundred hands clapping was not pleasant for Kassiane.
I said I would make an announcement and went up to the podium. i raised my hands and flapped, and asked that everyone do so too. And I assured the audience that, if anyone were not sure how to flap, they need only look at me for a demonstration.
Not everyone flapped throughout the conference; ingrained habits are hard to break.
But it was good to hear the silence after each presenter talked. And the claps became fewer and softer as the day progressed.
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POSTED IN: Autism Advocacy Conference, Disability Rights, Sensory
9 opinions for The Silence of Two Hands Flapping
mom-nos
Oct 29, 2006 at 8:13 am
Thanks for posting the details about the conference. It sounds like an amazing day, and I’m sorry I couldn’t have attended. Rest assured, though, that I’m flapping for you all long-distance!
Mum Is Thinking
Oct 29, 2006 at 8:26 am
I’m so happy to hear about the conference from you, Shawn, MothersVox. Between this and the TAAP conference, I feel so much more postitive about the future. You’re all making a big difference, thank you so much!
I hope you have a chance to rest and enjoy yourself this weekend after all the hard work :-) You’ve earned it!
Lisa/Jedi
Oct 29, 2006 at 9:08 am
Wow- the “deaf clap” (as we call it here, in the community with the second-largest concentration of deaf people in the country) was a fabulous idea!!! I know that B would have gone into complete meltdown at the sound of sudden, loud applause. What an elegant solution! :)
Bonnie Ventura
Oct 29, 2006 at 10:03 am
Virtual flapping cheers for you! Great job!
Mike
Oct 29, 2006 at 10:24 am
That was a learning experience for all of us and good example of self advocacy. The behavior of several hundred people was altered by making them aware of the fact that the noise was hard to take for someone with very sensitive hearing. We all changed, by the time you gave the closing remarks I did not hear a clap. What a wonderful group of people.
On the way home I had plenty of time to think due to flight delays; I began closing my eyes and really listening to what was going on around me in the airport. I was amazed by the amount of noise I have learned to block out over years of traveling. While I can’t fully grasp what it is like, I began to gain a small appreciation of the tremendous courage it must have taken for Kassiane to even make the trip to New York in order to be with us. At first I was saddened by this realization, that quickly gave way to joy. It was joy in her determination to overcome, her bravery and example.
Wade Rankin
Oct 29, 2006 at 11:26 am
It sounds like a big success. many congratulations to you, Jim, Kassiane, and all the participants.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Oct 29, 2006 at 5:22 pm
It would have been even better if even more of you could have been there…….. a bigger silence from my flapping hands.
Kassiane
Oct 30, 2006 at 2:10 am
I really appreciated everyone being willing to flap for a pretty small minority (since I’m pretty sure as far as SUPERsensitive autistics go I’m near the front of the line, hearing wise…I always hid when we did clapping songs in preschool) of people with auditory sensitivity.
And doesn’t it look COOL to see a couple hundred flapping hands? I get the best visual stim off it…way gratifying. Makes being in plane with Passengers From Heck (one who had to have his seat back and therefore in my chest the whole way, which I took as an invitation to drape my feet over it…performance art…the other who decided that when I needed to take a BIG diabetes insipidus half gallon pee was a good time to lecture me on plane ettiquitte. NOT a good time, lady).
The sound of no hands clapping and many flapping, i’s beautiful to behold…like a wave..almost…
Autism Vox » The Kind of Fun That Lasts: Tim Shriver on Diffability
Nov 2, 2006 at 1:09 am
[…] An example of diffability was the Irish Special Olympian with a number of motor disabilities whose event involved picking up a ball and rolling it. Shriver mentioned this athlete as he spoke towards the latter part of his speech about the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games; he told of the crowd who watched in anticipatory silence as the athlete did his best, and of the thunderous sound of the applause (not the ASL type) after he had completed his event. […]
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