Written by Kirsty Blewett
How did what go?
So, as you may recall from my previous blog posts, the University of Kent ran a series of creativity workshops for Autistic girls recently. All on zoom! Here’s how I found the last term …
First off, I think it was so needed that we (myself and fellow facilitator, M) met the group in person before we began the zoom process! You see, sometimes, depending on where the girls sat, they were more pixel than human to us, which made bonding a bit tricky to say the least. We had to trust in the teaching assistant in the room and in our own facilitation abilities as a duo to ensure the sessions ran smoothly and playfully. We stayed patient, confident and curious to follow our group’s impetuses and enjoyed the zoom ride!
I mean, it definitely helped that the participants could see us. In fact, they couldn’t miss us apparently; as thanks to the glory of technology, we were digitally transmitted to the session as huge, dancing heads on one of those gigantic smart screens, giving us the presence of The Wily Wizard from Oz… but the girls were unphased and pursued to thrive throughout the sessions.
Genuinely for me, it was so exciting to explore an entirely remote creative process to keep our participants and facilitators safe. I loved sharing my skills, enthusiasm and innovation on zoom with the girls. Each week we explored a different creative disciple, from making our imaginative mask personas to writing epic stories. Here, the girls created and shared tales about an explorer discovering worlds across the cosmos, Shrek getting married and even the complex yet bewildering legend of the Dragolf! (A part dragon, part wolf creature… obviously!) Each week the girl’s confidence grew organically and we got to discover more about how incredibly imaginative they were.
As the weeks passed, the light and calm atmosphere we were creating through patience, empathy and play was really paying off. The girls constantly surprised us with their growing eagerness, innovation and quintessential uniqueness. It was so wonderful to find other kindred, creative spirits to connect with.
My personal highlight was when we made and animated our sock puppet characters. I loved how precise and different each puppet was! One participant explored clown-like qualities in a multi-coloured, spotty affair and another made a terrifying monster as well as a mysterious individual with no mouth. The young people were completely captivated with their creativity and so were we.
Naturally they started to role-play with us and each other. They developed and experimented with different sounds, gestures and language to explore their characters. The girls played with entrances and exits, incorporating their surroundings into their play. It was brilliant and hilarious. Hilarious and brilliant. And just plain daring.
I really hope that these girls continue to surprise everyone around them and that the Playing A/Part team take the positives from working on zoom into the next development of this work. I would like to see more schools/learners benefit from similar Playing A/Part workshops as I felt we have been successful in encouraging different approaches to participation engagement. Personally, I have loved getting to facilitate these sessions and cannot wait to see the next stage of this research!
By Kirsty Blewett