Exploring Access for Autistic Student-Actors

在本研究中，我是一名自闭症演员教练，曾经是一名自闭症学生演员，我将调查自闭症学生在戏剧学校面临的准入问题。最近已开始处理如何为神经分化行为者提供公平、容易获得的培训的问题。已经发表的研究工作调查了阅读障碍演员在处理文本时的问题（Leveroy, 2015; Whitfield, 2019）。Daron Oram还发表了关于患有阅读障碍和运动障碍的演员学习心理物理语音训练方法的经验的研究（Oram, 2018）。然而，自闭症学生演员的经历和需求在很大程度上仍未得到解决。最近，专门为患有自闭症和/或学习障碍的演员设计的高等教育方案有所增加。残疾人主导的艺术组织Graeae、Access All Areas和Mind the Gap都与大学或音乐学院合作，提供这种特殊的培训，因此存在一些关于这种复杂性的文献（Gee和Hargrave， 2011）。然而，这项工作主要关注与学习障碍艺术家合作所涉及的道德问题，主要关注智力障碍而不是自闭症。虽然智力障碍和自闭症经常同时出现，但它们是不同的情况。虽然这些课程为神经分化演员提供了宝贵的培训，但问题仍然是，如何让主流文学学士表演课程更容易被自闭症学生接受。2016年，苏格兰皇家音乐学院、苏格兰国家剧院和国家自闭症协会举办了“无限试点”（2018年），调查了自闭症艺术家面临的专业实践障碍，考虑了获得艺术高等教育的障碍，而不是培训本身存在的准入问题。也有一些关于自闭症学生在接受高等教育时面临的困难的一般性文献，主要集中在过渡方面的困难（Sefotho等人，2021）、社会问题（Gurbuz等人，2018）和学术工作（Van Hees等人，2015）。因此，在这项研究中，我将调查自闭症学生在演员培训计划中面临的问题，并考虑如何调整实践和教学方法，以及培训环境，使其更容易获得。预期的结果是确定自闭症学生面临的主要问题，并提出可以做出哪些调整。如上所述，本研究将解决该领域知识的一个重要空白，并打算提供有关如何改善自闭症学生演员学习经验的信息。由此产生的关于可以做出哪些改变的知识也可能对非自闭症学生有好处。

In this research I, an autistic actor-trainer who was once an autistic student-actor, will investigate the access issues faced by autistic students in drama schools. The question of how to provide equitable, accessible training for neurodivergent actors has recently begun to be addressed. Work has been published investigating the issues for dyslexic actors when working with text (Leveroy, 2015; Whitfield, 2019). Daron Oram has also published work on the experience of actors with dyslexia and dyspraxia learning psychophysical voice training methods (Oram, 2018). However, the experiences and needs of autistic student-actors remain largely unaddressed.There has recently been a rise of higher education programmes designed specifically for actors with autism and/or learning disabilities. Disability-led arts organisations Graeae, Access All Areas and Mind the Gap have all partnered with universities or conservatoires to deliver this specific training, and as a result some literature exists on the complexities of this (Gee and Hargrave, 2011). However, this work mostly focuses on the ethics involved in working with learning disabled artists and focuses primarily on intellectual disability rather than autism. Although there is often co-occurrence of intellectual disability and autism, they are separate conditions. While these programmes are a valuable offering of training provision for neurodivergent actors, the question remains of how mainstream BA acting programmes could be made more accessible to autistic students. In 2016, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Autistic Society ran The Limitless Pilot (2018) which investigated the barriers to professional practice facing autistic artists, considering the barriers to accessing higher education in the arts but not the access issues present within the training itself. There is also some general literature available on the difficulties autistic students face when accessing higher education, focusing primarily on difficulties with transition (Sefotho et al, 2021), social issues (Gurbuz et al, 2018) and academic work (Van Hees et al, 2015).Therefore, within this research, I will investigate what issues autistic students face within actor training programmes, and consider how practice and pedagogy, and the training environment could be adapted to be more accessible. The intended result is to identify the main issues autistic students face, and to propose what adaptations could be made. This research will address an important gap in knowledge within the field, as demonstrated above, and intends to produce information on how the learning experiences of autistic student-actors can be improved. The resulting knowledge on what changes could be made will potentially also have benefits for non-autistic students.