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Once again full house in Hanover
On September 26, we were invited as speakers on our own behalf in Hanover.
Under the motto "Autism and the communication thing", the whole day was filled with various presentations on autism and communication. After the lunch break, it was Hanne, Florin and my with our "Lecture without speaking – interactive reading with signs, pictures and supported communication". Of course, we were a bit excited with so many listeners but after the lecture there was a lot of praise and congratulations from the participants. We, our team, would like to thank the organizers for the invitation
This was an event of mine alone. I exhibited some of my paintings and interacted with the large audience.
Two autistic people present their book "Words and Images of Life" in the Kulturgießerei. Julian Bodem and Florin Müller perceive the world differently than most people – both are autistic. But that doesn't mean they don't face what's happening around them with wits and feelings. And although they cannot speak, they are able to express their innermost self with pictures and texts. This, they proved in the Kulturgießerei Saarburg at an unconventional author reading for the presentation of their new book. However, a reading in which neither writer nor illustrator are able to speak is a bit more complex. Sitting in the background of the podium, the siblings of the two recite excerpts from the book. Bodem and Müller communicate with the audience via laptops and connected projectors. This is quite exhausting for them: finding the right keys alone requires concentration. And if someone moves in the hall, it is easily distracting. Moderator Hanne Kloth supports with gestures and words – she has known the two for a long time and knows how to help them. "An autistic person sometimes needs a touch on the arm in order to even perceive where his own arm is," Kloth explains one of the challenges. Despite such obstacles, it is possible to establish a dialogue between authors and visitors. A painting is shown: A rope acrobat balances at dizzying heights above the abyss of a raging river. "Violence rages among Flo and me," writes Julian Bodem, as to what went through his mind when he painted this picture. For them, life is a constant act of balancing. Some days they succeed in what they set their minds to. But then they are blocked again by their own restrictions or misunderstood by the environment. Through writing, and with Julian Bodem above all through painting, they succeed again and again in breaking through this barrier. This allows them to express what friendship means to them. For example, "Help, heartful, peace in every trouble.", begins a poem by Florin Müller on this topic. Bodem has created a motif "Together through life". Their friendship is often met with disbelief – when they sit next to each other, seemingly without noticing the other. For them, however, the matter is clear. "Friendship embodies help in a pure, correct form," Müller said in an explanation. But the duo not only expresses feelings in their book, they also take a stand on current events. The poet Florin Müller, who by his own admission is very interested in politics, answers the question on the world situation as follows: "I am in grief about great danger from right-wing violence." In their work, the authors also deal critically with the fate of refugees on the Mediterranean. More often, both experience that others think they are stupid. They are trying to clear up this miscarriage of justice. They succeed in this, among other things, by self-reflectively reporting on their own limitations and compulsions imposed by autism. In one of the poems, it is compared to the deep sea: an alien world that is not easily accessible to everyone. In the end, however, the approximately 100 visitors to the reading in the Kulturgießerei seemed convinced that it was worth exploring this world together.
Thought poems and images of life
Two autistic people with Kanner syndrome have written a book – using an unusual method.
By Juliane Moghimi, Hannoverische Allgemeine Zeitung
Florin Müller, 23, and Julian Bodem, 27, are both autistic. They were diagnosed with early childhood autism, also known as Kanner syndrome. The condition makes it impossible for them to control their bodies in the way that most other people can. The ability to speak is also affected, which is why Kanner autistic people are often automatically classified as mentally disabled. However, with Florin Müller and Julian Bodem you cannot speak of an intellectual disability. One writes books with poems and prose texts, the other paints pictures with water and acrylic paints. Now the two artist friends from south-west Germany are coming to Hanover-Ricklingen for an interactive reading at the Center for Autism Competence. Their texts will be presented by Hannelore Kloth, an educationalist specialized on autism. With the help of so-called supported communication, it has enabled the two to find their way out of their isolation. The artists can thus let the outside world participate in their soul life. "We can show by writing that we are not stupid, but that the intellectual sense of being and sensitivity is in us, even if we fear that you believe it to be, prejudiced by our behavior, not right," writes Florin Müller in the preface to the joint book "Words and Images of Life". Florin Müller and Julian Bodem were published by the Ganymed Edition, a small publishing house in Hemmingen. Its founder, Andreas Brandtner, pays great respect to the texts of its author. "Florin has a very special way of dealing with the German language. We hardly edited it. His lyrics are very authentic and surprising in many places." For the reading in Hanover, Simone Hatami opened the Center for Autism Competence in Ricklingen, which she founded. She is a social worker, social pedagogue and alternative practitioner and advises adults from the autism spectrum. Generalizations make her angry. "Those who do not fit into the Gaussian normal distribution fall out of the system. Everyone has resources and skills. But autistic people depend on someone to look closely at them and want to see what they are made of."
On Sunday we organized the reading of the non-speaking autistic authors Julian Bodem and Florin Müller. We are pleased that so many interested people took part in the reading and shared their impressions with us. The two authors and artists impressively showed the audience what competences lie dormant in them. We would like to thank the speakers and their team for the insights into their work, a smooth process and all participants for the successful event.
In a reading at the Dillinger Seniorentreff, two books by the autistic Florin Müller and Julian Bodem were presented.
If you ask them for their names, you won't get an answer. To introduce themselves, they need their laptop. Your fingers hover searchingly over the keyboard, laboriously enter letter by letter and type next to it. A touch on the shoulder, the eyes notice the error, which is corrected by the fingers. "Julian Bodem," one of them enters, then his friend introduces himself next to him: "I'm the useless Florin." That's all he writes. His gaze wanders fleetingly from the laptop to his audience, which is concerned to remain silent. Useless, that's how they feel sometimes. Julian and Florin are both autistic and trapped in a body that does not obey their will. Since childhood, the two have suffered from Kanner syndrome, early childhood autism. Like many autistic people, they find it difficult to communicate with their fellow human beings, they have never learned to speak. In order to be able to communicate, both use sounds that are mostly incomprehensible to outsiders, a modified form of sign language and their laptop, through which they express their feelings and thoughts. Birgit Müller, Florin's adoptive mother, knows that this is a great relief for both: "Without the laptop, he would still be doing word recognition today," she says.
When Florin was four years old, she and her husband adopted the boy from a Romanian orphanage without knowing about his disability. Julian Bodem from Saarburg and Florin Müller from Dillingen reported on how the two perceive their disorder during an interactive reading at the Seniorentreff in Dillingen. Interactive because neither writer nor illustrator can speak. Both depend on the help of their families, who read the poems and excerpts from their books " Die Reise zum leuchtenden Stern oder Ein Astronaut im Weltall "(The Journey to the Shining Star or An Astronaut in Space) and "Worte und Bilder des Lebens"(Words and images of life).
With a gentle stroke on the cheek or a soft touch on the shoulder or knee, therapist Hannelore Kloth supports Julian and Florin, helping them to control their bodies. "An autistic person sometimes needs a touch on the arm to perceive where their arm is," she explains. When Florin hits her cheek with her hand during the reading, Kloth takes her protégé's hand and lowers it. When Julian reacts to a passage of text read aloud with incomprehensible sounds, she strokes his back reassuringly and offers him psychological support. It costs the two friends strength to endure stressful situations calmly. Power that they don't always have. Then it breaks out of them in involuntary actions.
"No person in this world can permanently muster strength alone to be able to endure burdensome things introverted without being harmed," Florin writes in his book and expresses his desire to be able to contribute something useful to peace, emergency relief and love. Many of his sensitive poems are taken up by his friend Julian and staged pictorially. This is also the case with the poem "Wut", over which Julian painted hasty and quick strokes, thus underlining the importance of the poem. An anger that both feel. The anger over their chained bodies, which robs them of freedom. As Julian picks up the brush and Florin lyrically expresses his feelings, both can take off their shackles for a moment.
Von Tina Leistenschneider