ARTiSHOK Theatre and Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation Presented the New People Documentary Performance

Performance in the genre of immersive theatre took place in the Asyl Miras Autism Center.
Dramaturgic basis of the action became the getting acquainted with space of the Center. Guests (journalists and bloggers) dipped into its usual working morning. Characters of the performance – an employee of the Center, a mother and a child with autism who has changes, a clinical teacher working every day with children, a women from aul whose husband does not acknowledge the child diagnosis and conceals it from relatives (shame!), a journalist talking with a girl with autism spectrum disorder – told their stories. The autism problem is shown from various points of view, including lack of knowledge of signs and consequences, community insulation, incorrect treatment of a person with the disorder, social stigmatization, the inner world of special needs child.
Name “The New People” of the documentary performance is based on one of explanations of the phenomenon of autism diagnosis. The authors note that according to one of versions, it is possible that autists are just a new type of the human race. So, it is necessary to build contacts with it. Not to exclude from society, vice versa, qualitatively and ultimately timely help to adapt to new people in society. The goal of the performance was to represent the work of the Asyl Miras Autism Center with children with autism and tell about unique methods of the Center giving real and progressive results.
“The New People performance of the ARTiSHOK Theatre is one of events with the aid of which we expand and deepen knowledge of Kazakhstani in the issues of autism,” Zhanyl Mukashova, Program Director of the Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation, said. “People and especially young parents’ ignorance of the signs and consequences of the autism spectrum disorders is a great problem. Thereby, children needed correction remain without due attention from the side of specialists”.
The expert underlines that autism is not a disease, but special state of child development. It may be manifested in communications, social interaction and behavior. Such gaps are mostly subject to correction and the earlier the autism spectrum disorder is detected in a child, the more effective correction is. A child must be instilled the skills of communication and self-dependence to a greater or lesser degree so that quality of his/her life and life of his/her family is maintained at usual level.
The Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation implements program “Autism. One World for All,” within which the Asyl Miras Autism Centers had been established in six cities of Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Kyzylorda, Uralsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk), where the specialists of the Foundation help to develop necessary skills in children with autism spectrum disorders on a non-repayable basis. Currently, work for opening of another three Autism Centers in Shymkent, Pavlodar and Petropavlovsk is in progress. Since 2015, over 8 thousand children visited Asyl Miras Centers. Now, about 7.2 thousand of children are included in the waiting list for diagnostics, 3.7 thousand children participate in the programs, of them 2.9 thousand completed the programs.