This live performance gives you a visceral experience of what life feels like living on the tightrope of autism. God Does Not Make Garbage; Dialogue in Our World has been presented at National Conferences including ASA and AUTCOM. The presentation opens up a window that takes you directly into the world of autism. This powerful message alters the perspective and understanding of caregivers, service providers, educators and parents alike.


Johnny Seitz [ Poem 1 | Poem 2 ]

I started life, much as my poetry suggests, as a head banging autistic child. I am face-blind and mind-blind, have sensory disfunction and a bit of OCD. Yet, because of the right intervention by my mother at a time when the research was in its infancy, I have grown up to be a successful and fulfilled adult. I have been happily married for 20 years, have been a teacher on the university level, and a mime performer performing internationally. My wife Chris, a neurotypical person, is a therapist working with autistic children. Chris designs behavioral programs for teachers and aids working with autistic children and together we present at autism conferences and in service presentations in schools. Because I am verbal and able to speak for the ones who cannot, we are able to open up a window into the world I live in that seems to make parents and teachers shift their expectations and their communications with their children. We often talk to parents and aids who are working with nonverbal children. So often they are working on merely getting the kids not to hurt themselves or others or to achieve basic socialization skills. They often have no real picture of what creating a bridge between the two worlds could look like if they are successful. We also have a mime and poetry presentation, two of the poems from which are presented here. I encourage any parent or teacher to ask either of us whatever they need to to make a safer communication possibe between our two worlds. But if they email us, be sure to put the word autism in the re: place on the email or I will discard it for fear of a virus from a stranger. E-mail: jcseitz@earthlink.net