Autistic perspectives in actor training: the pedagogical possibilities of re-examining eye contact

This paper discusses how attention to autistic experiences can uncover new pedagogical frameworks and ways-of-doing across both actor education and participatory arts. Autistic perspectives are historically overlooked in theatre and performance. Within applied theatre, much of the existing research focuses on intervention, positioning autistic people as always being the patient, audience, or learner in need of improving and normalizing through performance. These trends across theatre and performance are reflective of the broader epistemic injustice autistic people experience, which portrays us as unimaginative, asocial, and lacking creativity. Considering eye contact as an example, I illustrate how neurominority knowledge can transform understandings of acting and performance. Drawing on my research into autistic experiences of drama school training and acting practice, I suggest that attention to autistic perception provides new pedagogical possibilities, including the use of stimming as a site of communal learning that might be applied across a range of performance settings.