A Guide to Emotions

:: What is Autism?

Autism is a severely incapacitating, lifelong developmental disability which typically appears during the first three years of life. It occurs in approximately 15 out of every 10,000 births and is four times more prevalent in males than females. It occurs throughout the world in families of all racial, ethnic, and social backgrounds. Factors in the psychological environments of a child have not been found to cause autism. There are several causes with distinct neurological effects, including untreated phenylketonuria, rubella, celiac disease, and chemical exposure in pregnancy.

One of the main causes of autism is being born with a brain abnormality in your cerebellum (area of the very back of your brain.) This area of the brain is where the non-verbal learning takes place. Today 1.5 million are believed to have some sort of autism. Currently there is still no cure.

An autistic child is unaware of his surroundings most of the time and is unable to relate to others in a meaningful way. People with autism typically have trouble with verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions. Their ability to develop friendships is harder for them since it is hard for them to understand other people's feelings. They use little or no eye contact while speaking with someone, they throw tantrums, they also have difficulty expressing what they need, they might use gestures and pointing instead of words. The most obvious is their tendency to show distress for no apparent reason. Take into consideration that autism is a spectrum disorder, and symptoms can come in either mild or severe form.

People with autism live a normal life span. Since symptoms change, and some may disappear with age, periodic reevaluations are necessary to respond to changing needs. Special educational programs using behavioral methods have proved to be the most helpful treatment.

:: The Story ::

Story filed: Oct 18th, 2002. 

"See how world famous actor Daniel Radcliffe reacts to being offered some raw squid!"

In May of 2002, Dan made a guest appearance on a DVD entitled "Mind Reading: the Interactive Guide to Emotion."  The DVD uses a cast of over 30 actors to demonstrate the facial expressions and vocalizations associated with 412 distinct emotions.  Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre, it is primarily an educational tool for people with autism spectrum conditions who have difficulty in recognizing emotions but also claims to be a useful resource for anyone interested in the dramatic arts who needs to study human emotions.  

Dan appears in the Famous Face game in the Games Zone section of the DVD.  Users can "control" Dan's emotions with a slider to demonstrate the facial and vocal expressions within three emotional ranges: happy to sad, friendly to angry and delighted to disgusted.  (Apparently you can turn the speech off if you don't want to hear Dan react to being offered the squid!)

:: Interview with Echo Ward ::

DanRadcliffe.com spoke to Echo Ward, one of the producers of "Mind Reading," about Dan's involvement in the production of the DVD.  She told us "The daughter of one of our team members read an interview with Daniel in which he stated that he was interested in working with people with autism.  We approached his agent, who put us in touch with Daniel and he was happy to volunteer his services for the DVD."  Dan's portion of the filming took place in May 2002.   

Dan's involvement has not been that heavily publicized as the DVD is meant to be an educational tool, not as being of general interest to Harry Potter fans.  "He's really a special bonus," says Echo.  "He was very nice and we really enjoyed working with him."

"Mind Reading" is developed and distributed by Human Emotions Ltd.  For more information, or to order a copy, please visit the Human Emotions web site.  The DVD costs approximately UKP £75, USD $114 or Eur E118.

Read a press release about the DVD from the National Autistic Society.

Tip credit: Dania