Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community in New Jersey creates invaluable new autism DVD Series

Exceptional Parent, The, April, 2008

The New Jersey Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community (NJ COSAC), recently produced a 3-part DVD series entitled, Untapped Potential: New Jersey Adults on the Autism Spectrum, which is available to the general public. The series examines the employment, residential, and services needs of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). While the series also looks specifically at the current limitations of New Jersey's services delivery system, viewing the series is valuable for people from various states who are involved with adults who have autism and has real benefits to potential employers and legislators, who are already giving the series very favorable reviews.

Leslie Long, the Director of Public Policy & Systems Advocacy at NJ COSAC says about the DVD series, "The project was conceived to inform the community about autism and a written document of the information just wasn't enough to create the impact that was needed, thus, we went with a DVD series." She mentions that it is difficult for those who don't work with or come in contact with those on the autism spectrum to get a good feel for the behaviors and nuances that are associated with having autism. "It's hard for young parents to envision; it's hard for professionals [who might be potential employers] to conceive, also. "In order to get the message across ... it was critical to have a visual piece to show who an adult with autism really is as well as who the family supporting him or her is."

When the project was first conceived by NJ COSAC over a year ago, program administrators were dedicated to creating something that would truly highlight the current crisis in autism. According to Long, they recognized that they needed to use a format "that could reach a broad audience that doesn't have time to read literature." They were especially interested in reaching legislators, realizing that, unless a lawmaker were touched personally by autism, it was hard for that person to picture and conceptualize. Long mentions, "If the disability is overt then it's easier for them to understand, comprehend, and react to in their legislation. Autism is not an overt disability."

Production of the series took a year at a cost of $16,000, which was generously funded by the Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation. The series was produced and directed by Hope A. Arvanitis, who serves as NJ COSAC's Director of Communications and Marketing and who had prior experience in documentary production.

While a limited number of hard copy DVDs were produced, the series is getting its greatest exposure through its convenient access on the Internet. The 3-part series is posted on NJ COSAC's Web site at www.njcosac.org/cosac2/DVD. The series is also posted to YouTube at the following addresses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1EbwOyir2E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Txyga6re6M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egXtn8_lTLc

This DVD series can offer crucial and invaluable insight into the world of autism--for the family with a newly diagnosed child, for the family with a young person transitioning into the work world, for lawmakers at all levels of government who wish to educate themselves on the subject of autism, for the potential employer contemplating hiring an individual with autism, basically for anyone wanting to increase their knowledge on this subject.