President Macron has announced that the inclusion of people with disabilities will be a priority for the five-year term, and a rock group is showing the way: the Astereotypie group, whose members are autistic, and claim it. He released his third album, and he was in concert, in Paris, on May 5 and they will play next May 20, at the Gaité Lyrique, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Parisian hall. The decryption of the psychoanalyst Claude Halmos.
franceinfo: Why does the existence of such a group still arouse so much astonishment?
Claude Halmos: This astonishment shows, better than long speeches, the image that our society has of people whom autism, or another pathology, makes different.
We are surprised that they can make music (or something else) and have a talent recognized by the public, because we tend to reduce them to their pathology.
That is to say, to see only what this pathology prevents them from doing, or from being; and therefore to reason in terms of “less”. By forgetting the “plus”, that is to say all that they are, beyond this pathology: their qualities, their faults, and all the talents that they could discover in them.
And that unfortunately, too often they do not discover, because this vision of things has consequences on the way in which we take care of different people from childhood.
What should be changed in this support?
It would be necessary that the pathology, the handicap profit from the treatments and the necessary installations, without taking place of the child of identity; and be treated like everyone else. Going to the same schools, of course, is very important.
But this is not enough. Because the school must also be able to make a real place for it. That is to say, help him in relation to the reality of his handicap, and the difficulties – learning, for example – that he can generate (some children need an accompanying person). But also in relation to the social image of this handicap: a “different” child needs, like all children, to be thought capable of succeeding, and to be told so. But he needs it even more than the others, because he has to overcome the idea that his difference could (as society still too often believes) prevent him from succeeding.
And then the inclusion of “different” children also supposes that we help other pupils to change their view of them. And this is essential because it is through education that we can change society’s view of disability.
Are artistic disciplines important for these children?
The artistic disciplines are important for all children, because they make them discover the pleasure of new means of expression. But they are even more so for “different” children, because they make it possible to express everything that could not be said otherwise; and what’s more, to express it in a way that is valued by society.
The Astereotypie group proves it, and it’s a great message of hope for all parents.