Creating recovery: a case-study of how autistic people, families, health professionals & artists in Peru can build inclusive learning through COVID-19

This case-study interrogates how innovative, theatre-based methodologies can be adapted to enable resilience to and inclusive recovery from Covid-19 by autistic individuals. HERITAGE (PI) will lead a multidisciplinary study that brings together expertise and knowledge from academics (arts/humanities/medicine), arts practitioners including Peruvian theatre company La Plaza and British theatre company Flute Theatre, autistic people and their families, healthcare workers and civil society organisations.

While the pandemic continues to impact the lives of people around the globe, 'individuals with autism spectrum disorder are being identified a part of a group at higher risk for complications from Covid-19' (Eshraghi et al., 2020). As stay-at-home and social distancing protocol made access to much needed therapies impossible for many families, Flute developed innovative ways of working online to build the resilience and enable the recovery of autistic young people within the context of COVID-19.

Teatro La Plaza is one of Latin America's leading theatre organisations. It recently completed a two-year neurodiverse theatre project (for actors and audiences) that resulted in an internationally acclaimed production of Hamlet and, since itstheatre was closed in March 2020, has reached over 700,000 audience members through online performances and virtual workshops.

La Plaza is keen to continue previous work with neurodiverse actors and audiences using Flute's online performance strategies, to inform the development of arts-based strategies for disability-inclusive recovery.

For over 20-years Flute has been developing the Hunter Heartbeat Method, a series of sensory drama games based on Shakespearean rhythms and language, created by Kelly Hunter MBE, offering autistic people an opportunity to express themselves (see: https://flutetheatre.co.uk/changing-lives-of-people-with-autism/hunterheartbeatmethod/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeares-Heartbeat-Kelly-Hunter/dp/1138016977).

This project will investigate how Flute's innovative participatory methodologies can be adapted by Spanish-speaking theatre-makers in Peru, testing how autistic individuals and their families in Latin America can gain access to support from arts organisations throughout the pandemic that reduces social isolation.

The methodologies developed by Flute and La Plaza will be disseminated through observation, engagement and discussion with three arts organisations working in Argentina (Crear Vale la Pena), Colombia Fundación Batuta) and Brazil (Redes da Maré) who are part of a regional network on arts and mental health established by HERITAGE (https://peoplespalaceprojects.org.uk/en/projects/building-resilience/). The network will then seek to establish mechanisms for wider dissemination and implementation.

Peru's National Plan for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2019-2021) describes the four interconnected axes or approaches that will underpin its programme: 1) Human Rights: to guarantee the State's political, legal and ethical responsibility to guarantee the respect, protection and promotion of the rights of people with ASD in order to overcome discriminatory practices and social inequalities that affect them. 2) Equality: to reduce the profound social disadvantage experienced by people with ASD and take into account gender and a range of other socio-economic or cultural factors which produce inequalities. 3) Intercultural: to respect cultural differences as a pillar of a just society means to accept neurodiversity as a part of the human condition. 4) Intergenerational: to create interventions that recognises the generational interdependence within families and the importance of reciprocal relations between different ages. The case-study will explore how each of these approaches can be advanced by establishing community-based partnerships between artists, health care workers, neighbours (i.e. local audiences), families and autistic individuals.