Deej

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Deej is a 2017 documentary about DJ Savarese, a nonspeaking autistic teenager with intellectual disability who is depicted as communicating through the scientifically discredited facilitated communication technique.^[1][2] The film's unsceptical depiction of facilitated communication has been the subject of much criticism.^[3]

Background

The film was directed by Robert Rooy. David James Savarese, known as DJ or Deej, was also credited as a director and co-producer of the documentary.^[4][1] The film promotes facilitated communication as legitimate and frames Savarese as an activist with the goal of promoting communication access for nonspeaking autistic people as part of the neurodiversity movement.^[5]

Savarese was adopted from the foster care system and diagnosed early in life as autistic.^[6] As a child, his adoptive parents struggled to ensure his inclusion in the local public school system.^[7] Eventually winning the right for Savarese to receive education in public schools, his parents framed their challenges as a civil rights struggle against ableism.^[2][8][6] Since the events featured in Deej, Savarese was awarded a degree from Oberlin College for coursework completed through a facilitator.^[8][9]

Deej aired nationally on PBS in October 2017.^[10]

Criticism

This film portrays the use of facilitated communication as legitimate,^[11] even though it has been scientifically discredited as a pseudoscience. The documentary does not mention that science has discredited facilitated communication, nor does it mention the harm that facilitated communication has done.^[3][12]

In his review, Craig Foster notes that Deej is never shown independently communicating or exhibiting his "hidden intelligence", even though the documentary implies that he does. Foster argues that "skepticism toward facilitated communication is necessary to ameliorate its harmful influence and to encourage genuine acceptance of people with complex communication needs."^[3]

See also

• Autism Is a World
• Wretches & Jabberers
• Rapid prompting method

References

External links

• Deej official website
• Deej page on IMDB

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