Souls: Beneath & Beyond Autism

This project is committed to portraying autism and, more profoundly, individuals with autism, from the inside out. Through the media of photography and writing, this book hopes to educate and inspire by breaking apart stereotypes associated with autism while showing vividly that love is omnipotent in our trials and triumphs. It is the ultimate lesson, weapon and savior as we struggle to understand and overcome life’s challenges each day.The writing describes a journey, taking readers through hope, despair, pain and resurrection. It touches on the collective human experience of suffering and redemption while showing a pathway to a profoundly higher ground of understanding and acceptance. The story is written from a collective heart, formed by countless intimate exchanges with families struggling and triumphing, again and again as they live and love in the autistic world. The greater purpose, beyond the story of autism, is the universal message that from the depths of darkness, often we find the greatest enlightenment. The autistic individual is a beautiful metaphor for this belief. In a culture that bombards with messages that perfection is the key to happiness, the autistic individuals and their families dare to challenge this notion while drawing others to look beneath and beyond the superficial. With startling beauty, the images prove what in words alone might be denied: that beneath and beyond autism there is a reality often missed: a will, a soul, an identity that achieves the full measure of its creation; to connect with others in ways not seen or appreciated by surface observation. This combination of narrative and image becomes a powerful parable that reaches and teaches far beyond autism itself, touching on spiritual truths often lost in the cultural mainstream.

Thomas Basalmo is a nationally renowned portrait photographer and popular seminar instructor.

Sharon Rosenbloom is a speech and language pathologist and parent of a teenage son with autism.