This is the first video in a four (4)-part video blog series by Andee Joyce. If you like this post, please leave a comment for Andee below.
Click to View the Video Transcript
Intro to Video Blog Series
0:02 Singer. Songwriter. Musician.
0:05 Artist. Comedian. Blogger.
0:08 Self-advocate.
0:10 This is video 1 of a 4 part video series
0:13 that will be released every 3 to 4 months
0:16 starting in December 2024
Rhythm and Autism (RAA) Curtain Call
0:25 That’s me.
0:26 I, Andee Joyce did that.
0:29 That’s my song.
0:30 Andee, you’re weird
0:31 that they’re spontaneously
0:32 singing back to me at the end of the show.
0:34 [clapping and cheering]
0:35 Sometimes I still can’t believe it.
0:38 [clapping and cheering]
0:38 Eeee!
0:39 That’s from a show
0:40 I did at the Walters Cultural Arts Center
0:42 in Hillsboro, Oregon, in April 2024.
0:46 Called Rhythm and Autism.
0:49 It was the first sensory friendly
0:50 show the Walters ever did,
0:52 and an actual autistic performer did it.
0:54 Eeee!
At least 2%…
1:00 population qualifies
1:02 for an autism diagnosis.
1:04 So that means we should be at least
1:06 2% of the performing artists
1:08 in the U.S., right?
1:09 We’re not even close.
1:11 I want to do something about that.
Experience with OCDD
1:14 I was on the
1:14 Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities
1:16 from 2012 until 2020.
1:19 At the time I started there,
1:21 I was the first openly autistic person
1:23 on the council, and it was about five years after
1:26 my official diagnosis at age 44.
1:29 I’m now 61.
1:31 That’s how you know I’m autistic.
1:32 I will tell you my exact age
1:34 without you having to ask.
Can’t See a Thing
1:37 I learned to play guitar for the first time when I was 10.
RAA excerpt: Stuff My Hands Do
2:02 There are a lot of things
Ableism
2:26 Boom
2:27 Boom
2:28 Boom
2:45 I didn’t realize I had a disability, several, in fact.
2:50 So also hadn’t heard the word ableism yet.
2:53 It wasn’t my imagination.
2:55 People really were rejecting me because I was different.
2:59 If that happens often enough,
3:01 soon you start rejecting yourself.
3:04 But that doesn’t have to last forever.
New song: Real Time Joy
3:07 Don’t tell anyone.
3:46 I didn’t know any of this stuff 10 years ago.
3:48 But I took to looping like a duck to water.
The Clappy Monster!
4:02 During this quarterly series of video blogs,
4:04 and other videos of me elsewhere and in Rhythm and Autism.
4:08 If you happen to see it,
4:09 you’re going to hear me talk about something called
4:12 The Clappy Monster.
4:16 See, one of my autistic
4:17 special interests is clapping.
4:20 Clapping along to music that is.
4:24 For over half a century,
4:25 I never told anyone.
4:27 In fact, I never put it together in my own head
4:29 until just a few years ago.
RAA excerpt: Geeking out about clapping
4:32 And then all around us in the great big internet.
4:36 You can find no evidence of anyone
4:38 in the midst of a full on geek out about clapping.
4:41 They found zillians of videos of people
4:43 literally pretending to eat laundry detergent.
4:47 [Laughter]
4:48 The clapping fixation
4:49 Nope. That’s far too far.
4:52 Socially unacceptable.
Why I couldn’t tell anyone
4:55 You might be thinking, well,
4:56 you spit out your age without hesitating.
4:58 Why couldn’t you tell anyone about the Clappy Monster?
5:01 Well, part of it is that when I was a kid,
5:04 the only way you ever got diagnosed with
5:06 autism was if you had no speech at all,
5:08 and no interactions with anyone at all.
5:11 But you could get thrown into an institution
5:13 if the right people thought you sounded or looked too strange.
5:16 And I already looked and sounded pretty strange as it was.
RAA excerpt: The tambourine!
5:21 It’s 1971.
5:23 You’re a 7-year old girl.
5:25 How you tell the world you have a crush on a
5:27 a percussion instrument?
5:30 [audience laughter]
5:30 The answer is you don’t.
5:32 [audience laughter]
5:36 We’re loud.
5:38 Parents would have some explaining to do to me at parties.
5:42 [audience laughter]
5:42 You think I’m kidding?
Musicians are supposed to be cool
5:45 And you know, musicians are supposed to be cool.
5:48 They’re supposed to be able to signal to other musician
5:50 that I’m just like you.
5:52 Well, I knew I wasn’t just like them.
5:56 I knew my signal processing was different,
5:58 and I could only do so much to hide it.
6:00 And I knew that if people found out how I felt about clapping,
6:02 it would be the last straw.
6:04 Little did I know that the clappy monster was
6:07 my key to understanding everything.
RAA excerpt: Imagining Things
6:09 Well, not everything.
6:11 Nobody will ever understand everything.
6:14 But, it led to this life that I love,
6:16 where I can feel people being lifted out of their shoes
6:19 while I perform.
6:20 And I get lifted, too.
If you’d like to see more…
6:22 If you’d like to see more,
6:23 check out some of the links below.
6:25 And if you like, drop me a note through the website.
6:28 And if you are or can be in the Portland Metro area,
6:31 on Sunday December 29th, 2024.
6:34 I’m planning a special free afternoon performance
6:36 and supporter appreciation event in Hillsboro.
6:39 I’d love to see you there.
6:41 Meanwhile, I’ll be back here in 3 months
6:44 for another installation.
6:45 Thanks for having me.
For self-advocates who want to join OCDD
6:51 In her video, Andee talks about being a council member
6:55 at the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities
6:59 also known as OCDD.
7:02 If you would like to learn more
7:03 about how to become a Council member,
7:05 please visit the OCDD website at OCDD.org
7:10 and visit the How to Become a Council Memberpage
7:14 It’s underneath the Get Involved tab.
7:16 You can also scan the QR code on this page.
7:19 Or you can call (971) 225-3659.
End Card: To learn more about Andee
0 Comments