It’s no accident the film “Adam” portrays Asperger’s syndrome with such care.
Writer/director Max Mayer contacted disabilities expert Jonathan Kaufman to ensure the story of a young man with Asperger’s syndrome who falls in love would be accurate – and compassionate.
Kaufman tells WWTW he was approached to be a consultant on the film based on his work with Adaptations, a New York City-based program for young adults with varying degrees of Autism.
Adaptations helps people hone their social skills and offers job training.
“The producers called me after seeing the web site to se if Max Mayer and [‘Adam’ star] Hugh Dancy could meet with myself and members of the group to talk,” Kaufman says.
That conversation led him to serve as a technical advisor on the film, just released on DVD.
Kaufman helped make sure the screenplay was authentic to the condition in question, a less severe form of Autism which often involves difficulty in social situations.
“Max didn’t want to sugar coat the character or situations,” says Kaumfan, who pored over the script and offered guidance where he felt was appropriate.
Kaufman, who has Cerebral Palsy, also worked directly with Dancy, the actor entrusted to bring the film’s title character to life.
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He says having a background in expressive therapy, which can involved art and play therapy, helped him as an unofficial acting coach.
“The goal was to provide my knowledge in the field of autism along with my clinical training to help Hugh understand as best he could what it means to live with Aspergers,” he says.
Dancy also spoke at length with members of Adaptations and read first-person accounts of people with Asperger’s syndrome.
“I wanted to make sure that all the nuances where there. As far sa I was concerned he nailed it,” he says.
Kaufman understands the difficulty writers and directors have when dealing with issues like Autism, as well as working with someone like himself to help shape a performance or story line.
Hollywood often reflects society when it comes to how the culture views people with disabilities, he says.
The 1988 film “Rain Man” convinced the public it was the definitive look at Autism.
“Quite the contrary – it is a spectrum and has a broad range,” he says.
Kaufman thinks the entertainment industry is getting better at depicting people with disabilities.
Kaufman also served as a consultant on “Temple Grandin,” the recent HBO biopic of an Autism trailblazer (played by Claire Danes).
“We are beginning to see that people with disabilities are part of society – they have the same wants & desires as everyone else,” he says, quoting a scene in “Temple Grandin” stating, “different but not less.“
He hopes to be part of that evolution – with a little help from Hollywood.
“With 54 million Americans with disabilities and close to 100 million Americans with chronic illness, it’s important to ‘get it right‘ and to see how this interwoven into the larger story,” he says. “Disability is a part of a person, it’s not all of them. So when I am brought on I want to make sure that authenticity is brought to the work.”
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