Autism Society Philippines Tacloban Chapter screened “Alyana, A Study of Autism in the Philippines”. The audience was composed of parents of children with autism and other disabilities, students, health workers, teachers, and ordinary citizens. The movie illustrated the various facets of autism across the spectrum, and gave the audience a deeper appreciation of the disability.
Participants of the said seminar
It also served as a culmination of to the seminar held in the morning of the same day, with Miss Erlinda “Dang” Koe, ASP Chair Emeritus as the Resource Speaker. It reinforced the lessons of the morning’s lecture.
In attendance was the producer-director of the documentary, Mirana Medina, herself a grand-aunt to Alyana, an adolescent with autism, from whom the film was named after.
The screening was followed by an open forum where the audience could field questions regarding the film. Mirana Medina, producer-director of ” Alyana”, Dang Koe, Resource Speaker of the Seminar; and ASP Tacloban Chapter President, Dr. Geraldine Abuyabor, composed the panel who answered the queries from the audience.
Mirana Medina (3rd from left), Dang Koe (2nd from right) with Tacloban Chapter headed by President Geraldine Abuyabor (4th from left)
The screening last September 17, 2011, was made possible by the support of the City Government of Tacloban, and the Leyte Normal University.
Proceeds from the screening will be used for the Free Assessment and Evaluation of Children with Special Needs in Tacloban City by a team of Occupational Therapist and Speech Pathologist on November 20- 21, 2011 [and the post-production expenses of A mi Patria, a film Anthology of Rizal’s poetry in film interpreted in Filipino Sign Language for Deaf Filipinos and the Blind as well. Spoken versions will be done for the Blind – italics mine-MM].
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