EXCLUSIVE: For much of her life, Emily Grodin, a non-speaking autistic woman, could not communicate verbally with those around her. Then access to an assisted typing device changed everything.
The remarkable story of Grodin and the flowering of her ability to communicate is told in the short documentary Buried Under Years of Dust, which holds its world premiere on Friday at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film is produced by Marta Kauffman (co-creator of Friends), Robbie Rowe Tollin and Hannah KS Canter of Okay Goodnight, and Roberta Grossman (Who Will Write Our History, Seeing Allred). It’s directed and produced by Sophie Sartain of Orchard Pictures, with featured writing from Emily Grodin.
Watch the exclusive trailer for the film above.
“When I was very little, I was aware I was different,” Grodin observes in the trailer. “For 25 years, I was trapped inside a body without a voice.”
ITVS/Independent Lens
A synopsis notes, “After decades of failed therapies, Emily has a breakthrough using an assisted-typing method that allows her to finally communicate. The first words she writes are, ‘I have been buried under years of dust.’ The documentary short will showcase Emily’s rich and creative inner life through her own writing.”
The documentary will air on the next season of Independent Lens, the long running PBS series. Buried Under Years of Dust is based on a memoir written by Grodin and her mother, Valerie Gilpeer.
Courtesy of publisher William Morrow
“The memoir was a way of shining a light on Emily,” Gilpeer told Spectrum Life magazine, a publication of Autism Empowerment. “The story of our life is the back story to how she emerged as a writer. Mostly, I wanted to share her words with the world ‒ her insights and observations, and experiences. There is so much that parents, educators, physicians, and the general public can learn when this information comes from the person with autism, rather than filtered by professionals.”
In that interview with Spectrum Life, Grodin said, “[C]ommunication comes in many forms. Verbal communication does not have to be the goal if something else works better. But I will also say this. I did not know how typing would change my life. Don’t let yourself fall into being content being silent. Find whatever it is that works best for you.”
Watch the trailer for Buried Under Years of Dust above.