Mayo's Fiacre Ryan features in RTÉ’s Autism documentary, ‘Speechless’
Fiacre Ryan, Castlebar, will feature in RTE’s new Autism documentary, entitled 'Speechless', which is broadcast on RTE One on Thursday next, March 3, at 10.15 p.m.
This hour-long documentary is set in a backdrop of stunning Mayo scenery, from the rolling hills of Snugboro, Castlebar, to the Foxford Woollen Mills and the Pontoon lakes, and on to Westport’s Bertra beach and Clew Bay.
Fiacre (21) has non-verbal autism, and lives in Castlebar with his parents Pat and Carmel and sisters Rebekah and Alison.
Fiacre story was first featured on the RTE programme ‘Autism and Me’.
Filmed over eight years, the new revealing and insightful observational documentary explores the world of this nonverbal autistic writer and poet. It is a coming-of-age story, as scripted by Fiacre himself.
His world took a dramatic turn when he was aged thirteen.
A group of autism parents in Mayo discovered RPM (Rapid Prompting Method), and they invited an RPM teacher from the USA to Mayo to see if this could help their silent children.
At the very first workshop in the Gateway Hotel in Swinford, the students involved showed a level of competence and knowledge that astonished their parents and families.
Through hours of practise, Fiacre’s thoughts flowed like a dam bursting, as he tapped out words on a letterboard. He had finally found a way to communicate and prove his intelligence.
In this intimate documentary, Firebrand Productions explores the exceptional, curious and magical world that Fiacre inhabits.
By journeying with him over the years, we observe him as he reaches various milestones in his teen years and young adult life.
There is no voice-over in the programme, instead the viewer reads Fiacres’ words on the screen.
He painstakingly types out each letter to form words that guide us on his journey.
With his gift for language and expression, Fiacre reveals how he views our world and how he exists in his. His poetic words not only give us rare insights on a growing boy’s experience of autism, but they also provide the viewer with many life lessons.
He also has a clear message for the viewer that just because he and his friends with autism can’t speak, doesn’t mean that they are not intelligent.
In June 2019, Fiacre was the first nonverbal autistic student in Ireland to sit the Leaving Cert exams using his RPM alphabet letterboard and Maths symbols letterboard.
In the documentary we see him prepare for the exams and witness the great support he gets from friends and family.
While overcoming many obstacles, Fiacre is determined to do the exam and be on the same level as his peers.
As we witness Fiacre’s transition from autistic teenage boy to young autistic man, marking many milestones along the way, this important film will also serve as a rarely documented journey of a boy once imprisoned by an inability to speak, to one who found his ‘voice’ – clearly, no ordinary voice.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Fiacre’s next project is as a participant in the University of Cambridge (UK) research study “Hidden Ability in Autism,” which aims to use advanced brain imaging methods to investigate hidden language processing in non speaking autistic children and adults.