Educational Media Reviews Online

This French production gives an overview of the differing degrees of autism through the eyes of parents, caregivers, and patients. It looks at the types of treatment available in France, which run the gamut from the deplorable conditions at understaffed psychiatric hospitals to creative new group homes that prepare autistics for an independent existence.

Several case studies are presented beginning with autism in infants, spanning the age spectrum through children, teens and finally adults. Shattered Lives is aptly titled since it portrays the stresses placed on parents who must change their entire existence to keep their autistic children at home. One case in particular captures the essence of the problem of caring for autistics. When parents put their teenage son in a psychiatric hospital because he was becoming too difficult to handle at home, he regressed to the point of becoming incontinent and violent. There were simply not enough staff to spend time with all the patients to the extent they needed. The parents had no choice but to bring him home and rearrange their lives to try to care for him. They fear for the future of their son should something happen to one of them. There are only 28 places for over a thousand autistic patients in their region. Their fears of the future are mirrored by every parent profiled in this program.

On the brighter side, new approaches to giving autistic people a chance to learn life skills are being developed. One uplifting place in France is the Belle Chambre Farm, where autistic adults run all aspects of a farm, living there, selling produce and other products to the community, and learning the social skills to hopefully give them their own life. This type of arrangement also educates the community about autistic people.

The production values of Shattered Lives are good, and English subtitles are provided for the sections where people are speaking French. Since it is focused on France, its usefulness in educational settings outside that country will be as an overview only. Recommended for high school through college level introductory health sciences courses.