A Self Chosen State (2015)
Bruno Bettelheim states in his 1967 book 'The Empty Fortress' that "...the precipitating factor in infantile autism is the parent's wish that his child should not exist." Bettelheim subscribed to the 'Refrigerator Mother' theory; a theory that proposed autism as a 'self-chosen state' prompted by a 'cold' mother, in which children are compelled to shut themselves off from an uncaring, unloving world.
Martha and Jim Fleming were among countless others who were told that their child's autism was due to their unloving nature. They were also among the many whose children were taken away under the care of Bruno Bettelheim to his facilities in Chicago, to be 'cured' of this malady. A Self Chosen State is a short film detailing a personal history of a widespread injustice, of the trauma it inflicted and of the selfless love it inspired into action.
Directed and Edited by Leo Fleming
Screened at the 2016 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, and the 2015 AS Film Festival at the Maxxi National Museum of Art in Rome, Italy.