Deej, America ReFramed

Deej

A nonspeaking young man dreams of autistic civil rights.

Deej, airing Thursday, August 24 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-WORLD, offers an insider view of autism and challenges us all to live inclusion. Abandoned by his birth parents and unable to speak for himself, DJ Savarese ("Deej") found not only a loving family but also a life in words, which he types on a text-to-voice synthesizer. As he makes his way through high school and dreams of college, he confronts the terrors of his past, obstacles to inclusion, and the sometimes paralyzing beauty of his own senses. In his advocacy on behalf of other nonspeaking autistics, he embraces filmmaking and poetry, and discovers what having a voice can truly mean.