Director: Caroline Bonds

Country: USA

Content: Narrative Feature

Leighton, a woman in her early twenties, is surprised when a customer at the pet

shop she works at asks her on a date. Since dating is one thing she has yet to

check off of the grown-up to-do list, she agrees. But there’s a problem: she has no

idea how normal people act on dates! Through her existing knowledge of social

norms and a bit of internet research, she armors herself for a battle she in no way

feels equipped to fight. All she can do now is pray she doesn’t screw it up.

Writer/Director’s Statement

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (now known as part of ASD) at the age of thirteen. Before then, I always just thought there was something wrong with me. I knew I wasn’t “normal” like other girls my age. I just figured I was broken. As far as I knew, I was the only person in the world who was defective in this way. In my second year of high school, when I had just about given up on living, I was transferred to a school with a high population of teens on the spectrum.

Suddenly, everything clicked. There were other people like me. There were other girls like me. All those years I laid awake at night, wondering what was wrong with me, could have been avoided if I had been properly diagnosed earlier. Or if I saw more people like me. Autistic people rarely get to share their own stories, even though there might be a child somewhere who really needs to hear “you’re not alone.”

I wrote “Functioning” to portray my own journey with autism: challenging and isolating at times, but also fun, fulfilling, and an important part of who I am as a person. Every autistic person is different, each with their own unique struggles, triumphs, and experiences. I believe all those stories deserve to be heard, and I hope by telling mine, other people on the spectrum will feel empowered to tell theirs. We are not wrong. We are not defective. We are not broken. We are not high-functioning or low-functioning. We’re just functioning.

- Caroline