Teagan, Romany and William are members of S.O.S West and The Aspie Alliance in Wyndham. 85795 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By VANESSA VALENZUELA
A GROUP of creative young adults in Wyndham celebrated the launch of their second album at the Youth Resource Centre earlier this month.
S.O.S West is a group of young artists with Aspergers, Autism and acquired brain injuries living in Wyndham who work together to create music and short films.
Their latest album ‘…the story so far!’ was produced with the help of Wyndham’s Youth Resource Centre and the Department of Human Services.
The S.O.S project is led by Werribee resident Akash Temple who is an experienced musician, performer and filmmaker living with Aspergers and an acquired brain injury.
Mr Temple said the project began as a response to the lack of artistic and creative options available during school holidays.
“The whole idea started roughly four years ago when we wondered why there weren’t any workshops in summer. There were literally no summer workshops, mainly for people with acquired brain injuries,” Mr Temple said.
Mr Temple began a series of successful writing workshops for young people with acquired brain injuries in Melbourne’s East and moved the project to Werribee in 2010 with the help of Wyndham City Council.
Mr Temple said he was blown away by the talent and creativity of the group.
“You sit there sometimes in awe of what these guys have got as their skills. But it is kind of being squashed by a lot of the world,” Mr Temple said.
“There is no encouragement, except from their parents, of their absolute sheer brilliance.”
Mr Temple said the next logical step would be to encourage the S.O.S group to share their skills and knowledge with other young people in the area.
“The main thing for them is to learn how to teach other people with other different disabilities in other parts of the community and learn the balance of where they need help and don’t need help,” he said.
“It’s part of the community helping the community. It is the next process. We are under way developing workshops for that now.”
S.O.S West has 15 group members and is currently in its third year of operation.
For more information about the group visit www.electronictribes.net
