Red Fryk Hey, Dance and Autism Discovered at 31: "Including is Understanding Others"

Dance has always been her "safe space" , a language with which to talk about herself to the world, since she was little, beyond any barrier or difficulty . But today it is even more: her profession. Red Fryk Hey , born Federica Giusto, is a dancer, professional hip-hop choreographer . She has a comic book starring her, a dance film ('The mind with red wings') and a tour of shows and panel shows around Italy. In everything she does there is the story of her experience as a young woman who discovered she was autistic as an adult, and to Adnkronos Salute she tells what inclusion - the real one - means today for people who belong to the autistic spectrum. She will also explain it on Sunday 18 May at EduFest 2025, an event dedicated to children, families, teachers and professionals from the world of education who meet at Villa Ghirlanda, Cinisello Balsamo, for two days of discussion and workshops. The theme will be 'Equilibrium', to look at education and school as an open space, the promoters highlight, where questions count as much as answers, and differences become resources.

The diversity and difficulties of including people with disabilities are at the heart of Red Fryk Hey's story. " I discovered I was autistic at 31, it was a rediscovery of myself - she says - I understood many things about myself, I finally gave some answers and it was a positive life change. I immediately decided to do information and activism, I am an autistic person who speaks - not everyone speaks - and trying to make people understand better some of the things I experience, was a push that I felt inside, especially for those who do not know they are on the autistic spectrum. Often you start to suffer from depression, other anxiety disorders, because you do not know how your mind works. For me, awareness has created a lot of well-being, it can be important for other people and especially for their families".

A journey of awareness of her own mind that began when she was very young, for Red, right at school: " I felt wrong , because I didn't work like the others, that is, my brain didn't perceive reality well, I felt emotions and had reactions that were always too strong, and so I also reached dissociation, between judgment and shame of what you feel", she recounts. The key for her too was understanding herself. A universal key. "As I will tell you at the EduFest talk, today we think that inclusion means allowing the person with disabilities to participate, with a diversity that is more different than others, but in the way and with the model with which others live, but that is not inclusion. Inclusion is understanding needs and respecting them , and making sure that everyone can be where in reality they already have their rightful place, but are often excluded".

Red Fryk Hey thinks back to when she was younger: "For example, during recess at school you had to go to the corridor, but I felt bad there because it was too chaotic. I asked to stay in the classroom and the answer was: 'No, because there's no one watching you'. An autistic person like me, however, after all the stimuli of the lesson couldn't even handle the noise, all those smells. For my teachers, including me meant not leaving me alone. I understood over time that inclusion doesn't mean 'I necessarily include you where you feel bad', because that way you're not including me". At school, she explains, "I had a lot of difficulties, for example I'm very slow even just in understanding many things that are said to me, and in class there was too much information that I couldn't absorb all at once, and I needed my own time. But at the time I was told that I was stupid, that I wasn't capable, because I wasn't like the others. I started suffering from depression in childhood because maybe I didn't know I was on the autistic spectrum".

"By becoming aware of your own functioning - she adds - you can go to a psychotherapist specialized in autistic functioning, who treats depression on autistic minds because obviously it is different from a neurotypical mind. Even if it is much better now, depression is part of my life and I have to deal with it day after day". It was dance that transformed Red's life, a relationship so strong that it made her find her own positive identity outside of any stigma, prejudice or bullying she had suffered. "I always say that it's as if she chose me, because as long as I can remember I've been dancing, I started walking and dancing unconsciously. Dance has always made me feel good . It's my safe space. I remember so many times when I would isolate myself with other people because I felt good the way I was. They would talk and play, then I would be asked - sometimes even to make fun of me and I didn't understand it - to dance. For me it was important because I represented myself, it was always a way of expressing myself beyond my difficulties. Growing up I studied and it became my profession that makes me happy and free ." With dance "I talk about how we function."