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1. Sia never wrote ”MUSIC“ for Maddie Ziegler. She was only cast for the lead-role after Sia had tried out with 3 other non-verbal autistics on the spectrum. They found it ”unpleasant and too stressful” to play the role.
(Interview from 2008):
(Interview from 2008):
2. Some self-proclaimed autism advocates bullied Sia about her ”forcing Maddie Ziegler to play the role“, fantasizing about ”Maddie being under a contract with Sia, of which she can‘t get out of”. This is undoubtedly a huge lie.
(Interview from 2020):
(Interview from 2020):
3. ”MUSIC“ was test-screened at the @ChildMindInst in New York City after being finished. Sia says that ”you wanna be sensitive when you work with that sensitive material which is sensitive to so many people...”. The institute gave Maddie‘s representation a 100% rating.
4. Autism advocates on Twitter & other platforms, claimed that Sia hasn‘t hired any #ActuallyAutistic actors in her movie.
This is of course a lie, since no one has seen the movie, no one can know. But Sia confirmed she has casted 13 neurodivergent people & 3 trans people.
This is of course a lie, since no one has seen the movie, no one can know. But Sia confirmed she has casted 13 neurodivergent people & 3 trans people.
5. Polarizing hate-group ”Autism Speaks” was at no point part of the movies pre-production or production. They *only* came on board a long time after the movie was finished and were kicked off it as soon as Sia was informed about their behavior by a fan on Twitter.
6. Sia was never only ”called-out“ for the movie. She was being BULLIED by random people online without them having done necessary research on the facts around her movie ”MUSIC“. No human being deserves to be treated this way.
7. Against what the majority of autistic advocates are claiming on Twitter that Sia ”is unreasonable“, she is actually very open to have an honest dialogue with some representatives on their concerns on the movie ”MUSIC“.
8. Sia has publicly expressed her will to fund an intro to the movie to ”explain her intentions with the movie“ as well as wanting to fund another neurodivergent musical.
9. Many #ActuallyAutistic people have no problem with Sia‘s casting choice, or are at least waiting to actually see the movie before judging it.
10. Against public belief that Sia never apologized for anything she said, believed or believed to know about #ActuallyAutistic people, she recently expressed ”regret to her tweets“ and even apologized to a few people on Twitter. She can‘t apologize to everyone.
11. Sia didn‘t make up the character ”Music“, but it was based on the son of a close friend of her called Stevie who she met at an AA meeting.
12. A movie has always a very limited budget. In the case of ”MUSIC“, Sia‘s label offered her only $16M to handle everything related to the movie. Despite to Sia doing year-long research on the matter, she was limited to a bare 40 days to finish shooting a feature-length movie.
13. Further, parts from an article written by an #ActuallyAutistic Stanford Undergraduate. Lucy Kross Wallace did some in-depth research on the matter and compiled her thoughts in an incredible article:
14. Profilic-writer @samharnold, who also is parent of an autistic child, shared her opinion and analyzed the movie from a different, very interesting perspective. She touches solid points which should be considered by everyone who publicly slams Sia for her casting decision.
15. Maddie Ziegler wasn‘t chosen to play the lead-character out of the blue. Besides her undeniable talent, it was the neurodivergent people advising Sia who advised her that perhaps Maddie would be a better casting decision for such a demanding role.
16. Everyone is mistakenly calling her an ”Ableist“ when Sia‘s intentions with the movie are the complete opposite. She wants to show love for the community and not make ”abled people seem inferior to the non-abled”. As mentioned, in fact the opposite.
17. And last but not least, this goes out to everyone who likes to misinterpret Sia‘s words, following needs to be clarified:
Sia never said she found it ”too unpleasant & stressful“ to work with autistics, but she said that THEY found the role and its requirements stressful.
Sia never said she found it ”too unpleasant & stressful“ to work with autistics, but she said that THEY found the role and its requirements stressful.
I‘d like to add that this thread was approved by a self-diagnosed Autistic. My intention is not to favor Sia, nor disagree with the community. The only thing I did, was the necessary stating of true facts. People have all the right to be mad, but you‘re not allowed to twist words
Fact-checked by: @ts7sfkptm
