Giving voice to RAD children and families

Hello to all. My name is Andrew, and I am Junior in college, currently living in Texas. I am also the oldest of 7 children, 5 of whom were adopted from southeast Asia. One of these children was diagnosed with RAD approximately 6 months after coming home, and I watched as my parents worked to understand and deal with developing his ability to trust and love, often feeling helpless because of how important it was that I not interfere. I also understand first hand how few people know about RAD or appreciate the difficulties that families and children with RAD face. I am also an actor, director, and playwright. I am currently developing a full-length play on the subject of RAD, its affect on families, and hopefully raise awareness about RAD and RAD parenting. Theatre is a powerful medium for influencing and affecting people, and it is my passion to use theatre to point out and give voice to those who are not often heard. But I need your help. I have one experience, that of my family's struggle. I recognize, however, that this hardly makes me an expert on RAD, since it can manifest differently for each child and family. To be able to present a story as close to truth and as powerful as is possible in two hours, I need and want to try and see RAD from different perspectives and experiences (especially those dealing with children who are not diagnosed until their mid-teen years). This is why I post here, this is why I ask for your help. If you are willing to share your story with me (anonymously of course), please let me know. I can and will absolutely guarantee that no names, locations, or any other remotely personal information will make its way into the work, as it will integrate as many different accounts as possible into the main storyline. I will also give you a copy of the final draft to review if you desire, to be sure that I have kept my word to you. If you are interested in helping me, please send me an individual message and we can discuss how to make sure that you remain as anonymous as you are comfortable with. I'm afraid that I cannot offer compensation beyond my thanks...I'm a college student after all. I realize that some of you may feel insulted that I think that your story is so insignificant that it can be reduced to a short piece of entertainment, or that this will merely serve to create another "rubber neck" opportunity for the rest of the world to look at and say "Glad that's not my life..." and then move on. I can assure you that I do not want to create a "rubber-neck" sensation that is tossed aside as a "well, glad my life isn't that way" type of performance. In fact, I am quite certain that were the play to consist simply of the actual presentation of every day life for a family with a RAD child, that would be the reaction. But theatre allows for an integration of emotional and internal reality with external reality. What you as parents (and to a lesser extent, we as siblings) deal with is so extreme that even giving the audience a small glimpse of but a shadow of what RAD children can be like is more than enough to shake them to their core. That, however, is not my goal. My goal is not to simply show the audience the experiences of RAD children and parents, but to help them _feel_ with and for RAD children and parents. My goal is to explore the emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical effects that RAD can have on parents/families AND attempt to show the best possible approximation of what these children deal with. Some specific examples might include talking about the impact of different factors like the child's behavior, the suspicion that RAD parents come under by teachers and law enforcement, the lack of understanding overall in society for the children and their parents, etc. on RAD families. While I cannot control the audience, I can offer the most honest, heartfelt, and powerful story that I know how, and hopefully leave the audience with both an awareness of the problems facing RAD parents and children, and a willingness to consciously seek to change their own mindset and behavior. If even one audience member leaves saying "Wow, I need to change how I think about these kids and their parents", I would consider this a success. But it is my hope that many more than just one will leave with the seeds of a change of mindset planted. Even more than film, theatre offers an opportunity to influence people directly. People come to the theatre to be fooled, ready to believe that what they see on stage is real. If they didn't, theatre would not matter, it would die off, especially today in the age of film and television and special effects. But theatre stays strong. Why? Because of the emotional connection it offers. It is this connection I am attempting to harness and turn in support of RAD parents, children, and families. Please let me know if you still have concerns, or if I'm still not being clear enough. I want to be able to assure you that this is not something I take lightly. My family has been there, I've seen it first hand, and I do not want to hurt any of you, your children, or the community of support that you have developed here. I sincerely hope that I have not offended anyone by posting this, because that most certainly was not my intention. I cannot tell you how much I respect all of you who struggle with RAD in any way. Thank you all for your time, and I hope to hear from at least some of you soon. Sincerely, Andrew