TV interviews are always better with an expert on hand
by Patricia
Every year, Autism Awareness Month provides lots of opportunities to educate the general public about autism. As a professional I think my public education efforts are always more successful when I can talk about autism along with a real expert: someone with autism.
Thankfully this is just what happened last week in Boston. Joey Barry and his mom Jill shared their story on FOX 25 Morning News and did a great job raising awareness about autism. Watch the interview and you’ll see that Joey is a delightful child who is full of stories. What you won’t get to see was how much fun Joey had before the cameras even started rolling …
As with most interviews, the “talent” (that’s what the professionals/interviewers call those of us who show up to talk about a particular topic) is asked to be at the studio early. I met Joey and Jill in the lobby. I asked Joey what he thought about being there that morning and the first thing he said was, “I’ve never been on TV before!” His statement was accompanied by the biggest grin you could imagine. We had about an hour before our time on screen and Joey just continued to be full of life, sharing stories about his book writing, commenting on the TV cameras that appeared to move on their own and taking lots of photos of his own with a camera phone.
Fun was definitely had by all!