New charity aims to help neurodivergent people in the community
Filmmaker Xander Ross says simple tasks such as going to shul can be overwhelming for some
Xander Ross may be just 22 years old, but this high-achieving film director, whose work has won many awards, is setting up a new charity – the Jewish Neurodiverse & Disability Alliance – to help people in the community.
Xander, who is neurodivergent, decided to launch the Alliance post-October 7.
“I found it hard to cope with the rising antisemitism and this, along with being neurodivergent, made me realise that there was a need to raise awareness about the issues people face and to offer them support and somewhere for them to talk through their problems,” he says.
“There are so many people who are stuck in the middle. They are too disabled for the Jewish community yet not disabled enough for the disabled community,” he explains. “By this, what I mean is that regular Jewish activities, such as going to the synagogue, can present challenges. Things that neurotypical people take for granted, for example the noise of people singing in shul, can be overwhelming.
“My brother is autistic and has an assistance dog. When it was his barmitzvah it was important for him to have the dog on the bimah alongside him and we were fortunate that our rabbi was very understanding and agreed to this. But we know other people encounter problems. Which is why we want to raise awareness and to promote understanding.”
Xander’s day job, which he divides between London and Manchester, is running Red Saturn Films. His latest film, Daedalus, is part of a suite of spy films. Xander hopes it will be ready for screening at the end of the year. In the action spy thriller E. Rivka Gottleib plays spy Talia Blake and the authentic action scenes are performed by Krav Maga (the Israeli martial art) experts.
One of his previous films, Secret Identity, about a nine-year-old autistic boy with superhero powers, was nominated for the Royal Television Society’s North West Student Award.
Last year Xander was invited to be guest speaker at the International Broadcast Convention in Amsterdam to talk about how he creates his innovative work.
His film Unseen – a horror film- was nominated for awards at Birmingham Film Festival.
Xander is modest about his achievements saying that he believes because he is neuro divergent, he approaches things in a different way, which enhances his creativity and allows him to create innovative and unusual work.
The Jewish Neurodiverse & Disability Alliance aims to provide peer to peer support and to provide a community for disabled people and to raise awareness of their needs.
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