Functions is a battle for respect by a high functioning autistic individual, as author/performer Anton Spivak writes it. But it’s not a battle he has resolved. He is unable able to define what a clear win looks like. Spivack seems trapped by a word and the word trapping him is ableism. He uses the word to defend himself and disparage others, but he also acts in ways that discount others with autism more severe than his own. He has trouble understanding when he is held to the same standards of social behavior as others but appalled by societally defined bad behavior by others with autism that makes them less functional. As a result, Functions never finds its footing and direction.

The problem with using a rather ill-defined term such as ableism is that both the proponent and the accused are always chasing a moving target. Definitions are, and always have been, flexible and fluid. Even the clearest terms, such as Black Lives Matter, are quickly co-opted and lose the sharp focus that they originally represented. Ableism has never achieved any level of clarity and thus is always more accusatory than helpful.

To give the audience some clarity about why Spivack’s protagonist suffers so much, he might want to tell us why a high functioning, autistic man with a master’s degree in mathematics was unable to find a career, or at least a stable job using those skills. A lot of jobs where math is essential are not public facing and should allow any social awkwardness to be minimized. Instead, the protagonist chooses theater to be his career choice. Theater is a career that relies on social interactions and, today, requires making everyone involved comfortable. When the protagonist joins a theater company which has embraced diversity as its goal, he soon offends and is excluded – his autism receives no accommodation. It is unclear why he would ever expect a different result.

There are elements of Functions that could make it interesting, but Spivack is going to have to settle on and fully embrace a single definition of ablism that allows the work to be focused and cutting.

In the performance I saw at The American Theater of Acors, Spivack was unable to demonstrate comfort with his material. Several times it became obvious that he was searching for the next word or phrase in the script and his voice often moved from a theater voice that could fill a room to a voice that didn’t seem concerned with clear projection. He must overcome that presentational weakness to have any chance of making Functions work.