Autism See the Potential

[Music] hi I'm Michael McCreary I'm a stand-up comedian and I'm also on the autism spectrum autism spectrum disorder is a lifelong neurological disorder ASD crosses all cultural ethnic Geographic and socio-economic boundaries it's a spectrum disorder which means that each person with ASD will experience varying degrees of difficulty with communication social skills and behaviors we also have many unique abilities really the greatest disability someone on the spectrum experiences is discrimination approximately 1% of the Canadian population are diagnosed with ASD children with autism grow up to become adults some will need care for the rest of their lives and will be able to live independently with some support and some will have careers and Families so if someone ever tells you they don't have autism I've seen Rain Man and you're nothing like us just tell them you've met one person with autism that one person with autism for the purposes of this video I will be referring to people not on the spectrum as neurotypical as opposed to normal because after all what is normal approximately 25% of all people on the spectrum are non-verbal like my brother Matthew but may communicate using various other means it's important to remember that just because someone isn't able to speak does not mean they don't have something to say hey what do you want buddy yeah no it's drugs okay so the remaining 75% communication can still be a struggle although many who may come across is highly fluent they might still need ample time to process what has been said before they respond Michael what are you doing here how have you been how are you Michael what are you doing here I'm making a video many of us struggle with expressive language which is trying to put words in the sentence receptive language which is trying to figure out what you were saying and body language which is where thoughts and tensions or feelings are expressed by physical behaviors eye contact is a nonverbal form of communication that can be very difficult to maintain for many people on the spectrum oh really good actually for summer weather yeah hey Michael are you listening yeah Yemen however some people can concentrate without needing to look at you in fact not looking at you might be the thing that's allowing them to focus on what they hear judging the right distance to stand from others is another form of nonverbal communication something we learn instinctively during childhood but for some people with autism this may not be automatic ironically many people on the autism spectrum are unusually intolerant of people entering their personal space or just hate being touched all together Michael let's see what it's been so long oh how are you taking language literally is the default mode for many people with ASD so you have a show today are you getting cold feet no I'm I'm wearing shoes that is why many of us don't get sarcasm relating to nonlinear uses of language like jokes or irony so you have a show tonight are you nervous no I'm not wearing my lucky shoes cool social skills can be a challenge for people on the spectrum and can cause difficulty finding and maintaining friendships it often appears that we are unaware of things going on around us because we don't exhibit a neurotypical response so the bartender says why the long face did I tell you guys that my cat died last week because he's a horse he has a long face this can come across as uncaring or rude the truth is we can be very aware of our own difficulties and extremely sensitive to others as negative reactions some people believe we don't feel empathy the term empathy is misleading we do feel and depreciate emotions we just might be unsure of what emotion others are feeling and have difficulty expressing it in the conventional way so if it seems like we're clueless to what's going on we're actually just reacting to the situation in a way that it's unfamiliar to you but all right I guess we can be pretty clueless too sorry about your cat many people on the spectrum will focus intently on a very narrow handful of subjects that interest them to the point of being unable to break away from them lots of us tend to info-dump on others this means that we find any reason to secure a conversation towards our interests and can't see that the other person is bored on our selection we often realize that we went on for too long but I abandon your ways honesty is without a doubt of virtue but absolute honesty and social terms can lead to trouble hey do you like my new shirt there's often not a lot of forethought when autistic people speak for narrow difficult the neurological system works to filter out exciting stimulation due to a difference in the brain wiring people on the spectrum experience more feelings of discomfort anxiety and confusion than your a typical we have trouble with communicating with chaotic environments with people talking or moving too quickly unexpected changes and excessive worries about things that aren't certain we also have sensory processing differences which basically means that many people on the spectrum are either over or under sensitive to something whether it be flight smell sound temperature or an unfortunate combination and therefore less able to manage Allegra teens that will get through things and sticking them helpless cope with everything else repetitive behaviors are a trait of autism we call these coping strategies self stimulation or stemming self-stimulatory behavior the repetition of physical movements sounds a repetitive movement of objects these traits don't make the person with autism uncomfortable on the contrary they can often be quite calming social isolation hypersensitivity to stimuli and a constant need for routine can cause huge levels of anxiety for someone on the spectrum with the right supports and strategies many of these behaviors can be greatly reduced here's how you can help ask one thing at a time Michael what are you doing here I'm making a video and remember that we take things literally oh hey Mike now you've got a chick on your shoulder Oh what right there oh thank you very much don't demand or force eye contact avoiding eye contact is communication said person is telling you that for whatever reason they find it difficult or unpleasant so if you want to help the best place to start is by acknowledging and respecting the message that is being shared with you recognize our need for routine take your cues from the individual remember you're better at it than us hey hey how's it going it's going pretty good it's easy to think about a SDS diagnosis however we're not talking about a diagnosis here we're talking about a person with ASD ultimately we can and should learn not only to tolerate the differences of autistic brains what to embrace them rather than trying to make the person with autism fit into the neurotypical world we need to expand the concept of acceptable behavior to include people with autism as part of the range of human diversity we're different not less autism Ontario's vision is to create acceptance and opportunities for all individuals with autism spectrum disorders and our mission is to ensure that each individual with ASD is provided the means to achieve quality of life as a respected member of society autism to the potential it's easy to think about a diagnosis but we're not mean it's easy to talk about se as a diagnosed he is easy to think about a diagnosis but we're not talking about a diagram we talked about its person with ASD [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Autism Speaks Canada

Views: 38,558

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Id: VNpR7dlP3vc

Length: 8min 46sec (526 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 27 2017