Translator: Michele Gianella Reviewer: Nicoletta Pedrana
Good evening,
and let's start right away with a little quiz.
Try calculating in your head 10 plus 229.
Have you done it?
Simple, isn't it?
Try it now.
Temple Grandi, an adult person with Asperger’s syndrome,
says that autism is like a basket with many different puzzles
all jumbled together,
where there is confusion
and where things are often unclear.
Each of us has an idea of autism
that isn't real
because none of us know
what it's really like to be a person with autism.
But who are people with autism really?
And what is this condition like,
that affects one in 100 children and mostly males?
How do they live their lives?
Let's try to understand it through the eyes of Paolo,
a fifty five-year-old adult with autism.
This is how autism is portrayed in the collective imagination:
many of us believe
that people with autism do not feel emotions
and are not empathetic.
But it's really like this.
"I am intensely empathetic,
people's emotions flow through me with uncontrolled flow.
I learned early on to tiptoe, to hide,
because showing how I was and what I felt made me very afraid
and it was impossible for me.
My world was strong, intense, rich in colors, full of smells,
hyper stimulating, confusing.
My body was too sensitive,
I absorbed and perceived everything, for better or worse ".
For years we believed that autism passed as we grew up.
And now: "when I was 51 years old I knew I was Asperger
and the confusion I carried around for years
vanished like snow in the sun, bringing peace and rest.
I will continue to doubt my worth,
feel uncomfortable around colleagues,
not know what is expected of me,
not know what is appropriate to say or not in social situations,
hate the phone,
and forget about everything, and everyone, when I focus.
"We often think autistic people have few interests,
but "when I'm not working, I like drawing writing and acting,.
After drawing I feel so much better,
I like acting because I have the chance to put myself in other people's shoes.
"Sometimes we believe
that people with autism have no interest in others.
"In class I never actively participated:
because it was hard for me, not because I didn't care
so I always passed as the one
who was not interested in the topics or others.
I actually had a very hard time making new friends
even though I wanted to so badly.
"For many years we were made to believe that autism was a disease.
"I am not a sick person,
even though for many years I felt like one;
naming my characteristics
allowed me to realize that I just function in a different way.
" False myths are based on pre-judgments,
I mean, judging before knowing, analyzing;
science allows us to learn,
to understand, to reason, to study, to experiment.
Science guides us,
it is a light that illuminates what we could hardly see.
ABA is the science of analyzing human behavior,
and ABA stands for Applied behavioral analysis,
which, literally translated,
means "applied behavior analysis".
It is the science that studies the laws that govern human behavior
and together with other interventions, which have scientific evidence,
is one of the pieces of a large puzzle
that through the knowledge of human behavior
helps us and deals with observing or understanding and deepening
the behavior of people with autism.
It makes us wear glasses
that make us see with cleaner, unfettered eyes,
free from prejudice.
"Interventions with scientific evidence
are more than one
and help us understand a subtle, delicate, fragile world,
a world we must thread softly in.
Behavior analysis
allows us to support and sustain people diagnosed with autism.
Teach them some behaviors that can be useful
to make them feel more integrated in our social context,
to make them feel less alone.
Support people with autism so they can be more autonomous
to communicate even if they don't make sounds,
because they learn to converse
through images, through gestures.
It teaches them how to take the bus, or look for a new job.
These are just a few examples of new learning.
ABA is just one piece among many,
the piece of a mosaic made up of many other disciplines
that have dealt with autism over the years".
I will now tell you Andrea's story.
Andrea is eight years old, and has a severe diagnosis of autism.
Andrea doesn't know how to tie his shoes
tying shoes is very simple for most of us,
but willl it be that simple for a person with autism, also?
Andrea through ABA tools and techniques,
has learned it one step at a time.
We conclude this dialogue with a thought from Paolo, who tells us:
"When you meet a person with autism.
be patient, very patient, even more than you actually are.
Should a person with autism
not immediately get what you are saying,
try to explain in a clearer way,
perhaps using other words, perhaps using images
or simply from another point of view ".
So let's not judge, let's change our gaze
because the world needs all kinds of minds.
(Applause)