Translator: Leonardo Silva Reviewer: Amanda Chu
In recent years, autism has become a much more discussed topic.
More people in recent years
have also begun being diagnosed with the autism spectrum disorder.
Back in 2018, a study was conducted
to determine approximately how many children were born with autism.
The results were shocking.
The CDC determined
that approximately 1 in every 59 children are born with autism.
The study also concluded
that 1 in every 37 boys and 1 in every 151 girls
are born with autism.
Most people view being diagnosed with autism as a flat out negative thing.
But I want to ask you all something:
What do you believe?
Do you believe that autism is just a disorder
that makes those born with the disorder
lesser than those born without the disorder?
Do any of you know anyone on the autism spectrum yourself
and believe that they cannot be as successful and find happiness
in their day-to-day lives as you can?
I do not believe that at all.
In fact, I believe that people with autism are just as capable,
if not more capable,
than all of you born without autism
at being successful and happy in their day-to-day lives.
This photo is one of my reasons as to why.
I want to ask you all a question,
and please do not be afraid to respond:
What did most of you see in this photo at first, when it popped up?
Most of you probably saw the horse, because it is the bigger picture,
but people with autism might not actually notice the horse at first.
Instead, people with autism
might notice some of the more smaller details of the photo
that those born without autism might not notice at first,
such as the sky or that little log over there to the right.
People with autism might not always see the bigger picture at first,
but does that change the picture in any way?
No.
The person with autism
just so happen to notice some of the more smaller details of the photo
that those born without autism might not have noticed at first.
I want to ask you all another question:
Who here knows these two men?
What about these men do you know?
These two men are Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton,
two world-famous geniuses
who were both said to have a form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome.
This disorder affected both Newton and especially Einstein
in their day-to-day lives,
to the point where Albert Einstein had dropped out of high school at age 15.
And yet, despite all these difficulties in social connections,
one of the biggest symptoms of Asperger's syndrome
and most other forms of autism,
both Einstein and Sir Newton were still able to be successful and happy
in their day-to-day lives,
to the point of gaining world fame.
Einstein had a brain that worked differently than others'.
Because of this difference in how his brain worked,
Einstein was able to see problems in a whole new perspective and light
that those before him could not.
Maybe people with autism do not have life harder than others.
Maybe people with autism just have different struggles than most.
I like to think of it like math class.
Some people struggle with math to the point of needing an extra help,
while others excel in math, without needing any extra help at all.
And yet, whether or not you have a kid who struggles the most with math
or a kid who succeeds the most in that class,
everybody still manages to make it through the exact same class together,
successful and happy.
Maybe people with autism do not have life harder than others.
In fact, maybe it's just that people with autism
have different challenges than others.
People with autism even have a few advantages
when it comes to those born without autism.
These advantages include, but are not limited to,
attention to detail, passion in their work,
the ability to live in the now,
and the ability to teach others about autism.
In fact, Forbes.com, on May 31, 2018,
published an article with Karen Higginbottom
talking about why people with autism make good employees:
because of "their passion in their work and their attention to detail."
This all leads me back to one big thing:
Maybe people with autism do not have life harder than others.
Maybe people with autism just have different challenges than others.
Maybe people with autism
are capable of opening up whole new doors in this world
that have yet to be opened.
Maybe people with autism are capable of so much more
than what we already take them granted for,
because everyone, big or small,
can all make it through the journey of life together, successful and happy.
As someone who has autism themselves,
I could say that my life is going pretty good right now.
Thank you.
(Applause)