(music) I want a renaissance, to shine a light
be the change we want, set things right
even waiting in the dark for so long
Hi everyone, I'm Amythest
and this is the much-anticipated episode of Ask an Autistic
"What is Autism?"
now, this is an absolutely massive topic
and I've actually been dreading this video a little bit because
how do I do it justice in roughly ten minutes?
but you all have been waiting so patiently, and so I'm just going to go for it
Autism is a pervasive, neurological, developmental condition
that affects about 1% of human beings
to unpack that a little bit, pervasive means that autism affects pretty much every part of a person
their personality, their experiences, their memories,
how they grow up, how they communicate, and how they think and move
basically, pervasive means that autism isn't something that just affects one part of a person
it's not something extra a person has tacked onto them
and it's also not something small that can be overlooked
neurological indicates that autism has to do with the brain
being autistic means that your brain functions differently
the structure of the brain may be different than non-autistic people's brains
and the different areas of the brain, and how they talk to each other and work together may be different as well
developmental indicates that autism begins before birth
when a little fetus is developing, it's either going to be neurotypical or neuroatypical
it's going to be autistic or allistic, and all that is determined very early
so autistic people are born autistic
autism isn't something that can happen to you, it's not something you can catch
and contrary to what some would have you believe, it's not a result of things like heavy metal poisoning
and autism is not caused by vaccines
this isn't even something I'll discuss because it's not a discussion
they just don't
basically, a lot of people want to point fingers at what causes autism
but the truth is that autism is a naturally occurring variation in the human brain
and there have always been autistic people, it's just that we didn't recognize them as autistic
autism isn't a disease, it's not something you can catch or transmit
and it's not an illness, autism isn't something that you can fix or cure
autistic people are like people with down syndrome
we are born autistic, and we'll live our lives autistic
and hopefully with the help of our family and our friends and our loved ones,
we can grow up into happy, healthy autistic people
many autistic children will follow a different developmental trajectory than non-autistic children
autistic people tend to do things at our own pace
an autistic child may speak at three, or five, or 10,
and of course some autistic people will never speak with their mouth parts
but that doesn't mean that they won't hit other milestones
or that they're not going to develop
autistic children have just as much capacity for growth
and development and learning as non-autistic children do
it's just that because our brains work differently, because we think differently
and we see the world differently, we take in sensory input and process it differently
our brains are different, and so we are going to grow, and develop, and learn differently
all autistic people are different, but there are some things that all autistic people share in common
autistic people will often have distinct of atypical ways of processing information
the way we look at the world, perceive it, process what we're seeing,
and then think about that information is different than non-autistic people
autistic people often have different abilities or capacities for language
some autistic people report that they don't naturally think in language
they may think in visuals, or in abstract feelings, or in just not words
and so using words, using spoken or written language, isn't first nature for a lot of autistic people
and so that requires this constant translation, because our society is very much based in spoken language
all autistic people will have atypical sensory experiances.
autistic people may be over or under-sensitive to sensory input from their environment,
or within themselves
some autistic people are both over and under-sensitive to sensory input at the same time
autism also affects the way that a person moves
many autistic people have motor dyxpraxia
which is where the brain knows that it wants to do,
but there's a kind of disconnect between the brain and the body
and so this can result in clumsiness, or issues with fine motor control
things like tying your shoelaces, or writing by hand
and some autistic people find that have have trouble with gross motor control
things like riding a bicycle, or keeping their balance, or kicking a soccer ball
autistic people also do something called stimming
stimming is also known as self-stimulation, or stereotyped or repetitive behaviors
there is many different ways to stim as there are autistic people
but some common stims include hand flapping, often when excited or agitated
rocking back and forth, or side to side if that's more your thing
a common stim is finger flicking, a lot of people will wring their hands or twirl their hair
some chewing or biting on clothing or objects is a common stim
and also visually stimming by flicking your fingers in front of your face, or using an object
and there are ways to vocally stim as well, like repeating a favorite word or humming or singing
stimming is one of the most obviously autistic behaviors
and by that I mean, autism is kind of an invisible disability
in that there are no physical markers of autism and autistic people don't all share physical traits
but when an autistic person starts stimming,
starts moving in a way that is naturally autistic or obviously disabled
that invisible disability becomes visible
a lot of autistic people will prevent themselves from stimming
or from moving in the way that is most natural and comfortable for them
because they don't want to be perceived as weird,
and we live in a very ableist society where disability is considered kind of shameful and bad
some autistic people, ASAN says it's about 2 in 10 autistic people, will never speak with their mouth parts
and by that I mean, they may be able to communicate via alternative methods of communication,
but they'll never actually speak with their mouth
of course, this is not the same as not having anything to say
through use of methods of AAC, like text-to-speech apps, or the rapid prompting method,
or pointing to a letter board, or sign language,
autistic people who are non-verbal, who can't speak with their mouth
are able to communicate
this allows autistic people who have verbal apraxia, which is like motor dyspraxia
but a disconnect between the brain and the mouth specifically
to advocate for themselves, and to talk to people around them,
and to say what they think and feel and what they want
just to communicate, which really is a basic human right that everybody should have the opportunity to do
many autistic people will have comorbid conditions
in which they're autistic, but they also have another or multiple other
mental illnesses or neurological conditions or whatever else going on
I'm autistic, and I'm also synaesthic, meaning that I have synaesthesia
and I also have OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder, which is a mental illness
autism is a different kind of brain, it's a different kind of brain wiring
but it's also a disability
this is because the autistic neurotype is often accompanied by impairments
like impairments in executive functioning, which is the ability to start a task,
and then to continue on that task, to keep all the steps straight in your head,
and then to follow through and complete the task
and so multi-step processes or tasks can be difficult for autistic people
some autistic people have trouble communicating with non-autistic people
due to differences in information and sensory processing,
things like tone of voice, or sarcasm, or sarcastic joking can really throw us off
a lot of autistic people will avoid eye-contact for sensory reasons
or because it's harder to process information while maintaining eye-contact
and lot of autistic people will have difficulty with facial expressions
which actually have a lot of information in them all at once
and facial expressions, and micro facial expressions can change very quickly
and so it can be difficult to keep up while also keeping up with all the other sensory input
and information in the enviorment
difficulty in communication isn't true in the same ways for all autistic people
some autistic people will have trouble with eye contact, and some don't
some autistic people have trouble detecting sarcasm, and others don't
but all autistic people will have some kind of communication or language differences
motor dyspraxia and issues with fine motor control are also considered an impairment
and sensory integration differences, or sensory processing disorder
can be very debilitating in a society that is very loud, and very fast, and very bright
and that is built for people with typical sensory experiences
and thus doesn't accommodate people with sensory processing disorder
or different sensory integration experiances
it's tough being autistic in a world that's built for non-autistic people
but that's what accommodations are for
what accommodations do is level he playing field for people with disabilities
because when you're disabled, when you have impairments,
you don't have the same opportunities as non-disabled people
but accommodations can change that
accommodations for autistic people can look like
providing access to alternative and augmentative methods of communication
or AAC
accommodation for autistic people can look like
being understanding and accepting of the fact that autistic people have different sensory integration
and needs than you do
and so, being accepting or the ways autistic people with accommodate their sensory needs
like wearing sunglasses indoors,
or wearing ear protection against loud noises
or stimming to deal with negative sensory input
being accepting of that, of the ways that we cope
and also making an effort to make the environment more friendly to autistic people
are great ways to accommodate autistic people
like people of other kinds of disabilities,
autistic people deserve the same rights and opportunities that non-disabled, neurotypical people get
autistic people deserve to access the same level of education
and the same employment opportunities as everyone else
no matter what an autistic person's impairment or challenges are,
they're going to have strengths as well
because we're human, we're very complex that way
the thing to do for autistic people is to keep in mind that we're people
the ways that we move, and think, and communicate, and express ourselves are different,
they may look different than how you would do those things, but that doesn't mean they're invalid
the autistic way of being, the autistic experience, is not wrong, it's just different
all autistic people deserve the same rights and respect and societal inclusion that non-autistic people do
whether or not they can pass well as non-autistic, if they seem almost normal to you
whether or not they move or communicate differently than you do
and whether or not they can speak with their mouth parts
like I said, every autistic person is different, and autism itself is a very complex condition
so really, in this video I was just able to scratch the surface, and just that
so if you're interested in learning more about autism, I'm going to link to some awesome resources
in the video description
so please do check those out
and I'l also be linking to my blog and my facebook page and my twitter
where I tweet and post and blog about all autism and disability related
I hope you all are having a wonderful, flappy autism acceptance month
and I'll see you all next time
thanks for watching Ask an Autistic
(music) I want a renaissance, to shine a light
be the change we want, set things right
even waiting in the dark for so long