hey i'm dave welcome to my shop i'm dave plummer a retired software engineer with a reasonably
popular youtube channel featuring some rather obscure computer programming topics like the
secret history of microsoft bob and stupid c plus tricks and computer language drag racing
six million or so views later i've got a bit of a secret to share i've got autism and not just a
little i mean at one time they might have called my case asperger's but given his nazi activities
no one's gonna be advocating for being called out these days so it's all one big happy family under
the larger umbrella of autism i've dropped a few hints to those paying attention with comments like
uh there might be a whole spectrum of reasons why i am that way and so on but i've never been plain
about the fact that i actually do have autism but how do i know that i have it well because i was
tested very thoroughly you see when i was first told that i might have autism i thought it sort
of laughable because i'm reasonably empathetic and sensitive and emotional and funny and
all things that i thought would preclude me from being anywhere on the autism spectrum so i took
an informal test about a 10-minute version of the 10-second test that we'll get to shortly and i was
surprised enough by the results that i booked an appointment with a top local neurologist confident
that my warm personality and engaging humor would make for a short interview the doctor though was
les blase after talking with me she decided that a full psychoneurological workup was in order
including an adult sat an iq test and about 12 hours of other testing as i told close friends
of this upcoming testing i was fully expecting a course of what you autistic ah that's silly but
instead i was met with reactions like fascinating let us know the results i wasn't sure how to read
those reactions yet of course when the big report finally came back i found out that i indeed had
autism along with a pretty good case of attention deficit disorder which is pretty typical on the
spectrum and while i'm considered reasonably high functioning because of my iq i'm also apparently
99th percentile meaning only about one in 100 people in the general population is more impacted
by the symptoms of autism than i am so given that about 1 in 68 people are thought to have asd
maybe you can make some kind of fraction out of that but i'm not gonna try
the percentile number that you get is really all they can give you for a severity index besides
designing a level such as one two or three on that scale i'd be in between one and two like
i said it's one big happy spectrum so from here on out i'm just gonna call it autism or asd for
autism spectrum disorder so what's the difference between having autism and having autism disorder
well in my mind the person could at least in theory have a little autism by which i mean they
could have some of the symptoms in concordance with autism but they don't rise to the level
of being pathological for them so they don't constitute a disorder to me the symptoms of autism
are best described as simple narrow diversity up until they cause unavoidable pathological outcomes
that which cannot be accommodated nor easily tolerated rises to the level of being a disorder
and while i'm making confessions here i might as well note that back when i started this
channel i did stuff with a bit of an ulterior motive when i first got my diagnosis i kind of
resented being labeled and i felt like i was being placed in a restrictive box of some sort
so i decided to push back on the walls of that box by intentionally doing things that
were and are different for me because uncharted territory is where the most discoveries are made
similarly doing things you suck at and perhaps are afraid of is where the most growth occurs
to that end right before kovid i hosted a big open house shop party for dozens of friends
and acquaintances right here in dave's garage i started writing a book and i started this youtube
channel i'm one of those folks who doesn't even like having their picture taken very much and so
editing yourself in glorious 4k60 on a 38 inch monitor for hours or days at a time is
some serious exposure therapy and it's also given me a great opportunity to write about 3
000 words a week which i enjoy a great deal and to practice my masking what's masking you might ask
put bluntly it's the art of acting normal and i'm still getting better at it
it's also the subject of just one of the chapters of the book i've been working on which has just
been published in ebook paperback and hardcover it also features chapters on empathy emotions
mind blindness marriage parenting employment and many more it opens with my biographical backstory
and takes you on through the microsoft interview process getting a job moving to the us and so on
now the title is a little bit of clickbait so brace yourself it's called secrets of the
autistic millionaire because that will make people click on her on amazon but the subtitle is really
more accurate everything i know about autism asd and asperger's that i wish i'd known back then
basically i wrote down everything i wish i'd known about autism when i was younger because i wasn't
diagnosed until just a couple of years ago i grew up knowing i was pretty damn different but i had
no idea that it was also normal to be so different and that it had a name and that there were
millions of people just like me who experienced life and thought and emotions in much the same way
as i did and those people also have asd while the title might cause one to quite reasonably
conclude that the book is about financial success the book is really more broadly about living a
successful life with autism however you define success when it comes time to talk about your
life's purpose i even have venn diagrams with three levels of overlap so you know i'm serious
the book then is how to live your life with the benefit of my hindsight take what i know
about education and parenting employment and business and so on and apply it to your own life
and that's where the title comes in the book isn't solely for those with autism though it's also
intended for those who love live with work with or are friends with someone on the spectrum as well
no matter where you find yourself on the spectrum if you're in the tech industry knowing all you can
about working with folks that have asd is only to your benefit i consider both what it's like
to be managed by a manager with autism as well as how to best manage an employee with autism so
both perspectives are adopted and i take the same approach in the marriage chapter for example
i'd should be flattered if you check out at least the ebook free sample on amazon and
i've put links to it as well as the paperback and hardcover in the video description
nothing would make me happier than having many of you pick up the book especially if
it all happened in the next week or so in order to really kick-start the book's visibility on amazon
and don't forget to leave a review if you do why do i care because promotion of this book is
entirely up to me you see when i was a young lad i thought that a book publisher would get you on
talk shows and feature your book on billboards and magazines and secure reviews and even sell
the movie rights and so they will if your name is stephen king but for new authors like me it's
totally grassroots and so i don't have a big rolodex if you know what i mean but i do have you
and to that and then i'm asking for your help in kickstarting the marketing of the book of course
picking up a copy of the book helps a great deal as does recommending it to friends and family
and i'd love it if you could post it on reddit or facebook or any other place that you might
participate in that has an asd focus or even an audience that would make it appropriate to do so
and if you happen to be neighbors with oprah or ellen or joe rogan or donahue or whoever is
relevant these days by all means please do let me know how to get in contact with the right people
i don't even know where to begin in that regard or if you work for an agency that has that kind
of pull email me i need your help i could also use quotes from famous people for the back cover and
so on i have a nice one from dr temple grandin but it'd also be nice to have a quote from somebody on
the spectrum in the tech industry for example and so if you know someone i don't know anyone hook
me up now in the thumbnail i promised you a 10 second autism test and i surely won't disappoint
i even think it's uh pretty accurate but of course even if it were there would still be a huge number
of false positives and negatives and that's why it took them more than 12 hours of testing on me
to get a real answer so it's entertainment value only and if you're interested in a screening test
for real i've placed one in the video description that's still only a crude test but better than the
10 second version i'd wager if you're genuinely concerned contact the medical professional and
they can connect you with the right specialist i found that my testing was all covered under my
insurance but if you wanted a copy of the report as i did that generally was not but check with
your policy or your agent to be sure so with those disclaimers out of the way if you're ready we can
begin sharpen your number two pencil and get ready to answer a single question and that question is
which is more important to society creativity or cooperation your answer shall determine your faith
as a gross generalization i found that neurotypical people generally lean towards
cooperation whereas those on the spectrum tend to offer creativity i've heard autism referred to as
the technology genes and i think that notion has some merit i would imagine that a hundred thousand
years ago a teen tribe member became bored with the idol fireside gossip and wandered off to
try to make the perfect arrowhead with a rock and some flint with the flare for anticipating
how it would fracture in a personality that demanded symmetry in all things this tribal
tesla may have been one of the progenitors of the gene set that contributes to autism today
as temple grandin has speculated without the genes for autism we might still all
be socializing around the campfire now does that mean i believe that creativity trumps cooperation
well for several years i actually did until one day i realized there's something that's even more
powerful than either and that of course is both in combination a society sparked by the creativity
of a few unique individuals and then fueled by the dedicated cooperation of the neurotypical we don't
all need to as steve jobs put it think different but it helps a great deal if at least a few of us
do as you can tell from the lack of new content in the last two weeks wrapping up the book publishing
has taken a substantial part of my time but i don't want it to become a big part of my persona
if you know what i mean and so it's not something i'm going to focus on with this channel a great
deal and to that end i've created a channel called the autistic millionaire to accompany the book
if you enjoy my content in general or you just have an interest in asd in particular
please do head on over and subscribe to the autistic millionaire channel so that you signal
your interest to the algorithm i'll be doing a reading of the first few chapters beginning with
burgers with bill gates the story of the first time i ever met bill make sure you subscribe
to the autistic millionaire channel for everything asd related as i'll be returning to your regularly
scheduled c plus tricks and language drag racing here soon don't forget to grab yourself a classic
dave's garage mug from the channel store with all proceeds from this channel in calendar year 2021
including views and mugs going to the uw autism center i'd sure appreciate a thumbs up on this
video to let me know if there's even a bit of interest and even give it a thumbs down
if i annoyed you with it i'm curious about that too thanks for joining me out here in the shop
today in the meantime in between time i hope to see you next time right here in dave's garage