I can't touch the bowl, I'm so eager!
Okay, what have we got here? - We have got...
Oh, I get this a lot!
You know what it is? It's like *gunshot*.
That's how I feel.
"THINGS NOT TO SAY TO AN AUTISTIC PERSON"
Do it. - "You don't look autistic."
Fucking hell...
Now, I have got that one. I've got people say to me: 'Oh, you look fine Lianne!'
I think, if I had a pound for every time somebody said to me, you don't look autistic,
I could afford a real tan.
They mean well, because I think what that means is:
'I have these preconceptions and you've just broken them, and I find that really interesting.'
But how it's actually come out, it's quite stigmatising.
"WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL ABILITY"
They think of someone with autism and they think of your typical, Sheldon Cooper-type, or someone who
doesn't speak to anyone, is rude, who is a genius and that is simply isn't the case!
There is definitely a media image of how autistic people are portrayed.
Always men, or children, and it's like... - I agree, yeah.
Where's the girl?
I mean, there is, I think, something with Savant syndrome, where people do have these, like amazing
gifts they've been given.
But I think, a lot of these like special abilities come from being very, very interested in something.
I have let down autism. I am shit at maths, alright? Don't ever ask me to do the times table,
because I'll miserably, fucking fail.
"EVERYONE IS A LITTLE AUTISTIC"
"Everyone is a little autistic." - *sigh*, do you know what?
That really, I'm sorry, that really pisses me off.
This is where I want one of those eyeroll emoji's.
So we're told in school we've got five senses. Wrong, we've got six. The sixth one being our theory of mind;
the ability to understand everybody else's thought processes.
You don't have that instinctive understanding... - And we rely on people's body language and they lie
with their body language, and that just makes me angry. - They do!
So, if you have the ability to do that, don't please, don't ever say "you could be a little bit autistic."
Yeah, just don't. Just, stop.
"AUTISTIC PEOPLE CAN'T FEEL EMPATHY"
"Autistic people don't feel empathy." - Oh, fuck off!
I actually believe that autistic people feel too much empathy.
We do feel empathy, we do understand your emotions, we're not thick of anything,
we feel things much harder.
For me, it's very hard to sometimes pop myself in another person's shoes.
And people mistake that, for a lack of empathy.
"YOU COULD BE NORMAL IF YOU TRIED"
"Autistic people could be normal if they tried." Oh my goodness.
Argh, I've gotten this a lot, man.
I mean, when I was a kid, I got really badly bullied and the teachers literally said to my parents:
'Well, if she tried to fit in more, she wouldn't get bullied.' - Yeah, I've got that one constantly
I know. 'She brings on herself because she's different.'
"HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE AUTISM?"
"How would you describe autism?"
Complicated.
It's a very individual thing and every person on the spectrum is very, very, very different.
My, like analogy, is that autism is like a big rock concert and like, it's really loud.
Yeah! It's like really loud and it's constant.
Like being in a different country where everyone talks a different language, and you...
- kinda has to work that out and you've got all this kind of books that tell you what everybody else is saying,
but you still can't put it together.
At the same time, you're kind of with a subculture, that kind of, among a subculture, that maybe not everyone
really appreciates, that kind of gets you at the same time.
It's like being in the underground music scene or something. We're just hitting a rave or something
like going, goah, goah, goah. - We're rebels basically.
Rebels we are of course! We are rebels in Star Wars! - Yeah, we are!
You bring me the lightsaber! *Swoosh!*
"WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING AUTISTIC?"
And I was like, driving my friends mad, cause we watched like, you know, ITV daytime quiz shows
or something, and I'll just be there like, getting the answer, like: "Who had a hit single in 2008?" Like,
I'm like that with my dad sometimes; I go in a quiz and they go like: 'oh you lucky bugger!'
Basically, you want us on your general knowledge team. -Yeah.
But I will know, you know, oh yeah, I remember that she's in brown, has blue shoelaces, I can pick,
so I do have that and I really quite like that!
We can just be ourselves. - And just being ourselves is like, a blast. It's just nuts.
It's like you're permanently on a rollercoaster, because you see, all these things that other people don't see.
It's some big of a unique gift, I reckon yeah. We got gifts, that we actually can give to the world!
I had someone genuinely say to me:
'If you could get it cured, would you?' - No!
And it's like, yeah it was like: 'Well no.' Cause that's like saying:
'Would you change yourself as a person? Like your whole identity? Piss off! No!'
We're all winners! - We're winners!
Yes! High five!