Why everything you know about autism is wrong | Jac den Houting | TEDxMacquarieUniversity

This is so obviously the correct way to view neurodiversity! If two people speak different languages we don't say one is illiterate!

I’m an autistic woman in America. I went to Japan recently and everything was quiet and clean and not lit with bright lights. Nobody made me small talk, and I wasn’t bothered by employees or servers. I actually enjoyed being in public there. I can back home and everything sucked again

It took me such a long time to acknowledge that my autism is not the problem, being forced to function a certain way in society is the real problem.

I’m raising my 11 yr old granddaughter who has minimally verbal autism. Watching her struggle to be ok in a neurotypical world is heartbreaking. She’s the hardest working person I know. Did you know a minimally verbal person can have a sense of humor? Before Rory, I would have scoffed at this idea. She’s my hero and my biggest blessing. I’m a veterinarian. Rory works harder in one day than I did in 8 years of college. The most important things to do when interacting with autistic people are: BE KIND and GIVE THEM A BREAK! If they need to wear earplugs, sunglasses, bandaids, slippers, a goofy headband (ie: pinwheels on springs), a weird outfit and have an iPad in order to survive the grocery store, LET THEM! Showing my granddaughter how much I love her NO MATTER WHAT is my most important job.

My biology teacher was autistic and he was the best teacher I ever had in my life .

"I'm not disabled by my autism, I'm disabled by my environment." 👏👏👏👏👏 Also...where can I get a shirt like that? 💙

the double empathy problem is something i've experienced my entire life and i'm glad it's finally been researched. i don't have problems talking to people, i have problems talking to neurotypicals. they do not speak my language. all my friends are neurodiverse and i swear i have the deepest, most meaningful, loving, and beautiful relationships with these people, which transcends distance and time. it is extremely easy to strike up conversations with neurodiverse. i simply don't know if such relationships can exist between myself and a neurotypical. the language and communication is different, and i love the way my friends and i communicate. it's straight forward, to the point, honest, and loving. i wouldn't want it any other way

I didn't have a permanent full-time job until I was 34 because I went undiagnosed until about age 30. I just fell through the cracks until then. The hardest part was the shame I felt through my 20s. Autism affected employment because it was hard to find a career field that was a good fit. Only after I got professional guidance I found something that fit. I hope that all autistic people can find the guidance they need as soon as possible and get jobs that fit, I hope they don't struggle and suffer.

I don't want a cure. Autism is me. I am Autism. My Autism is my artistry.

I'm an autistic 50 year old guy with an autistic son. I work as a Support Worker for mental health clients.... my brain just cried like a child after watching this. I've been saying the same thing for years now. This video confirmed my thoughts.

“I wasn’t a failed neurotypical person. I was a perfectly good autistic person.” This made me burst into tears. Thank you Dr. Houting. I struggle with this every day 😢

I’m someone with high functioning autism who has spent my entire life learning to mask as well as possible, no matter how much stress and exhaustion it causes me. Last week I saw someone on the train who was also on the spectrum. He was making noises of excitement and clapping, autistic behaviours I myself suppress the urge act upon. People were giving him strange looks, but he didn’t care, he was just happy. Seeing him so happy and just being himself brought me so much joy and comfort knowing he doesn’t have the stress of trying to perfect masking. I wish others didn’t see things like this as weird. We have different ways of showing emotions, but we still feel all of them.

I was diagnosed with autism at the age of 43. I had the same experience of relief and realisation. 20+ years of clinical depression melted away.

I'm sobbing because I just heard someone say what been in my head for a long time. I'm undiagnosed but fairly sure I am autistic and hearing this just made so much sense to me.

9:45 my marriage to another autistic is 💯 easier than my ex-es who were not autistic. My wife and I literally understand each other and give a lot of grace

I am 74 and my brother is 75.We grew up in England, I have always been and still am very close to him. I always felt that he was ' different', sometimes I felt sorry for him cos he had a problem with socialising, he doesn't have ' small talk' and can't relate to people when he meets them for the first time. He was diagnosed at 60 with Asperger's. He has always worked in lots of different jobs, always with good results. He was never scared of losing his job and always did things his way, no matter what other people said, he did what he found was correct. Yes, he is weird sometimes but the weider he is the more I love him!

Essentially it's a culture clash. People used to ask me if I found it difficult living in Japan because the culture there must be "so different". But I would always be like, Japanese culture is no more alien to me than living among all you NTs all my life!

"being actively disabled by my environment" YES!

I'm pretty sure both my dad and my sister have autism, but neither one has ever been diagnosed. My dad is a family physician and has been bullied his entire career by the doctors he works with. He has always just seen himself as a failure and hated going to work every day for 20 years! He recently retired, and my siblings and I are learning more about how hard it was for him. I wish he had been able to get diagnosed, so that he could see that he's not a failure, he just communicates differently from others. He's a very empathetic doctor, and really does care for each of his patients. I have seen him give free medial care to people who couldn't afford going in to see a doctor. He's never out to get the glory, he's simply just trying to serve those around him. Unfortunately, the medical field doesn't allow much room for people like him.

To people who like to vent about how much your autistic children, students, or patients drive you insane and make you miserable: You have NO idea how much anxiety, frustration, self-loathing, loneliness, and sadness many of us have to go through nearly every single day, partially because of how you talk about us when we aren’t around. Believe it or not, most of us on the spectrum are fully aware of how much of a “handful” we can be for you, and we feel deeply ashamed and guilty as a result. We care about your hardship and suffering as much as you care about ours (the people who claim we are generally incapable of empathy or feeling the pain of others are full of s%;t). If we could stop doing the things that stress you out so much, we absolutely would. But just like a man with severe paralysis can’t simply get off his wheelchair to lessen the burden of those taking care of him, we simply cannot “stop being autistic” as much as we would love to make things much easier for you. If it’s wrong to complain about having to look after someone with physical disabilities, then it’s also wrong to complain about caring for people with developmental disabilities as if you are the true victim. Yes you are dealing with A LOT, you are being pushed to your limits, your patience and resilience is being out to the test; but if you truly and genuinely care about us and not want us to feel like worthless parasites, then stop talking about us as if we are a constant source of pain and stress and headaches. We may not be there when you talk about us like that, but we can hear you. And it not only hurts us A LOT, but it completely contradicts you telling us that we are “fully loved and embraced for who we are” and are “not a burden in the slightest.”