Mar 27, 2023·edited Mar 27, 2023Liked by Scott Hines
Thank you Scott for giving this platform and a sincere thank you to our guest writer for this post today. I found it enlightening and deeply personal. My brother is both autistic and non-verbal and I would give anything in the world just to live inside his brain for 5 minutes to better understand him, his needs, and how I can support him doing all the things he is capable of.
I often say he is forced to live in a world that wasn't built for him so he has to be incredibly adaptable. And be adaptable in ways in which those of us who are neurotypical would never have to experience let alone be able to comprehend.
I don't mean to speak for those who have autism as my experiences are not theirs but this post says what I have felt for a long time in regards to my brother and those like him - instead of asking him to adapt to us, we should be asking how we can adapt for him. Thank you again.
This was a superb (and eye-opening) article. Thank you to our guest author, and for providing a bevy of other articles to read up on and further educate the readers.
Gosh this is interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing and thank you to Scott for using this space this way. For me, this line in particular stuck out:
"My perceptions from interacting with those who are not autistic is that they are very good at interacting with others like themselves, but they have a very difficult time in recognizing different desires/needs/wants from others that may be different than the normal people."
This feels like a big key to well... a lot of stuff.
Thank you to our guest author for sharing your experience. And also, thank you for raising the very important point that so many studies that claim to be about autistic *people* are really about how to mold or shape autistic folks for the benefit of their neurotypical *caregivers.* I took coursework in autism spectrum disorders during my M.Ed. program because of the increase in neurodiverse folks entering the accounting industry. I was hoping to learn how to make training more accessible. That was not at ALL what was covered. If not for one professor who sourced her materials and methods from groups led by autistic people, it would have all been behavior control tactics. If that's how the people responsible for teaching kids are being taught? Yikes. This is a great piece on simply remembering the phrase "nothing about us without us."
Interesting about your M.Ed program. I don't recall specifically covering ASD in my BSEd coursework, think the ed psych class in that area covered more learning disabilities and referrals than anything else.
One of the ladies I worked with recommended the movie the Accountant. Ben Affleck plays the Autistic Accountant, who's character coaching is to show absolutely no facial movement. Compare this to the host of Dave's Garage (recommended by another co-worker) on youtube, the host is a retired Microsoft Programmer (also if the typing speed is accurate, the fastest typist I've encountered) who is AS. Dave displays a sense of humor and his face shows expression, plus he's good at explaining his project (embedded systems 101).
There is definitely a difference between perception and actuality for AS.
Thank you Scott for giving this platform and a sincere thank you to our guest writer for this post today. I found it enlightening and deeply personal. My brother is both autistic and non-verbal and I would give anything in the world just to live inside his brain for 5 minutes to better understand him, his needs, and how I can support him doing all the things he is capable of.
I often say he is forced to live in a world that wasn't built for him so he has to be incredibly adaptable. And be adaptable in ways in which those of us who are neurotypical would never have to experience let alone be able to comprehend.
I don't mean to speak for those who have autism as my experiences are not theirs but this post says what I have felt for a long time in regards to my brother and those like him - instead of asking him to adapt to us, we should be asking how we can adapt for him. Thank you again.
I appreciated this column. Life is difficult for those outside the norm. Thank you for sharing your experience.
This was a superb (and eye-opening) article. Thank you to our guest author, and for providing a bevy of other articles to read up on and further educate the readers.
Cheers!
Great job and thanks for sharing!
This is really great, thoughtful and informative. Well done.
Gosh this is interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing and thank you to Scott for using this space this way. For me, this line in particular stuck out:
"My perceptions from interacting with those who are not autistic is that they are very good at interacting with others like themselves, but they have a very difficult time in recognizing different desires/needs/wants from others that may be different than the normal people."
This feels like a big key to well... a lot of stuff.
Thank you to our guest author for sharing your experience. And also, thank you for raising the very important point that so many studies that claim to be about autistic *people* are really about how to mold or shape autistic folks for the benefit of their neurotypical *caregivers.* I took coursework in autism spectrum disorders during my M.Ed. program because of the increase in neurodiverse folks entering the accounting industry. I was hoping to learn how to make training more accessible. That was not at ALL what was covered. If not for one professor who sourced her materials and methods from groups led by autistic people, it would have all been behavior control tactics. If that's how the people responsible for teaching kids are being taught? Yikes. This is a great piece on simply remembering the phrase "nothing about us without us."
Interesting about your M.Ed program. I don't recall specifically covering ASD in my BSEd coursework, think the ed psych class in that area covered more learning disabilities and referrals than anything else.
One of the ladies I worked with recommended the movie the Accountant. Ben Affleck plays the Autistic Accountant, who's character coaching is to show absolutely no facial movement. Compare this to the host of Dave's Garage (recommended by another co-worker) on youtube, the host is a retired Microsoft Programmer (also if the typing speed is accurate, the fastest typist I've encountered) who is AS. Dave displays a sense of humor and his face shows expression, plus he's good at explaining his project (embedded systems 101).
There is definitely a difference between perception and actuality for AS.
Thank you for your post - a very good reminder of the importance of adapting to others and not just expecting them to adapt to me.
Thanks for sharing your platform, Scott, this was an interesting way to get insight into another individual's life.
That was an interesting read, thank you.
This was a great piece. Thank you.
Thanks for this. It gave me lots to think about and became a discussion point at work today!
excellent all the way around.