Hey everybody! Today I want to show you a Ted talk about Autism Spectrum, but not a simple one; this is a Ted talk done for Ethan Lisi, a man who has Autism Spectrum. So, in that Ted talk he tries to broke with all the stereotypes about the Autism Spectrum and talks about what it really is, what is to live with Autism Spectrum.
As Ethan Lisi says, big parts of the population associates and describe Autism Spectrum with the following characteristics:
- People that talks about the same topic on and on, constantly, like an obsession
- People that don’t have the ability to differ between good and bad
- People that says “the wrong thing at the wrong time”
- Shy, insecure and emotionless people
- People that don’t have empathy
Do you agree that those are the characteristics that define people with Autism Spectrum?
The point of view that he defend, is that it’s true that some people with autism Spectrum has some of those characteristics, but they don’t define them. Every single person with Autism Spectrum is unique on their own way.
Do you think that Autism Spectrum is disease in which we have to find a cure?
There are some scientific that are trying to find a cure to the Autism Spectrum as if it was a disease. Ethan Lisi doesn’t agree with that point of view, it is from people that see Autism as a negative think. Well, Ethan and people with Autism Spectrum definitely don’t think that as a negative think. It is just a different way to look at the world.
Do you know about the “stims”?
People with autism, when they get overwhelming, they do stimming; stimming could be a repetitive motion, a noise, a movement,… and it’s his way of zoning out, disconnecting about all that stimulation that overwhelm them.
Are they emotionless and without empathy?
What Ethan Lisi try to show is that they have emotions and empathy, but the thing is that they don’t know how to express it, his/her mind only permit them not showing anything or showing all the emotions they have inside, and it is when they do that “strange” expressions like shouting, running or those types of things. The thing is that they do not know how to separate them and express them like other people do.
I encourage you to see the video, although I made you a resume. I think it is really interesting for us, as psychologists, to see how a mind of a man with Autism Spectrum runs. Because we sometimes only see the clinical part and we treat them as if they have got a disease, we don’t really understand what it is to have Autism Spectrum.
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