Autism has always interested me; I find it fascinating to see how differently a brain can function. Temple Grandin, one of the better-known autistics, and one who communicates well and has raised awareness of autism, is a great spokesperson. But reading her work doesn't give you any awareness of the world of autistic people who are labeled low-functioning, and those who cannot speak. BoingBoing pointed me to this amazing YouTube video by a woman with autism, along with a translation of her language. As she said:
The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation [beginning
. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not.
It's incredibly thought-provoking; she challenges viewers to consider that she is communicating in a fuller way with her entire environment, and comments that it's odd that it is she who is considered non-communicative simply because we have not bothered to learn her language. And, as it turns out, she is very articulate in "our" language as well.
From her web site:
[Autistic people] do have ways of communicating with things around us that are mutually comprehensible for many of us (not all of us, and not all the same things are comprehensible, there seem to be groupings in that regard). Our interests and our reactions are not random, purposeless, or useless, and are certainly not ugly things to be hidden away or trained out of.
Bottom line: watch the video, then go to her blog and read it. She is perhaps the most self-aware person I've encountered, incredibly articulate, and able to bring non-autistic readers into a world that is so drastically different from our own. I am, in fact, beyond words right now...
One way she described her situation was “The lights are on. Yes, I’m home. You’re just not looking in the right windows. Keep trying.”
Just go watch the video and then read her blog.
Comments