Autism is a difference, not a disorder | Katie Forbes | TEDxAberdeen 

Just graduated law school and finally realized I have had autism my whole life. Went through a terribly exhausting time in law school. Whew!

It took me almost 32 years to get diagnosed, I finally love who I am and feel good enough.

I am autistic, and it’s who I am and I wouldn’t change a thing.

My differences don't make me broken. Other people tried to break me because of my differences. They tried to shave off my corners to make me fit in the round hole. They hit me because they could.

I'm a mother of an autistic child, and I have ADHD. This is the best video I've ever watched describing how it feels to live with autism. Thanks for telling your story, and thanks for your strength. You are a gift to us all. ❤

I had a similar experience as she did with home office during the pandemic. the job still was difficult for me because I had to do lots of phone calls, but working in a lower-noise environment and not having to spontaneously react to the chatter of my co-workers made me a lot more efficient and less stressed. When I had to go work on site again I realised even stronger how much effort it took to do my job compared to doing it at home where all these distractions and stressors weren't present. really wish society would learn from the pandemic, that when the work is doable in home office setting, there should be free choice for the employee if their presence isn't *actually* important (like for important meetings direct work with clients/patients).

Embrace neurodiversity! I have had the same experiences. Great speech!

Thank you. That was great. Humanity comes in many flavors. We should accept and celebrate that--not in a special ceremony, but every day.

My thoughts exactly. Autism is a difference not a disorder. I told my dad this same thing the other day when we were watching a TV show called 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' which is about a woman with Autism. In the show someone was defining Autism as a disorder. To me, it seems so obvious that it isn't a disorder yet society still sees it as one. We are in the dark ages of understanding it.

I gotta say, just like Katie, I was worried about my autism at first, but then I learned along the way that it wasn’t a curse. It was a gift. And I’ve been given so many good gifts with autism, like a good memory, the ability to deal with my stress, Work harder and follow my passion for filmmaking.

I have seen many Ted Talks but this one connects to me in more ways than I can count. Thank you so much for this talk. This will really get an very important message across.

As a fellow ASD'er - I can relate. I completely agree - I think Autism has lots of benefits. I wouldn't change anything except for the bullying & not getting a diagnosis until 47.

Autist here. To say that autism isn't a disorder or a disability is simply false. By definition, it is.

I agree that acceptance is the key when dealing with autism. That being said, this does not stop it from being a disorder. I have changed my environment a lot that is including my work environment. The result is i can work 28 hours a week and be relatively stable on a mental level. In other words just by accepting and changing the environment i cannot even earn a full time salary. This is not my fault and not the fault of my employer, in fact we have no one to blame. I cannot expect to be paid a full time salary without being capable to do a full-time job. Accepting my autism helped to cope better but in the end it did not fix the problem at all. In fact if i could get rid of my autism i would do it without any hesitation.

I am not autistic, nor are my kids. But I have this strong belief that autism is NOT a disorder. It’s ONLY being different. AND since ALL human beings are different, this shouldn’t be a problem at all ! More power to you! ♥️

I was diagnosed with autism when I was 20, and my report says that I’m “unemployable” and that I wouldn’t understand the dating world, but that’s not true about me.

I'm not crying, you're crying. Thank you for this beautiful speech, Katie.

Katie, you're amazing. Indeed, you should be celebrated for your unique and strong abilities. It is a good thing we have many different kinds of people around. Let's celebrate the range of things we can accomplish together, as long as we all live TOGETHER and respect one another. We're looking into if my daughter is on the spectrum. Your story made me cry and helps to see this situation and journey as something more positive. I totally agree with you! I'm still scared of how the world will treat her and we still have a long way to go. It's hard to hear how difficult life can be, I see it in her already. From a young age. I hope I can help and support her to be as successful as you are. Thank you very much for sharing.

Katie, I know this is a long time since this was posted, but I had to say how brave you are. Thank you for sharing your experiences because its very helpful 🙏 I'm 61 and undiagnosed, but highly suspect that I'm autistic. I'm going to try to find you on Insta, etc and follow you. Thanks again 😊

Great presentation, I saw it in Aberdeen and I wanted to watch it again, thank you.

I'm watching this while eating breakfast in a Hotel during a mandatory work trip to a different state. The experience at the beginning of the pandemic of working remotely (in an environment I could control) was SO eye opening. In many ways, shut down was the most comfortable I've ever been. Having that ripped away when the neurotypical world reasserted itself has been it's own sort of trauma. In some ways, I was better off not having a taste of a world that was designed for me.

In tears over this. So much of my experience here. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing your story. Resonates so much. Thank you for your courage to share it.

Very well said. Thank you very much for your talk.

wow. that made me cry. thank you for so much ressonance

This one is powerful.

Right there with you girl. Love, love, love you so much. I relate to EVERYTHING so much!

I’m going to use this link in my blog. Absolutely👍

I am 45 male from Soth Carolina. I was just diagnosed 8 months ago. My life has change so much for the better. I now have a way to understand and deal with it.

I went through the same, growing up. Hiding in toilet during recess time and scared of group projects. Then reading all these books "how to make friends " "how to talk to everyone" .... and learning from TV programme. Then I made friends, found love, and felt like "everything is fake". The insecurity never went away until I tried to kill myself and didn't die. After that I started telling everyone "I'm weird and I'm autistic". Now I finally feel like I'm having all the real things I want in life. Thank you so much for your speech, it's good to know someone else experienced the same and so glad you are living!

Beautifully articulated, crying tears of recognition ❤

Thank you so much for sharing your story. You are a blessing to our community.

I feel it so often. And I am so alone with my feelings.

This makes so much sense! Katie is wonderful and such an inspiration!

So many of us feel so alone. Thank you brave lady for sharing x

Thank you. 💛

Thank you so much for sharing! You are awesome! I am an SLP and have several family members with different degrees of Autism. I am writing a Tedx Talk right now about how important it is for the rest of the world to take responsibility for understanding and being compassionate to the unique and marvelous aspects of individuals with Autism. You are an inspiration. I love how you love yourself and can champion the wonderfulness that is you! Good on you! Good on discovering and overcoming. I hope your video goes viral! Miss DB:)

Such an important message, thank you for sharing ❤

Oh my God! I love her attitude!

Thank you so much for sharing. As a mother to a toddler with autism I'm trying to understand him and this was really helpful.

While I can relate to some of her experiences I think it is really important to keep in mind that autism is a vast spectrum and autists might have other marginalizations as well. Not all of us are high masking, low support needs, white and middle/upper class.

Thank you. This means a lot to me.

Yesss Katie 👏 Can't wait to watch this

I've said this before only autism people truly understand it and can explain it, people that are not tend to shame it with out realising they're shaming the person and not treating people normal just because they have autism and they don't even realise they do it

Very important video!!!

🥳🌟always shine!☀️always change environment and circumstances if necessary, never yourself. Totally fabulous, just the way you are!!🥰your teachers didn't understand that's sad😪 always believe anything is possible 🤩 most people struggle they are just not as honest as you. Kindness and understanding changes lives💝💛

I was diagnosed in 2020 at going on 62... To say the least, I'd love to have known earlier.

Love the way you are talking about Autism

I wish more people would see this.

Im on my healing journey, I’m an INFJ and HSP, which says we can be neurodiverse. I thought I just had dyslexia comprehension. Now more and more I think I have autism. I’m going to get tested. Thank you Katie for sharing.

Unusual, and therefore unacceptable. That's the common public attitude.

Don’t underestimate what standing on that stage would have taken out of Katie. Well done Katie

So much of what you said resonated and made me feel seen. Thank you

You are amazing

We are not different everyone else is different we are the same

I am 65. My grandson is autistic. We diagnosed his condition to be autism only by exploring internet. But during this exploration I found myself to be autistic and having ADHD. Had I known this fact earlier in my life,my life would have been different. During all these years I kept on wondering why am I so wierd and not confirming to the standards set by the society. I feel my life wasted and now I can do nothing at this age. My grandson is now undergoing therapy and I have advised my son never to leave it half way. Because he gets frustrated sometimes.

Yes maybe for people with former “ Asperger’s” it is a neurodiversity, but for people with moderate and severe autism- and if combined with an intellectually disability- it is not a difference , it is a disability and a tragedy for the parents/ caregivers let’s face it . There are quite a lot of RU-vid bloggers who have autism and advocate / educate, but they are all mostly have Asperger’s, they are high functioning and very intelligent. But they only represent a quite small very mildly affected portion of people with autism 😢 I have a son on the spectrum

I have Autism I love Katie

So good

Fantastic wow

Our one and only child is 10. He uses lots of words and short phrases, but can't have a conversation. I would love to know his thoughts.😢

I don’t have an illness. I have a gift.

Im self Autistic people, i need everyday help I have a burnout from masking 🤯🤒🙏

Beautiful

While I understand why the presenter would say that autism isn’t a disorder it actually just undermines the crippling effects of autism that my daughter has suffered alongside with its affects on mental health and anxiety.

I’m autistic and I’m very happy I’m like 8 inches taller than everyone at my school so I can’t get bullied for who I am

Call it whatever you like. Autism is a problem that causes misery to sufferers and their families. Dismissing a problem doesn’t make it go away.

It took me 65 years.

The girl in the center of the image at 2:45 reminds me of the singer KT Tunstall for some reason.

4:56 "Just a little bit autistic" "Needs more confidence" "Lower your expectations" Could those school officials have been any worse at their jobs?

I am a high-functioning Aspie. When I turned 50 I decided to stop play-acting and to just celebrate my autistic self. It has been quite hilarious but mostly wonderful. 😎

It’s dangerous when you try to fix autism. People under this autism spectrum have this unique mind and the world is too usual for such an amazing ability.

People with autism are not a homogeneous group, and not all behaviors that people with autism do should be prohibited, for example, acting on your special interests (depending on the situation), self-stimulating (for example, rocking back and for, jumping around, shaking, etcetera) (depending on the situation), etcetera, should not be prohibited.

When it comes to autism, I'm not "slow", I'm actually "too fast"

I am autistic, and I am sick of videos & individuals like this. They spent the first 2/3's of the video describing how disabling their condition is, and then the last 3rd gaslighting the audience into believing it *ISN'T* a disorder. Make your mind up. I also find it extremely galling when one of these 'high functioning' individuals with privileged backgrounds (in the context of autism: i.e loving families, spouses, friend network, etc) take it upon themselves to speak for the whole community when they start evangelising that it isn't a disorder ... they are literally advocating against the other 'high functioning' autistic individuals who find it completely disabling and require government financial assistance just to keep food in the fridge, the lights on, etc. There's a reason the spotlight is put on individuals like this, and it's *NOT* to serve the community ... it's to work against the community, particularly those who might be considered 'high functioning' - but nevertheless finding themselves much worse off than married, successful individuals like this. I am sickened.

5:37 it did. It’s a disorder that needed to be accommodated. It doesn’t mean you’re abnormal. Neurodivergence is normal.

Autism in each individual is unique, so she might bewith less than mild, my son do pottty and urine on the floor, he is almost 4 years, he is non verbal still, he creates wierd noises at times, and adamend. Pls tell is at what age u diagnosed, and at what age you started speaking, etc

Hard to live around other people being so much clever and more advanced than most people. That is not an illness but can be made by other people into one, not being the same as most. They treat you so bad because they know you are cleverer. Knock you down so they can be the known as cleverer and better. Can he distressing and end up confused and mentally ill. You have turned out so well in this society. To fit in lower your showing of cleverness. Or do better like you have done to explain to the world and take the knockdowns and be proud of yourself. What yourself matters we come into this world alone and go out alone. Your parents and people round obviously are clever and understand and have fitted into society in their own way. No one is made exactly the same. A brain is an exceptional unique thing with every person. Its your concious and kindness and what you feel about yourself that matters. Dont let other people turn it into mental illness through jealousy or whatever. Hard to when other people might make you feel odd. The people who understand you would pretend not to or would be classed as mentally ill as well. Pity they havent got the strength to he themselves and open like you. I just see a very clever open person telling the world who you are.

Anyone else looking for Willne?

There is debate about whether autism is a neurological difference or a neurological disorder, and whether there are causative factors… Gabor Maté (whose work is amazing) has established a correlation between trauma and disease (including differences in gene expression) between autism and trauma, and between maternal stress during pregnancy and autism in the child. It’s easy to see that trauma and autism correlation could indicate causality in either or both directions, but maternal stress looked morę likę a contributory factor. This morning I thought of something else that might explain this correlation - if being autistic makes it more likely to experience trauma, stress, social injustice and social isolation, then it follows that an autistic woman would be more likely to experience these during pregnancy. Autism is shockingly under diagnosed in women in particular. A woman of colour is more likely to experience social injustice and associated stress than a white woman in life in general and also during pregnancy, due to society, and is also more likely to give birth to a POC. So perhaps Dr Maté could be wrong on that one. Autism has long been considered a disorder in the medical model, and even the most brilliant minds can be mistaken. Another thing, there may or may not be a correlation between immunisation (particularly MMR) and subsequent autism diagnosis (I thought that had been ruled out but I read something lately about it that put some doubt in my mind) but even if there is, being autistic and being diagnosed autistic are highly correlated but certainly not the same thing. It seems reasonable to think that an autistic child might be more likely to suffer adverse physical and mental effects from medical procedures in general (which tend to be stressful for anyone) and might therefore be more likely to be traumatised and subsequently experience behavioural changes (such as increased stimming, more extreme meltdowns, and in some cases mutism) which could lead to a previously undiagnosed child being identified as autistic. Not sure how well I expressed all that, but hopefully it makes some sense.

Autism is a disorder. A difference is something that people embrace. A disorder is something that people accommodate because autism disables everyone on the spectrum.

I am 70, recently found out I am autistic (Aspie) and I guess with my phychologist (who is also self-diagnosed Aspie) I will learn who I really am and how to unmask...

👍

❤❤❤❤

This is a story of achievement that can happen but the thing is the spectrum is so vast that when children achieve like this other parents felt so low because their children on the severe end will never be even be close to this. They are medicated and a stigma like mad can be attached. Anyway I am glad she made it thus far and create awareness.

Just felt like I was listening to my own life story:)... painful u know

The best way to make sure autistic people don't get the help and support they need. Autism is a difference but it IS also a handicap and people abuse them.

From many reliable websites , one of them is Raising children network Autistic children have communication difficulties, narrow interests and repetitive behaviour. Early signs of autism might include lack of interest in other people, including lack of eye contact. Autism can be diagnosed in some children from around 18 months of age. Early autism diagnosis means children can have early intervention, which can make a big difference.

Never mask. Be yourself.❤

But what is the solution for how normal people will accommodate us? This diagnoses a problem but doesn't say what to do. There needs to be examples for neurotypicals to follow.

58 years of self loathing.😢

Autism is much more complex and ample than people believe. The medical model defines it as a set of dificits, but that's just it's perspective of what autism looks like, it is not what autism is. So, is autism a disorder, a difference or a disability? Autism isn't a single thing - it has positive elements, neutral elements, and negative elements. Some of these elements can be disabling, yet, generalizing that autism is a disabiltiy is to imply all of it's elements are a disability, which is false.

Oh yeah- My bad, the answer is 13. I'm actually a genius, I'm just 3% autistic is all.

👏🤗

I go to bed at 6 o clock. Maybe thats autism?

This is exactly my story in female version😢❤ I'm just now beginning my unmasking journey.. ❤😳😭😢😊😁😜😎🤞

I’m here because I tried to explain this to my mother and she told me I need diversity training. I sometimes wonder if this world is a comedy show or skit.

Being inclusive doesn't mean dodging the truth, it's okay to have a disorder, many people do with many different disorders and each needs to be treated differently, understand that and get along is inclusivity. Rebranding it and calling it just a "difference" helps no one.

In my experience , autism is bunch of bullies act like victim of narcissism . They insult people and feel good about that