In My Language (An autistic point of view)

[/DG/]

I came across this video a while ago. It's a video of an autistic woman sharing how she interacts with the world and other things. I'm not really great with words, so I can't really explain how I feel about this video... so hopefully you guys can discuss it.

[YOUTUBE="JnylM1hI2jc"]In My Language[/YOUTUBE]

The user also made some other interesting videos that were really eye-opening for me. It's a shame, though, because she hasn't posted any new videos in years.

 

[Betty Blue]

I saw this video a while ago and thought it was fantastic. I actually posted a link to it in a thread but sadly it was not viewed much.
I hope that this thread gets a lot of responses because i believe this video shatters a lot of misconceptions regarding people with autism especially those which are considered low functioning.

This video really amazed me, not because i thought it was impossible but because of her ability to communicate ideas i had floating around in my own mind about my own child and other autistic individuals i know. Particularly regarding what is often referred to as stimming.

Not being autistic myself i am often scoffed at when i suggest low functioning autistic people are highly intelligent individuals. People always ask for evidence, proof, data & statistics.
Well here is some proof, i don't think you can argue with it's water tightness. Hopefully this video will shatter some of those misconceptions. However i do worry that some may say you can't base a theory on one individual, or even a small group of people who chose to communicate.

The part of this video i most enjoyed was watching her interaction with water, prehaps because i have a natural affinity with water myself and understand from a personal perspective what it means to communicate with water.
I have much more to discuss, will leave it here for now.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

Very interesting video, thanks for posting it. I don't really have enough experience with autism or people who have experience with autism to have had many preconceptions to break. I've often thought I don't take enough notice of my surroundings -- especially those I'm familiar with. I see what I expect to see, and often what I see is not the object itself but its function. I've sometimes wondered if this is part of the reason an untidy personal environment bothers me so little. I don't see a messy heap of books, I see the stories within those books. I don't see a pen laying on the floor, I see writing. I don't see a computer desk littered with game disks, various papers, tobacco packets, deodorant and panadol packets. I see everything I use those for, and the internal environments of which they are peripherals. I barely see anything around me at all if I'm familiar enough with it. That video made me feel like I was equally and oppositely autistic, if that make sense, and the poorer for it. Or anti-autistic.

I found the singing and hand gestures at the window particularly evocative. I'll probably try it out myself sometime, it looked so satisfying.

 

[CrystalViolet]

^Kinda like they are bit closer to god, if you believe in that sort of thing.

The first part of the video, was like a gentle ocean of feeling. I caught a glimspe. It makes me also think of a book The bone people, where there's an autistic character who builds music hutches.
The second part just blew me away, because she's right, you know.

 

[INTP]

very interesting video. the first part was weird for me, not that i think she was weird, but in some weird intuitive level i could understand her almost fully.

the way she interacted with the surroundings reminded me of myself in some way, i dont overdo(compared to "normal" people) it like she did, but the rhythmic on the interaction(and how it represented how she felt about them) felt fimilar to me. sometimes i get the urge to do things kinda like she did, like now i scratched the ',' button few times in a rhythmic way, if i would have used different rhythm doing it or done it one time too much or less it wouldnt had be right in some weird way. and mmm it felt kinda like the way she did those things i could read them because i feel like i can read the rhythms she uses and how the rhythms change.

 

[Little Linguist]

I'm speechless.

And believe me - it takes a lot to make me speechless.

 

[Halla74]

Thank you so much for posting this.

A good friend of mine is a phD behavior analyst, and has been working with children with autism spectrum disorders for over a decade.

This video solidifed many conversations I had with him about what he does, and the people he serves.

I work for an agency that serves people with developmental disabilities. In my state, only the most severe forms of autism qualify individuals for any type of program funding, whether state or state/federal combined. My agency provides services to 30,000 people with developmental disabilities of some kind or another, and there is a wait list of 20,000 people trying to receive services of any kind. The annual cost to provide services to 30,000 developmentally disabled peopleis $805,000,000.

Assuming that the level of need for the 20,000 people on the wait list is similar to the 30,000 people being served (which is logical as it is a similar case mix of people with the same developmental disabilities, those that qualify for funding that is) the budget necessary to serve all 50,000 people would be $1,333,333,333.

There is a HUGE need for people with developmental disabilities and their families to have access to home and community based services (HCBS) to assist them in living their lives, and to keep them out of institutions. Institutions are the HIGHEST COST LEVEL of CARE, so despite the apparent staggering costs of HCBS, they pale in comparison to institutional options, and also allow people living with developmental disabilities to live a life of dignity in their communities, and/or with their families.

-Halla

 

[Saslou]

That was so incredibly moving .. I know not the correct language to give that video it's true justification.

It was beautiful.

 

[/DG/]

Thank you for the responses, guys.

 

[Moiety]

Her "singing" reminds me of what I used to do for hours when I was kid in my room myself.

 

[Walking Tourist]

It was beautiful. I didn't understand much of the first part of the video but her movements, her song, and the water... that was beautiful! I love water, too. She has a great relationship with the water. She truly has a beautiful mind.