When I first started working with kids with Autism in 2008, adults with Autism would have been born before 1990. Back then only 1 out of every 10,000 people had Autism.
There was no community of adults with Autism. Nobody really knew for sure if adults with Autism could go to work or to school or to college. There were very few adults with Autism who could tell us how they felt, what Autism meant to them and how they wanted to be treated.
But that’s totally changed. Social media has unified a population of adults with Autism. They have a message for us and it is time we listened.
I believe that every teacher who goes into the field of Autism whether they are speech therapists, occupational therapists, social skills therapist, physical therapists or classroom teachers has a good heart. They genuinely want to help people.
That’s why it is so important that we listen to what adults with Autism have to say. Many adults with Autism had positive experiences with therapies as kids. But, it appears that even more didn’t.
Many people with Autism benefited from therapies but the cost was their self esteem, self worth and trauma that they may never fully recover from.
I am choosing to take and stand and personally make sure that this generation of children with Autism never experience the types of things that left Autistic adults rejecting Autism professionals.
It is time we listened. There does not need to be a gap between Autism acceptance and Autism recovery. There is a way in which we can hold people to their highest potential and help them gain skills while accepting and loving them for who they are.
It is time we bridged the gap.
Join me every week at 9pm EST to learn about Autism from the best source possible- adults with Autism.
This week’s episode features Ryan Shindler who shares how people with Autism are just living their life and that conformity comes with a cost.
Please share this with everyone you know and help change Autism treatment forever for the good!
Enjoying these videos? Check out my blog where I go into even more depth on topics just like this one. https://hopeeducationservices.com
Struggling with potty training your child with Autism. Download a free resource guide at Http://www.autismpottytraining.com
Is your child struggling with trying new foods? Download a Free step by step approach to encouraging the most picky eaters to try new things! Http://www.justfreakingeatit.com
Is your child with Autism starting school or are you struggling with developing a meaningful connection with your child’s teachers? Download my free e-Book Http://www.schoolwithautism.com
Are you waiting for ABA services for your child to start or would you like to learn how you can help your child get the most out of ABA therapy. Check out my book on Amazon designed to help parents just like you.
https://www.amazon.com/Parents-Introd… <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>
hey guys and welcome back to bridge the
gap I have some exciting news to share
today is a special day with bridge the
gap because today for the first time
ever we have gone international we are
bringing a guest on from just over the
pond from the UK if you don’t know who I
am my name is Jessica likewise and the
CEO of hope education services
I started bridge the gap because I’ve
noticed there was a big gap between how
people see autism and what adults with
autism say that autism really feels like
and as a result there’s some well
intended professionals that are making
some mistakes so this show is an
invitation for adults with autism to
come on to give us feedback as
professionals in this parents and just
as people in society who want to create
the best world possible for ourselves to
live in on how we can perceive autism in
a way that makes people feel loved and
appreciate it
so today I’m really really excited to
bring Michael Barton on this show and
let me just say a little bit about him
so Michael was diagnosed with autism at
a young age back when it was called
pdd-nos today that would be comparable
to level 2 autism Michael didn’t talk
until he was 3 years old a lot of the
parents who are watching this show now
you have young children maybe they have
a speech delay you’re wondering you know
whether or not your child’s diagnosis
will always be there whether or not they
can improve whether or not they’re going
to be able to learn to speak and to do
amazing things well Michael is going to
be the answer to you for you and he’s
going to show you not tell you but show
you that the answers yes Michael’s
amazing by 7 years old his diagnosis was
changed he was been diagnosed with
high-functioning autism so that answer
his questions parents that’s great can
the oxygen levels change yes they can
today he is a very successful and has in
his media career as a data analyst and
he’s also an autism advocate and public
speaker and it is a privilege and
pleasure to welcome them on the call
welcome Michael hi Jessica I don’t think
very much for having me along I mean
it’s quite an experience of mine to be
featured well across the pond to me in
the United States as well I mean
I have given talks over the past nine
ten years across the UK even in the
Republic of Ireland in one instance but
yeah I haven’t quite broken into those
states just yet
awesome well welcome to the United
States and another exciting thing if you
are watching this this is the first
episode that will also be airing on
local television
so welcome if you’re watching this in
local television if you want to check
out the YouTube channel you can go to
get autism answers calm that’s where you
can subscribe to this channel if you’re
watching this locally but yeah this is a
big exciting exciting week for all of us
so Michael let’s this dive right into
this you know in the fact that you can
and you have these memories and the
ability to tell us about what autism was
like for years a child I certainly want
to go into what it’s like today but
let’s just start from the beginning for
parents that are watching this and
wondering what is their little kid
thinking and experience you know what
was it like for you and you were again
in this very important ended question I
mean one thing about autistic people
while me meticulous but well normal ways
greater answering open-ended questions
preferring to more close questions with
a more simple answer but I’m gonna give
it a shot
none the less so when I was a child as
you’ve already mentioned I was diagnosed
with pdd-nos page two three know that
young age I mean I wasn’t talking as
nonverbal until I was three years old
but the interesting thing is around that
sense I mean for my parents perspective
I mean not many people have too much of
a memory being age three but they said
when I did start talking It was as if I
almost started talking in complete
sentences very quickly so since if I was
listening and taking in all the
information it’s almost as if I chose
not to speak for quite some time which I
think it was quite an interesting
observation and obviously going
throughout my time at school have a
quite support I mean in the UK children
are often given a statement of education
or so yeah a statement of education
which means like this child needs to
have support and yet at the age
seven hours diagnosed with
high-functioning autism which in the new
system would be equivalent to tier 1
autism yeah I think one of the main
things that payments me to be a well for
their children is just well autistic
people are different I mean our brains
are wired differently to everybody else
and I think the one of the best things
that you can do is just appreciate that
your child is different autism is a
developmental condition so our testing
children develop at different weights to
most people that doesn’t mean to say we
won’t develop essential skills like we
may need more help when it comes to
things like social skills but certainly
in my case things like music maths and
the sciences came to be much easier than
they would do for new typical children
so yeah the summary of that is to just
appreciate that your child is unique and
different and to well just help them to
be the best version of themselves yeah
that’s awesome and I think that one of
the things that is undervalued is the
special skill sets that people with
autism bring to our society and you know
we do want to support everyone and the
best way possible and as a result you
have the professionals who want to help
people with autism to gain skills that
may not come as easy but there’s also
this really great asset that people
bring to the table so can you discuss a
little bit about that and about the like
really for you and I’m gonna and this is
good feedback for me making this a more
closed-ended question you know when you
hear about people wanting to help people
with autism or recover people from the
undesirable effects of autism and then
also accepting autism and appreciating
people for who their uniqueness and what
they bring to the table what does that
difference look like for you so the
difference between the strengths
autistic people have compared to that of
you know typical people I mean I think
as a child one of my main assets I mean
instead of stay is something like my
attention to detail so I’m much more
able to pick out small details that most
people don’t usually notice now as a
child this actually proved to be quite a
hindrance because one thing that most
people look for is eye contact
so when you’re speaking to someone it’s
genuinely accepted that you look them in
the eyes when you’re speaking to them in
order to show the other person that
you’re listening to them and to be able
to read their facial expressions now
because they’ll tasted people are very
detail-oriented eye contact as difficult
for me as the child so instead of
leading someone’s facial expression I
might be thinking like my god he’s got a
big nose so if anything it was better
for me to not look at somebody’s face
because it was either I can make eye
contact with you or I can listen to what
you have to say so I mean the solution
which we came up with don’t come this
was for me to look at somebody’s mouth
instead so that I could still pay
attention to what they were saying and
it gave me a focus like if it was a
noisy environment I could try to lick
treat the other person so yeah this is
just one area in which just a slight
workaround has helped me to focus on
what the other person’s saying while
doing something that is socially
acceptable at the same time I mean on
top of attention to detail autistic
people often develop special interests
so an intense interest or obsession with
a specific topic one of the reasons I
think autistic people develop special
interests is to help us control our
environment in a world designed for you
typical people where well we can’t have
the control that we want where we want
to have a good understanding of the
world just like everybody else but well
in so many people oriented world and
autistic people often aren’t so people
oriented more object oriented so this
meant as a child I was interested in
things like dinosaurs sharks and
universe and they’re somewhat inevitably
Pokemon and it meant I could develop
such an intense level of knowledge about
a specific subject that meant that well
it’s quite easy to see that autistic
people can become world experts in their
field of interest and one thing one main
difference I think between being a child
being an adult is that there’s a child
most things are dictated for you like
you have to go to school you have to
have English lessons you have to do
things that you don’t want to do which
is something the autistic people find
hard to accept but as an adult I have
multiple choice over what I do I don’t
have to go to English lessons I don’t
have to
poetry class or doing anything like that
but I don’t like to do and also don’t
have to do a retail customer facing job
which doesn’t play to my strengths
instead unable to play music I’m able to
do Juno which is something else I’ve
done from being a very from a very young
age and also unable to be involved in a
job quite luckily actually because
certainly in the UK only 16% of autistic
adults are in full-time paid employment
so I’m able to be in a job that uses my
skills and abilities because I’m much
more able to look at numbers and
spreadsheets and databases and work
without on a day to day basis rather
than in a customer facing job although
that’s at least gone some way to answer
your question Anna went off a little
better than no I mean this is amazing
and people want to hear from you not for
me they’re this show is about
featuring adults I’m just here to
facilitate and I am learning just as
much as all the parents watching this
show you know working with children is
very different than speaking to adults
and I think that not enough
professionals are listening to adults
and you know back when I started working
with people with autism and I was
working with children it was 2008 when I
started and you know I’ve shared the
Cystic before in the show that meant
that adults would have been born before
1990 at that time Facebook obviously
didn’t exist and at that time there was
believed to be only one in 10,000 people
with autism
I don’t know that those numbers really
are real but what that did mean is there
was you know unit unified adult
population of people with autism and
could do what we’re doing today so this
is just an incredibly unique opportunity
that even just being able to pioneer and
be part of it I learned just as much as
everyone watching this show so please do
all the talking
I did actually I had three follow-up
questions based upon what you said so
let’s see if we can answer the three of
these now a lot of professionals with
autism myself included we teach children
to make eye contact now I tend not to be
that that professional that requires a
child who is verbal and who’s a teenager
to always look at you I also think that
generally speaking because most people
are multitasking they always have
comes next to us you know sometimes even
today I think like that social aspect of
eye contact is is almost not even the
same as it was 10 years ago right you
know me you can be having dinner with
your friends and you’re texting back and
forth and still having you know not with
your family you’re on your phones you’re
scrolling social media and you’re still
having meaningful social engagements I
do think that aspect is changed and I’m
never that person that I just try not to
be that professional that forces those
social etiquettes on people that might
be uncomfortable with them but you know
for me I do teach eye contact for
children at a very young age usually
typically consider under three who are
non-verbal or non vocal at that point so
I’m not talking so I teach them that
they can use eye contact as a means to
request you know for some of this the
children at that age doing something
like a picture system or even pointing
may be really challenging you know and
I’ve heard people say before what eye
contact is hard this is the first time
I’ve heard anyone say it’s distracting
I’ve even heard people say that eye
contact is painful for kids with autism
you know have you found that to be true
and what do you think about the idea of
not forcing eye contact as a teenager if
a person can communicate and it’s then
their choice but as a child trying to
teach them you know this is this is a
this is a method of communication you
can use this to get what you want how
would you feel about that
so eye contact is actually a very
interesting topic it’s one of the first
things that is looked for when it comes
to diagnosing autism to see whether a
person is autistic or not but it’s
actually a very cultural thing in our
Western culture knee and eye contact is
expected but in Muslim culture for
example if a child makes eye contact
with an adult that seen as questioning
now Authority is very disrespectful and
ever also African tribes that suggests
that eye contact is not a good idea
because looking into someone’s eyes is
almost like looking at the Sun and this
is coming from a cultural perspective
not just an autistic perspective but
what I also want to question is when we
say we make eye contact
you don’t constantly look at another
person’s eyes all at the time you’re
having a conversation with someone
maintaining constant eye contact for
more than about a few seconds actually
does feel painful to neurotypical people
that aren’t autistic so I think what
needs to be done is that well we need to
explicitly teach autistic people or
social skills in general but when it
comes to eye contact just autistic
people and children need to know why on
iContact is important it’s like it’s all
part of the whole nonverbal expressions
in like facial expressions but the thing
is autistic people often find nonverbal
communication very difficult to
understand we’ve instead of being a
multi tasking we like to focus on one
thing at a time and just process things
one at a time much like a computer word
for example so I mean when it comes to
eye contact line we want to listen to
what you have to say that’s the main
purpose of having a conversation I
contact or trying to gauge another
person’s facial expressions come
secondary to that so if you put 90% of
our effort trying to understand what
we’re saying
10% to force eye contact every now and
then can be too difficult for many
autistic people particularly children
and it’s something that needs to be
practiced and with anything in life I
believe the more you practice something
the better you get at it and social
skills are absolutely no exception for
that artistic people it’s a hard coded
skill like learning a musical instrument
or learning to drive you need to put in
your 10,000 hours or so or however long
is required in order to master these
skills but the problem is Numa typical
people pick up social skills
instinctively but I just cannot
emphasize enough how important it is
that autistic children need to be
explicitly taught social skills and when
you say you need to make eye contact
with me you need to make it much clearer
and more specific because we like things
to be specific we like the details so
just eye contact for the sake of eye
contact isn’t going to happen because we
don’t necessarily understand the
motivation or purpose but if you explain
more if you at least look at my face
which gives them more
then it shows me that you’re paying
attention to what I’m saying and that
makes me feel good but if that’s the
iterated often enough then what we can
learn social skills it just needs to be
done in a way that well we can
understand yeah that’s really great
advice when I first started working with
kids with autism and this is and I’m in
my background as an ABA and one of the
things we’ve been discussing in the show
and I’ve had this open conversation with
on my youtube channel
is that a B has changed a lot you know
we would have these lessons where we
would sit directly across in the kid and
say look at me he had a late look and
count to five and it was only correct if
they hold it for like five seconds and I
mean that’s just weird
like we don’t really do that in social
directions ah no point in teaching
autistic children something that doesn’t
happen in a social situation very often
exactly but like what I might do is play
like autonomous the training video on
the phone and then pause it and then
wait for them to look at me and as soon
as they look at me I’ll put it back on
as a way of showing them okay they
looking at me was how you were able to
communicate with me and request that you
wanted us so making it very functionally
appropriate I think that it’s important
for professionals who are watching this
to understand that you know making
everything we’re doing very very
functional appropriate making sure it’s
useful and making sure you know if
you’re working with a younger child you
talked about making sure it’s clear as
to why and there’s a purpose behind it
well that looks differently if you’re
teaching obviously you know people who
are older like children that are nine
ten years old who might even be able to
understand you I’m teaching a 20 month
year old to make an eye contact I can’t
do it the same way because a 20 month
year old whether they’re not typical or
artistic they are not going to
understand mostly an explanation period
so it could be very something simple
like okay when you look at me you press
I press I’m behind but that’s different
than just saying look and then like oh
good job you looked at me which is what
a lot of professionals doing it doesn’t
make any sense and it doesn’t really
you’re just teaching someone look means
look issue it’s not really teaching
social skills simple but also I just
wish to be it away
we emphasize the point that autism is a
developmental condition so for a kid
that’s 20 months old like I contact his
can still be uncomfortable for then and
you you just mustn’t have the same
social expectations for a new typical
child of that age as a child who is
autistic especially with young children
may develop at their own weight so you
just need to be cautious when trying to
introduce uncomfortable concepts to them
yeah and that’s like that’s really
really great advice you know and so the
other thing I wanted to ask you about
and this is the opposite end of the
spectrum and this is actually I’m asking
this for a friend of mine she’s gonna
actually come on to the show she has
three children with autism one of them
is an adult and they just started their
first job and they’re in the workplace
and you know they’re struggling because
this is new to them over they actually
have been working but their first
full-time job and it’s overwhelming at
the end of the day they’re having
overloads and you know it’s very
challenging and you brought up the point
that people with autism tend to be
either underemployed or meaning that
they don’t have enough work or they’re
not employed at all and you know there
was this
I think expectation you know 15 20 years
ago that adults with autism would always
so to speak live off the system it
wasn’t necessarily the idea that people
with adults would be able to hurt adults
with autism would be able to work and
support themselves financially and the
great news is is that as we’ve seen this
rise in autism the people are improving
and really a lot of adults with autism
are capable of having jobs and not only
having jobs really making very
meaningful contributions like you said
as a data analyst the fact that you have
autism it makes you uniquely qualified
and I know people who have autism or
programmers where someone is no typical
might not pick up on those details and
can look at this program code for hours
and not figure out what’s wrong and why
it’s not working and some with autism
looks at it instantly and they’re like
well this is exactly what’s wrong so
it’s it we really people have so much to
offer but the world does not seem to
set up in a way that supports people
with autism in a way that makes them
most successful so you know what
supports do you think that the society
would I don’t even want to say people
with autism with benefit from but I
think society and Jenna would benefit
from if we were more inclusive and more
accepting of autism you know how could
we do a really good job of making sure
that people with autism have the
supports they need and the environment
they need to work in and be successful I
think the best thing you can do is just
well treat participe who any other
people like just a human being at the
end of the day it’s like you have
different expectations for different
people and well as we’ve anyone just put
yourselves in a environment in which you
are able to do things to the best of
your ability without any unnecessary
expectations and we certainly can Excel
so good it’s an example which I use I
found out a couple of years ago so I
went to an event in Cardiff that are the
capital of Wales in the UK and there was
a something came along who managed to
own an autistic person was saying that
they were really struggling with their
work now in the UK when it comes to
employment now if you do you you’re not
obliged to say whether you are autistic
or not when it comes to applying for or
having a job but if you do say I’m
autistic
it is required by law that the employer
gives you reasonable adjustments so he
could so this could tell that his
autistic colleague was struggling so he
took them into a meeting room to say
like well you can tell things are not
working for you like what can we do to
help you so they had a discussion on the
things so this employee was struggling
with and they came up with three simple
solutions to help this person we’re much
better firstly at the beginning of the
day like he’d have his own parking space
so every day when he comes into work he
has the same parking space and doesn’t
have all the stress associated with
finding a parking space secondly it was
a
and plan hot-desking office and they
made sure he had his own desk in the
corner of the room and thirdly what they
did was they made sure that other
colleagues could only speak to them
during certain times of the day so that
for the rest of the day they didn’t have
to worry about potential interactions
with other people which can be more
draining for autistic people which meant
he was able to exclusively focus on his
work and these three simple adjustments
meant that this employee was soon doing
the work of all people so when it comes
to visa bill adjustments what I would
say is the small things can make a big
difference but it is very important that
you are consistent with them
like that yeah that’s really good advice
and you know it’s funny because when I
was thinking about more global like
larger supports but it seems like even
the small things can make a really big
difference and it’s just like when it
comes to social situations like you know
typical people don’t find social
situations draining if anything many
neurotypical people actively seek out
social stimulation and interaction but
for many autistic people it’s the other
way around social situations can be
draining for us they can take up a lot
of our mental capacity which certainly
in my case is a data analyst like social
skills aren’t very relevant when it
comes to my job so it’s good to just
know that I can be on my own knowing
that I can just focus on the task in
hand and I can dedicate all of my
brainpower to doing my work rather than
making small talk with my colleagues
which is it gonna get the job done
yeah and that’s and making a great point
now a lot of people with autism in the
United States they wind up in doing
things like working as cashier check ads
or working you know within a grocery
store like bagging groceries those are
jobs that a lot of especially like
someone obviously are very intelligent
and you’re very articulate and we do
know that autism is a spectrum and in
everyone’s stories different not in like
you said your diagnosis has changed not
that won’t be the story for everybody
so there will be people with autism that
are not as articulate as your who may
not necessarily have the academic skills
you’ve had you said you know math came
very naturally to you you know what I
found is there are people with autism
who are exceptionally intelligent and
there’s people with autism that struggle
academically and I don’t even know that
an either spectrum of that that there
that exists in a higher perspective than
in the traditional population of people
you know like everybody there’s people
who have different skill sets and people
who have the ability to do different
things you know I have someone who I’m
gonna bring on this show and I’ve
actually interviewed her before and she
is a she’s working at a grocery store
and you know for her she’s always
getting feedback on that she’s not
dressing appropriately and she feels
highly criticized and she’s not getting
that support that she needed
so what would you feel about like in
terms of the workplace you know for
someone who is in one of those jobs
where they have those social pressures
how can people do a better job of you
know it shouldn’t matter right if she’s
dressed in a way like into this person
likes to run so she’ll run to work in
running clothes and then they’re upset
that you know she’s wearing a running
shirt you know as a society should it
matter you know where should we should
we accept people exactly how they are
all the time or should there be these
social rules and I think not only in
autism but in general what is your
opinion on that idea of acceptance just
that everyone is who they are when it
comes to acceptance it’s a nice ideology
to say we should accept people for who
they are but in reality while people can
put on a grey face or a poker face like
everybody does have their own criticisms
about other people whether they are my
whether you show them or not and in with
any customer-facing role I mean it’s
important to make sure that your
customers are happy I would go as far as
to say like while we consider such
retail jobs to be like bottom of a
ladder but I would argue that many of
those jobs are not actually very well
suited to autistic people I mean if I
were to work in customer services at a
grocery for example I would struggle
with that more than I would struggle
with my current job I find my current
job much easier which certainly pay
considerably more and requires
considerably more Skills than doing
standards customer facing job when it
comes to considering autism spectrum
which is the central point you’ve made
it’s not just the one-dimensional line
like you’re not autistic or you’re very
artistic it’s much more complex than
that because autism is a multi-faceted
condition the way I like to say it like
the human spectrum isn’t sphere I’ve got
a big oh everybody’s on that spectrum
and just one part of it one small
section of it making up a couple of
percent our people that artistic and the
closer you are to this part the more
likely you are to be autistic so it’s a
hugely complex diagram and autism can
cover
huge as I said it’s an essential part of
human spectrum and when it comes to well
how to help autistic people cope in such
retail jobs I mean well I mean autistic
people aren’t necessarily well-suited to
the social world so I would argue for
first-level jobs to get people on the
career ladder things more like sorting
organizing data entry things that make
use of our skills because the current
base level jobs are not well suited to
our skills I mean we’re not always that
great with other people and I’m happy to
accept that autistic people do have
weaknesses and things that we struggle
with but you cannot ignore the things
that we are good at and the people the
purpose in help put us into jobs should
make sure that we’re put into jobs that
do use our skills things that we are
better at I mean I use myself as an
example cause I’ve already said I’m much
better suited to my common bowl as a
data analyst working with databases and
spreadsheets working with billions in
conceivably hainan amount of numbers
every single day and that’s much easier
for me than working in a grocery
yeah that’s a fantastic point and I’m
thinking about that and I’m like well
yeah you know what you’re right because
most of people that are employed in that
position maybe not like yourself who got
to choose an industry these some of the
people who I’m talking about who may
have a little bit less skills probably
were put there by job placements and
we’re probably put there by you know
professionals who just said oh well this
is a base level job let’s put this
person here but without taking into
account that they’re actually making
them face the things that are the most
difficult for them
that’s an incredible point so for people
who are watching this if you are a
professional works with adults or you
are a career writer you help people prep
for careers
let’s really look at what a person’s
strengths are and not put them in a
position where they’re claimed there we
uses every day that’s an incredible
perspective I think this has been an
amazing show and it just that came from
this that is so valuable because I think
it could change everything for adults
with autism if career people that are in
transitioning and people planning for
careers actually got that
right we might live in a very different
society in general like you said adults
with autism have so much to bring to the
table so Michael I just want to close
with you know if you if parents are
watching this and they’re wondering what
autism is like for their child and
they’re wondering what is gonna happen
to their child and you know in just kind
of one minute or less speak to that
parent who’s watching to this and and
let them know you know what’s cool what
is what is going on how can they be the
best possible parent to their child with
autism I mean the best thing that
parents can do is to judge like watch
their child and try to understand their
child and get rid of the preconceived
notions and judgments that most parents
have about their children and just watch
to learn how they function how they act
and interact with their world and just
make them to be the best person Bakke
and possibly be things like social
skills may come later but they have we
have numerous other skills such as
attention to detail which cannot be
forgotten about and things like maths
and the sciences and engineering and
these are all desirable skills to have
in the workplace so it’s just the
question of don’t ignore an autistic
person’s strengths that’s what I would
suggest that may be very difficult in a
world where autism is diagnosed as a
medical condition it’s often the photos
an autism spectrum disorder but being
autistic is a bit like being left-handed
in a world designed for right-handed
people just because someone’s
left-handed doesn’t mean that they’re
broken it’s just you need to treat us as
a unique individual and just my parents
want to me help their child have the
best life possible so I mean just be a
good parent and make sure you’re not
forgetting about your child’s strengths
and what they are good at that’s what
I’m completely
yeah and that’s an incredible way to end
the show so thank you so much Michael I
really appreciate you know thank you for
having me logística and so again if you
tuned in to this maybe this this does
premiere live on YouTube so that may
mean that you didn’t catch the beginning
my name is Jessica likewise I’m the CEO
of hope
education services it’s my privilege
it’s my pleasure and my passion to start
the show to create a conversation
between autistic adults and
professionals on how we can do a really
better job to serve the community I
think a lot of information was brought
out here today it’s been an incredible
experience if you’ve watched the show to
the end I have a free gift for you you
go to my website hope education services
comm drop your name and email and I’m
going to send you the first chapter of
my book just as a gift for watching this
show so thanks again so much Michael and
to everyone who tuned in on my
television for the first time tonight
welcome and thank you for doing that and
that gift is there for you too
[Music]
you
Michael Barton Bridge the Gap nhyA1kZhQsw
hey guys and welcome back to bridge the
gap I have some exciting news to share
today is a special day with bridge the
gap because today for the first time
ever we have gone international we are
bringing a guest on from just over the
pond from the UK if you don’t know who I
am my name is Jessica likewise and the
CEO of hope education services
I started bridge the gap because I’ve
noticed there was a big gap between how
people see autism and what adults with
autism say that autism really feels like
and as a result there’s some well
intended professionals that are making
some mistakes so this show is an
invitation for adults with autism to
come on to give us feedback as
professionals in this parents and just
as people in society who want to create
the best world possible for ourselves to
live in on how we can perceive autism in
a way that makes people feel loved and
appreciate it
so today I’m really really excited to
bring Michael Barton on this show and
let me just say a little bit about him
so Michael was diagnosed with autism at
a young age back when it was called
pdd-nos today that would be comparable
to level 2 autism Michael didn’t talk
until he was 3 years old a lot of the
parents who are watching this show now
you have young children maybe they have
a speech delay you’re wondering you know
whether or not your child’s diagnosis
will always be there whether or not they
can improve whether or not they’re going
to be able to learn to speak and to do
amazing things well Michael is going to
be the answer to you for you and he’s
going to show you not tell you but show
you that the answers yes Michael’s
amazing by 7 years old his diagnosis was
changed he was been diagnosed with
high-functioning autism so that answer
his questions parents that’s great can
the oxygen levels change yes they can
today he is a very successful and has in
his media career as a data analyst and
he’s also an autism advocate and public
speaker and it is a privilege and
pleasure to welcome them on the call
welcome Michael hi Jessica I don’t think
very much for having me along I mean
it’s quite an experience of mine to be
featured well across the pond to me in
the United States as well I mean
I have given talks over the past nine
ten years across the UK even in the
Republic of Ireland in one instance but
yeah I haven’t quite broken into those
states just yet
awesome well welcome to the United
States and another exciting thing if you
are watching this this is the first
episode that will also be airing on
local television
so welcome if you’re watching this in
local television if you want to check
out the YouTube channel you can go to
get autism answers calm that’s where you
can subscribe to this channel if you’re
watching this locally but yeah this is a
big exciting exciting week for all of us
so Michael let’s this dive right into
this you know in the fact that you can
and you have these memories and the
ability to tell us about what autism was
like for years a child I certainly want
to go into what it’s like today but
let’s just start from the beginning for
parents that are watching this and
wondering what is their little kid
thinking and experience you know what
was it like for you and you were again
in this very important ended question I
mean one thing about autistic people
while me meticulous but well normal ways
greater answering open-ended questions
preferring to more close questions with
a more simple answer but I’m gonna give
it a shot
none the less so when I was a child as
you’ve already mentioned I was diagnosed
with pdd-nos page two three know that
young age I mean I wasn’t talking as
nonverbal until I was three years old
but the interesting thing is around that
sense I mean for my parents perspective
I mean not many people have too much of
a memory being age three but they said
when I did start talking It was as if I
almost started talking in complete
sentences very quickly so since if I was
listening and taking in all the
information it’s almost as if I chose
not to speak for quite some time which I
think it was quite an interesting
observation and obviously going
throughout my time at school have a
quite support I mean in the UK children
are often given a statement of education
or so yeah a statement of education
which means like this child needs to
have support and yet at the age
seven hours diagnosed with
high-functioning autism which in the new
system would be equivalent to tier 1
autism yeah I think one of the main
things that payments me to be a well for
their children is just well autistic
people are different I mean our brains
are wired differently to everybody else
and I think the one of the best things
that you can do is just appreciate that
your child is different autism is a
developmental condition so our testing
children develop at different weights to
most people that doesn’t mean to say we
won’t develop essential skills like we
may need more help when it comes to
things like social skills but certainly
in my case things like music maths and
the sciences came to be much easier than
they would do for new typical children
so yeah the summary of that is to just
appreciate that your child is unique and
different and to well just help them to
be the best version of themselves yeah
that’s awesome and I think that one of
the things that is undervalued is the
special skill sets that people with
autism bring to our society and you know
we do want to support everyone and the
best way possible and as a result you
have the professionals who want to help
people with autism to gain skills that
may not come as easy but there’s also
this really great asset that people
bring to the table so can you discuss a
little bit about that and about the like
really for you and I’m gonna and this is
good feedback for me making this a more
closed-ended question you know when you
hear about people wanting to help people
with autism or recover people from the
undesirable effects of autism and then
also accepting autism and appreciating
people for who their uniqueness and what
they bring to the table what does that
difference look like for you so the
difference between the strengths
autistic people have compared to that of
you know typical people I mean I think
as a child one of my main assets I mean
instead of stay is something like my
attention to detail so I’m much more
able to pick out small details that most
people don’t usually notice now as a
child this actually proved to be quite a
hindrance because one thing that most
people look for is eye contact
so when you’re speaking to someone it’s
genuinely accepted that you look them in
the eyes when you’re speaking to them in
order to show the other person that
you’re listening to them and to be able
to read their facial expressions now
because they’ll tasted people are very
detail-oriented eye contact as difficult
for me as the child so instead of
leading someone’s facial expression I
might be thinking like my god he’s got a
big nose so if anything it was better
for me to not look at somebody’s face
because it was either I can make eye
contact with you or I can listen to what
you have to say so I mean the solution
which we came up with don’t come this
was for me to look at somebody’s mouth
instead so that I could still pay
attention to what they were saying and
it gave me a focus like if it was a
noisy environment I could try to lick
treat the other person so yeah this is
just one area in which just a slight
workaround has helped me to focus on
what the other person’s saying while
doing something that is socially
acceptable at the same time I mean on
top of attention to detail autistic
people often develop special interests
so an intense interest or obsession with
a specific topic one of the reasons I
think autistic people develop special
interests is to help us control our
environment in a world designed for you
typical people where well we can’t have
the control that we want where we want
to have a good understanding of the
world just like everybody else but well
in so many people oriented world and
autistic people often aren’t so people
oriented more object oriented so this
meant as a child I was interested in
things like dinosaurs sharks and
universe and they’re somewhat inevitably
Pokemon and it meant I could develop
such an intense level of knowledge about
a specific subject that meant that well
it’s quite easy to see that autistic
people can become world experts in their
field of interest and one thing one main
difference I think between being a child
being an adult is that there’s a child
most things are dictated for you like
you have to go to school you have to
have English lessons you have to do
things that you don’t want to do which
is something the autistic people find
hard to accept but as an adult I have
multiple choice over what I do I don’t
have to go to English lessons I don’t
have to
poetry class or doing anything like that
but I don’t like to do and also don’t
have to do a retail customer facing job
which doesn’t play to my strengths
instead unable to play music I’m able to
do Juno which is something else I’ve
done from being a very from a very young
age and also unable to be involved in a
job quite luckily actually because
certainly in the UK only 16% of autistic
adults are in full-time paid employment
so I’m able to be in a job that uses my
skills and abilities because I’m much
more able to look at numbers and
spreadsheets and databases and work
without on a day to day basis rather
than in a customer facing job although
that’s at least gone some way to answer
your question Anna went off a little
better than no I mean this is amazing
and people want to hear from you not for
me they’re this show is about
featuring adults I’m just here to
facilitate and I am learning just as
much as all the parents watching this
show you know working with children is
very different than speaking to adults
and I think that not enough
professionals are listening to adults
and you know back when I started working
with people with autism and I was
working with children it was 2008 when I
started and you know I’ve shared the
Cystic before in the show that meant
that adults would have been born before
1990 at that time Facebook obviously
didn’t exist and at that time there was
believed to be only one in 10,000 people
with autism
I don’t know that those numbers really
are real but what that did mean is there
was you know unit unified adult
population of people with autism and
could do what we’re doing today so this
is just an incredibly unique opportunity
that even just being able to pioneer and
be part of it I learned just as much as
everyone watching this show so please do
all the talking
I did actually I had three follow-up
questions based upon what you said so
let’s see if we can answer the three of
these now a lot of professionals with
autism myself included we teach children
to make eye contact now I tend not to be
that that professional that requires a
child who is verbal and who’s a teenager
to always look at you I also think that
generally speaking because most people
are multitasking they always have
comes next to us you know sometimes even
today I think like that social aspect of
eye contact is is almost not even the
same as it was 10 years ago right you
know me you can be having dinner with
your friends and you’re texting back and
forth and still having you know not with
your family you’re on your phones you’re
scrolling social media and you’re still
having meaningful social engagements I
do think that aspect is changed and I’m
never that person that I just try not to
be that professional that forces those
social etiquettes on people that might
be uncomfortable with them but you know
for me I do teach eye contact for
children at a very young age usually
typically consider under three who are
non-verbal or non vocal at that point so
I’m not talking so I teach them that
they can use eye contact as a means to
request you know for some of this the
children at that age doing something
like a picture system or even pointing
may be really challenging you know and
I’ve heard people say before what eye
contact is hard this is the first time
I’ve heard anyone say it’s distracting
I’ve even heard people say that eye
contact is painful for kids with autism
you know have you found that to be true
and what do you think about the idea of
not forcing eye contact as a teenager if
a person can communicate and it’s then
their choice but as a child trying to
teach them you know this is this is a
this is a method of communication you
can use this to get what you want how
would you feel about that
so eye contact is actually a very
interesting topic it’s one of the first
things that is looked for when it comes
to diagnosing autism to see whether a
person is autistic or not but it’s
actually a very cultural thing in our
Western culture knee and eye contact is
expected but in Muslim culture for
example if a child makes eye contact
with an adult that seen as questioning
now Authority is very disrespectful and
ever also African tribes that suggests
that eye contact is not a good idea
because looking into someone’s eyes is
almost like looking at the Sun and this
is coming from a cultural perspective
not just an autistic perspective but
what I also want to question is when we
say we make eye contact
you don’t constantly look at another
person’s eyes all at the time you’re
having a conversation with someone
maintaining constant eye contact for
more than about a few seconds actually
does feel painful to neurotypical people
that aren’t autistic so I think what
needs to be done is that well we need to
explicitly teach autistic people or
social skills in general but when it
comes to eye contact just autistic
people and children need to know why on
iContact is important it’s like it’s all
part of the whole nonverbal expressions
in like facial expressions but the thing
is autistic people often find nonverbal
communication very difficult to
understand we’ve instead of being a
multi tasking we like to focus on one
thing at a time and just process things
one at a time much like a computer word
for example so I mean when it comes to
eye contact line we want to listen to
what you have to say that’s the main
purpose of having a conversation I
contact or trying to gauge another
person’s facial expressions come
secondary to that so if you put 90% of
our effort trying to understand what
we’re saying
10% to force eye contact every now and
then can be too difficult for many
autistic people particularly children
and it’s something that needs to be
practiced and with anything in life I
believe the more you practice something
the better you get at it and social
skills are absolutely no exception for
that artistic people it’s a hard coded
skill like learning a musical instrument
or learning to drive you need to put in
your 10,000 hours or so or however long
is required in order to master these
skills but the problem is Numa typical
people pick up social skills
instinctively but I just cannot
emphasize enough how important it is
that autistic children need to be
explicitly taught social skills and when
you say you need to make eye contact
with me you need to make it much clearer
and more specific because we like things
to be specific we like the details so
just eye contact for the sake of eye
contact isn’t going to happen because we
don’t necessarily understand the
motivation or purpose but if you explain
more if you at least look at my face
which gives them more
then it shows me that you’re paying
attention to what I’m saying and that
makes me feel good but if that’s the
iterated often enough then what we can
learn social skills it just needs to be
done in a way that well we can
understand yeah that’s really great
advice when I first started working with
kids with autism and this is and I’m in
my background as an ABA and one of the
things we’ve been discussing in the show
and I’ve had this open conversation with
on my youtube channel
is that a B has changed a lot you know
we would have these lessons where we
would sit directly across in the kid and
say look at me he had a late look and
count to five and it was only correct if
they hold it for like five seconds and I
mean that’s just weird
like we don’t really do that in social
directions ah no point in teaching
autistic children something that doesn’t
happen in a social situation very often
exactly but like what I might do is play
like autonomous the training video on
the phone and then pause it and then
wait for them to look at me and as soon
as they look at me I’ll put it back on
as a way of showing them okay they
looking at me was how you were able to
communicate with me and request that you
wanted us so making it very functionally
appropriate I think that it’s important
for professionals who are watching this
to understand that you know making
everything we’re doing very very
functional appropriate making sure it’s
useful and making sure you know if
you’re working with a younger child you
talked about making sure it’s clear as
to why and there’s a purpose behind it
well that looks differently if you’re
teaching obviously you know people who
are older like children that are nine
ten years old who might even be able to
understand you I’m teaching a 20 month
year old to make an eye contact I can’t
do it the same way because a 20 month
year old whether they’re not typical or
artistic they are not going to
understand mostly an explanation period
so it could be very something simple
like okay when you look at me you press
I press I’m behind but that’s different
than just saying look and then like oh
good job you looked at me which is what
a lot of professionals doing it doesn’t
make any sense and it doesn’t really
you’re just teaching someone look means
look issue it’s not really teaching
social skills simple but also I just
wish to be it away
we emphasize the point that autism is a
developmental condition so for a kid
that’s 20 months old like I contact his
can still be uncomfortable for then and
you you just mustn’t have the same
social expectations for a new typical
child of that age as a child who is
autistic especially with young children
may develop at their own weight so you
just need to be cautious when trying to
introduce uncomfortable concepts to them
yeah and that’s like that’s really
really great advice you know and so the
other thing I wanted to ask you about
and this is the opposite end of the
spectrum and this is actually I’m asking
this for a friend of mine she’s gonna
actually come on to the show she has
three children with autism one of them
is an adult and they just started their
first job and they’re in the workplace
and you know they’re struggling because
this is new to them over they actually
have been working but their first
full-time job and it’s overwhelming at
the end of the day they’re having
overloads and you know it’s very
challenging and you brought up the point
that people with autism tend to be
either underemployed or meaning that
they don’t have enough work or they’re
not employed at all and you know there
was this
I think expectation you know 15 20 years
ago that adults with autism would always
so to speak live off the system it
wasn’t necessarily the idea that people
with adults would be able to hurt adults
with autism would be able to work and
support themselves financially and the
great news is is that as we’ve seen this
rise in autism the people are improving
and really a lot of adults with autism
are capable of having jobs and not only
having jobs really making very
meaningful contributions like you said
as a data analyst the fact that you have
autism it makes you uniquely qualified
and I know people who have autism or
programmers where someone is no typical
might not pick up on those details and
can look at this program code for hours
and not figure out what’s wrong and why
it’s not working and some with autism
looks at it instantly and they’re like
well this is exactly what’s wrong so
it’s it we really people have so much to
offer but the world does not seem to
set up in a way that supports people
with autism in a way that makes them
most successful so you know what
supports do you think that the society
would I don’t even want to say people
with autism with benefit from but I
think society and Jenna would benefit
from if we were more inclusive and more
accepting of autism you know how could
we do a really good job of making sure
that people with autism have the
supports they need and the environment
they need to work in and be successful I
think the best thing you can do is just
well treat participe who any other
people like just a human being at the
end of the day it’s like you have
different expectations for different
people and well as we’ve anyone just put
yourselves in a environment in which you
are able to do things to the best of
your ability without any unnecessary
expectations and we certainly can Excel
so good it’s an example which I use I
found out a couple of years ago so I
went to an event in Cardiff that are the
capital of Wales in the UK and there was
a something came along who managed to
own an autistic person was saying that
they were really struggling with their
work now in the UK when it comes to
employment now if you do you you’re not
obliged to say whether you are autistic
or not when it comes to applying for or
having a job but if you do say I’m
autistic
it is required by law that the employer
gives you reasonable adjustments so he
could so this could tell that his
autistic colleague was struggling so he
took them into a meeting room to say
like well you can tell things are not
working for you like what can we do to
help you so they had a discussion on the
things so this employee was struggling
with and they came up with three simple
solutions to help this person we’re much
better firstly at the beginning of the
day like he’d have his own parking space
so every day when he comes into work he
has the same parking space and doesn’t
have all the stress associated with
finding a parking space secondly it was
a
and plan hot-desking office and they
made sure he had his own desk in the
corner of the room and thirdly what they
did was they made sure that other
colleagues could only speak to them
during certain times of the day so that
for the rest of the day they didn’t have
to worry about potential interactions
with other people which can be more
draining for autistic people which meant
he was able to exclusively focus on his
work and these three simple adjustments
meant that this employee was soon doing
the work of all people so when it comes
to visa bill adjustments what I would
say is the small things can make a big
difference but it is very important that
you are consistent with them
like that yeah that’s really good advice
and you know it’s funny because when I
was thinking about more global like
larger supports but it seems like even
the small things can make a really big
difference and it’s just like when it
comes to social situations like you know
typical people don’t find social
situations draining if anything many
neurotypical people actively seek out
social stimulation and interaction but
for many autistic people it’s the other
way around social situations can be
draining for us they can take up a lot
of our mental capacity which certainly
in my case is a data analyst like social
skills aren’t very relevant when it
comes to my job so it’s good to just
know that I can be on my own knowing
that I can just focus on the task in
hand and I can dedicate all of my
brainpower to doing my work rather than
making small talk with my colleagues
which is it gonna get the job done
yeah and that’s and making a great point
now a lot of people with autism in the
United States they wind up in doing
things like working as cashier check ads
or working you know within a grocery
store like bagging groceries those are
jobs that a lot of especially like
someone obviously are very intelligent
and you’re very articulate and we do
know that autism is a spectrum and in
everyone’s stories different not in like
you said your diagnosis has changed not
that won’t be the story for everybody
so there will be people with autism that
are not as articulate as your who may
not necessarily have the academic skills
you’ve had you said you know math came
very naturally to you you know what I
found is there are people with autism
who are exceptionally intelligent and
there’s people with autism that struggle
academically and I don’t even know that
an either spectrum of that that there
that exists in a higher perspective than
in the traditional population of people
you know like everybody there’s people
who have different skill sets and people
who have the ability to do different
things you know I have someone who I’m
gonna bring on this show and I’ve
actually interviewed her before and she
is a she’s working at a grocery store
and you know for her she’s always
getting feedback on that she’s not
dressing appropriately and she feels
highly criticized and she’s not getting
that support that she needed
so what would you feel about like in
terms of the workplace you know for
someone who is in one of those jobs
where they have those social pressures
how can people do a better job of you
know it shouldn’t matter right if she’s
dressed in a way like into this person
likes to run so she’ll run to work in
running clothes and then they’re upset
that you know she’s wearing a running
shirt you know as a society should it
matter you know where should we should
we accept people exactly how they are
all the time or should there be these
social rules and I think not only in
autism but in general what is your
opinion on that idea of acceptance just
that everyone is who they are when it
comes to acceptance it’s a nice ideology
to say we should accept people for who
they are but in reality while people can
put on a grey face or a poker face like
everybody does have their own criticisms
about other people whether they are my
whether you show them or not and in with
any customer-facing role I mean it’s
important to make sure that your
customers are happy I would go as far as
to say like while we consider such
retail jobs to be like bottom of a
ladder but I would argue that many of
those jobs are not actually very well
suited to autistic people I mean if I
were to work in customer services at a
grocery for example I would struggle
with that more than I would struggle
with my current job I find my current
job much easier which certainly pay
considerably more and requires
considerably more Skills than doing
standards customer facing job when it
comes to considering autism spectrum
which is the central point you’ve made
it’s not just the one-dimensional line
like you’re not autistic or you’re very
artistic it’s much more complex than
that because autism is a multi-faceted
condition the way I like to say it like
the human spectrum isn’t sphere I’ve got
a big oh everybody’s on that spectrum
and just one part of it one small
section of it making up a couple of
percent our people that artistic and the
closer you are to this part the more
likely you are to be autistic so it’s a
hugely complex diagram and autism can
cover
huge as I said it’s an essential part of
human spectrum and when it comes to well
how to help autistic people cope in such
retail jobs I mean well I mean autistic
people aren’t necessarily well-suited to
the social world so I would argue for
first-level jobs to get people on the
career ladder things more like sorting
organizing data entry things that make
use of our skills because the current
base level jobs are not well suited to
our skills I mean we’re not always that
great with other people and I’m happy to
accept that autistic people do have
weaknesses and things that we struggle
with but you cannot ignore the things
that we are good at and the people the
purpose in help put us into jobs should
make sure that we’re put into jobs that
do use our skills things that we are
better at I mean I use myself as an
example cause I’ve already said I’m much
better suited to my common bowl as a
data analyst working with databases and
spreadsheets working with billions in
conceivably hainan amount of numbers
every single day and that’s much easier
for me than working in a grocery
yeah that’s a fantastic point and I’m
thinking about that and I’m like well
yeah you know what you’re right because
most of people that are employed in that
position maybe not like yourself who got
to choose an industry these some of the
people who I’m talking about who may
have a little bit less skills probably
were put there by job placements and
we’re probably put there by you know
professionals who just said oh well this
is a base level job let’s put this
person here but without taking into
account that they’re actually making
them face the things that are the most
difficult for them
that’s an incredible point so for people
who are watching this if you are a
professional works with adults or you
are a career writer you help people prep
for careers
let’s really look at what a person’s
strengths are and not put them in a
position where they’re claimed there we
uses every day that’s an incredible
perspective I think this has been an
amazing show and it just that came from
this that is so valuable because I think
it could change everything for adults
with autism if career people that are in
transitioning and people planning for
careers actually got that
right we might live in a very different
society in general like you said adults
with autism have so much to bring to the
table so Michael I just want to close
with you know if you if parents are
watching this and they’re wondering what
autism is like for their child and
they’re wondering what is gonna happen
to their child and you know in just kind
of one minute or less speak to that
parent who’s watching to this and and
let them know you know what’s cool what
is what is going on how can they be the
best possible parent to their child with
autism I mean the best thing that
parents can do is to judge like watch
their child and try to understand their
child and get rid of the preconceived
notions and judgments that most parents
have about their children and just watch
to learn how they function how they act
and interact with their world and just
make them to be the best person Bakke
and possibly be things like social
skills may come later but they have we
have numerous other skills such as
attention to detail which cannot be
forgotten about and things like maths
and the sciences and engineering and
these are all desirable skills to have
in the workplace so it’s just the
question of don’t ignore an autistic
person’s strengths that’s what I would
suggest that may be very difficult in a
world where autism is diagnosed as a
medical condition it’s often the photos
an autism spectrum disorder but being
autistic is a bit like being left-handed
in a world designed for right-handed
people just because someone’s
left-handed doesn’t mean that they’re
broken it’s just you need to treat us as
a unique individual and just my parents
want to me help their child have the
best life possible so I mean just be a
good parent and make sure you’re not
forgetting about your child’s strengths
and what they are good at that’s what
I’m completely
yeah and that’s an incredible way to end
the show so thank you so much Michael I
really appreciate you know thank you for
having me logística and so again if you
tuned in to this maybe this this does
premiere live on YouTube so that may
mean that you didn’t catch the beginning
my name is Jessica likewise I’m the CEO
of hope
education services it’s my privilege
it’s my pleasure and my passion to start
the show to create a conversation
between autistic adults and
professionals on how we can do a really
better job to serve the community I
think a lot of information was brought
out here today it’s been an incredible
experience if you’ve watched the show to
the end I have a free gift for you you
go to my website hope education services
comm drop your name and email and I’m
going to send you the first chapter of
my book just as a gift for watching this
show so thanks again so much Michael and
to everyone who tuned in on my
television for the first time tonight
welcome and thank you for doing that and
that gift is there for you too
[Music]
you
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nhyA1kZhQsw/hqdefault.jpg yt,youtube When I first started working with kids with Autism in 2008, adults with Autism would have been born before 1990. Back then only 1 out of every 10,000 people had Autism.
There was no community of adults with Autism. Nobody really knew for sure if adults with Autism could go to work or to school or to college. There were very few adults with Autism who could tell us how they felt, what Autism meant to them and how they wanted to be treated.
But that’s totally changed. Social media has unified a population of adults with Autism. They have a message for us and it is time we listened.
I believe that every teacher who goes into the field of Autism whether they are speech therapists, occupational therapists, social skills therapist, physical therapists or classroom teachers has a good heart. They genuinely want to help people.
That’s why it is so important that we listen to what adults with Autism have to say. Many adults with Autism had positive experiences with therapies as kids. But, it appears that even more didn’t.
Many people with Autism benefited from therapies but the cost was their self esteem, self worth and trauma that they may never fully recover from.
I am choosing to take and stand and personally make sure that this generation of children with Autism never experience the types of things that left Autistic adults rejecting Autism professionals.
It is time we listened. There does not need to be a gap between Autism acceptance and Autism recovery. There is a way in which we can hold people to their highest potential and help them gain skills while accepting and loving them for who they are.
It is time we bridged the gap.
Join me every week at 9pm EST to learn about Autism from the best source possible- adults with Autism.
This week’s episode features Ryan Shindler who shares how people with Autism are just living their life and that conformity comes with a cost.
Please share this with everyone you know and help change Autism treatment forever for the good!
Enjoying these videos? Check out my blog where I go into even more depth on topics just like this one. https://hopeeducationservices.com
Struggling with potty training your child with Autism. Download a free resource guide at Http://www.autismpottytraining.com
Is your child struggling with trying new foods? Download a Free step by step approach to encouraging the most picky eaters to try new things! Http://www.justfreakingeatit.com
Is your child with Autism starting school or are you struggling with developing a meaningful connection with your child’s teachers? Download my free e-Book Http://www.schoolwithautism.com
Are you waiting for ABA services for your child to start or would you like to learn how you can help your child get the most out of ABA therapy. Check out my book on Amazon designed to help parents just like you.
https://www.amazon.com/Parents-Introd…
