Autism, Life & Learning
So this is something that has taken a while to get going but it is here. I have just started my Podcast. It will be focusing on the same things as what I do here, just this time you can hear it rather then read it. I will do some audio version of my blog or will be doing Podcast exclusives as well as blog exclusives for those who just want to read. My first Episode is going to be out on Monday the 30th September at 12 pm in the afternoon. It is just some FAQs, Frequently Asked Questions, to start off. You can listen to the podcast at any of these places: Anchor Google Podcast Spotify Breaker RadioPublic I am still figuring out the time schedule but you can count on at least one of each once a week. I hope you enjoy it.
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Hello and Welcome to Autism, Life and Learning Podcast. I am the Autistic Gecko. On this Podcast I will be talking about autism. I will also give my viewpoints on certain topics such as, school, friendships and challenging some of the stereotypical traits that have been made. I also have a blog which I will keep in the description. Here I talk about the same things, if you want a bit of light reading. I will try and follow the same format as what I do in my blog, but I must point out that these are my views and my views alone. Before anyone has a chance to think or say anything. I, Myself have Autism, to be more specific, I have High Functioning Autism or Aspergers Syndrome. So I do have knowledge in autism, mainly mine, but I also have friends who are also on the spectrum. I do also use the labels for autism, so people who don’t like these be warned.
In this podcast I thought I would talk about some Frequently Asked Questions or FAQs, if you want to call them that, about Autism. So let’s get to our first question. What is Autism? This is a bit of an open question, but lets try anyway: Autism is a disorder that affects different aspects of the person's life. If you are autistic, you are born Autistic. It is not from vaccines, diet, bad parenting and it's definitely not from any infections. For some people they have limited communication or emotions whilst others have heightened emotions and can be hyper-verbal. Most autistics are sensitive to light and sound. There are two different names for autism: one is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), this is the medical term for Autism and it is what some autistics will say they have. The other will say they have Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). They are the same thing, but ASC sounds less scary then saying you have a disorder. So what do I mean by High Functioning Autism Or Asperger's Syndrome? High Functioning Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome are labels within the Autism Spectrum Disorder. There are lots of different labels but the most common are: Non-verbal Autism, Low Functioning Autism, Mild Autism, High Functioning Autism , Asperger’s Syndrome and Atypical Autism. These are the labels I alluded to earlier. I do use them purely because it is easier for me to understand that person's view and time I can give them for processing or how complex I can go, because I can go on about a topic, if they are Low Functioning then they aren’t going to tolerate or want me to if they have High functioning they may not be able to tolerate it but more than likely they will want me to keep talking about that topic so they can share their opinion or understand more of that topic. Also in most places these labels are the medical diagnosis for that person. So I got diagnosed with Higher functioning Autism and/or Asperger’s Syndrome, this is because some people don’t like or count Asperger’s as part of the Spectrum. So what do I mean by ‘on the spectrum’? So ‘on the spectrum’ means where are they in terms of their and others labels, like Low Functioning Autism, Mild Autism and High Functioning Autism. This is because people are more than just their diagnosis, they could be really good at Art, Science or Geography. So some people, like myself, say in response I have High Functioning Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, but I am really good at Science. (I know that is super stereotypical). What is Neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is a bunch of different disorders that make up a group call neurodiversity and in this group it includes: Autism, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, Bipolar Disorder and Tourette’s and sorry if I have managed to miss any out. I will explain this fully at a later date. So what if you don’t fit to neurodiversity what are you? Well firstly, Human- I at least hope. Joking aside if you have no medical conditions or disorders that don’t involve the brain then you're neurotypical, lucky you- you are now typical. Can Autism be cured? Well there are two answers, the short one is; no! The long one is no it can’t be cured because there is nothing to cure. Autism is essentially the brain looking at information in a different way then to a standard brain it make take in more or less information, it may be really good with the numbers, but really poor at imagining them. It could be really good at remembering almost like a photograph, but yet with no idea how you have taken that photograph. So there is nothing wrong, it’s just a different way of looking at things. Well, that is it for this podcast. I want to say thank you if you have listened to the end. If you do want to read this, then I will put it on the blog. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. To listen to the podcast you can hear it at any of these places: Anchor Google Podcast Spotify Breaker RadioPublic So I’m shaking things up on this post (if that is even possible). So the time has come again everyone is going back to school, college or university. So in my case I am starting my second year at the open university. This time one of my friends, Wooper is leaving for university for the first time. So it's definitely an emotional time for them, as well they are leaving to study elsewhere and it is for their friends as we have to say goodbye and we not Wooper for at least an academic year. So in my position that is a big change, but it is one I can luckily adjust to; as I have had to get used to other friends such as Sunflower and Waves go to University. It made it easier as me and Sunflower got to see Wooper before and catch up before all the tears and everything else starts- and that's just me ;). We all talked about different things, it felt so good as they are such good friends with them you wouldn’t know that I had autism and what makes it even better is that they don’t even care if I am Autistic. So I can just be me. I really enjoyed talking to Sunflower and Wooper, we talked about most things… I think. One thing we differently talk about is mental health, because we have all been there and see what happens if we don’t help or talk about it. and we try are best to help others if we can, again I hope. It's gonna be hard to not see that blue for a while, but I’m guessing that what social media is for. Anyway, I wish Wooper the best. I know I haven’t got many people I would call ‘a friend’, but Wooper is one I can call that. The university is definitely lucky to have you as a student. I know college wasn’t the best for lots of different circumstances. Hopefully I will see you before when I am racing. If not, I thought I would show a picture, like I did for my last goodbye blog post. See its a Wooper, not a person like my last blog post. Hopefully Wooper will evolve into the best version of themselves or a Quagsire- either way I’m happy ;).
So with that I hope you are aiming high and your results and everything goes even higher. So when I planned this GCSEs had just started. In real time and other issues I have missed GSCEs by around two to three months. I already know that GCSEs are usually stressful for neurotypicals. I am going to try and show you a point of view of what it is like for someone like me on the spectrum. Lets start with the start of the day. So you will wake up and you will plan what you have that day. In that order will be something like: What is happening today? -Get dressed - Go to school - the lessons will be: Geography, English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry. - I am meeting a friend [a place] at break - I am going to eat [food] at break, then I am going to eat [food] at lunch - I can't twitch, I have to be invisible/ blend in. - Any extras? - [Yes] - a Test- what time, 09:30-11:00, 14:00-15:30 *ERROR* Time clash Geography starts at 09:15 *ERROR* Time clash Chemistry starts at 14:00 Replace Geography with maths Replace Chemistry with [Pick Subject] What is happening today? -Get dressed - Go to school - the lessons will be: Maths, English, Maths, Physics, [Subject]. - I am meeting a friend [a place] at break - I am going to eat [food] at break, then I am going to eat [food] at lunch - I can't twitch, I have to be invisible/ blend in. - Any extras? - [Yes] - a Test- what time, 09:30-11:00, 14:00-15:30 *updating changes* takes up to 24hrs Now when they arrive at school. There are differnt things most people with Autism have to deal with: - Bullies - Teachers - Random people -Random/ unforeseen events This is after. - Environmental checks - Lighting - Sound -Distance between people - Social ques - People emotions - Masking any form of being different (your experiences may differ) So they have now arrived at school, still processing the day and now we have to contend with tutorial. So they have to deal with everything as they to dealt with as they arrived at school but in one room for 30 minuets. Your tutor will try and keep you and any other doing exams being positive as before any exams the issue is, whilst trying to prepare your self them talking adds to the noise and unwanted distractions. When you go to your exam you then go into a form of 'overdrive' where you will recall everything you can remember, this includes every detail of each classroom and any classes you can remember. That is on top of the the stress of the exam and any stresses in your home life. So I am talking I had a heart rate monitor on one day and it was up at around 160-180 beats per minute in the exam. It was at 88 as I entered the room. Thats how much the stress can change our heart rate. Anyway I am going to skip because it quite literally a rinse and repeat of everything as you arrive into school plus everything that has happened throughout the day. So in theory you could have five or even up to eight different environments you are processing plus the stress from the previous exam on top of the exam you are doing now and everything else like lighting, sounds, the atmosphere in the room and who is in that room. So at the end off the day you have to process and it take up to 24 hrs for each bit so it like you aren't sorting out any stress or issues if something goes wrong, just one thing that is at least 20 odd other things to add on to that list. Then you sleep with all of that processing go on in the background, with neurotypicals, they can filter this out. People on the spectrum... not so much you will wake up or just think of a random thing like there was someone trying to hide from class as part of the stairs. There was a smduge mark on my test. This are really random things but they get recalled just so everything can be processed in order without missing gaps. This is a very low level of seeing the world through the eyes of someone of the spectrum, some can be better so much worse. If you like this please comment or share it on. I hope you enjoyed it Hello again, I know I have not been constant, I have had a few personal issues but they have all been dealt with. I can now continue building this safe learning space just about ASD. So this on is a little different, partly because I am going to speak from a different understanding for this topic, but also because this is my soft spot as it were.
I am going to talk about Non-Verbal Autism... So this is an odd area in the spectrum as, this could be actually one of the only ones that has some physical signs. This being the lack of having or using vocal chord(s) or muscles around the voice box. This is a really crude way of explaining this as it a bit more complicated and there other variables etc. anyway I digress. So it is a bit obvious that this is a person who can’t speak who also has autism. Please don’t think the autism caused their lack of speaking. This is simply not true. So where on the spectrum do they land? Well to be honest, anywhere. To be a bit longer, someone with Non-Verbal Autism just means that they have autism and they may not be able to speak. So although it is ‘rare’ you could find someone with Asperger’s or High Functioning Autism who is Non-Verbal. Yes, it is more ‘common’ to see them on the lower to mild end of the spectrum. People forget that it is just more common to diagnose people on that side of the spectrum and having Non-Verbal Autism is quite uncommon. So if you put 100 red stones in a bag with 50 black stones, 25 green stones and 10 purple stones. It is just more likely you are going to pick one of the 100 stones. That is just basic odds. Can someone with Non-Verbal Autism learn to speak? Again it is bit more complex that this but... it does depend on why they don’t talk. So most can’t at all this is because the muscles don’t work properly or that there is a muscle(s) that is missing. It also depends on if the person actually wants to talk. So if they can’t talk how do they communicate? Well this is interesting, well to me. Someone with Non-Verbal People will usually use not one but two of these. - Makaton, a sign based language for people with learning difficulties - Sign Language, a sign based language for people normally for people with hearing impairments. As not everywhere uses Makaton, this is used as a substitute in the place of that. - Communication bracelets, these will have different basic pictures or words on them. This allows a limited amount of speech, but these have to be pointed at by the person using them and they aren’t that helpful all the time. There also can be a lot of them so the person may get confused about different the different bands until they get use to them. - Spellboard, a spellboard is a board with letters and maybe some basic small words on it that allows people to talk about more complex things the only issue is that someone has spell each word and that means you hope they aren’t dyslexic so avoid any issues. This can also take an age to have a conversations. So out of any of these the person may use at least two of these. So why have I done one post just on Non-verbal Autism? Non-Verbal Autism is, to me, so intresting. The idea of someones voice is taken by nature and yet we, as humans, want to give them one but in the same stroke we don’t want to hear them because there is something wrong. This just proves how neurotypicals can be so kind but hateful how they can care but don’t want to. It is also what first think of when you mention the word-Autism. This because it is such a good trope to use because it can make the lead to be a real hero by doing the less effort but also make the supporting cast do very little to outshine the lead actors/actresses. Although if you keep posting the same thing people either get bored or think your blinkered. Also as I am really passionate I would prefer to defend people without a voice rather then keep trying to explain why things are in a neurotypical way. Thank you for reading this blog post. Please comment below of what you thought or if you think I have missed any thing. I know that I am a little late but The next one will be about Autism and GCSEs. Just to let people know I am also shortly going to reveal one of my projects. Hopefully I should be released in the near future. |
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September 2019
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