Interviews
People with ASD have different lifestyles. Let's explore their lives through the interviews with them.
Ryan Lee
"Overall, nobody is normal," Ryan answered. "Do you want to be normal?" "There is no normal. We're all different." The superpower he wants is telepathy because he wants to better understand the feelings of other people. In the description of autism, he said autism affects socializing and communicating with people. They think and see things differently. He gets sometimes overwhelmed by goals that seem unachievable, social cues, and gets carried away when he didn't really mean to. One memory in his high school years, prom was hurtful. Popular contests, specifically proms, could make others feel bad. His peers voted him the most as a prom just to make fun of him. Regardless, he realized he doesn't have to be everyone else through the experience. His future goals are finding his career path and knowing himself before getting into a relationship.
Jonathan
Jonathan was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (now ASD) at the age of 8. The stereotypes he often faces are that people think there are certain ways of autistic people’s look (look abnormal), language deficit, and anti-social. His symptoms are repetitive behavior, sensitivity to visual, audio, and tactile stimuli, narrow ranges of interest, and difficulties in understanding body language and the subtleties of social interaction. The only unusual elements among his symptoms were that I engaged in imaginative play — an area that was supposed to be beyond my abilities — and that I wanted to engage with other people.
George (a.k.a GEO)
George is a kid with ASD who is good at dancing, making music, and drawing. Until the age of 3, he was not able to speak. He is poor at eye contact which is a common symptom of Autism. He has a hard time regulating emotions. He sometimes has difficulty focusing on one thing because of hearing multiple types of sound at the same time. Though, he has his own strategies to keep focused such as chewing gums and listening to music. It is hard for him to understand sentences that have metaphorical meanings. Unlike other kids with Autism, he likes physical contact.
Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu
This is written by a mom who has a daughter with autism. After all, she opposes the therapy since it is too time-consuming and not efficient and the cost of the therapy does not make sense. She decided to be with the daughter and find a way to support her without the therapy.
Kerry Magro
Kerry Magro is a professional speaker, best-selling author, and autism entertainment consultant who is also on the autism spectrum. Kerry mentions however since he was little people would always say that they were sorry to him. Kerry wanted to emphasize the fact that people should never feel sorry for him or anyone on the spectrum. Although he still has struggles, he was able to use his autism spectrum as a strength and help him become the person he is today. He mentions that autism is a wide spectrum and he hopes that in the future there are many changes in society to support them.
Valerie Paradiza
Valerie Paradiza is a consultancy that provides technical assistance and strategic development to schools, universities, corporations, and agencies that support individuals with autism. Being diagnosed at a young age, she has been able to find ways to hide her autism, in other words, “camouflage it”. Since she has been “camouflaging” for a long time, people tend to think that she does not seem autistic. This does not go for only her, but for most female autistics. Having different communication traits in males and females, females have a greater awareness than males with ASD of the need for social interaction and imitate others to hide. Due to this, many people tend to think of ASD as a male condition. Valeria hopes that in the future more research could include both sex and gender with less bias.
Anita Lesko
Anita Lesko is an autism advocate, author, speaker, researcher, blogger, married to her autistic husband, and recently spoke at the United Nations. She got diagnosed with autism at age 50. She always had a hard time fitting in and had a feeling of not being accepted by others. She could see how others felt uncomfortable when she was around and how she always felt left out. She also noticed the misconception of how people think that autistic people are not interested in love and relationships. Anita hopes that people will have a better understanding that what is on the surface is not all. People on the autism spectrum have different ways of expressing their feelings. We are all the same humans, just different in the way we show ourselves to the world. Society should have an open mind and heart and accept those with autism as who they are.
Bomuri
This video is about a person nicknamed Bomuri who is on the autism spectrum. It shows Bomuri’s life as an adult working in a café. Just like everyone else, he wakes up in the morning, does his morning routines, and gets ready for work. After work, he goes to the gym to exercise, and then he goes home and has a great time with his family. Through this video, we are able to see that a person with ASD lives the same way as any other person. Of course, there will be ups and downs throughout his day but don’t we too?
Who bullied you?
There are interviews of three people with ASD, who overcame their bullying experiences during school life. Anabeth’s peers started to bully her in middle school. She suffered from depression, severe anxiety, and feelings of worthlessness due to the bullying, but she eventually overcame it and is participating in various activities. Francisco was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when he was 13 years old, and he faced bullying as he grew up. He is now a swim instructor, a swim coach, and a lifeguard. Finally, Noelle was diagnosed with autism when she was four years old, and she openly tells her story of trauma. She experienced bullying since she was young, but she is currently in her comfort zone doing yoga, which might be uncomfortable for someone with autism.
James Guttman
This is an interview of James Guttman, the father of two children, a nonverbal eight-year-old with autism and a nonstop-verbal eleven-year-old without autism. He compares the acceptance and awareness in the past and nowadays. He emphasizes the importance of education and awareness about ASD in society.
동주C (DongJu C)
This video was taken by a mother of a son with ASD, and the title is “The Most Difficult Moment as a Mother of a Child with ASD (자폐아 엄마가 가장 힘든 순간).” She explains their daily life and the son’s lack of expression. She also says that the hardest thing is to choose. Caregivers should choose a lot of things for kids with ASD, such as appropriate treatments, schools, medications, clothes and bedclothes, and food. The mother introduces the son’s symptoms and expresses guilt and frustration as a parent when the child does not get better. However, she also emphasizes that children with ASD have clear likes and dislikes, and she decides to choose something the son likes and to respect his opinions.