"Am I still autistic?" TED Talk

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I just noticed this video on Youtube and am too excited to wait until it's done before posting it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6-PwVuYy2Y[/youtube]

Tell me what you think.

good story. reminds me a little of myself, although my social skills came later in life than his.

im 25 now, all of my social skills have literally been the last 5 years of my life(i owe a very special friend this, she gently nudged me out of my cave and into the world step by step), this guy is really inspiring to me because i have other problems on top of aspergers, ive had to claw and struggle and fight my way through life and he is living proof that you can improve your own life through hard work and determination

Come to think about it, I haven't heard of any other similar cases, especially with his amazing progress.
"LFA and slightly ret*d" diagnosis to Masters degree and CEO? Unbelievable. He is an inspiration to me as well.

I have heard of at least one case of "LFA and intellectually disabled" getting a doctorate. That's aside from Dr. Temple Grandin, who has a doctorate and whose mother was told to institutionalize Dr. Grandin as a child because she'd never be able to live a normal life.

One of the problems with functioning labels is the idea that describing someone as LFA presupposes that this is how they will always be. IQ tests are also not really reliable with autistic people in general and this is very much the case when dealing with people labeled as LFA due to impairments.

The key point here is support - Dr. Hall's mother supported him and helped him when he needed it. The same for Dr. Grandin, and for others.

I liked the message that autistic kids can learn and develop and achieve. His development was similar to mine. Severe autism in childhood with high-functioning (verry merry berry) outcome by adolescence or adulthood. I dont' think that he was mentally ret*d. I think that measuring IQ in severely autistic 18 month olds is a pointless activity. I think that this kind of story is more common than most people would think. He said that he knows of many others like him.

This guy seems amazingly socially well-adapted. It must have been all that business work and CEO-ing. I would never have guessed that he is autistic.

I wonder how he kept his diagnosis silent for so long that he was even in denial that he still has autism when his son was first diagnosed. His progress in social skills makes me wonder what the nature is of autism and how much we have to learn.

It's also interesting how he talks about how a lot of his skills were self-learned.

Well sounds a bit like me. But it really hit me on high school. All the girls wanted to talk to boys and wear makeup and I wanted to read mythology and fairy tales and buy coloring books, it was . . . horrid lol. Well . . . I still do all those things at 29 people still think I am 15 and I still can’t hold a conversation other than small yes, no aha! Really? And smile XD

Actually I think I have gotten more. .. Quirky with age. Anyone else suffer that fate?

Really enjoyed this. Thanks for posting

You're welcome!

If anyone's interested, he is interviewed for about an hour and a half, and here's the first part (you get to the next parts by following Youtube links on the suggested videos):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4MAJaIzDzc[/youtube]

It seems he had the normal developmental history of someone with autism. His former psychologist who treated him as a child even attested to that.

He's also written a book which I am in the process of reading

What do you think of his book so far?

Working 60 hours a week and in full time education?

f**k, it's hard enough for me to manage at uni at all.

Bitterly jealous.

I fail to see how a university education and a good job are worth more than being LFA.

Loved it, I'm going to share it on my blog! I can really relate to what he was saying about feeling like his son's autism diagnosis was devastating. I'm going through the same thing right now with my toddler, and it's so hard to lose sight of the fact that myself and my husband are both autistic and we're doing just fine in life. Thanks for posting this!