This video completely changed my opinion of Autism

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I was initially introduced to the idea of Autism by the film ''Mercury Rising'' and naively thought this applied to the condition as a whole.

Watching this video of these kids shows that in fact they are not the zombie types you'd expect to see in a laboratory or mental hospital (although maybe for the really low functioning types). They are real people with real feelings and want the same things as all other people.
There were several moments that almost brought a tear to my eye. It's really encouraging to know that society is growing to understand this phenomenon more & more as the years go on.

"The constant battle with reality leads to frustration and anxiety."

Some parts of this I like, for example the boy who likes Star Wars and the friendship between Roxanne and Liam(I think that was his name).

What I don't like is how the staff treats the students at times. It seems that the staff does not understand Autism and are teaching the kids that they misbehave (according to the teachers) because of their Autism and don't understand things because of it and while this is presented as a fact the kids are then expected to act normal though it's already shown that such a thing is not possible to the degree the teachers want.

Roxanne was upset and instead of letting her leave the music room to go to a safe area where she could in calm down the teacher followed her out, pulled on her to force her to return and later cornered her with the help of another teacher. True I don't know what the best way to calm Roxanne is since I've never met her but what the teachers did about her being upset did not sit right with me.

With the boy with anger issues(I think he's the same as the Star Wars kid), he obey the instruction not to hit others. Yes he needed to be redirected to a better way to deal with his emotions than destroying another kids' stuff but to him he was doing what the teachers said, 'not hitting people'. Since he was working so hard not to hit anyone he may not have been able to put much thought into what he should do instead.

Also I think that Roy should have been told that his crush/girlfriend wasn't likely to know that he was upset about her hanging out with Grant. It's easy for an Autistic person to think that others can pick up on their feelings when in reality they do not. I know that from personal experience (though in my case had nothing to do with dating).

I may be off on some of this as it's based off my feelings and opinions which are based off my own life experiences as an Autistic person that did not find out I was Autistic until I was 26 and went to Public school and was in mainstream classes except for P. E. (as I'm not athletic and my coordination is so bad I fail at most video games because I can't tap the buttons fast enough to not die or jump at the right point, etc.)

I've seen that one. Reminds me of different kids I've gone to school with. There's a lot of diversity in behaviors and personalities.

Now my family thought the portrayal in Mercury Rising was done pretty well. They said the character was very similar to me when I was littler. The only thing really not liked was the way they had him roll his eyes up and way off to the side. While I tend to look away, my eyes are still a lot more centered than that.

I disagree with the head teacher's premise that autistic children need to understand they have a disability so they don't grow up feeling they are bad?. Totally the wrong approach.

I remember seeing this 5 years ago and one of my online friends was in it.