New Video: Alex Plank speaks at Asperger lecture series

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This is the first part of a talk I gave at the Asperger Lecture Series about college and Asperger's Syndrome.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn0lzfMz5_4[/youtube]

Part 2: Katie talks to parents of people with Asperger's:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKrqzgg6xws[/youtube]

Last edited by alex on 22 May 2008, 2:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.

no sound, brother..

sound works for me.

I don't understand why these people in the audience are laughing. IMO, they're weirdos.


Great presentation!

The sound was loud and clear here as well, though it would have been nicer had there been a mic for the people in the audience, as they came through a bit muffled.

i liked the video. its good to see one of us standing up and talking infront of a crowd

I thought the videos were great and you presented a great role model. Congratulations!

I apologize for the shaky camera work (it wasn't me). Also, the people were laughing because what I said was funny to them. thanks for the complements.

Good video! It was great to see Alex standing up there and breaking one Aspie stereotype after another. BTW, what were people laughing at? I can never understand that kind of laughter. Alex wasn't cracking jokes, after all. And why that camera person focused on Alex's shoes was another mystery. But overall, it was good to see!

Alex,

This was great. I could have never done it at that point in my life--even a part of it. Heck, I'm not sure I could do it now after all these years of adapting!

So whose parent topic was that that you opened?

huh...my pc must have been burping....its working now for me too, sorry

that was a really cool talk, do you have the rest of the video?

i was impressed at how functional you are. i have a couple Aspie friends who are like 1/50th as functional as you are.

Curious what you think makes you an Asperger. The diagnostic dsm details are of "severe impairments" in a bunch of things. You seem to be doing so great. What do you consider your severe impairments.

Alex, I really enjoyed watching this video. Not only do you deliver a successful talk, you were very entertaining along the way. It was one of the best talks I've ever heard, honestly.

The context is "Severe and sustained impairment in social interaction." That's the only mention of the word "severe" that I see in the DSM criteria. It seems odd to me that you would take a rehearsed and planned speech given to a crowd as evidence of the difficulties or lack thereof one might have in everyday social encounters. Many social difficulties cannot be perceived by anyone besides the person experiencing those difficulties, plus the experts are in agreement that the vast majority of aspies do much better in predictable or scripted social situations.

Have you ever seen Temple Grandin give a talk? You should look her up on youtube. I don't think anybody will dispute her diagnosis of autism, but she gives excellent speeches. Many people seem to have the idea that in order to be a "real" aspie/autie, one must never improve, but this is simply not the case. Those with AS encounter social situations more difficult to navigate than others do, but not impossible and with practice we all gain skills.

I'm jealous of your job.