Here is a recording of some questions by parents and carers of autistics, and answers by Eric LUCAS (autistic self-advocate) in Abu Dhabi (Vereinigte Arabische Emirate).
0:00:00 – „Can you you give us general information about you ?“ – „high functioning autism“ – (example of distraction)
0:02:50 – Autistic Association in France – the autistics should not live in centers, and should go to schools instead of centers
0:05:55 – First, explain autism, to avoid making things not adapted – attention or care, if not requested, is unwanted – the autistics are not people who follow – things have to come first from the autistic thought – the autistics should see the reasons, otherwise they are not motivated – automatic protection against anything seen as „stranger“
0:09:51 – The non-autistics also are automatically rejecting „the unknown“
0:11:00 – Collaboration attempts between autistic self-advocates
0:12:38 – Russia in november 2015 : presentation about overcoming challenges [link to the article]
0:13:42 – Kasachstan : Almaty autism conference [link to the article]
0:14:06 – How Eric arrived here
0:15:59 – „How / where to start with autism (how to develop adaptations…)“ : How Eric would do in order to „reach“ a low-communicating autistic person – same level – surroundings – be approached, not approaching – flapping – be friendly – our reasons – difference is complementary – also try to invite him to an interesting world – nature or empty flat, without anything „scratching the attention“ (against harmony) – avoid the distracting things (otherwise it’s very difficult to „connect“)
0:40:32 – (little distraction during the meeting : new participant arriving – explanations about concentration, imagination, „being lost your thoughts“, the yellow color and the „sensory agressive little details“)
(while I was writing these words, I heard the word „yellow“ in a conversation right behind me (in spite of my anti-noise helmet), and when I started this paragraph (when writing „0:40:32“) I thought that it was a strange „coincidence“ that someone brought a distraction in the meeting, right when I was talking about this subject) (and I had a similar situation in a meeting in Russia, again when I spoke about unwanted and unplanned annoyances : I was saying „like…“ (looking for an example) Und, less than one second later, there was a big bell noise, so I just had to say „this !“ – it was totally „in time“, like at the opera)
0:47:19 – „For my 4 years-old non-speaking autistic grand-son, would it be better to start with a regular school, or with a center ?“ – the need to be in „normal“ places – but with protections and adaptations – no segregation – „teach non-autism tricks“ in the normal places, why not with the staff usually working in special centers – stigmatization because putting us all the time in special – my example of a 2 years in special center
1:01:03 – „What do you think about the problem of ‚lack of eye-contact‘ ; how to deal with that ?“ – there are several reasons – (some thoughts about imagination) – impossible to follow the thoughts – vulnerability –
(at 1:08:51 : Error : It is said „they can do all what they do“, but in fact it is „they can do all what they want„)
– problem of the command without explaining why – (problems with job interview) – mental agression, inconsistency, injustice – concern of parents about eye-contact – attentions conflict – a probable reason of the necessity of eye-contact for non-autistic persons (to detect lies) – usually when „normal“ people want to do bad things they have to avoid eye-contact for their protection – for us, it’s the opposite, we avoid eye-contact to protect our „good things“ – need of justification, especially for things conflicting with our autism
1:27:27 – Difficult to explain things too much abstract – problems with symbolic things – symbolic is artificial – the autistic aree closer to natural things – the language is abstract – in the past (communication by thought) – the animals – original / natural / autism – sophisticated language is one of the reasons of the actual problems (theories with errors, confusions little by little, manipulations of concept) – also problem with sophisticated creation with the hands – Hiroshima (made by „concepts“ – big non-nonsense)
(at 1:36:09 : Error : „three thousand thousand people“ : no, it is „three hundred thousand“)
1:36:22 – About an example of autistic „dispersion problem“ (too many brackets and explanations, like hyper-links) – Einstein
1:37:28 – Eric’s special diet (nuts, walnuts, almonds, cashew, tomatoes, carrots, apples, bananas, honey, tunfish, water) (+ sometimes goji, strawberries, avocado, mango juice or other natural things), all without any modification (like cooking) – gluten – milk – don’t modify : you can’t do better (healthier) than the orignal natural things
1:46:46 – „How to know if a very young child is autistic ?“ – some usual criteria – Die „not playing with others“ non-problem (my experience) – the game is abstract – our mind / concrete / Autistan – competition (relation with others), domination… no point
1:56:07 – „What about putting fingers in mouth ?“ – biting fingers / finger-eating : Eric’s method to solve this problem – flapping, autistic hand shaking
2:03:51 – End