Here is a recording of some questions by parents and carers of autistics, and answers by Eric LUCAS (autistic self-advocate) in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).
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 – Kazakhstan : 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) and, 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 – the «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