July 25, 2025
What is Autism? A Journey Through a Kaleidoscope of Meaning
Send us a text What Is Autism? A Journey Through a Kaleidoscope of Meaning The DSM-5 calls autism a "genetic neurodevelopmental condition," like saying a symphony is "organized sound waves." True, but missing the music entirely. Join host Anita for a revolutionary exploration that shatters everything you thought you knew about autism. Using five distinct lenses, we'll discover why autism isn't one thing with one explanation, but multiple simultaneous truths happening at once. 🧠 The Attentiona...
What Is Autism? A Journey Through a Kaleidoscope of Meaning
The DSM-5 calls autism a "genetic neurodevelopmental condition," like saying a symphony is "organized sound waves." True, but missing the music entirely.
Join host Anita for a revolutionary exploration that shatters everything you thought you knew about autism. Using five distinct lenses, we'll discover why autism isn't one thing with one explanation, but multiple simultaneous truths happening at once.
🧠 The Attentional Lens: Meet Maya, a data scientist whose story reveals monotropism - how autistic attention flows in deep, powerful channels rather than wide streams.
🤝 The Communication Lens: Discover the double empathy problem - why communication difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people are bidirectional, not deficit-based.
🌟 The Sensory Lens: Explore Intense World Theory - autism as reality experienced in ultra-high definition, not reduced functioning.
🧬 The Evolutionary Lens: Uncover archaeological evidence that autism-like traits contributed to humanity's greatest innovations and survival.
🎭 The Identity Lens: Understand why "autism is me" represents a fundamental shift from medical pathology to neurological identity.
From cutting-edge theories by autistic researchers to evolutionary perspectives that reframe autism as cognitive specialization, this episode reveals autism as a "symphony of simultaneous truths."
Whether you're autistic, love someone who is, or simply curious about human neurodiversity, prepare to have your understanding transformed.
Perfect for: Anyone questioning what autism really means beyond clinical definitions.
Thank you for listening to Neuro Rebel — the bilingual podcast where we flip the script on what it means to think differently. I’m your host, Anita: autistic, gifted, and a retired law professor on a mission to bring rigor, empathy, and a dash of rebellion to conversations about neurodiversity.
🔍 What we do:
Each week, we blend evidence-based deep dives, solo reflections, and candid interviews with researchers and lived-experience experts. Expect English ↔ Español segments, sharp wit, real stories and actionable insights you can share with friends, colleagues, and classrooms.
🎧 Stay connected:
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or wherever you listen.
• 📲 Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @neurorebelpodcast for bonus clips, show notes, and community prompts.
• 💌 Join our mailing list at https://www.neurorebelpodcast.com for episode transcripts, resource guides, and early access to live Q&As.
🤝 Support the show:
If Neuro Rebel sparks new questions, challenges assumptions or simply makes you feel seen, please tell a friend or leave a rating—it means the world. You can also support us directly with a one-time donation or “buy me a coffee” at www.neurorebelpodcast.com/support Your generosity keeps this project fiercely independent, bilingual, and free of corporate agendas.
⚠️ Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not constitute professional...
00:00 - Introduction: What is Autism?
00:44 - Challenging the Textbook Definition
01:17 - A New Journey: Understanding Autism Differently
04:42 - The Intentional Lens: Monotropism and Cognitive Landscape
10:56 - The Communication Ecosystem Lens: Beyond the Empathy Myth
15:01 - The Sensory Universe Lens: Living in High Definition
18:56 - The Evolutionary Tapestry Lens: Autism's Role in Human History
22:38 - The Identity Constellation Lens: Autism as a Fundamental Identity
26:42 - Conclusion: A Symphony of Simultaneous Truths
30:54 - Closing Remarks and Call to Action
WEBVTT
00:00:01.620 --> 00:00:03.720
So what is autism?
00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:10.439
Let's start with what we think we know from within the prison walls of definitions.
00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:17.489
If you spent any time reading about autism, you've encountered the familiar refrain.
00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:27.929
Autism is a genetic neurodevelopmental condition characterized by challenges in social communication and restricted repetitive patterns.
00:00:29.925 --> 00:00:43.155
I said it, the definition has been carved into stone tablets of medical textbooks repeated in countless articles and whispered in clinical corridors.
00:00:44.085 --> 00:00:46.634
But here's what troubles me about this definition.
00:00:47.384 --> 00:00:52.545
It tells us absolutely nothing about what it means to be autistic.
00:00:53.159 --> 00:01:03.090
It's like describing the ocean as a large body of water containing salt and thinking somehow you've captured the essence of the ocean.
00:01:03.090 --> 00:01:05.045
With that Adam two, what is your 20?
00:01:05.224 --> 00:01:09.659
So before you answer the question, what is autism?
00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:13.890
With a tire textbook definition, you've heard a thousand times.
00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:16.859
I want you to do something radical with me.
00:01:17.819 --> 00:01:21.150
I want you to throw out everything you think you know about autism.
00:01:21.555 --> 00:01:24.120
And join me on a different kind of journey.
00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:37.319
Yes, autism is a genetic neurodevelopmental condition.
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:46.109
It is that, but saying that's all autism is would be like saying the ocean is just H2O.
00:01:46.900 --> 00:02:09.985
Technically true, but completely insufficient because here's what I've discovered in my years of research, advocacy and lived experience, asking what is autism with only one lens is like trying to understand a symphony by analyzing only the sheet music.
00:02:11.205 --> 00:02:27.224
You might learn about musical notation, but you will miss the emotion, the cultural context, the way it moves people to tears or joy, and the entire experience of what music actually is.
00:02:28.965 --> 00:02:30.914
But here's where it gets revolutionary.
00:02:31.784 --> 00:02:37.455
What if autism isn't just one thing that looks different from different angles?
00:02:38.294 --> 00:02:46.694
What if autism actually requires multiple simultaneous explanations to understand it at all?
00:02:47.925 --> 00:02:56.895
Today, we're going to pick up that kaleidoscope and turn it, but this isn't just about pretty patterns.
00:02:57.435 --> 00:03:04.935
Each twist will reveal not just a different perspective, but a different type of truth about autism.
00:03:05.685 --> 00:03:30.074
Sociological truths, cognitive truths, evolutionary truths, phenomenological truths, and by the end, you'll understand why the question, what is autism can only be answered in the plural because autism is many things all at once, depending on which lens of inquiry you choose.
00:03:36.104 --> 00:03:47.685
Welcome to Neuro Rebel, the podcast where we challenge everything you thought you knew about Neurodivergence and celebrate the beautiful complexity of different minds.
00:03:48.375 --> 00:04:04.395
I'm Anita, your host, retired law professor, Fulbright Scholar, and late diagnosed autistic adult who spent decades thinking she was broken before realizing the world's instruction manual was just incomplete.
00:04:04.935 --> 00:04:17.175
This is where we dismantle stereotypes, question the status quo and explore what it really means to be neurodivergent in a world built for neurotypical brains.
00:04:22.245 --> 00:04:31.214
Today we're going beyond definitions toward a kind of understanding that might just change how you see human minds entirely.
00:04:42.134 --> 00:04:53.415
Let's start by putting on our first lens, what I call the intentional lens, and we're going to talk about monotropism and the cognitive landscape.
00:04:54.495 --> 00:04:57.529
And to understand this, I want you to meet Maya.
00:04:58.814 --> 00:05:04.365
Maya is a 32 year old data scientist working for a tech company in Austin.
00:05:05.264 --> 00:05:12.675
She has a PhD in statistics and can spot patterns in massive data sets that entire teams miss.
00:05:13.545 --> 00:05:18.735
She's the person, colleagues turn to when they need someone to find a needle in the haystack.
00:05:19.514 --> 00:05:23.964
The anomaly in the algorithm or the signal hidden in the noise.
00:05:25.355 --> 00:05:28.514
But Maya's Workday is a study in contradictions.
00:05:29.055 --> 00:05:43.334
She arrives at the office at 7:00 AM a full hour before most of her team, specifically to avoid the sensory chaos of a busy workplace by the time her colleagues arrive.
00:05:43.334 --> 00:05:45.629
She's already deep into her analysis.
00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:52.019
Noise canceling headphones on three monitors filled with cascading data.
00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:55.079
Here's what's fascinating.
00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:10.439
When Maya is in her element that is analyzing patterns, building models, diving deep into complex problems, she can work for 6, 7, 8 hours straight without a break.
00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:12.569
She loses track of time completely.
00:06:13.694 --> 00:06:30.824
Her manager has learned to set gentle reminders for her to eat lunch and take a break because Maya's focus is so intense that hunger signals simply do not register, but interruptions.
00:06:31.485 --> 00:06:37.334
Those are devastating when a colleague taps her shoulder to ask a quick question.
00:06:37.545 --> 00:06:40.035
It's not just a momentary distraction.
00:06:40.754 --> 00:06:46.964
Maya describes it as having someone yank the emergency break while I'm driving 80 miles an hour.
00:06:47.925 --> 00:06:53.625
It can take her 20 even 30 minutes to get back to that deep level of focus.
00:06:54.944 --> 00:07:05.654
Maya discovered she was autistic at age 29 after years of wondering why she felt like she was playing a game where everyone else knew the rules except for her.
00:07:05.714 --> 00:07:14.235
Her, the fluorescent lights that gave her migraines, the open office design that made her feel like her skin was crawling.
00:07:14.745 --> 00:07:22.185
Even the small talk that felt like speaking a foreign language, suddenly it all made sense to her.
00:07:24.644 --> 00:07:34.754
This is where we encounter our first revolution in thinking, courtesy of autistic researchers who understand autism from the inside.
00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:38.550
Imagine your attention is like water.
00:07:42.449 --> 00:07:51.329
Most people's attention flows like a wide shallow river spreading across the landscape, touching many different areas at once.
00:07:51.810 --> 00:07:55.620
Easily redirected when something blocks its path.
00:07:56.295 --> 00:07:58.920
But Maya's attention flows differently.
00:07:59.564 --> 00:08:09.824
It carves deep, narrow channels, incredibly powerful, intensely focused, but harder to redirect once it's found its course.
00:08:10.574 --> 00:08:18.884
This is Mono Tropism, a theory developed by autistic researchers, Dina Murray, Mike Lesser and Lawson.
00:08:19.875 --> 00:08:27.285
It's not about having attention problems, it's about having a fundamentally different architecture of attention.
00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:28.769
Dr.
00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:33.059
Gwen Lawson himself, autistic describes it beautifully.
00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:45.725
He says, the mono tropic mind tends to focus on smaller number of interests at any given time, and to have more processing resources dedicated to that interest.
00:08:47.315 --> 00:08:52.134
So when Maya is analyzing patterns, she's not just paying attention.
00:08:52.904 --> 00:09:02.835
She's experiencing what researchers call a tunnel of attention that blocks out irrelevant stimuli and allows for incredibly deep focus.
00:09:04.455 --> 00:09:09.134
The fluorescent lights don't disappear because she's learned to ignore them.
00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:17.024
They literally fade from conscious awareness as her cognitive resources flow entirely toward the data.
00:09:17.985 --> 00:09:19.245
This isn't a malfunction.
00:09:20.445 --> 00:09:27.705
It's an entirely different cognitive architecture, like the difference between a laser and a floodlight.
00:09:28.664 --> 00:09:30.585
Neither is better or worse.
00:09:31.034 --> 00:09:33.825
They're simply designed for different purposes.
00:09:36.404 --> 00:09:38.235
But here's where it gets fascinating.
00:09:38.865 --> 00:09:44.264
This attentional architecture explains so much more than just special interests.
00:09:44.715 --> 00:09:49.784
It explains why switching tasks can feel like changing the course of a river.
00:09:50.639 --> 00:10:00.450
Technically possible, but requiring enormous energy and why unexpected interruptions can feel jarring.
00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:07.919
You are not just shifting attention, you're literally redirecting a powerful cognitive current.
00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:13.320
Damian Milton, another autistic researcher, puts it this way.
00:10:14.129 --> 00:10:25.919
Rather than seeing autistic people as lacking in some way, mono tropism suggest a different cognitive style, one that prioritizes depth over breath.
00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:30.299
So what is autism through this first lens?
00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:41.009
Well, autism is a different cognitive architecture where attention flows in deep powerful channels rather than wide flexible streams.
00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:50.129
Creating extraordinary depth of focus and unique challenges in a world designed for attentional multitasking.
00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:02.549
Now let's twist our kaleidoscope and look through what I call the communication ecosystem lens.
00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:05.250
Let's go beyond the empathy myth.
00:11:06.075 --> 00:11:11.475
This is where we encounter one of the most groundbreaking insights in autism research.
00:11:12.014 --> 00:11:17.595
One that completely refrains the tired old empathy deficit narrative.
00:11:18.855 --> 00:11:20.774
Here's a revolutionary idea.
00:11:21.735 --> 00:11:24.975
What if the problem isn't that autistic people can't communicate or empathize?
00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:36.690
What if The problem is that we've been studying communication as if it were a solo piano performance, when really it's a duet.
00:11:38.850 --> 00:11:43.980
Enter the double empathy problem theorized by autistic researcher, Dr.
00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:45.029
Damien Milton.
00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:50.879
Imagine you have two computers, both sophisticated, both powerful.
00:11:51.779 --> 00:12:13.500
But running different operating systems, when they try to interface without proper translation, software data gets corrupted, messages get lost, and connections fail For decades when this happened between autistic and non-autistic people, we blamed the autistic computer.
00:12:13.830 --> 00:12:17.879
We said it had a communication disorder or an empathy deficit.
00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:22.769
But Milton asked a different question.
00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:29.129
He asked, what if both operating systems are working perfectly well?
00:12:29.684 --> 00:12:32.894
They just need better translation protocols.
00:12:34.934 --> 00:12:38.294
Milton's research reveals something extraordinary.
00:12:39.134 --> 00:12:49.034
When autistic people communicate with other autistic people, they show high levels of rapport, good information transfer, and social reciprocity.
00:12:50.235 --> 00:12:56.985
The so-called communication problem only emerges in cross neurotype interactions.
00:12:57.945 --> 00:13:06.284
It's like discovering that Spanish speakers don't have a language disorder when they struggle to communicate with English speakers.
00:13:06.975 --> 00:13:12.674
They just need a translation mutual effort and respect for both linguistic systems.
00:13:13.934 --> 00:13:15.524
But here's the deeper insight.
00:13:16.125 --> 00:13:19.544
Empathy itself isn't one thing.
00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:21.590
It's an ecosystem.
00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:28.019
Cognitive empathy, which is the understanding of what someone might be thinking.
00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:38.490
Affective empathy, which is the feeling of what someone is feeling, compassionate empathy, which is being moved to help others.
00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:46.710
And these are different rivers in the empathy landscape, and they flow differently in different minds.
00:13:49.995 --> 00:13:51.495
Research by Dr.
00:13:51.495 --> 00:13:52.605
Kristen Gillespie.
00:13:52.605 --> 00:13:58.125
Lynch shows that autistic people often have heightened emotional empathy.
00:13:59.144 --> 00:14:09.404
That is, they feel others' emotions intensely, sometimes overwhelmingly so the difference isn't in caring.
00:14:09.914 --> 00:14:13.659
It's in the translation between different emotional languages.
00:14:15.945 --> 00:14:23.745
As autistic researcher Arian Aman observes the question isn't whether autistic people have empathy.
00:14:24.315 --> 00:14:31.904
Rather, the question is whether non-autistic people have empathy for ways of being that differ from their own.
00:14:32.654 --> 00:14:35.835
So what is autism through this lens?
00:14:36.315 --> 00:14:42.434
Well, autism is one dialect in the diverse language of human social communication.
00:14:43.424 --> 00:14:53.509
A dialect that's been systematically misunderstood because we've been using monolingual dictionaries to interpret multilingual conversations.
00:15:01.784 --> 00:15:10.950
Let's turn our kaleidoscope again, and now we enter what I call the sensory universe lens and living in high definition.
00:15:12.299 --> 00:15:19.320
Here we need to fundamentally reimagine what it means to experience reality itself.
00:15:20.730 --> 00:15:30.750
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine you're wearing a pair of those high definition headphones that musicians use in recording studios.
00:15:31.529 --> 00:15:39.534
Suddenly you can hear every breath between the notes, every tiny vibration of the guitar strings.
00:15:40.514 --> 00:15:49.965
Every whisper of air in the background, the music isn't louder, it's infinitely more detailed.
00:15:51.105 --> 00:15:53.445
This is what autistic researcher, Dr.
00:15:53.445 --> 00:15:57.080
Camila Markram calls the intense world theory.
00:15:58.965 --> 00:16:03.554
She proposes that autistic brains aren't broken sensors receiving too little information.
00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:10.740
But rather they're incredibly sensitive instruments receiving reality.
00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:13.259
In ultra high definition, Dr.
00:16:13.259 --> 00:16:21.090
Markram explains what we are seeing is not a deficit, but rather an excess of neuronal processing.
00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:29.940
The autistic child may be withdrawing, not because they don't care, but because they care too much.
00:16:34.274 --> 00:16:55.154
Think about it this way, if your nervous system is like having a satellite dish that picks up not just standard television, but also radio waves and cell phone signals and electromagnetic fields from every electronic device in a three block radius, well that is an A malfunction.
00:16:55.754 --> 00:16:57.705
It's just incredible sensitivity.
00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:04.799
And it can be overwhelming when the world isn't designed for your reception capabilities.
00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:10.829
This intersects beautifully with mono tropism.
00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:26.430
When your attention flows in deep channels and your receiving sensory information, in high definition, you develop extraordinary abilities to notice patterns, details, and changes.
00:17:26.775 --> 00:17:29.055
That others might miss entirely.
00:17:29.954 --> 00:17:36.555
The challenge comes when you're forced to process multiple high definition channels simultaneously.
00:17:37.815 --> 00:17:44.474
Temple Grandin, one of the first autistic voices to be widely heard, described it perfectly.
00:17:44.924 --> 00:17:50.444
She said, I think in pictures, words are like second language to me.
00:17:50.865 --> 00:17:55.575
I translate both spoken and written words into full color movies.
00:17:56.069 --> 00:18:04.410
Complete with sound, which run like a VCR tape in my head, but here's what's revolutionary about current research.
00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:14.579
Scientists are discovering that these sensory differences might actually be evolutionary advantages, not deficits.
00:18:15.255 --> 00:18:15.615
Dr.
00:18:15.615 --> 00:18:26.654
Michelle Dawson's research shows that autistic people consistently outperform non-autistic people on tests of pattern recognition and detailed analysis.
00:18:27.075 --> 00:18:30.105
So what is autism through this lens?
00:18:30.615 --> 00:18:37.994
Well, autism is a neurological configuration that processes reality in higher resolution.
00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:50.069
Revealing details, patterns and connections that standard definition processing might miss, but requiring different environmental accommodations to thrive.
00:18:56.275 --> 00:19:03.180
Now let's twist our kaleidoscope toward deep time and look through what I call the evolutionary tapestry lens.
00:19:05.549 --> 00:19:10.289
This is where autism's story becomes part of humanity's greatest adventure.
00:19:11.579 --> 00:19:14.400
Here's a puzzle that evolution poses.
00:19:15.210 --> 00:19:26.670
If autism were truly just a collection of deficits, then why do the genetic variants associated with it persist across cultures and millennia?
00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:31.230
Evolution is ruthless with maladaptive traits.
00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:34.049
So why is autism still here?
00:19:35.204 --> 00:19:35.595
Dr.
00:19:35.595 --> 00:19:40.244
Penny Spikins an archeologist offers a fascinating answer.
00:19:41.234 --> 00:19:52.065
She's found evidence in ancient cave paintings and toolmaking that suggests autism-like traits may have contributed to some of humanity's greatest innovations.
00:19:52.815 --> 00:20:00.075
The obsessive attention to detail, the pattern recognition, the ability to hyperfocus for hours.
00:20:00.525 --> 00:20:07.125
Perfecting a spear or tracking astronomical movements, those existed for millennia.
00:20:08.505 --> 00:20:10.724
Imagine an early human group.
00:20:11.355 --> 00:20:29.355
You need people who can manage social dynamics, negotiate alliances, keep everyone coordinated, but also you desperately need people who can spend 16 hours straight observing how water flows to design better irrigation.
00:20:30.255 --> 00:20:35.535
Or who notices that certain starred patterns always appear before the rains come.
00:20:37.815 --> 00:20:38.144
Dr.
00:20:38.144 --> 00:20:47.984
Jared Resser proposes what he calls the solitary forager hypothesis that autism represents an alternative evolutionary strategy.
00:20:49.005 --> 00:20:57.404
The solitary forager would have been equipped with enhanced local perceptual processing systematizing capabilities.
00:20:57.779 --> 00:21:02.250
An increased capacity for obsessive preoccupation, he explains.
00:21:03.029 --> 00:21:05.039
Does that signify someone?
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:11.519
You know, it's like evolution, designed both generalists and specialists.
00:21:11.940 --> 00:21:23.009
You need the big blade for general cutting, but when you need to remove a splinter, you also need those tiny, precise tweezers that most people overlook.
00:21:24.869 --> 00:21:27.390
And here's where it gets even more interesting.
00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:30.704
Recent genetic research by Dr.
00:21:30.704 --> 00:21:52.140
Simon Barron Cohen's team shows that genes associated with autism also correlate with enhanced performance in mathematics, physics, and engineering in the general population, the same genetic variations that create autism also contribute to human innovation and discovery.
00:21:53.714 --> 00:21:57.555
Michelle Matron, an autistic researcher, puts it beautifully.
00:21:58.394 --> 00:22:01.785
Autistic people are not failed normal people.
00:22:02.265 --> 00:22:08.474
We are people whose cognitive architecture is optimized for different kind of tasks.
00:22:08.835 --> 00:22:11.924
So what is autism through this lens?
00:22:12.404 --> 00:22:21.494
Well, autism is an ancient cognitive specialization that has contributed essential skills to human survival and advancement.
00:22:22.184 --> 00:22:26.744
A reminder that diversity of mind isn't a flaw in our species.
00:22:27.015 --> 00:22:30.615
It's one of our greatest evolutionary assets.
00:22:38.535 --> 00:22:50.684
Let's turn our kaleidoscope one final time and look through what I call the identity constellation lens, because ultimately autism isn't something you study from the outside.
00:22:51.285 --> 00:22:54.644
It's something people live from the inside.
00:22:57.494 --> 00:23:06.944
When you ask autistic people what is autism, you often hear something that sounds simple but contains multitudes.
00:23:07.845 --> 00:23:11.325
Autism is me You don't hear.
00:23:11.414 --> 00:23:16.755
Autism is something I have like you'd say about a cold or a broken leg.
00:23:17.444 --> 00:23:20.144
You also don't hear autism is my challenge.
00:23:20.954 --> 00:23:22.214
Or my difference.
00:23:22.994 --> 00:23:27.285
Autism is woven into the fabric of identity itself.
00:23:28.275 --> 00:23:28.634
Dr.
00:23:28.634 --> 00:23:34.365
Dari Naman, founder of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, explains it this way.
00:23:35.295 --> 00:23:40.785
For many of us, autism is not something that can be separated from who we are.
00:23:41.325 --> 00:23:48.015
Our autism affects how we think, how we process the world, and how we relate to other people.
00:23:48.795 --> 00:23:52.365
It is part of our neurological infrastructure.
00:23:52.545 --> 00:24:02.355
It is who we are, and this is why the puzzle piece symbol meant to represent autism feels so wrong to many autistic people.
00:24:02.835 --> 00:24:13.785
It suggests incompleteness something missing a problem to be solved, but autistic people aren't puzzles and they're not missing pieces.
00:24:14.670 --> 00:24:18.299
They're complete humans whose minds work differently.
00:24:18.750 --> 00:24:23.069
It's more like the difference between watercolor and oil painting.
00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:31.289
Both create profound art, but you can't judge a watercolor by oil painting standards.
00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:35.099
The watercolor isn't a fail oil painting.
00:24:35.849 --> 00:24:41.789
It's a completely different medium with its own techniques, beauty and purpose.
00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:50.269
Listen to this insight from autistic writer and researcher, Julia Bascom.
00:24:51.059 --> 00:24:58.410
She says, autism is not something a person has or a shell that a person is trapped inside.
00:24:59.069 --> 00:25:01.140
Autism is a way of being.
00:25:01.605 --> 00:25:02.894
It is pervasive.
00:25:03.375 --> 00:25:13.664
It colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encounter every aspect of existence.
00:25:13.785 --> 00:25:17.384
But here's what is revolutionary about recent research.
00:25:18.045 --> 00:25:28.335
When autistic people learn about autism from other autistic people, like through social media or through autistic led organizations, that is through community.
00:25:29.174 --> 00:25:34.875
They develop stronger, healthier autistic identity than when they learn about autism.
00:25:34.904 --> 00:25:39.884
Only through medical professionals or family members, Dr.
00:25:39.884 --> 00:25:53.240
Monique Botha's research shows that identity first, language and community connection are associated with better mental health outcomes and a stronger sense of self in autistic adults.
00:25:54.630 --> 00:26:03.059
It's like the difference between learning about your culture from someone who lives it versus someone who studied it in a textbook.
00:26:03.779 --> 00:26:12.240
Both perspectives have value, but there's something irreplaceable about recognition and validation from your own community.
00:26:13.230 --> 00:26:15.535
So what is autism through this lens?
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:25.619
Well, autism is a fundamental neurological identity that shapes how someone experiences every moment of their existence.
00:26:26.250 --> 00:26:37.349
It is not something to overcome, but something to understand, accommodate, and celebrate as part of the magnificent diversity of human consciousness.
00:26:42.990 --> 00:26:44.386
So what is autism then?
00:26:46.184 --> 00:26:49.424
It is a symphony of simultaneous truths.
00:26:50.055 --> 00:26:56.805
It is a different cognitive architecture where attention flows in powerful focused channels.
00:26:57.585 --> 00:27:03.285
It is one dialect in the diverse ecosystem of human social communication.
00:27:04.154 --> 00:27:09.015
It's a neurological configuration that processes reality and higher resolution.
00:27:09.974 --> 00:27:13.005
It's an evolutionary cognitive specialization.
00:27:13.394 --> 00:27:16.244
That has contributed to human advancement.
00:27:17.085 --> 00:27:24.375
It's also a fundamental identity that shapes how someone experiences existence itself.
00:27:25.065 --> 00:27:28.845
It is all of these things simultaneously.
00:27:29.325 --> 00:27:35.234
Not one or the other, but one and the other and the other.
00:27:38.444 --> 00:27:39.494
But here's the secret.
00:27:39.555 --> 00:27:40.875
Our kaleidoscope reveals.
00:27:42.150 --> 00:27:47.339
Autism isn't one phenomenon that looks different from different angles.
00:27:48.000 --> 00:28:02.039
Autism is multiple types of phenomena, cognitive, social, sensory, evolutionary, experiential that are all happening at the same time in the same person.
00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:10.259
And this is why every attempt to find the explanation for autism fails.
00:28:10.964 --> 00:28:16.214
Autism requires what philosophers call multiple realizability.
00:28:17.144 --> 00:28:33.674
It's real across multiple levels of analysis Simultaneously, you need sociological explanations and cognitive explanations and phenomenological explanations and evolutionary explanations.
00:28:34.515 --> 00:28:36.255
As autistic researcher Dr.
00:28:36.255 --> 00:28:37.785
Damian Milton puts it.
00:28:38.384 --> 00:28:50.625
Autism is not a single entity with a single cause, but rather a complex interplay of neurological differences, environmental factors, and social dynamics.
00:28:51.315 --> 00:28:53.835
And here's what I want you to walk away with today.
00:28:54.944 --> 00:28:57.974
The poverty isn't in autistic minds.
00:28:58.335 --> 00:29:03.855
It's in our impoverished ways of thinking about complex human realities.
00:29:04.755 --> 00:29:14.954
For too long, we've been trying to answer the question of what is autism, as if it were a simple, single level phenomenon.
00:29:15.944 --> 00:29:26.954
But autism like consciousness itself, like love, like creativity, exists simultaneously across multiple dimensions of reality.
00:29:27.525 --> 00:29:32.954
The beautiful truth is this, when we learn to think in multiple dimensions.
00:29:33.855 --> 00:29:40.454
We don't just understand autism better, we understand what it means to be human better.
00:29:41.234 --> 00:29:53.984
We realize that all human neurodiversity, the full spectrum of ways the minds can work is far too rich and complex for any single explanation to capture.
00:29:55.305 --> 00:30:00.224
Every human mind exists simultaneously as a biological system.
00:00:01.620 --> 00:00:03.720
00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:10.439
00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:17.489
00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:27.929
00:00:29.925 --> 00:00:43.155
00:00:44.085 --> 00:00:46.634
00:00:47.384 --> 00:00:52.545
00:00:53.159 --> 00:01:03.090
00:01:03.090 --> 00:01:05.045
00:01:05.224 --> 00:01:09.659
00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:13.890
00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:16.859
00:01:17.819 --> 00:01:21.150
00:01:21.555 --> 00:01:24.120
00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:37.319
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:46.109
00:01:46.900 --> 00:02:09.985
00:02:11.205 --> 00:02:27.224
00:02:28.965 --> 00:02:30.914
00:02:31.784 --> 00:02:37.455
00:02:38.294 --> 00:02:46.694
00:02:47.925 --> 00:02:56.895
00:02:57.435 --> 00:03:04.935
00:03:05.685 --> 00:03:30.074
00:03:36.104 --> 00:03:47.685
00:03:48.375 --> 00:04:04.395
00:04:04.935 --> 00:04:17.175
00:04:22.245 --> 00:04:31.214
00:04:42.134 --> 00:04:53.415
00:04:54.495 --> 00:04:57.529
00:04:58.814 --> 00:05:04.365
00:05:05.264 --> 00:05:12.675
00:05:13.545 --> 00:05:18.735
00:05:19.514 --> 00:05:23.964
00:05:25.355 --> 00:05:28.514
00:05:29.055 --> 00:05:43.334
00:05:43.334 --> 00:05:45.629
00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:52.019
00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:55.079
00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:10.439
00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:12.569
00:06:13.694 --> 00:06:30.824
00:06:31.485 --> 00:06:37.334
00:06:37.545 --> 00:06:40.035
00:06:40.754 --> 00:06:46.964
00:06:47.925 --> 00:06:53.625
00:06:54.944 --> 00:07:05.654
00:07:05.714 --> 00:07:14.235
00:07:14.745 --> 00:07:22.185
00:07:24.644 --> 00:07:34.754
00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:38.550
00:07:42.449 --> 00:07:51.329
00:07:51.810 --> 00:07:55.620
00:07:56.295 --> 00:07:58.920
00:07:59.564 --> 00:08:09.824
00:08:10.574 --> 00:08:18.884
00:08:19.875 --> 00:08:27.285
00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:28.769
00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:33.059
00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:45.725
00:08:47.315 --> 00:08:52.134
00:08:52.904 --> 00:09:02.835
00:09:04.455 --> 00:09:09.134
00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:17.024
00:09:17.985 --> 00:09:19.245
00:09:20.445 --> 00:09:27.705
00:09:28.664 --> 00:09:30.585
00:09:31.034 --> 00:09:33.825
00:09:36.404 --> 00:09:38.235
00:09:38.865 --> 00:09:44.264
00:09:44.715 --> 00:09:49.784
00:09:50.639 --> 00:10:00.450
00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:07.919
00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:13.320
00:10:14.129 --> 00:10:25.919
00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:30.299
00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:41.009
00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:50.129
00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:02.549
00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:05.250
00:11:06.075 --> 00:11:11.475
00:11:12.014 --> 00:11:17.595
00:11:18.855 --> 00:11:20.774
00:11:21.735 --> 00:11:24.975
00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:36.690
00:11:38.850 --> 00:11:43.980
00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:45.029
00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:50.879
00:11:51.779 --> 00:12:13.500
00:12:13.830 --> 00:12:17.879
00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:22.769
00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:29.129
00:12:29.684 --> 00:12:32.894
00:12:34.934 --> 00:12:38.294
00:12:39.134 --> 00:12:49.034
00:12:50.235 --> 00:12:56.985
00:12:57.945 --> 00:13:06.284
00:13:06.975 --> 00:13:12.674
00:13:13.934 --> 00:13:15.524
00:13:16.125 --> 00:13:19.544
00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:21.590
00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:28.019
00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:38.490
00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:46.710
00:13:49.995 --> 00:13:51.495
00:13:51.495 --> 00:13:52.605
00:13:52.605 --> 00:13:58.125
00:13:59.144 --> 00:14:09.404
00:14:09.914 --> 00:14:13.659
00:14:15.945 --> 00:14:23.745
00:14:24.315 --> 00:14:31.904
00:14:32.654 --> 00:14:35.835
00:14:36.315 --> 00:14:42.434
00:14:43.424 --> 00:14:53.509
00:15:01.784 --> 00:15:10.950
00:15:12.299 --> 00:15:19.320
00:15:20.730 --> 00:15:30.750
00:15:31.529 --> 00:15:39.534
00:15:40.514 --> 00:15:49.965
00:15:51.105 --> 00:15:53.445
00:15:53.445 --> 00:15:57.080
00:15:58.965 --> 00:16:03.554
00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:10.740
00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:13.259
00:16:13.259 --> 00:16:21.090
00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:29.940
00:16:34.274 --> 00:16:55.154
00:16:55.754 --> 00:16:57.705
00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:04.799
00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:10.829
00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:26.430
00:17:26.775 --> 00:17:29.055
00:17:29.954 --> 00:17:36.555
00:17:37.815 --> 00:17:44.474
00:17:44.924 --> 00:17:50.444
00:17:50.865 --> 00:17:55.575
00:17:56.069 --> 00:18:04.410
00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:14.579
00:18:15.255 --> 00:18:15.615
00:18:15.615 --> 00:18:26.654
00:18:27.075 --> 00:18:30.105
00:18:30.615 --> 00:18:37.994
00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:50.069
00:18:56.275 --> 00:19:03.180
00:19:05.549 --> 00:19:10.289
00:19:11.579 --> 00:19:14.400
00:19:15.210 --> 00:19:26.670
00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:31.230
00:19:31.740 --> 00:19:34.049
00:19:35.204 --> 00:19:35.595
00:19:35.595 --> 00:19:40.244
00:19:41.234 --> 00:19:52.065
00:19:52.815 --> 00:20:00.075
00:20:00.525 --> 00:20:07.125
00:20:08.505 --> 00:20:10.724
00:20:11.355 --> 00:20:29.355
00:20:30.255 --> 00:20:35.535
00:20:37.815 --> 00:20:38.144
00:20:38.144 --> 00:20:47.984
00:20:49.005 --> 00:20:57.404
00:20:57.779 --> 00:21:02.250
00:21:03.029 --> 00:21:05.039
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:11.519
00:21:11.940 --> 00:21:23.009
00:21:24.869 --> 00:21:27.390
00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:30.704
00:21:30.704 --> 00:21:52.140
00:21:53.714 --> 00:21:57.555
00:21:58.394 --> 00:22:01.785
00:22:02.265 --> 00:22:08.474
00:22:08.835 --> 00:22:11.924
00:22:12.404 --> 00:22:21.494
00:22:22.184 --> 00:22:26.744
00:22:27.015 --> 00:22:30.615
00:22:38.535 --> 00:22:50.684
00:22:51.285 --> 00:22:54.644
00:22:57.494 --> 00:23:06.944
00:23:07.845 --> 00:23:11.325
00:23:11.414 --> 00:23:16.755
00:23:17.444 --> 00:23:20.144
00:23:20.954 --> 00:23:22.214
00:23:22.994 --> 00:23:27.285
00:23:28.275 --> 00:23:28.634
00:23:28.634 --> 00:23:34.365
00:23:35.295 --> 00:23:40.785
00:23:41.325 --> 00:23:48.015
00:23:48.795 --> 00:23:52.365
00:23:52.545 --> 00:24:02.355
00:24:02.835 --> 00:24:13.785
00:24:14.670 --> 00:24:18.299
00:24:18.750 --> 00:24:23.069
00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:31.289
00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:35.099
00:24:35.849 --> 00:24:41.789
00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:50.269
00:24:51.059 --> 00:24:58.410
00:24:59.069 --> 00:25:01.140
00:25:01.605 --> 00:25:02.894
00:25:03.375 --> 00:25:13.664
00:25:13.785 --> 00:25:17.384
00:25:18.045 --> 00:25:28.335
00:25:29.174 --> 00:25:34.875
00:25:34.904 --> 00:25:39.884
00:25:39.884 --> 00:25:53.240
00:25:54.630 --> 00:26:03.059
00:26:03.779 --> 00:26:12.240
00:26:13.230 --> 00:26:15.535
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:25.619
00:26:26.250 --> 00:26:37.349
00:26:42.990 --> 00:26:44.386
00:26:46.184 --> 00:26:49.424
00:26:50.055 --> 00:26:56.805
00:26:57.585 --> 00:27:03.285
00:27:04.154 --> 00:27:09.015
00:27:09.974 --> 00:27:13.005
00:27:13.394 --> 00:27:16.244
00:27:17.085 --> 00:27:24.375
00:27:25.065 --> 00:27:28.845
00:27:29.325 --> 00:27:35.234
00:27:38.444 --> 00:27:39.494
00:27:39.555 --> 00:27:40.875
00:27:42.150 --> 00:27:47.339
00:27:48.000 --> 00:28:02.039
00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:10.259
00:28:10.964 --> 00:28:16.214
00:28:17.144 --> 00:28:33.674
00:28:34.515 --> 00:28:36.255
00:28:36.255 --> 00:28:37.785
00:28:38.384 --> 00:28:50.625
00:28:51.315 --> 00:28:53.835
00:28:54.944 --> 00:28:57.974
00:28:58.335 --> 00:29:03.855
00:29:04.755 --> 00:29:14.954
00:29:15.944 --> 00:29:26.954
00:29:27.525 --> 00:29:32.954
00:29:33.855 --> 00:29:40.454
00:29:41.234 --> 00:29:53.984
00:29:55.305 --> 00:30:00.224