I HAVE THIS PROBLEM TO A LESSER DEGREE. Oops I'm yelling. Worse lately cuz spinal edema. But always walk in circles a few times trying to do something and getting distracted by several other things. People liked to say I was slow. Now I get on the bus and say to myself, "Where am I going again?" I might try a similar video. I wonder what I look like limping around in circles in the kitchen trying to do one "simple" thing. LOL
i saw this video publically broadcasted on LIVE TV!!!!!!! I SAW DIS VID ON CNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LARRY KING ALSO TALKED ABOUT IT!!!! LOOKS LIKE UR FAMOUS MAN!!!!
there are many areas of the brain which functions differently. some of these areas controls our subconscious/intuitive action (like breathing/walking). and there are areas for liguistics, memory & logic. people with amnesia can still communicate in their native language altho they cannot recall 'who teaches it to them'. autistics may've relied their logical brain so much (good pattern recognition), they also used it for intuitive actions... hence a case of using the wrong tool for the wrong job?
heres how 2 boil water,pour cold water in the kettle,plug the kettle in and turn it on,next week il discuss how to make toast,,,lol,,,,great video by the way silentmiaow,that comment wasnt directed to u personally,its just a sarcastic joke comment 2 anyone
I sort of felt the frustrtation while watching this v ideo. Personally I believe autistic people can discover things "normal" people can't because they see things differently. It is similare to Abeutiful Mind although that was Schysofrenia I beileve it can be sort of like that in that people think you cannot see the world correctly when in reality you just see it differently and it can be benificial in circumstances.
okay i am not autistic at all and i just learned how to boil water yesterday and im 15. my mom just never tought me how. she did once but i thought it was hard at first.
i am in honors and ap classes at school im not autistic so this is stupid
you're brain doesn't work the same way hers does. even if her mother taught her to boil water when she was 15, this video would still look the same. the problem is not a lack of knowledge or experience. the difference is in the way her brain functions and responds to stimulus.
My mom in fact taught me a whole lot younger than 15. As well as how to do a lot more complicated things than that. Knowing how to do something isn't the same as being able to do it (or able to do it consistently and easily), and for that matter knowing how to do something in one situation isn't the same as being able to do it in another.
Yes, I assumed she did. I'm actually surprised there is a person who was not taught how to boil water until age 15. But I suppose that isn't taught in honors or AP classes :)
I never had to be "taught" how to boil water. I taught myself when I was 8. Both parents worked, so I learned a lot of basic survival things myself. Maybe we're all looking into this subject a little too deeply. Boiling water? Oh wait, this discussion ended two months ago. I can only guess that boiling water, for someone with Autism, is as complicated as a normal person going to one store to buy the pot, another for the water, and then buying the stove to boil it.
As I watch this, it seems some how familiar. Then it occurs to me that it's not unlike watching a (Visual Basic) WHILE loop being executed, searching for a WEND condition to exit the loop. This is an absolutely amazing video, a brilliant video. Thank you for making it.
My son is 11 (more severe on the spectrum) I watched you on CNN and now I always watch your vidoes. what a true inspiration you can be to me watching you. Im hoping my ASD child will soon find a way to communicate with others we are still searching but its been years! I hope you reply, until next time I enjoy all your videos. Your such a smart woman! :)
i have a stepbrother who has mild autism and something else but hes 22 and has the knowledge of a 6 year old.i find it hard to deal with him sometimes but i geuss it takes MUCH patience and understanding.He has some of the same gestures as you which i find interesting.i have great appreciation for you and other people with disabilities though.
I can relate to coming into the kitchen to do something, and getting distracted and forgetting why I came there in the first place! I wonder if some aspects of "autism" are more prominent features of behaviours we all exhibit, such as short-circuiting when we want to accomplish a simple task. Do you find you have to be very patient with yourself, or are you comfortable with your rhythm in terms of how long it takes you to accomplish such a task?
Hello Amanda, I appreciate the time you spend creating these videos. I have really come around too understand autism. I was a lifeguard at a local pool this past summer, and one of the young children had autism. I tried to understand what was going through his mind while he was checking every step ladder around the pool but I could not process it. I now understand more, because of your informational videos. I was lucky enough to catch you story on CNN and I'm glad I did.
wow that wasnt easy at all u should rename it how to boil water in 24 hours(or maby if it took longer)?...... anyway this was very boaring and a waste of my time
You are clearly a beautiful and expressive individual. Speaking only for myself, a fairly typical person, I recognize how distractions affect our productivity. I am often sidetracked by things that are not specifically on the agenda and have nothing to do with completing a given task. Sometimes I think our culture of multitasking is contributing to this particular disorder. Perhaps though it is not a disorder at all, it is just our inner spirit taking control to experience its own desires :)
Amanda, I watched the CNN special last night and just wanted to let you know that I think you are AMAZING!!!! I love your videos, it gives a real view of how it feels to be you. Keep posting, you are an inspiration!
Unreal SilentMiaow! It makes your appearance here on YouTube even more extraordinary and special. Keep up the postings, I'm sure a lot of fellow autists will be inspired by you & this.
This was weird. I've been diagnosed with ADD, but I've found myself doing very similar things. Sometimes it is like I've just appeared in place and have to figure out what I'm doing by clues from context. It's like my brain "resets". Once I went up and down the stairs about six times because at the top of the stairs I could never figure out what I was doing there while at the bottom I would remember... What I see in this video looks similar but more extreme.
I truly envy your knees.. my family has genetically bad knees .. I will be on my second knee surgery.. with more in my future. I wish I could get up quickly without pain.
Wow. Yeah. I've got knee problems but nothing like that bad (and probably way different ones, mine mostly involve a kneecap doing things it ought not to do).
OMG, I did laugh. I found it very funny when you were in the kitchen opening up everything within reach!! I am not an autistic person at all, but I most certainly recognise that behaviour!!! I commonly go to switch the kettle on, only to waste my time looking into the cupboards, fridge etc :-)
In my case it only takes a few minutes max though, not hours. but I understand...
wow. that looks exhausting. im confused. because in the beginning you saw the tea kettle and held it. so you know that you had to use it. was the confusing part the next step? if so, then basically it is a motor planning issue, and i'm sure that if you practiced it everyday it would become a lot easier.
My two year old son is in the lengthy process of getting diagnosed with Autism and you videos have been so helpful to me. I just wanted to thank you from the top, bottom, and all the areas in between my heart. :)
I have a slow-progressing movement disorder that happens to some autistic people and seems to also go with stamina problems, benign joint hypermobility (which is one reason I found it too painful to stay on my feet the entire video, I wasn't wearing my ankle braces, also makes me walk around more), what I'd consider the remnants of OCD from childhood (used to be way worse), very mild seizures, migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, other forms of neuropathic pain, and a partrige in a pear tree?
Wow you have a LOT! I do think too many people see the co morbid disorders and do not see your humanity and intelligence. They accept Stephen Hawking's disorders, but they can't see autism with co morbid disorders. I think because they saw his NT ism first. I think we need to re educate society. I hope you find blessings among all these painful things, even the partrige in a pear tree.
As I get older, my body is showing signs and having more pains and aches, I am sorry you never had freedom of these pains,but I empathize with the chronic pain. Yes aspies can empathize in our minds.
I have a very important question and please think and consider it carefully....if you did not have these co morbid disorders... do you think the autism would not be a problem? Donna Williams has told me once she was able to neutralize and correct the co morbid disorders,then the autism was not a problem. With you ,if the OCD, seizures, migraines, Trigeminal neuralgia neuropathic pain etc could be resolved... do you think the autism would be a significant problem?
I don't know. Especially since some of the things (like the movement disorder) are things where they don't even know yet if it's a separate thing autistic people tend to get and non-autistic people don't, or whether it's simply an outgrowth of certain kinds of autism.
I need to see what Movement disorder is. I am not familar with it. Your information is invaluable. What upsets me is Stephen Hawking is totally understood when he was a full functioning person in his youth and then progressed to a physical debilitating life from a disease, yet auties who are born with their phsyical disabilities and are very intelligent are not given the same respect. Something is wrong when birth disorders are treated so unequally.
See "If you can do X, why can't you do Y?" for a partial explanation. Although, right now I'm having trouble making videos for exactly this reason, and it's driving me bonkers because I've got a lot of good video ideas. (The degree of difficulty with a thing changes all the time.)
I started cooking dinner a few hours ago. I eventually came across your video while looking for a balsamic vinaigrette dressing recipe. Your video reminded me that I have food in the oven and need to make salad dressing. Thanks for the cue.
I go through the same distractions when it's time to go outside for errands. Sometimes I don't get out of the building until after dark! Some days not at all. I think it's something that is not an emergency, so it doesn't get priority in my concentration. So many variables in the environment that have to be "just right" before I get the impression that I can continue with my intentions.
Great video. I have AS. I do the same thing as you, just not to the same degree. I have to walk around and look for reminders as to why I'm doing what I'm doing, and sometimes I have to go back to the starting position because then the thought will come back to me as to what it was I was trying to do in the first place. Writing down what I intend to do might be helpful, except I don't remember to write anything down in the first place. I'm a lawyer, just look like an idiot somtimes. :)
Hi Amanda. I'm sure you've pondered exhaustively about how to simplify tasks such as this, but how about devising some type of labeling system that you could use to simplify some of your more frequent in-house adventures. :)
Maybe something like a series of post-it notes with the word "boil" written on them to assist as visual clues. You could then put one on the kettle, the faucet, the stove, etc..
I've been attempting for a long time to make a video explaining why that doesn't fully work for me. Part of what I want to include is explained on my blog. My blog is linked to in my profile under "Website:". Click to there. Then in the URL field of your browser, leave my blog name there, but after the final slash put the following:
?p=346
Let me know if that doesn't take you to an entry called Safety Hazards.
Thanks for your response, and thanks for referring me to your website. I didn't realize that the clues that I recommended would need further clues just to be distinguishable. Ad infitum.
I have another question; what are your views regarding religion? Have you had much exposure to them?
I'm not here to evangelize or debate as that is just not my style. I don't buy into any of them, personally. I am curious about your perspective, though. It would be quite interesting to read about! :)
Given the comments in that article, would something inspired by Rosary beads work? That is, a string with a sequence of differently shaped beads or other small objects or different kinds of knot, each shape or texture associated with a step in the process?
This video reminds me of a flash game I played online. Its called "escape from the panic room," and there are a lot of different things to try before actually figuring out how to get out of the room.
Amanda, do you every get frustrated at yourself? You set out to do something specific such as boiling the water. Did you get distracted by all the other stimulus in the room or did you just forget why you went to the kitchen in the first place?
I sometimes get frustrated in general. I explained other places why this happened (complicated, several things going on, try looking through the other comments). Right now I am mostly frustrated because the USB port on my communication device is broken and my neck won't let me sit up for long periods, not at myself in particular.
Amanda, you are an amazing person. I first saw something about you on CNN and was so impressed with you and your incredible mind. How lucky we are to have you in this world!
i tried doing psychedellic mushrooms once and was overwhelmed by the way my mind would continue to go down tangents. "normally," i can cook anything; i love cooking and make fancy meals all the time. but during my shroom trip, i couldn't figure out how to open a can of soup. i even enlisted in the help of my friend, also shrooming, who proceeded to look up "soup" in a cookbook. (which, of course, didn't say how to OPEN a can of soup)
is your heart rate very high.... i think you do this because everything is moving so fast in you mind that doing somthing so easy that doesnt take that long ......keeps running by and by......th bes thing to do is make bioiling the water more complicated then it actually is and then it will get done faster
Yes my heart rate is really high. But the rest doesn't ring true, especially since I don't always think all that fast (and have trouble thinking while walking).
this so reminds me of myself sometimes. not to the degree you've mastered though! I'm very excited about the videos you are making they are a real gift!
At first I thought, "How can it take more than a few minutes to boil water?" Then I realized I had never myself boiled water, and was relying on seeing my parents boil water.
In fact, this reminds me of when I make those 3-minute microwave meals for myself. Just a hint -- it does NOT take me 3 minutes!
Thank you for this video, I think I will watch all your videos you've posted. When I read the discription and the first part of the naration, I thought to myself why would I laugh... and even through the clip, but I must say I did laugh a good laugh! No, not at my superiority, but your little punch 'good luck getting it off before the kettle melts'
You're amazingly inspirational
Thank you for another window into the world of autistics.
I understand so little of why the check/recheck, lights on lights off, open door shut door... my son does all of this plus so much more, then gets excited and claps his hands or jumps... can you give me an idea of what that is to him? Melissa
trust me if i could explain what u do to people i would but lets just establish that u do something good and u are looked upon with a smile that is for u to enjoy.
It seems like with austism an analogy would be like your body as a crane and your brain as the crane opperator but the crane opperator is usually in a stupor or asleep. How can we get that crane opperator to wake up?
Well, I filmed it. It's a re-creation of what happens when I try to boil water, not an actual filming of me trying to boil water. I wasn't thinking about the camera every second of it, but certainly when I turned the camera on and off I was.
Although I am classed as so called normal,(if there is such a thing!), I do find myself doing something similar in a far lesser degree - I get very easily distracted by visual reminders for something else. It's like I make a mental note about something and it is left in mid-air (as I am always rushing off to do something else) and I pick it up later.(And forget again what I originally went to do!) It is difficult to explain. Is this anything like what it is like for you?
I laugh because this reminds me so much of my older sister. As a child I depended on and loved her so much, no one could separate us.
As an adult, I am blessed to have her 8 minutes away from me so we can hang out and do stuff every day. She still tells me what to do and I still laugh at her on carnival rides!
For some reason I can relate to all your 'daily task' disabilities to my emotional problems. Emotions swallow me whole when they hit, and I can become completely inable to do the 'staple duties' that other people just..do. Something like making a phonecall can take me days, weeks.
is it that you forget what your doing? do you get lost along the way, getting absorbed or caught up in other thing?? I know why it can take me forever and i'm wondering how it is with you. I founf mylsef wondering what you were thinking at different points or where your interest/attention/focus was.
Well I'd had the idea of doing something like that for awhile, then one day finally got around to setting up the video camera and recording. I wasn't recording myself boiling water though, I was re-dramatizing what frequently happens when I *do* try to boil water. Recording was easy after the camera was on the stand, because it is remote controlled (you can see the remote in my hand in a lot of the pictures). So it was just walking in and out of the kitchen and letting autopilot take over.
You talk about laughing... and I'm not laughing, but giggling heavily, at your wit and commentary on experience itself. This is an extended version of what happens to me, though in my head. One funny thing is... I'm labeled as 'normal' therefore I'm limited in terms of acting mind and body wants to. Of course since it is also easier for me to fake 'normal' it is less of an imposition. Thank you for the video.
I thank you for uploading your videos, again. My younger cousins were being loud and i got mad at them and eventually smaked one on the head for being so loud. I find this soo interesting thanks again!
Good thing a baby wasn't just about to be born, ~ OOoooohhHHH ~ you know I'm just kidding girlfriend. I learn and learn so much from you and appreciate your uniqueness & insight & humor. take good care & keep 'em comin'!
I have once heard that ADHD is an ASD. I am skeptical about this, but this video does remind me of ADHD.I have been identified as having some executive functioning difficulties and I am often unable to stay on task, sometimes forgetting what I am doing(I have melted a kettle on the stove before!).I know others with attentional difficulties who can relate. Still not sure I'd classify ADHD as HFA, but it's still interesting.
supposedly adhd add and autims are on the same spectrum of "disorders", I once met a boy with severe ADHD, and he was telling me, as did his mom that when he enters a new classroom or environment setting with unknown children, he can spot other children with ADHD, and even Autism, as he is aware of his behaviors that "make" him have ADHD and he can see these in other kids-- 100% of the time he is correct in his diagnosis of peers.
I believe that I am also HFA the more I learn about autism. I read Temple Grandlin's Animals In Translation, and thought to myself... doesn't everyone think like that? I know exactly what you mean by cues, several times a day I will go into a room do get or do something and I get side tracked and do all this other stuff, ie looking in the fridge etc. It's not as extreme as what you show here, but it's definately an issue I have to work with too.
patrick... Keep in mind that everyone is on the Autism Spectrum. That's what makes it a spectrum! I could never be labeled "autistic" but I chew my lip/inside cheek constantly (some would say it's self-stimulation) and have a hard time keeping on task. Some people are socially awkward and have difficulty relating to others but not diagnosable with Asperger's..it's a continuum, really.
I have ADD, well all my life I felt like maybe something was wrong with me as I did not function like same aged peers-- i.e. comments like "you're weird", "when do you have time to think of that", "all that's in your head is useless data", I used to think I thought too much-- I felt like I couldn't get things done, or do them like I was supposed to-- I was diagnosed with ADD at age 33.
Thank you so much for posting this (another!) of your very helpful and enlightning videos. My daughter (nearly 3) has high functioning autism and she will become very frustraited and I try and help her and she do things over and over, and she'll finally be so happy that I offer her what she wants, even though I already just offered it five times! It was so confusing to me, but this video really helps me with that process that she is working with.
Exactly-- I work with a child who is 4, the ABA therapist said the child is low on expressive communication and has low language-- I guess she meant becuase he doesn't communicate or use language in the typical way-- but guess what-- all those behaviors he has do serve as communication, and yes we have to figure it out and guess or find a way to present a communication system he understands- as Silentmiaow did, she found a way to communicate.
I found this video very interesting. If it's a re-enactment of the actual problem, it's an informative one. What I am trying to understand is what is happening during the times when you don't seem (to me) to be actively boiling water. For example, what prompts you to look in the cabinets, or the refrigerator? Is it that you forgot that you're trying to boil water? Thank you for the video. I hope you'll continue to make them - this is helping me understand my autistic sons.
Yeah, it's a re-enactment, there's no way I could film it while actually trying to do it. It's that I go around the kitchen and the fridge is connected to an "open fridge and look in" action and so are all the other things, and so I end up doing all those things while trying to boil the water (sometimes forgetting, sometimes not, what I'm doing).
I love the new British accent of this voice, and its very smooth. The program I use to read to me (Read Please) is really choppy compared to this one. xD
Im not at all making fun of you please understand that but you should think about wearing a bra or some kind of sport bra even it will also help your back because you have big breasts but intersting video none the less
So... the problem that you're having in this video is that when you perform a specific task, your body remembers it a certain way, so when you go into the kitchen looking for "cues" you are trying to get your body and mind to find the pattern it knows for boiling water...? Maybe that sounds crazy to you. I'm just trying to uderstand. My young son is autistic.
I was like.. "When did you find the kettle!? I wasn't paying attention D:!" See, my problem is like.. Something will be in front of me, RIGHT in front of me and I won't see it untill like, a long time later. |3
XDDDDD @ the kettle melting..
..But actually.. I've melted more than that, really.. :S
wow. i'm not autistic, although i am cyclothymic, but i do have some days when my thoughts seem similarly disorganized. not to this extent, but to the extent that i put a lot of effort out and get very little actual results. i will come to my shop and mill around in circles all day, forgetting between one room and the next just what i ought to be doing and in what sequence. it's very frustrated, and people get very angry with me.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of reasons people can have this problem. (And for that matter a lot of problems like this that look identical on the surface. Like, OCD, ADD, and a movement disorder could all cause something identical-looking for three slightly different reasons.)
If this were my video, there'd be five minutes of getting the kettle on the stove, and then four hours fifty-five minutes of me letting it boil dry, refilling it, and doing it again. Thank the gods for electric teakettles (one of which my parents bought for me after I melted their third kettle... <_<;)!
Thank you for the insight! This video helps me understand the degree to which autism's difficulties differ from my Asperger's while also showing the core similarities of looking for cues and, as always, keeping hold of one's faculties.
This demonstrates what I was trying to get at with my "When you can, but you can't" video. And people who would call you a fake exemplify why I need to understand this in my son, and clarify for his staff.
It 's more to do with inertia, perhaps, but mainly about my irritation with staff who call my son non-compliant, as if he is making a conscious effort to misbehave. I'm just looking for more clues as to what motivates him (or not). It would seem that distracting cues could get in the way, or maybe those cues need to be addressed before one can move on to the task at hand.
or maybe the offending staff is unaware of "the effort you appear to be putting out, at the surface, is an incredibly miniscule fraction of the effort you are putting out internally" as the new autistics dot org paper mentions
Autistichumor!You have Got to be the only one with that tag. I tell everyone when I show your videos, that you have a really good sense of humor, and they're like "huh?" Your humanity is such a relief when we live in a society that is SO afraid of what it IS to be human. Again, I<3U 1000 times, your my hero Amanda.
"Uneven skills profile" is supposed to be a hallmark of autism - extreme case is said to be Bill Gates's (possibly mythical) inability to tie his shoelaces ...
I've melted tea kettles a couple of times. Now I have an electric teakettle. I love it to bits. They are a little expensive, but the kind I have is "cordless" and shuts itself off. You can lift the teakettle part off the electric part, and there's no burner exposed. Much safer.
I love your videos. I love your spirit. Don't let the haters get to you because they don't deserve your valuable time. You are a blessed soul among angels. You are helping us view life outside our comfy little boxes. I admire you so much.
Assumptions like yours are why I starved for a year. And are also why I make videos about things like this. Autistic people die because of denial of services based on assumptions like that. You should educate yourself. Watch Sue Rubin's "Autism is a World" for starters.
Also I wasn't filming myself trying to boil water, I was filming myself showing what happens when I try to boil water. Big difference. I am not sure I'll ever get over people's expectations that somehow because I'm autistic all my filming is totally candid, and their indignation when, like most filming, it's actually planned out in order to show something.
It's well-known even in the literature that autistic people's adaptive skill level is far less than our academic skill level quite often, and also that our abilities within our field of special interest are totally unrelated to our abilities in other areas. Also we often do far better with tech stuff although that's not a given.
I have a friend who has a good job programming in a high-tech industry and can't reliably clean his house, feed himself, or use the toilet. He was diagnosed with autism when he was four but the records have been lost. He can't get assistance with those things because of stereotypes like yours.
She's not a fake. If doubt anyone any has perfect "papers" proving a disability but silentmiaow has been checked out thoroughly by CNN and MIT (the university). Not to mention the state agencies that pay for her to have help at home for the reason that she can't boil water reliably for herself.
BeAware, you should become aware. You haven't a clue about autism. My daughter, who is incredibly gifted, typing, reading, and yes, even navigating youtube at 3, still cannot ask me for a drink of water, nor use the potty. She is simply differently abled, never disabled. Learn a bit more about autism before posting such garbage comments.
I used to hate it too. I spent ages fighting against it, then to accept that label until I realized, hey, if I can't eat or drink and walk around in the same clothes for days, am unable to keep my house clean, and generally get caught upn my interest so as to exclude all other living; then I can accept that that is considered disabled.
Unfortunately without this label I cannot get the services/support i need. Besides that, sometimes, I FEEL, disabled, that's why I asked for help in the first place. I simply wanted someone to assist me in cleaning my home. I fight the label but I need it too. I have excellent skills and talents, inside I am intellectually vibrant and sound,
so I proved to myself anyways that within I am not disabled but rather brilliant if I must say so myself. I still need help though and I hope this is helpful. In an ideal world yeah I agree but I need care from other people, without it I could die, and in order to get it I must fit in a category deemed necessary of support services.
BeAware... Amanda made clear in these comments that this is a reenactment, not a genuine water-boiling episode. And please disregard the notion that having a diagnosed disability makes you hopelessly incapacitated in any and all areas of functioning at all times.
This reminds me of the thought process involved with OCD accept that OCD for me is about getting through one thought to go onto others whereas it seems you are going through many different actions to get back to one thought.
Interesting. I was wondering if it was any thing like my friends stutter. For some reason his crushing stutter lifts once in a while during relaxed times with friends especially while talikng about family. During those moments he's hard to shut up.
I was wondering if you slip into times where it all clicks and you fly through your tasks.
Yes, I do. These things are incredibly variable in most people. Stuttering often lifts while singing, just as I don't have a lot of conversational speech but I can usually sing just fine. Stuttering also varies between different circumstances. These things are not tidy and stable, yeah. It can take me fifteen minutes to boil water and it can take all day and I don't ever do it, anything in between too.
There are also... sort of some patterns that are easier to do than others, and I don't always know what makes the difference. The difference can be subtle. But it's the difference between walking down a cleared path and walking into a giant thornbush. Only the paths and the thornbushes are always changing positions.
Oh and I have another ongoing one where I'm trying to set up the camera to record genuine/spontaneous expressions on my part for a "dictionary" for people unfamiliar with my body language. Not sure if that'll be a public project or a private one for staff. That's taking forever because it requires the convergence of the camera and a spontaneous expression or mood, and can't be planned by definition.
Certain actions are easier than others, and so are certain paths around the house. I'd been trying to make a video like this for several days before everything converged right. The filming took most of yesterday, but if you look closely there was a remote control for the camera in my hand so that made it pretty easy after I had it on the tripod, I just had to walk in and out of the kitchen and click a button on the remote. (cont'd)
The sitting down was taking a genuine break from that though, then I just filmed myself rocking from behind later to fill that in. The editing was a pain in the butt for file format reasons, so took several hours longer than it should have, that part is usually one of the easier parts. I had a big block around recording the voice but after a few hours I did that. Then this morning I did the conversion and captioning which were both relatively easy.
This one was fairly easy in comparison to some. I have upwards of fifty video files for projects I've been trying to finish for ages. One from October on having a future. One from December on overload. Both aimed mostly towards other auties. Sometimes it takes days and sometimes it takes all year I guess.
What's going through your head when you want to fullfill a task like boiling water? Do you get frustrated with yourself somtimes? Thank you for the video, you're really amazing and interesting to learn from.
I get frustrated, not necessarily with myself. When I'm trying to do something like that, what's going through my head can vary a lot. If I'm walking, quite often the only thing going through my head are various sensations around me, and periodic reminders that I'm actually trying to do something, coupled with automatic reactions to the sensations, and attempts to juggle sensation and action and intent to get them to all line up properly, sometimes more successful than others.
I HAVE THIS PROBLEM TO A LESSER DEGREE. Oops I'm yelling. Worse lately cuz spinal edema. But always walk in circles a few times trying to do something and getting distracted by several other things. People liked to say I was slow. Now I get on the bus and say to myself, "Where am I going again?" I might try a similar video. I wonder what I look like limping around in circles in the kitchen trying to do one "simple" thing. LOL
miasansom 3 years ago 4
i saw this video publically broadcasted on LIVE TV!!!!!!! I SAW DIS VID ON CNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LARRY KING ALSO TALKED ABOUT IT!!!! LOOKS LIKE UR FAMOUS MAN!!!!
RunescapeMan619 3 years ago
Water in kettle, boil. Piece of piss.
snevelin 3 years ago
whats the HARD way?
ApopheniaIV 3 years ago
there are many areas of the brain which functions differently. some of these areas controls our subconscious/intuitive action (like breathing/walking). and there are areas for liguistics, memory & logic. people with amnesia can still communicate in their native language altho they cannot recall 'who teaches it to them'. autistics may've relied their logical brain so much (good pattern recognition), they also used it for intuitive actions... hence a case of using the wrong tool for the wrong job?
faisaladlin 3 years ago 10
heres how 2 boil water,pour cold water in the kettle,plug the kettle in and turn it on,next week il discuss how to make toast,,,lol,,,,great video by the way silentmiaow,that comment wasnt directed to u personally,its just a sarcastic joke comment 2 anyone
kazza224 3 years ago
I sort of felt the frustrtation while watching this v ideo. Personally I believe autistic people can discover things "normal" people can't because they see things differently. It is similare to Abeutiful Mind although that was Schysofrenia I beileve it can be sort of like that in that people think you cannot see the world correctly when in reality you just see it differently and it can be benificial in circumstances.
BenjaminWirtz 3 years ago 4
Planning such as boiling water
involves activities of different parts
of brain simultaneously. I guess this behaviour is due to the weak connnection between various parts of the brain in serious autistic person.
mingyip88cn 3 years ago
As always you help me to see the world through my 2 beautiful boys' eyes, who happen to be autistic.Thank you.
canadianmuslimnproud 3 years ago 7
if it took you that long to boil water how long does it take you to set up the camera
Horrorfilms666 3 years ago
okay i am not autistic at all and i just learned how to boil water yesterday and im 15. my mom just never tought me how. she did once but i thought it was hard at first.
i am in honors and ap classes at school im not autistic so this is stupid
rockandrolllover14 3 years ago
you're brain doesn't work the same way hers does. even if her mother taught her to boil water when she was 15, this video would still look the same. the problem is not a lack of knowledge or experience. the difference is in the way her brain functions and responds to stimulus.
jenchev 3 years ago 12
My mom in fact taught me a whole lot younger than 15. As well as how to do a lot more complicated things than that. Knowing how to do something isn't the same as being able to do it (or able to do it consistently and easily), and for that matter knowing how to do something in one situation isn't the same as being able to do it in another.
silentmiaow 3 years ago
Yes, I assumed she did. I'm actually surprised there is a person who was not taught how to boil water until age 15. But I suppose that isn't taught in honors or AP classes :)
jenchev 3 years ago 2
Yes, it sounds as if rockandrolllever14 is much less knowledgeable. lol
mickeymouse12678 3 years ago
I never had to be "taught" how to boil water. I taught myself when I was 8. Both parents worked, so I learned a lot of basic survival things myself. Maybe we're all looking into this subject a little too deeply. Boiling water? Oh wait, this discussion ended two months ago. I can only guess that boiling water, for someone with Autism, is as complicated as a normal person going to one store to buy the pot, another for the water, and then buying the stove to boil it.
posthumanfetus 3 years ago
I've watched a friend of mine try to make ramen when he was really really baked. It looked a lot like that. (outwardly at least)
csurrel 3 years ago 4
so then once it is boiled, you have to figure out what you need to do with it before it gets too cold...i admire your perseverance.
quickmythril 3 years ago
As I watch this, it seems some how familiar. Then it occurs to me that it's not unlike watching a (Visual Basic) WHILE loop being executed, searching for a WEND condition to exit the loop. This is an absolutely amazing video, a brilliant video. Thank you for making it.
thoxbui 3 years ago 6
"The World Is A Cruel Place."-Everyones Thoughts
PluroWow 3 years ago 3
Before the kettle melts, that reminds me of me. I think its funny but in a good way, not in an ignorant way or anything. Thanks for uploading!
Freedom441 3 years ago 2
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I admire you immensely for this.
KoroOutbreak 3 years ago 2
My son is 11 (more severe on the spectrum) I watched you on CNN and now I always watch your vidoes. what a true inspiration you can be to me watching you. Im hoping my ASD child will soon find a way to communicate with others we are still searching but its been years! I hope you reply, until next time I enjoy all your videos. Your such a smart woman! :)
italy076 3 years ago 4
i have a stepbrother who has mild autism and something else but hes 22 and has the knowledge of a 6 year old.i find it hard to deal with him sometimes but i geuss it takes MUCH patience and understanding.He has some of the same gestures as you which i find interesting.i have great appreciation for you and other people with disabilities though.
krystle009 3 years ago
I can relate to coming into the kitchen to do something, and getting distracted and forgetting why I came there in the first place! I wonder if some aspects of "autism" are more prominent features of behaviours we all exhibit, such as short-circuiting when we want to accomplish a simple task. Do you find you have to be very patient with yourself, or are you comfortable with your rhythm in terms of how long it takes you to accomplish such a task?
bonita63 3 years ago
Hello Amanda, I appreciate the time you spend creating these videos. I have really come around too understand autism. I was a lifeguard at a local pool this past summer, and one of the young children had autism. I tried to understand what was going through his mind while he was checking every step ladder around the pool but I could not process it. I now understand more, because of your informational videos. I was lucky enough to catch you story on CNN and I'm glad I did.
Thank You Amanda =]
MxM80808 3 years ago
Can you explain to me how you can talk on the computer? is it a speical system?
jameshuh123 3 years ago
I just want you to know that your videos and your interview on CNN helped me realize what autism is and why they act the way they do.
I know respect you and everyone else with autism 100%....thank you
lukeduke711 3 years ago
wow that wasnt easy at all u should rename it how to boil water in 24 hours(or maby if it took longer)?...... anyway this was very boaring and a waste of my time
XeliteplayaX 3 years ago
You are clearly a beautiful and expressive individual. Speaking only for myself, a fairly typical person, I recognize how distractions affect our productivity. I am often sidetracked by things that are not specifically on the agenda and have nothing to do with completing a given task. Sometimes I think our culture of multitasking is contributing to this particular disorder. Perhaps though it is not a disorder at all, it is just our inner spirit taking control to experience its own desires :)
24KZone 3 years ago
I have a lot of respect for you. And I dont see you as lesser than me i actually see you as superior. I dont have half the will power you do.
smiletone 3 years ago 2
Amanda, I watched the CNN special last night and just wanted to let you know that I think you are AMAZING!!!! I love your videos, it gives a real view of how it feels to be you. Keep posting, you are an inspiration!
PLDNNP 3 years ago
Wow!!! Girl you are so bright!!... you are opening my eyes in an amazing way!!!
You are brilliant in getting your point across. I really appreciate your videos.
Now I know that you understand ours ("normal" people) limitations.
I hope some day I can be nearly as kind as you are.
All the love for you!!!
LeonardodiserPier 3 years ago
Wow!!! Girl you are so bright!!... you are opening my eyes in an amazing way!!!
You are brilliant in getting your point across. I really appreciate your videos.
Now I know that you understand ours ("normal" people) limitations.
I hope some day I can be nearly as kind as you are.
All the love for you!!!
LeonardodiserPier 3 years ago
Unreal SilentMiaow! It makes your appearance here on YouTube even more extraordinary and special. Keep up the postings, I'm sure a lot of fellow autists will be inspired by you & this.
etld 3 years ago
You are amazing :) Brilliant video! I am thankful for the videos you produce.
Sincerely, Suzanne, Mother of an autistic 3(almost4) yr old.
p.s. and I'd like to give you a cyber (((hug))) =)
maybe I can meet up with you some day in Second Life and give you a hug there hehe
suzy357 3 years ago
This was weird. I've been diagnosed with ADD, but I've found myself doing very similar things. Sometimes it is like I've just appeared in place and have to figure out what I'm doing by clues from context. It's like my brain "resets". Once I went up and down the stairs about six times because at the top of the stairs I could never figure out what I was doing there while at the bottom I would remember... What I see in this video looks similar but more extreme.
awollangk 3 years ago 3
I weep for the invention of youtube!
themainentity 3 years ago
I truly envy your knees.. my family has genetically bad knees .. I will be on my second knee surgery.. with more in my future. I wish I could get up quickly without pain.
Yetti0 3 years ago 3
Wow. Yeah. I've got knee problems but nothing like that bad (and probably way different ones, mine mostly involve a kneecap doing things it ought not to do).
silentmiaow 3 years ago
OMG, I did laugh. I found it very funny when you were in the kitchen opening up everything within reach!! I am not an autistic person at all, but I most certainly recognise that behaviour!!! I commonly go to switch the kettle on, only to waste my time looking into the cupboards, fridge etc :-)
In my case it only takes a few minutes max though, not hours. but I understand...
sbevian 3 years ago
wow. that looks exhausting. im confused. because in the beginning you saw the tea kettle and held it. so you know that you had to use it. was the confusing part the next step? if so, then basically it is a motor planning issue, and i'm sure that if you practiced it everyday it would become a lot easier.
shishi613 3 years ago
My two year old son is in the lengthy process of getting diagnosed with Autism and you videos have been so helpful to me. I just wanted to thank you from the top, bottom, and all the areas in between my heart. :)
neglectedslave 3 years ago
what are your other co morbid disorders and/or physical challenges?
Yetti0 3 years ago
I have a slow-progressing movement disorder that happens to some autistic people and seems to also go with stamina problems, benign joint hypermobility (which is one reason I found it too painful to stay on my feet the entire video, I wasn't wearing my ankle braces, also makes me walk around more), what I'd consider the remnants of OCD from childhood (used to be way worse), very mild seizures, migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, other forms of neuropathic pain, and a partrige in a pear tree?
silentmiaow 3 years ago
Wow you have a LOT! I do think too many people see the co morbid disorders and do not see your humanity and intelligence. They accept Stephen Hawking's disorders, but they can't see autism with co morbid disorders. I think because they saw his NT ism first. I think we need to re educate society. I hope you find blessings among all these painful things, even the partrige in a pear tree.
Yetti0 3 years ago
As I get older, my body is showing signs and having more pains and aches, I am sorry you never had freedom of these pains,but I empathize with the chronic pain. Yes aspies can empathize in our minds.
Yetti0 3 years ago
I have a very important question and please think and consider it carefully....if you did not have these co morbid disorders... do you think the autism would not be a problem? Donna Williams has told me once she was able to neutralize and correct the co morbid disorders,then the autism was not a problem. With you ,if the OCD, seizures, migraines, Trigeminal neuralgia neuropathic pain etc could be resolved... do you think the autism would be a significant problem?
Yetti0 3 years ago
I don't know. Especially since some of the things (like the movement disorder) are things where they don't even know yet if it's a separate thing autistic people tend to get and non-autistic people don't, or whether it's simply an outgrowth of certain kinds of autism.
silentmiaow 3 years ago
I need to see what Movement disorder is. I am not familar with it. Your information is invaluable. What upsets me is Stephen Hawking is totally understood when he was a full functioning person in his youth and then progressed to a physical debilitating life from a disease, yet auties who are born with their phsyical disabilities and are very intelligent are not given the same respect. Something is wrong when birth disorders are treated so unequally.
Yetti0 3 years ago
I'm considered "normal" but sometimes i have same problems haha! Good video.
elmer1410 3 years ago
Not intending to be disrepectful, but how did you mangage to produce and upload this video at all?
And how long did it take?
Bre.
EZbre 3 years ago
See "If you can do X, why can't you do Y?" for a partial explanation. Although, right now I'm having trouble making videos for exactly this reason, and it's driving me bonkers because I've got a lot of good video ideas. (The degree of difficulty with a thing changes all the time.)
silentmiaow 3 years ago
I started cooking dinner a few hours ago. I eventually came across your video while looking for a balsamic vinaigrette dressing recipe. Your video reminded me that I have food in the oven and need to make salad dressing. Thanks for the cue.
FigurePhotos 3 years ago 3
so...you dont know what to do if your actually doing it but when you talk about it you know exactly how to?
add1c7i0n 3 years ago
Yes.
silentmiaow 3 years ago
Thank you for sharing your videos. I have a cousin who has autism. I hope you will continue helping us understand more about autism.
hoosierm0m 3 years ago
I go through the same distractions when it's time to go outside for errands. Sometimes I don't get out of the building until after dark! Some days not at all. I think it's something that is not an emergency, so it doesn't get priority in my concentration. So many variables in the environment that have to be "just right" before I get the impression that I can continue with my intentions.
NoemieArmstrong 3 years ago
Great video. I have AS. I do the same thing as you, just not to the same degree. I have to walk around and look for reminders as to why I'm doing what I'm doing, and sometimes I have to go back to the starting position because then the thought will come back to me as to what it was I was trying to do in the first place. Writing down what I intend to do might be helpful, except I don't remember to write anything down in the first place. I'm a lawyer, just look like an idiot somtimes. :)
amhealy2007 3 years ago 2
Hmmm... Just and idea, but have you ever tried to maybe tape visual ques on the fridge?
Like, maybe a picture of the tea kettle
and then a tea kettle being filled
and then one of a tea kettle being put on a stove?
Just an idea...
I have HFA, so something like that helps me remember what to do in the morning.
JetsetMuerte 4 years ago
Then every time you went into the kitchen you would start boiling water!!
burtflaxton 3 years ago 3
Hi Amanda. I'm sure you've pondered exhaustively about how to simplify tasks such as this, but how about devising some type of labeling system that you could use to simplify some of your more frequent in-house adventures. :)
Maybe something like a series of post-it notes with the word "boil" written on them to assist as visual clues. You could then put one on the kettle, the faucet, the stove, etc..
sackman11 4 years ago
I've been attempting for a long time to make a video explaining why that doesn't fully work for me. Part of what I want to include is explained on my blog. My blog is linked to in my profile under "Website:". Click to there. Then in the URL field of your browser, leave my blog name there, but after the final slash put the following:
?p=346
Let me know if that doesn't take you to an entry called Safety Hazards.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Thanks for your response, and thanks for referring me to your website. I didn't realize that the clues that I recommended would need further clues just to be distinguishable. Ad infitum.
I have another question; what are your views regarding religion? Have you had much exposure to them?
I'm not here to evangelize or debate as that is just not my style. I don't buy into any of them, personally. I am curious about your perspective, though. It would be quite interesting to read about! :)
sackman11 4 years ago
Given the comments in that article, would something inspired by Rosary beads work? That is, a string with a sequence of differently shaped beads or other small objects or different kinds of knot, each shape or texture associated with a step in the process?
sabick 3 years ago
Something that way might, but what would also really help would be a room that was totally bare other than a stove, a sink, and a tea kettle.
silentmiaow 3 years ago
My NT husband would perfer a house like that ROFL
Yetti0 3 years ago
This video reminds me of a flash game I played online. Its called "escape from the panic room," and there are a lot of different things to try before actually figuring out how to get out of the room.
drmline2007 4 years ago
Amanda, do you every get frustrated at yourself? You set out to do something specific such as boiling the water. Did you get distracted by all the other stimulus in the room or did you just forget why you went to the kitchen in the first place?
TraceyTi 4 years ago
I sometimes get frustrated in general. I explained other places why this happened (complicated, several things going on, try looking through the other comments). Right now I am mostly frustrated because the USB port on my communication device is broken and my neck won't let me sit up for long periods, not at myself in particular.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Amanda, you are an amazing person. I first saw something about you on CNN and was so impressed with you and your incredible mind. How lucky we are to have you in this world!
JordanDesignStudio 4 years ago 2
i tried doing psychedellic mushrooms once and was overwhelmed by the way my mind would continue to go down tangents. "normally," i can cook anything; i love cooking and make fancy meals all the time. but during my shroom trip, i couldn't figure out how to open a can of soup. i even enlisted in the help of my friend, also shrooming, who proceeded to look up "soup" in a cookbook. (which, of course, didn't say how to OPEN a can of soup)
corinnederella 4 years ago
is your heart rate very high.... i think you do this because everything is moving so fast in you mind that doing somthing so easy that doesnt take that long ......keeps running by and by......th bes thing to do is make bioiling the water more complicated then it actually is and then it will get done faster
themajors222 4 years ago
Yes my heart rate is really high. But the rest doesn't ring true, especially since I don't always think all that fast (and have trouble thinking while walking).
silentmiaow 4 years ago
this so reminds me of myself sometimes. not to the degree you've mastered though! I'm very excited about the videos you are making they are a real gift!
indigoshade 4 years ago
At first I thought, "How can it take more than a few minutes to boil water?" Then I realized I had never myself boiled water, and was relying on seeing my parents boil water.
In fact, this reminds me of when I make those 3-minute microwave meals for myself. Just a hint -- it does NOT take me 3 minutes!
AuRatio 4 years ago
how did u manage 2 film & make this video if it takes u so long 2 do things? great vid btw:)
jskip85 4 years ago
LOL - the last line was great!
metricalpound 4 years ago
Thank you for this video, I think I will watch all your videos you've posted. When I read the discription and the first part of the naration, I thought to myself why would I laugh... and even through the clip, but I must say I did laugh a good laugh! No, not at my superiority, but your little punch 'good luck getting it off before the kettle melts'
You're amazingly inspirational
Thank you for another window into the world of autistics.
ginir00kami 4 years ago
I understand so little of why the check/recheck, lights on lights off, open door shut door... my son does all of this plus so much more, then gets excited and claps his hands or jumps... can you give me an idea of what that is to him? Melissa
mossimo689 4 years ago
Very intresting.
grahamid403 4 years ago
trust me if i could explain what u do to people i would but lets just establish that u do something good and u are looked upon with a smile that is for u to enjoy.
pasquesi 4 years ago
Harp!!! I love the harp. I took lessons for a while, but I had to stop as I ran out of money.
SonjaElen 4 years ago
You are a wonderful human being for sharing these experiences with everyone.
NeeseO 4 years ago 4
I've learnt alot from your videos! thanks!
I can only hope you manage to get the tea bag in the cup before the water goes cold!
take care
notaproduct 4 years ago
I am not autistic, but sometimes my days go like this as well.
NeeseO 4 years ago
mine too!!! but mostly out of being forgetful or an absent-minded baffoon
chikotube 4 years ago
It seems like with austism an analogy would be like your body as a crane and your brain as the crane opperator but the crane opperator is usually in a stupor or asleep. How can we get that crane opperator to wake up?
Chuckjagermeister 4 years ago
Well, autism + movement disorder + who knows what else, yeah, but more like problems of communication rather than anyone being asleep.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
the first part reminds me of a science project were we put down us thinking we needed to move something before moving it and yeah. :)
RockLeesWife 4 years ago
to what extent were you aware of the camera while you were doing this?
NonSvankmajer 4 years ago
Well, I filmed it. It's a re-creation of what happens when I try to boil water, not an actual filming of me trying to boil water. I wasn't thinking about the camera every second of it, but certainly when I turned the camera on and off I was.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Although I am classed as so called normal,(if there is such a thing!), I do find myself doing something similar in a far lesser degree - I get very easily distracted by visual reminders for something else. It's like I make a mental note about something and it is left in mid-air (as I am always rushing off to do something else) and I pick it up later.(And forget again what I originally went to do!) It is difficult to explain. Is this anything like what it is like for you?
AstralDreamer18 4 years ago
I'm not sure, but certainly in terms of reminders mostly being external, yes.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
I laugh because this reminds me so much of my older sister. As a child I depended on and loved her so much, no one could separate us.
As an adult, I am blessed to have her 8 minutes away from me so we can hang out and do stuff every day. She still tells me what to do and I still laugh at her on carnival rides!
snigglefritz 4 years ago
I have a 23 year old son with aspergers. Sometimes saying things outloud can help. Maybe if you repeat outloud: "Got to boil water"
ELMOWAS15 4 years ago
For some reason I can relate to all your 'daily task' disabilities to my emotional problems. Emotions swallow me whole when they hit, and I can become completely inable to do the 'staple duties' that other people just..do. Something like making a phonecall can take me days, weeks.
LucyShy 4 years ago
I see that if I look at your other responses my questions will more likely be answerd. disregard me, i'm new at figuring this out, thanks
star4kaeylarae 4 years ago
is it that you forget what your doing? do you get lost along the way, getting absorbed or caught up in other thing?? I know why it can take me forever and i'm wondering how it is with you. I founf mylsef wondering what you were thinking at different points or where your interest/attention/focus was.
star4kaeylarae 4 years ago
if that took that long to boil some water how long did it take you to start recording the video
geraldspoop 4 years ago
Well I'd had the idea of doing something like that for awhile, then one day finally got around to setting up the video camera and recording. I wasn't recording myself boiling water though, I was re-dramatizing what frequently happens when I *do* try to boil water. Recording was easy after the camera was on the stand, because it is remote controlled (you can see the remote in my hand in a lot of the pictures). So it was just walking in and out of the kitchen and letting autopilot take over.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
You talk about laughing... and I'm not laughing, but giggling heavily, at your wit and commentary on experience itself. This is an extended version of what happens to me, though in my head. One funny thing is... I'm labeled as 'normal' therefore I'm limited in terms of acting mind and body wants to. Of course since it is also easier for me to fake 'normal' it is less of an imposition. Thank you for the video.
complicitytheory 4 years ago
You're taking ridiculously unnecessary steps, and there's no indication or explanation as to why.
SandwichPirate 4 years ago
See other comments. (Both from me and from those on here who function similarly.)
silentmiaow 4 years ago
I think if I were you I would just drink Ensure and get all my calories that way. I think it has all your vitamins too.
mixmastamarshymc 4 years ago
I thank you for uploading your videos, again. My younger cousins were being loud and i got mad at them and eventually smaked one on the head for being so loud. I find this soo interesting thanks again!
LilDesiMac 4 years ago
i dont really understand, why you were unable to boil the kettle? was it the fact that you kept forgetting what you came into the kitchen to do?
dashadavies 4 years ago
It's that I kept being sort of drawn into other things in a physical way, they sort of cued me to do things that weren't what I went in there to do.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Good thing a baby wasn't just about to be born, ~ OOoooohhHHH ~ you know I'm just kidding girlfriend. I learn and learn so much from you and appreciate your uniqueness & insight & humor. take good care & keep 'em comin'!
souljaEXVOTO 4 years ago
VERY INTERESTING
dahmer99 4 years ago
I have once heard that ADHD is an ASD. I am skeptical about this, but this video does remind me of ADHD.I have been identified as having some executive functioning difficulties and I am often unable to stay on task, sometimes forgetting what I am doing(I have melted a kettle on the stove before!).I know others with attentional difficulties who can relate. Still not sure I'd classify ADHD as HFA, but it's still interesting.
sneech2 4 years ago
supposedly adhd add and autims are on the same spectrum of "disorders", I once met a boy with severe ADHD, and he was telling me, as did his mom that when he enters a new classroom or environment setting with unknown children, he can spot other children with ADHD, and even Autism, as he is aware of his behaviors that "make" him have ADHD and he can see these in other kids-- 100% of the time he is correct in his diagnosis of peers.
SterlingRio 4 years ago
I believe that I am also HFA the more I learn about autism. I read Temple Grandlin's Animals In Translation, and thought to myself... doesn't everyone think like that? I know exactly what you mean by cues, several times a day I will go into a room do get or do something and I get side tracked and do all this other stuff, ie looking in the fridge etc. It's not as extreme as what you show here, but it's definately an issue I have to work with too.
patrick95350 4 years ago 2
patrick... Keep in mind that everyone is on the Autism Spectrum. That's what makes it a spectrum! I could never be labeled "autistic" but I chew my lip/inside cheek constantly (some would say it's self-stimulation) and have a hard time keeping on task. Some people are socially awkward and have difficulty relating to others but not diagnosable with Asperger's..it's a continuum, really.
sneech2 4 years ago
I have ADD, well all my life I felt like maybe something was wrong with me as I did not function like same aged peers-- i.e. comments like "you're weird", "when do you have time to think of that", "all that's in your head is useless data", I used to think I thought too much-- I felt like I couldn't get things done, or do them like I was supposed to-- I was diagnosed with ADD at age 33.
SterlingRio 4 years ago
Thank you so much for posting this (another!) of your very helpful and enlightning videos. My daughter (nearly 3) has high functioning autism and she will become very frustraited and I try and help her and she do things over and over, and she'll finally be so happy that I offer her what she wants, even though I already just offered it five times! It was so confusing to me, but this video really helps me with that process that she is working with.
patrick95350 4 years ago
Exactly-- I work with a child who is 4, the ABA therapist said the child is low on expressive communication and has low language-- I guess she meant becuase he doesn't communicate or use language in the typical way-- but guess what-- all those behaviors he has do serve as communication, and yes we have to figure it out and guess or find a way to present a communication system he understands- as Silentmiaow did, she found a way to communicate.
SterlingRio 4 years ago
I found this video very interesting. If it's a re-enactment of the actual problem, it's an informative one. What I am trying to understand is what is happening during the times when you don't seem (to me) to be actively boiling water. For example, what prompts you to look in the cabinets, or the refrigerator? Is it that you forgot that you're trying to boil water? Thank you for the video. I hope you'll continue to make them - this is helping me understand my autistic sons.
StitchesOnQuilts 4 years ago
Yeah, it's a re-enactment, there's no way I could film it while actually trying to do it. It's that I go around the kitchen and the fridge is connected to an "open fridge and look in" action and so are all the other things, and so I end up doing all those things while trying to boil the water (sometimes forgetting, sometimes not, what I'm doing).
silentmiaow 4 years ago
thank you for all your vidoes! it so very insightfull and interesting to learn more about autism!
when you are not forgetting about boiling water, but are still doing other things, is it because you cannot stop yourself? is like a physical force?
dashadavies 4 years ago
I love the new British accent of this voice, and its very smooth. The program I use to read to me (Read Please) is really choppy compared to this one. xD
yackityyacityyack 4 years ago
Im not at all making fun of you please understand that but you should think about wearing a bra or some kind of sport bra even it will also help your back because you have big breasts but intersting video none the less
marajade619 4 years ago
bras hurt and do not add anything comfotable at all
star4kaeylarae 4 years ago
Flawed logic, buddy. While bras may add support for the breasts themselves, it's still the same amount of weight on ones spine.
brontophilia 4 years ago
So... the problem that you're having in this video is that when you perform a specific task, your body remembers it a certain way, so when you go into the kitchen looking for "cues" you are trying to get your body and mind to find the pattern it knows for boiling water...? Maybe that sounds crazy to you. I'm just trying to uderstand. My young son is autistic.
drmaier 4 years ago
wow that is a very interesting way of putting it! i can grasp it this way.
so Amanda is it like that?
dashadavies 4 years ago
pretty close.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
I was like.. "When did you find the kettle!? I wasn't paying attention D:!" See, my problem is like.. Something will be in front of me, RIGHT in front of me and I won't see it untill like, a long time later. |3
XDDDDD @ the kettle melting..
..But actually.. I've melted more than that, really.. :S
RocketRodder 4 years ago
wow. i'm not autistic, although i am cyclothymic, but i do have some days when my thoughts seem similarly disorganized. not to this extent, but to the extent that i put a lot of effort out and get very little actual results. i will come to my shop and mill around in circles all day, forgetting between one room and the next just what i ought to be doing and in what sequence. it's very frustrated, and people get very angry with me.
AlthaeaSoaps 4 years ago
Yeah, I think there's a lot of reasons people can have this problem. (And for that matter a lot of problems like this that look identical on the surface. Like, OCD, ADD, and a movement disorder could all cause something identical-looking for three slightly different reasons.)
silentmiaow 4 years ago
If this were my video, there'd be five minutes of getting the kettle on the stove, and then four hours fifty-five minutes of me letting it boil dry, refilling it, and doing it again. Thank the gods for electric teakettles (one of which my parents bought for me after I melted their third kettle... <_<;)!
Thanks again for the video!
DreamerAdam 4 years ago
Thank you for the insight! This video helps me understand the degree to which autism's difficulties differ from my Asperger's while also showing the core similarities of looking for cues and, as always, keeping hold of one's faculties.
...
DreamerAdam 4 years ago
what do you mean looking for cues and why do you need to look for them?
dashadavies 4 years ago
That was very impressive. I love your videos, thanks for posting.
mixedpixel 4 years ago
Hey...nice T-shirt! :)
Estee
taaproject 4 years ago
I forgot I was wearing it. Thanks for the t-shirt by the way. :-)
silentmiaow 4 years ago
This demonstrates what I was trying to get at with my "When you can, but you can't" video. And people who would call you a fake exemplify why I need to understand this in my son, and clarify for his staff.
ralpheadsuz 4 years ago
I haven't seen that video, I'll have to look for it.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
It 's more to do with inertia, perhaps, but mainly about my irritation with staff who call my son non-compliant, as if he is making a conscious effort to misbehave. I'm just looking for more clues as to what motivates him (or not). It would seem that distracting cues could get in the way, or maybe those cues need to be addressed before one can move on to the task at hand.
ralpheadsuz 4 years ago
or maybe the offending staff is unaware of "the effort you appear to be putting out, at the surface, is an incredibly miniscule fraction of the effort you are putting out internally" as the new autistics dot org paper mentions
ralpheadsuz 4 years ago
Autistichumor!You have Got to be the only one with that tag. I tell everyone when I show your videos, that you have a really good sense of humor, and they're like "huh?" Your humanity is such a relief when we live in a society that is SO afraid of what it IS to be human. Again, I<3U 1000 times, your my hero Amanda.
standsongiants 4 years ago
"Uneven skills profile" is supposed to be a hallmark of autism - extreme case is said to be Bill Gates's (possibly mythical) inability to tie his shoelaces ...
dinahkcm 4 years ago
I've melted tea kettles a couple of times. Now I have an electric teakettle. I love it to bits. They are a little expensive, but the kind I have is "cordless" and shuts itself off. You can lift the teakettle part off the electric part, and there's no burner exposed. Much safer.
autismdiva 4 years ago
I love your videos. I love your spirit. Don't let the haters get to you because they don't deserve your valuable time. You are a blessed soul among angels. You are helping us view life outside our comfy little boxes. I admire you so much.
jaymedecas 4 years ago
Thanks but I'm no angel. ;-)
silentmiaow 4 years ago
im so proud of u
mapnpg 4 years ago
It takes you forever to boil water..but you know how to edit and move the camera to FILM you trying to boil water! I call you a fake.
BeAwareProductions 4 years ago
Assumptions like yours are why I starved for a year. And are also why I make videos about things like this. Autistic people die because of denial of services based on assumptions like that. You should educate yourself. Watch Sue Rubin's "Autism is a World" for starters.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Also I wasn't filming myself trying to boil water, I was filming myself showing what happens when I try to boil water. Big difference. I am not sure I'll ever get over people's expectations that somehow because I'm autistic all my filming is totally candid, and their indignation when, like most filming, it's actually planned out in order to show something.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
It's well-known even in the literature that autistic people's adaptive skill level is far less than our academic skill level quite often, and also that our abilities within our field of special interest are totally unrelated to our abilities in other areas. Also we often do far better with tech stuff although that's not a given.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
I have a friend who has a good job programming in a high-tech industry and can't reliably clean his house, feed himself, or use the toilet. He was diagnosed with autism when he was four but the records have been lost. He can't get assistance with those things because of stereotypes like yours.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
She's not a fake. If doubt anyone any has perfect "papers" proving a disability but silentmiaow has been checked out thoroughly by CNN and MIT (the university). Not to mention the state agencies that pay for her to have help at home for the reason that she can't boil water reliably for herself.
autismdiva 4 years ago
no need to answer jack asses.
CityzenJane 4 years ago
BeAware, you should become aware. You haven't a clue about autism. My daughter, who is incredibly gifted, typing, reading, and yes, even navigating youtube at 3, still cannot ask me for a drink of water, nor use the potty. She is simply differently abled, never disabled. Learn a bit more about autism before posting such garbage comments.
aware4autism 4 years ago 4
Aware4autism... I love your comment, and I love Jade! I hate the term "disabled." It's so offensive and I wish we'd just do away with it altogether.
sneech2 4 years ago
I used to hate it too. I spent ages fighting against it, then to accept that label until I realized, hey, if I can't eat or drink and walk around in the same clothes for days, am unable to keep my house clean, and generally get caught upn my interest so as to exclude all other living; then I can accept that that is considered disabled.
star4kaeylarae 4 years ago
Unfortunately without this label I cannot get the services/support i need. Besides that, sometimes, I FEEL, disabled, that's why I asked for help in the first place. I simply wanted someone to assist me in cleaning my home. I fight the label but I need it too. I have excellent skills and talents, inside I am intellectually vibrant and sound,
star4kaeylarae 4 years ago
so I proved to myself anyways that within I am not disabled but rather brilliant if I must say so myself. I still need help though and I hope this is helpful. In an ideal world yeah I agree but I need care from other people, without it I could die, and in order to get it I must fit in a category deemed necessary of support services.
star4kaeylarae 4 years ago
BeAware... Amanda made clear in these comments that this is a reenactment, not a genuine water-boiling episode. And please disregard the notion that having a diagnosed disability makes you hopelessly incapacitated in any and all areas of functioning at all times.
sneech2 4 years ago
Oh and thank you for all the work you do to share these things with others it helps a great deal.
yackityyacityyack 4 years ago
This reminds me of the thought process involved with OCD accept that OCD for me is about getting through one thought to go onto others whereas it seems you are going through many different actions to get back to one thought.
yackityyacityyack 4 years ago
did that make sense?
jwweeks 4 years ago
Yep.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Interesting. I was wondering if it was any thing like my friends stutter. For some reason his crushing stutter lifts once in a while during relaxed times with friends especially while talikng about family. During those moments he's hard to shut up.
I was wondering if you slip into times where it all clicks and you fly through your tasks.
jwweeks 4 years ago
Yes, I do. These things are incredibly variable in most people. Stuttering often lifts while singing, just as I don't have a lot of conversational speech but I can usually sing just fine. Stuttering also varies between different circumstances. These things are not tidy and stable, yeah. It can take me fifteen minutes to boil water and it can take all day and I don't ever do it, anything in between too.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
There are also... sort of some patterns that are easier to do than others, and I don't always know what makes the difference. The difference can be subtle. But it's the difference between walking down a cleared path and walking into a giant thornbush. Only the paths and the thornbushes are always changing positions.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
Oh and I have another ongoing one where I'm trying to set up the camera to record genuine/spontaneous expressions on my part for a "dictionary" for people unfamiliar with my body language. Not sure if that'll be a public project or a private one for staff. That's taking forever because it requires the convergence of the camera and a spontaneous expression or mood, and can't be planned by definition.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
so, with that in mind, how long does it take you to set up, film, and edit the video We just saw?
do certain actions just flow out or is everything that difficult?
However long it takes, keep up the great work. You should be an ambassador.
jwweeks 4 years ago
Certain actions are easier than others, and so are certain paths around the house. I'd been trying to make a video like this for several days before everything converged right. The filming took most of yesterday, but if you look closely there was a remote control for the camera in my hand so that made it pretty easy after I had it on the tripod, I just had to walk in and out of the kitchen and click a button on the remote. (cont'd)
silentmiaow 4 years ago
The sitting down was taking a genuine break from that though, then I just filmed myself rocking from behind later to fill that in. The editing was a pain in the butt for file format reasons, so took several hours longer than it should have, that part is usually one of the easier parts. I had a big block around recording the voice but after a few hours I did that. Then this morning I did the conversion and captioning which were both relatively easy.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
This one was fairly easy in comparison to some. I have upwards of fifty video files for projects I've been trying to finish for ages. One from October on having a future. One from December on overload. Both aimed mostly towards other auties. Sometimes it takes days and sometimes it takes all year I guess.
silentmiaow 4 years ago
You are really great at what you do - and I am always so happy to see a new one.
CityzenJane 4 years ago 2
What's going through your head when you want to fullfill a task like boiling water? Do you get frustrated with yourself somtimes? Thank you for the video, you're really amazing and interesting to learn from.
SaiyanHajime 4 years ago 2
I get frustrated, not necessarily with myself. When I'm trying to do something like that, what's going through my head can vary a lot. If I'm walking, quite often the only thing going through my head are various sensations around me, and periodic reminders that I'm actually trying to do something, coupled with automatic reactions to the sensations, and attempts to juggle sensation and action and intent to get them to all line up properly, sometimes more successful than others.