Teen author Alea talks about her autism & books Nov 2007

[barrelracer2335]

My friend has autism and people thinks she's different but she is a normal person so I stick up for her.

[paulabushardt]

@barrelracer2335 Great to be a good friend! This is Alea's mom. She did alot of barrel racing with Sunny. She and him loved it!

[AspergerFiction]

I realise it is some time since you made this video - but still I wanted to congratulate you on the books. You obviously have a passion for writing.

[LuckyBuckyDucky]

horses do amaizing things

[bunnyz324]

thank u

[bunnyz324]

@ paulabushardt, when is your daughter's birthday, i would like to know?

i am an author too

i'll work on my books another day

[paulabushardt]

@bunnyz324 she was born on December 2nd

[chri11ejonsson]

people with Asperger's and High fuctional autism are highly intelligent. My brother has Aspergers syndrome. It such an "intresting" syndome. There are some things he just can't do, or wont do, but most of the times, he is just a "normal kid"

Alexa is pretty and so are the horses.

[Tamaramaramara]

@mimi0674

I have high function autism, and I also communicate well, so it's possible. I have friends, go to the gym and work, so someone with autism hasn't to be quit and stuff all the time. not all autistic people are the same.

[babyhorsey6]

My son is high functional autistic. He is 5 now. I hope someday he is this articulate, rehearsed or not. He has made great strides. We caught it at 1 yr old though, so I'm sure that made a difference.

[militaryqt]

autism and aspergers are called a "spectrum" disorder for a reason. There are different variences of severity and all are characterized differently. Some can communicate very well - it is very ignorant to say that she is lying abut having autism because she's not exactly like your daughter. Check out In my Mind on here by Alex

[paulabushardt]

The video is heavily edited and rehearsed.

[girlstorm09]

cool video :) and good job with your books :D by the way im have aspergers as well

[ZFL109]

Sure! It'll probably at a local bookstore first. But, first things first, I need to get it published before we talk about where to advertise it and sell it

[ZFL109]

OH MY GOSH I was writing this comment and I heard you say that the main characters in your book stumble upon a PORTAL! O.O mine too! Except it's a portal in my laundry hamper hehe and I fall into this world and this Paint mare find me. And it's quite confusing explaining it by myself. You have to read it ^_^ It's called The Endless Journey Series, The Chosen Rider

[paulabushardt]

Great! let me know when I can buy it to read!

[ZFL109]

That's so awesome! I'm also an author. Not exactly teen yet. But 12 in a half. Look for it maybe next year or sometime around the end of this year!

[persy777]

she looks so nice and have such long beautiful hair!

are you sure she is autistic ?

she doesn't look like ...

[paulabushardt]

thanks! She was diagnosed when she was 7 by TEACCH. They are world famous for there work with autism and affiliated with the University of NC at Chapel Hill. She is high functioning. We could lable her with Aspergers Syndrome instead of high functioning autism.

[Tamaramaramara]

@paulabushardt

I have pdd-nos, and I'm also high functional. I'm diagnosed when I was 17, a year ago. The reaction of persy777 makes me a bit angry, cause most of the time you can't tell if somebody has autism, just by looking to the outside, especially when they are high functional. it bothers me that there are still a lot of people who think that way. and we ARE not autistic, we HAVE autism. we are persons too you know ;) oh, and I have a lot of respect for the girl in the movie!!

[ZeldyZeZebra]

I may not be autistic but I am an Asperger's syndrome type and we're no different from severe Autistic kids. Besides the fact that OUR autism makes us smarter than the average person.

[HorseLife369]

I ride and my sisters are autistic

[lafsomuch]

how old is she

[paulabushardt]

She is now 18! The books were finished when she was 15.

[Irridescent]

I just put these books on my amazon wishlist.

[RedwallStudios]

hey alea. will you be coming to ashton farm this summer?

ily!

byee<3

[magicalmiriam]

Wow, you are good at riding. I would love to be able to ride bare back like that without falling off.

[Horuko666]

Wow. She's amazing ^_^ Her horse looks so well behaved, too.

[justwatchingclouds]

I think autistic people are very talented- My friend is and she is very good at writing and extreamly clever.

[pcorf]

@justwatchingclouds Agree with you 100%. I'm autistic and proud of my talents!

[sickoflifetoday]

thanks for writing those books and letting know others about autism

[Aragonpr]

You are awesome!