If You Can Do X, Why Can't You Do Y? My All-Purpose Answer.

My all-purpose answer to the question "If you can do such-and-such, why can't you do this other thing?" A question that many neurologically unusual people of all sorts get a lot of the time. The target audience has a relatively typical range of hearing and color perception. The video itself is mostly text and spoken words, but there's other things

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• abilities
• skills
• disability
• neurological
• color
• pitch
• autism
• movement

[fatheed66]

You know pitch because you learned it. This comparison is really pointless. Great if you're a musician. But otherwise, you might as well have the ability to accurately identify measures of liquid in a container to the nearest mililitre. Useful to a cook in a hurry, but no real application from day to day in the way that colour recognition is. Sorry!

[silentmiaow]

The comparison is there for a reason.

[fatheed66]

In the Words of John Berger: "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. It is seeing which estabishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it."

Describing and labelling colour is much more important and functional than sound. What survival use is pitch recognition to humans? Colour reference is crucial in understanding and relaying information...

[silentmiaow]

There's a lot more to understanding surroundings than seeing, as any blind person could tell you. And pitch recognition is enhanced in cultures with tonal languages.

(Look at other comments to see what my point was about this. It was not assuming that my claims in the video about them being the same were correct, it was just saying that my believing they are, is the same lack of logic as other people when they think one thing is necessarily there just because another thing is.)

[darkshadyfigure]

Well considering perfect pitch is very rare (about 11% in american students of music while 30ish percent of asian student of music have it) It's very different. Colors must be taught as well as music must be taught, and as it stands the general populace is not fully instructed in music, while colors on the other hand they are. Mastering perfect pitch is a lot more complex actually, but for someone not possessing insight about music, it's an effective video.

[silentmiaow]

That's the point, my assuming that they ought to be the same, is the equivalent of someone else assuming that if I can type or sing then I can talk conversationally or something: Seems to make sense to the individual doing the assuming, but makes no sense neurologically and/or culturally as far as what skills get developed how and in what way.

[24KZone]

It is curious how you speak so clearly and beautifully with your written words and yet remain silent verbally, but then again, silence is golden and speaking is often over rated and not always understood. I almost envy your grasp of language, but think it better to simply respect it. Be well.

[carissa888888888]

I think that this video helps all human beings be less judgmental of others and of their own ability to do things. I think its important for educators to see your message and understand that thier students all learn and see the world differently. I think that the brain is wired differently however this video helps people to see that its not impossible to be good at something or great. and not so good at another thing. Brilliant. Genius. And truly gifted.

God Bless you

[kazza224]

lishen hun the autistic mind is wired different 2 nts mind,i know of an autistic that only has 2 lishen 2 a piece of music once even if its a hard piece and he can tell u every note and play it

[kazza224]

well because we are taught what colours are put we aint taught what sounds are,at school i was taught colour but i wasnt taught what different notes were,i cant explain it,if it was taught like the alphabet or colours then we would recognise notes as easy as colour but it isnt

[shortboy]

This reminds me of how I can be a very good cameraman but I don't think of myself as a good director nor do I think I can actually be a director for someone else. My cousin is the director of our independent filmmaking group and I am his cameraman but even then I usually go on his cue. It also reminds me of when friend's ask me to help them on their projects but I become a bit hesitant since I don't have the direction or guidance of my cousin.

[shortkilledlives]

i have seen some of your videos and think that if people could listen to them and think with a clear mind not one that has been influnced by culture then they will understand that some people are made different and shouldnt be hated for them but want to understand more i hope this comes across the right way you have done a great job and i think you should keep it up thank you for teaching more about autisism

[JaymaBear]

Ehh? It's hardly ludicrous... very few people have perfect pitch, but most people can reproduce a note if they hear it first.... even if they don't know the 'name' for it. Someone could still recognise the different colors, even if they don't know what they are called.

So what you are saying is that because we don't know the name of something then we can't distinguish it from something else?

[argenfargabarg]

ghostofxmaspast: It's her example. And she chose this it carefully. Much more familiar examples come to mind. Speech is not formally taught, reading is. And we both know some people are naturally excellent speakers while their classroom peers may be stuck putting together a good sentence. This is apparent to any primary school teacher of the lower grades. With reading, everybody is taught it the same way together. Yet, variation in reading development over just two years is astounding.