 I think we'll be all good. I feel like we've got a safe space here. If something's particularly controversial, I'mma take the brunt of it. Let us take a deep breath and calm ourselves. My son will never be the star of his little league team. He won't be the first person to step foot on Mars. Normally he'd invent the cure to cancer. But by the best definition of success I can think of, him and his special needs buddies and everyone else out there like them are giants living amongst us Mirmor. Hey guys are you my special needs buddies? It seems so surprised that an autistic person could actually do something good. Yeah it's really weird. It's assuming it's like it's trying to put a positive spin on it but it's it's coming from it's making statements about disability and autism which is not necessarily true you know. I think that's that's not good. I've you heard about Mark Robers the truth about my son video. Well it has amassed over 39 million views and has been receiving a number of different controversial opinions. People perhaps not being the most happy with this video being out there on the internet. Well today I'm going to dive head first into something which I'm not particularly sure on what exactly this is and why it's controversial. So we're going to be looking at it in real time offering my own perspective as an autistic person. Just be aware that perhaps this might induce some feelings of anger or annoyance or perhaps upset but we will be here I'll be here beside you to take on this challenge. I mean I've got anxiety you guys have built it up for me like okay okay That was my son and today I'm going to tell you a little bit about him. It might come as a surprise to a lot of you that I even have a son because in eight years making videos I've never really put him on camera. I'm fairly private and protective when it comes to my family on my channel. That's good I think we can all we can all appreciate stuff like that you know starting off on a somewhat positive note maybe. Oh dear. Channel. Now you might say hold up you put your decent nephews on here all the time but in my defense I feel like I've made it pretty clear at this point that I don't really care about them. The reason I'm so protective of him is because he has special needs. He's on the autistic spectrum and this is the internet. I need some context for this. He can't just like throwing clips like that without like giving some idea. I mean he's got like 29.9 million views like I should pretty much like have some I should probably have some awareness of what kind of stuff this person does. I've never actually heard of this person before to be honest but straight there with the special needs. A lot of people don't like the term special needs prefer additional needs. Internet. So even as I make this video I'm incredibly terrified but this is something that my wife and I feel really strongly about. And a lot of times people here he has autism they want to know what he's really good at like does he have a photographic memory or can he do really complex math in his head. For example if you tell my son's friend any date from any year he will tell you the day of the week it lands on. Gonna randomly generate a date. June 2nd 2004. What day is that on? Wednesday. It's gonna take me a second even to get there. What did I say? June 2nd 2004. You said Wednesday. Here's June. June 2nd 2004. Isn't it like a trick that some people can use to do that? I'm pretty sure there is like a trick to doing that. The way that it's kind of that the the sort of the the narrative that's being spun seems a bit sus to me. Let's do one more okay. I'm gonna generate another random date. May 26th 2006. Friday. And there he goes. What did I even say? May 5th? May 26th. Oh May 26th. Okay. His parents and teachers have no idea how he has the ability to do this and he doesn't know how to communicate that to us either. I need some help. You need some help? Okay, let's go make a point out. It's actually a common misconception, but the truth is the majority of the kids on the autistic spectrum don't have remarkable abilities like this. No, it is very much a trope, particularly pushed by mainstream films like Rain Man. Kind of this this sort of view of autism as being sort of a savantist type gift. In matter of fact, these these type of skills that was or that type of skill that was displayed in Rain Man is extraordinarily rare. Extraordinary rare. Yes, our son however does have a remarkable ability. Although if you see him in public this ability isn't immediately apparent. A lot of times when he's around lots of people or in a crowded place, he might look disengaged or it might seem like he doesn't really know what's going on. Carly Fleischman has autism and was able to explain why this is. And what you should know about Carly is that because of her erratic behavior and because she can't speak, for years people thought she was just severely autistic and had other extreme mental handicaps. Until one day she was just severely autistic and had other extremely severe mental handicaps. The choice of words, it's it's not particularly favorable, is it? Oh dear. One day when they put her in front of a computer where she could type and then they realized there was so much more going on in her head than anyone could have imagined. I am autistic but that is not who I am. Take time to know me before you judge me. This amazing breakthrough made it so Carly was able to explain how it feels to have autism. Our brains are wired differently. We take in many sounds and conversations at once. I take over a thousand pictures of a person's face when I look at them. That's why we have a hard time looking at people. Basically people with autism don't have a filter in their brain like the rest of us. So if you and I were having a conversation here in this park, I can ignore everything around me and just focus on your voice. But if I had autism I would hear the ice cream man ringing the bell behind me and the kid crying because he's not getting any ice cream and the car is going by. I'd say that that's a correct depiction for me. I think the issue is that I don't think every single autistic person who probably experiences the word like this. I mean just just in general it seems like it's a pretty common thing that people experience. Like there's not necessarily that aspect of habituation that a lot of people have when it comes to particularly auditory stimuli. But I hesitate to say it's every single autistic person, you know. And the plane up there as well as the train in the distance. Not to mention all of the different smells and the fact that the tag on my shirt is kind of dropping on my back. It's sensory overload and everything comes in all at once and it's really overwhelming and makes it hard to focus. This is why headphones can be really helpful at a place like Disneyland. But at home when he's in a familiar environment without a bunch of distractions you start to get a glimpse of who he really is. You wouldn't know this from seeing him in public but he loves to laugh to the point that sometimes he can't even breathe. This is us doing our nightly bedtime routine. He loves routine and repetition because it's familiar and predictable which makes sense because his brain knows what to expect and it doesn't need to filter. And as a dad his love of repetition is the best because my same jokes totally kill every time. Some of these I've used easily hundreds of times and I still get this response. This leads to his remarkable ability I mentioned earlier and it has to do with how he spends his free time at home by himself. When he first meets someone he will ask important questions like what your favorite color is and if your house has stairs. Then the first chance he gets he will make you a full page mural completely covered in about two pounds of your favorite crayon color and he'll write you a personal letter on the back. As you can see he takes this job pretty seriously and so we are constantly running out of envelopes and stamps. What's so remarkable to see as his parents is how happy people become when they get one of his letters and the letters themselves certainly aren't any literary masterpiece but people know they mean something special coming from him. Most kids are 12 years old they get home from school and they're on their phones or they're thinking about them. He seems like a sweet kid. I'm wondering at what point where at what point is going to be the sort of the the point of contention. Like does anyone know exactly like what aspect of this video like we've only watched half of it so far but what aspect of this video has caused people to to to not be that happy. about themselves and how to look cool but his biggest thrill is interacting with others. His superpower is making other people happy. He also makes people better. Birthday parties are a really big deal for him even if it's not his and everyone is always compassionate and patient with him so he can make sure things happen just right. Having a child with special needs can be challenging at times and certainly some cases out there are much harder than others but his mom has always done a great job of fighting the wording again some cases and special needs. Okay, ending and focusing on the best parts about our son and then making sure other people can see and celebrate those parts as well. Regardless of your religious or political beliefs or your favorite sports team or any other way we like to divide ourselves into tribes I think we can all agree that a successful life is one where you leave the world better than you found it. Sort of a net positive effect due to your influence. There's a lot of normal functioning people who are critical and seek to. Was that it? Is that the is that the point of contention? There are a lot of normal functioning people. I'm laughing because I'm just like I just did it just do not expect it. It just kind of comes out nowhere. The wording and the inspirational lens and I'm laughing out of reaction. I just I don't know. Oh my god. Did he use the aircoats to quotes? To tear others down or who have made a ton of money. Also I'm sorry for pausing it again but is really like is the meaning of life like why he's giving us the meaning of life guys. Like sure that's that's a good that's a good sort of message to put out but like is it really the most important thing you know just living doing your own thing is that no not good enough. It feels a tad patronizing. But are just terrible people and by my definition they're not successful. People with special needs might not fit the traditional criteria of success by benefiting GDP or getting a PhD to cure disease but they have such a net positive effect on the people that get to interact with them. They personify traits like perseverance such as with Jason here who has autism and was the dutiful sports equipment manager for four years. So the yeah I can I can see why people can maybe sort of a bit disturbed by the the sort of framing it very much falls into this idea of like inspiration. I probably shouldn't say that word on stream should I. Inspiration corn. Yeah it's very much something that we see which it's it's kind of like somewhat of a I guess a stage one sort of counter movement to the the sort of the autism stigma but it does more to sort of push people stigmatizing autism in the opposite direction or used as something that's beneficial to other people. He just said disabled people don't contribute to the company. Yeah I did not pick that up but I think you're right there. That's that's that's what are you talking about. Yes I did not I did not isolate that. It's a very good point Tommy. Yeah I mean speak for each individual for each individual you know. It's a very blanket term to say that everybody who has additional needs or has some form of disability or is autistic that they don't contribute to like GDP the economy they don't contribute to signs like that seems like a pretty like easily debunked term yeah top to temple granted yeah exactly like that doesn't make any sense I'm glad you you you so I'm kind of looking for I suppose I'm sort of hyper focused on the type of language to try and figure out exactly why it's thing I know I just completely miss that yeah no you're right so preachy bit inspiration corny wrong sort of language it's kind of reframing like at the same time as it's trying to reframe things into a positive way like it's kind of assuming that like it's assuming it's like it's it's trying to put a positive spin on it but it's it's coming from it's making statements about disability and autism which is not necessarily true you know I think that's that's not good more to the point the accommodate is outdated and needs correcting for humanity actually progress plus if you look at my scientists there are always traits of autism and ADHD or both yeah I find it strange when people judge your career choice by how much you contribute to excited society since that is very subjective 100% Carlos make a good point only normal functioning people contribute to society if the normal functioning people got me I'm not gonna lie I think it's partnered with a not so great organization for this idea yeah I do not have any awareness of this says that it's it's supporting color on the spectrum next autism next for autism helps create programs and around the country for individuals on the spectrum so they can live work and be a part of their community so they're not left to live lives in isolation that sounds good there are lots of great resources for children on the autism spectrum free public school system borns 10 18 they're totally left on their own yeah that's true but how exactly are you going about doing this next how are they going about doing this please please fill me in guys buy a med side if I'm normal yeah guys let me let me know what what are they doing that is it is that is particularly problematic for people so the coach put him in for the last four minutes of the game his senior year he sank not one not two but six three pointers including one right at the final buzzer for performance the supportive classmates will remember for the rest of their lives people with special needs ground the rest of us and demonstrate the simple joys life can offer with our hectic schedules and task lists did you guys catch that that demonstrate the simple joys that lice have to offer the simple joys cue that like clip that I used in one of my last videos of like Beth and Jerry talking like I'm so lucky to be in love with such a simple lovely simple man not good indeed the controversy of this video wasn't about them the message about his son but it was about the organization he chose to fundraise to normal medically speaking as a standard it can only be used to calibrate instruments yeah far too normal Santa they remind us that things don't have to be that complicated kid or in the case of Carly that our initial critical snap judgments of each other might be totally wrong my son will never be the star of his little league team he won't be the first person to step foot on Mars normally invent the cure to cancer but by the best definition of success I can think of him and his special needs buddies and everyone else out there like them are giants living amongst us me or more hey guys are you my special needs buddies it seems so surprised that an autistic person could actually do something good yeah it's really weird it's just it's like what did he say do you want me to rewind it for you critical snap judgments of each other might be totally wrong my son will never be the star of his little league team he won't be the first person to step foot on Mars normally invent the cure to cancer but by the best definition of success I can think of him and his special needs buddies and everyone else out there like them are giants I'm really laughing I'm not laughing at them I'm just laughing at the choice of words it's just bizarre agree no agreeable use of words no autistic people on Mars I think the the funny thing about this is it's like I I highly doubt that there aren't autistic people working on a cure for cancer or like becoming astronauts or like doing stuff like that that seems like things that a lot of autistic people that I can think of are probably really really like considering like uh some individuals predispositions to enjoying space and like enjoying science I know it's especially so special needs buddies they got me like why why why have why do you have to like I understand like that it's the context of the video and they're talking about it in terms of autism but it's um well maybe he can be the star of the little little leagues team for disabled individuals you know like and why is that necessarily a bad thing you know I mean he's kind of making a point that like he doesn't need to do that stuff but I suppose I don't know maybe he's trying to talk to people who who are sort of part of the mainstream I'm confused as well I'm confused living amongst us mere mortals they make the world a better place and we're lucky to have them that's true thank you for watching the video if it resonated with you in some way please share it with someone in your life who you know might benefit from hearing the message I also have a very exciting announcement it's super distracting if you're mouthing all my lines I was doing that yeah just hold the cards or I could sit you don't mind right I mean do I have a choice this is your house oh yeah that is my house all right Mark and I will be co-hosting three-hour live stream for charity on Mark's YouTube channel on April 30th Friday 5 p.m. pacific 8 p.m. eastern you can figure out all the other times we'll be doing this together it's called color the spectrum because you know my son likes to color and we'll also be joined by some folks you might have heard of such as mr beast the demilio sisters jack septic I I have a friend named jack that will be joining us too jack black Conan O'Brien Stephen Colbert Adam said geez what is going on here is this just some kind of section of YouTube section of the world that I'm just not aware of like they have these people joining in on on a live stream that they're doing for three hours what is occurring what what is happening sandler chris rock heard of us not to mention john stort john oliver miranda sing sarah silverman marcamel andy sandberg i justine maya rudolf terry cruise hall rudd and zack terry gallifani terry cruise I'm so confused what what is happening I'm so confused and ross again have mark zuckerberg here and elon musk and pretty much every single celebrity that you can think of who doesn't seem to have any connection to autism I'm so confused about what this is supposed to be about and do knackers will also be joined by these folks as well I'll be there I'll be there I'll be there I'll be there I'll be there I'll be there I'll be there I know you already said my name but I'll be there all of the proceeds are going to a really great and well respected charity called next for autism who specialize in supporting folks on the autism spectrum as they transition into becoming adults there are resources for kids and teens I mean just just from from the outset what what they've described seems to be like we definitely do need more support systems for sort of post-18 like particularly transitioning into adulthood but the thing is I don't know much about this charity so maybe maybe we'll do we'll have a look a little bit after to see to see what it is is about because I'm really just not aware of it at this moment teens affected by autism but there isn't much for adults yeah it kind of drops off so selfishly my son is coming up on that milestone so if you've ever wanted to support my channel financially I don't have a patreon so this is the most meaningful way you can do it so click the blue donate button over there or down there and we can start raising funds now even before the big livestream it's going to be a lot of fun we're bringing the biggest stars of social media and old people media together for a great night great prizes and most importantly we're going to raise an actual ton of money to help some special people who could use it so follow the link in the video description for more information am I one of the special people that you're trying to help I'm already pumped as am I there shouldn't be more thought about the presentation just a little bit more exactly like get some like actually autistic people like autism advocates to come talk to them about it it just astounds me it doesn't it doesn't even matter like what scale it is whether it's like tiktok people who making their own sort of tiktoks or massive 29 you know nearly 30 million size channels who have celebrities and some of the top youtubers in the world coming to do a livestream with them like this is this is not there like why why is this why I've come to sincerely hate the word special lol yeah jimmy kimmel is going to help these special people I'm only laughing because I don't know what like response to have like I don't know it's just kind of a bit it just went so quickly and it's just in a frame it's it's with an intention for a certain audience that I just can't really like digest it properly I don't know how else to explain it other than that do you guys feel the same is that why people are kind of upset about it other than like the organization let me um I mean let's check out the um the page about the next four or some transfers I've just seen that create support high quality programs to maximize potential show that individuals have successfully integrated in communities good expands system-wide capacity to serve autistic people with coordinating agencies and disciplines so you can find find the thing that people don't like why is the next four or some exposition on ABA ABA is a common therapy that can improve wait let me move myself ABA is a common therapy that can prove social communication ABA is being stopped at a debate I want sure this controversy stems from the way ABA used to be done I don't think that's the case okay so that they're in favor I can understand why people are a bit obsessed about okay they don't believe in eugenics that's good are they partner with AS not currently engaged with AS okay so I guess I guess like the issue that people have with it is the ABA stuff is that why I feel like people treat us autistics as if we're from another galaxy mmm clearly not made for autistic people yeah also I don't think really co-produced with autistic people either like obviously like they had his son and they had a couple of individuals that his son was engaged with but you know it would have been perhaps best practice to perhaps co-produce the video with another autistic person but I suppose it might be quite hard to find somebody who would do that considering like the organization that I mean it seems like the organization is doing is like tackling some good things it's just it's just that it's just that I think that seems to be the potential issue here from what I understand about autistic people do and don't like what do you guys think yeah it's not for us Thomas I think it's quite subtle if you don't really know much about autism you may not pick up on the bad use of language yeah 100% I don't think I don't necessarily think this guy is necessarily doing it on purpose I just don't think he's like he just hasn't had the input from autistic people that's what makes it dangerous yeah exactly I don't think he's necessary that like I think this is he's genuinely trying to do something good I just think like the the fact that he just hasn't consulted with you know an autistic person or like an autism-led charity autistic adults on like best practice when it comes to talking about autism and perhaps some very stereotypical and like common things that the mainstream does which are not particularly palatable to autism advocates and so clown flying the eugenics but geez the thing is he meant so well he meant well so it's not not all bad just needs more education and more input from autistic people and I think as well like the the choice of charity might be a bit upsetting for autistic people you want to see the partners they have puma as a partner no way sunshine foundation nyc autism oh project search I've worked with project project search the this is a very good charity they do some really great work dfn project search um interesting does any anything stand out to you guys the language is good at appealing the walley-minded business investors but not people with a brain I would say I love the sass Adam I love it like yeah I think he needs to talk to more autistic people and update himself how does how does he know his son isn't going to accomplish great things bloody idiot yeah I think it's it's kind of assuming that this is the way that people think and this is the way that things are and then trying to challenge that but I think the the very act of assuming that's that's the way that things are you know is is equally not not so great do you know what I mean yeah I mean I suppose it was good to good to watch this video I did it wasn't as um upsetting as I thought uncontroversial as I thought it'd be I think it's like a lot of the language that's used and a lot of the framing isn't perhaps the most palatable and I do wish that you know I do I do wish that perhaps they would have consulted with some autistic people around around making this video you know and it does seem that like perhaps the charity that is working on this that oh well whilst they are doing some some good work that you know there are some concerns when it comes to the practices that they promote and how they think about various ones I dislike the language and finalization and the ABA is trying to be polite yeah I I mean I'd be interested to hear what you you think of this video so please let me know down in the comments if you have any pieces of information that could fill me in a little bit more on what exactly the situation is and why people are so kind of upset and annoyed about this and why exactly there are so many like celebrities and youtubers who are like flocking to doing this like it seems seems a bit mad to be honest please let me know down down in the comments and make sure to like and share the video with as many people as possible to get the word out because 39 million views man we need we need to have some some more contacts going on in the mainstream around this 100 percent