 Time to face the chaser. Good morning, Aspie Legion. My name is Thomas Henley and welcome to the Asperger's Grove Channel. Today we are going to be talking about the governess, the intellectual mastermind, Miss Unhegati. Perhaps it's the governess. They were going to name a hurricane after her but it didn't do enough damage. Since the airing of the British television series The Chase, it has been entertaining households throughout the UK and adding to their arsenal of interesting facts and quizzical knowledge. Anne has recently come clean about her diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome. I don't know about you but when I saw this in the news I was instantly drawn to it and I was really excited because it's not something that is often talked about in TV personalities. There is often a little bit of a stigma that's associated with autism, especially with people who are fairly older. In this video, I'm going to be diving deep into the personal life of Unhegati. We're going to be learning about her views on autism and also some of her positive and negative experiences with being on the spectrum. All in this video, stay tuned. There's no doubt in my mind that Anne is an exceptionally gifted woman. With an IQ that could put most academics to shame Anne boasts a successful life as an author, presenter and chaser. Born in 1958 in Westminster London, she now resides in Manchester where she spends a lot of her time on the hit television show The Chase. But what's more interesting is her recent rise to fame in the media. Just recently she's been telling a lot of people about her personal life with her relationships and her relationship with Aspergers. You commanded a huge amount of respect not just from your fellow campmates but from the general public when you talked about autism and Aspergers and I think it made people understand A. the condition and B. you. Much to my excitement, she talks about some of the benefits and downsides of Asperger's syndrome in her life. It was it was just the you know one has sort of certain sensory issues and if you drop mealworms down my bra then yes I'm probably going to go into panic mode. As with many people from the older generations she has been diagnosed fairly late on in her life. In fact one of the things that came out while you were in the jungle was that you'd been diagnosed with a form of autism but you were in your fifties when you were diagnosed. No I was let me think it was 2003 so I was 40. No it was 2005 I was 47. Okay so so that's quite late did you were you aware that you might have a condition? I was aware right from when I was a child that something was very unusual about me I mean I was going to see child psychiatrists by the time I was six. Nobody could put a label on it they just said I was maladjusted. The way that her autism actually came to be known was on the hit television series I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here where she talked to her contestants about her life with autism. We've got the fire going we've been cracking jokes all day and she's just opened up to us. When she opened up to her fellow campmates one of them asked her why she was so good at picking up social cues. I know one of the characteristics is for a lot of autistic people is not picking up on social cues. Just like many charismatic aspies she replied by saying that she's been working on her social skills since she was a teenager. However she did highlight that she struggles with executive functioning meaning that her house is very messy because she's overwhelmed by all the things to do. There are things I mean if you saw my house you'd know there was something very wrong. Absolutely and messy I mean no cd person would not like my house and it's just sort of I just get overwhelmed with all the things they're able to do. There's no doubt that when Anne entered the celebrity get me out of her camp she had a lot of struggles in her experience. No I'm fine it's just a lot isn't it. I'm just really really close to saying I can't do this. She struggled a lot with the sensory aspect of the bugs and having to live in an environment constantly surrounded by lots of people that she didn't know. Of course this is a typical autistic thing to do. But also the fact that it was quite a large change for her. And I just sort of you know I was just a zombie in Snake Rock for the first at least 24 hours. But she also talks about something that a lot of autistic people do which is rationing her social interaction. Yeah I find I get sort of claustrophobic in a relationship. I'm like wait you want to phone me every day. Because social interaction can be so taxing and energy sapping rationing that social contact is a very important skill to learn. But although her openness has really affected a lot of other people's lives and helped to raise awareness for autism apparently it's also been very helpful for herself. It's all of us she's just one of the most incredible women in the world. Well we love you. Oh yeah we do. They really loved you was it nice to have a group of girlfriends. It can be very difficult to go throughout life not letting anybody know that you're autistic. It's a really big chunk of your personality that other people may not be able to see. She does have a very tough exterior and this is something that a lot of autistic people have to develop because we're not always understood and we quite often get bullied and alienated. Because she's just got such a lovely nature and I think people don't realise that because she plays this alter ego that's like meanie. If Anne can have so much effect on the UK just with five minutes of conversation on a TV show who knows which celebrities will come clean about it in the future. Despite this being great for the autistic community it's even more great because she's female. There are a lot more men that are diagnosed when compared to women. The National Autistic Society says that for every two men that are diagnosed there is one woman and this ratio can even be as different as 16 to 1. This is because females with aspergis tend to be very good at this concept called masking. Meaning that people on the spectrum mask their autistic behaviours and traits in order to fit in socially. I don't think you seem at all no I mean I didn't know anything I wouldn't know meeting you. Anne also talks about how she has a sticky memory meaning that when she reads and when she learns about things it really sticks in her mind. This is very common because a lot of autistic people need to be very thorough. It's also an autistic thing when you're trying to work out what to do we need what neurotypicals have is a thing called mirror neuron so they can see a thing done and know how to do it and I have to kind of line the mirror neuron up in my head and yeah it doesn't it doesn't yeah yeah so I mean it doesn't have to be the same all the time but I've got to sort of actually work it out and then visit yourself doing it and stuff. They need to find out information store it in their little bag of reasonings and use it to logically explain pretty much everything around them autistic people do struggle a lot with anxiety we get a lot of stress in social communication and because of this a lot of the things that most people find quite easy we find quite hard she puts out the message that it's okay to know your limits and not cross them. Although it's important to push through your barriers and develop as a person it's okay to say no and quite often that ability to say no is quite a sign of strength. There is an important message to learn from Anne one of the reasons why she's suspected that she had Asperger's syndrome and went ahead with a diagnosis was because she watched a documentary on TV about Asperger's. This highlights just how important raising awareness and understanding of autism is to the world it allows people who had never really considered the fact that they're autistic an ability to recognize some of the traits that Anne shows and some of the experiences that Anne has and apply it to themselves. When you suddenly come up against a situation that you just you know you thought you'd imagined it and you haven't people sometimes say that one of the problems with autism is a failure of imagination we're not good at imagining outcomes we're not good at really being able to imagine what something is going to be like even if we think we've done all the work we need to. By highlighting that it comes with a lot of negatives but also some positives helps get rid of the stigma around autism. Yes it's why they say it's a spectrum there can be all sorts of things where you know you can be high functioning in some areas and low functioning in other areas. So in terms of high functioning obviously we see your quizzing. Yes absolutely. What would you say is the downside of it for you? Um just simply very I'm very bad at just sort of organizing just practical things I'm sort of your absent minded professor type. With all the heartfelt messages that have been pouring in for Anne from all corners of the UK it's hard not to appreciate just how much of a difference she's made. You were very popular in there as well. People kept on not voting me off what was that about? You lunatics. She has been a kind of autistic role model a charismatic figure that has given a lot of people on the autistic spectrum hope about their future. I mean if someone can actively go on TV and communicate and do it really well why can't other people? After the 8th of March 2019 the autistic society actually reported a 70 percent increase in the amount of calls to their helplines. I believe that this news was incredibly incredibly important for the autistic community meaning that people who have gone throughout their lives not really knowing whether they're autistic have watched Anne and realised that there really isn't a stigma around it anymore. I think we've we've made her feel really comfortable that now she's just sharing a bit more like every day we're like chipping away chipping away at that tough governess exterior and we're seeing that you know inside she is the sweetest most humble just lovely lovely woman inside. But with the wave of neurodiversity that's taking the nation by storm hopefully a lot more people on the spectrum will learn to accept themselves and hopefully other people will learn to accept them as well. Thank you so much for watching this video. This video has been a little bit different to some of the other videos that I've made in the past and I just thought it was really important and topical to talk about. Did you like the video? Make sure to click that little like button down there to get more of these types of videos. And if you want to see some more of my other content on autism and mental health make sure to click that subscribe button and ding that notification bell. What was your reaction when you read about Anne's openness about aspergios? Please let me know down in the comments and I'll be sure to read them and reply. And if you want to support my channel make sure to head over to my patreon page and have a look at that just give a little gander just a second please just please it would help me. Oh forget no no you're in my ear that's horrible that's revolting off you. And if you want to get up to date on some of the more personal things in my life make sure to head over to the twitter facebook and instagram accounts over there go go see him. Thank you very much for watching this has been Aspie Thomas Henley addressing you the aspie legions tell you about this amazing news story. I know it's pretty late but I felt like I should make it anyway. How are you guys feeling? Hope you're having a great day and I'll see you in the next video. Goodbye my friends.