 I'm gonna I'm gonna say hi to them Hello, I'm sorry for the the The wait time my wife I just cut out on me for about 15 minutes. I really apologize for that, but I welcome to the stream Ask me any questions to do vortism personal questions go for it Now fizz the word yeah, indeed definitely so yeah All questions, you know if you ask me a question. I'm more than likely going to answer Because we know it's I'm quite a small creature. So I've got I've got a time we've got time Got about an hour so just go for it. Yeah, if I don't want to answer something. I just want so just Go for it Wondering blame it says It's all that my hyperfocuses are in the realms of music Boxing and science fiction mostly star trek in cool classics. I wrote Robocop terminating the matrix Why do you think that that's odd? I think that's pretty cool one thing that I've noticed about Autistic people is that we don't tend to have like from my experience particularly like directed sort of interests like particular interests that all of us like but You know when you when I think of like a neurotypical person or I meet a neurotypical person It tends to be that their interests are sort of confined to this Like a certain area of life like they have all the interests kind of interconnect in some way Or as some sort of like social normative thing that people have where it's like Autistic people you never know what they're interested in you could they could say you can meet them at the gym and they could just It's probably a bad example Can meet them at like a metal concert and they might be really into watching SpongeBob SquarePants on the day off You would never know and so it's it's always interesting to to talk to your autistic people about their interests not always easily like Categorized we're not as easily as categorized as most people I would say Teresa says I work with special needs kids and most of them Or autistic is there anything from your childhood that you wish teacher or school worker did or did not Do in order to help you? I Think just just understanding A bit about me without me having to explain Certain things I think this would be just a baseline level of autism Awareness education, whatever you want to call it Because that that really is the the difference in between teachers Saying hey, it's okay and hear the ways that you can you know perhaps get in in a healthy way or Just going like oh, you know, you're trying to be different You know just go and talk to people I Think just more more Teachers, I think that just generally more open caring Understandable about you know when we need to take breaks out of lessons I think that that's a big one, you know if you're stressed and The classroom environment is pretty bad Um, you know, you have some some other people sort of around you who are quite Bully-like or so I'm making fun of you. What noisy can be very hard Sometimes and just being able to know that the teacher kind of has you back And we'll just not really question if you say that you need a break. I think that's that's that's a really really big thing I'm also talking because a lot of us we may struggle to We may struggle to make friends particularly in those kind of secondary school environments, so I Think sometimes just having the odd conversation with a teacher was was really helpful for me You know get again on with them really and just having a chat about The interests that we have that are related to a subject. I Think though that that would be really great. I Don't know why you can imitate your favorite teacher from England um Januits asks Are you personally dating at the moment? Well, not to focus for you right now. Yeah, I am. I'm in a relationship Yeah, or maybe just maybe a year and a half something like that. It's going well Theresa says thank you. No worries at all YouTube YouTube people is the stream actually working for you because it's saying that the chat is just Disconnected and unable to connect to chat Let me check on my OBS It seems to be okay Yes, but please guys ask ask away ask questions go for it I just got back from a I was not going to talk about fitness, but I just got back from the gym I Was doing doing legs which it's just absolutely exhausting I'm really trying to get get used to squats because squats are my least favorite exercise and It's it's also one of the most beneficial ones, especially like for sports like taekwondo and athletics and things like that This is so hard and it just takes so much out you You go to it's like a You know If you want to wake you up a body hard you can kind of do it and not really just feel absolutely flattened out But if you really really train your lower body Just hammer how many muscles it could be just absolutely draining crazy Hi, Julian. How are you doing man? Nice to see you Ying has asked did you watch the Christine McGinnis documentary and what do you think about it? I haven't seen it as I said, I don't really watch stuff in the mainstream about autism because It's kind of kind of I'm not gonna say it gives me the ick But it just feels very intrusive and invasive and most of the time when I'm doing my Work on social media. I'm doing a podcast That's the kind of time that I have set out to like think about autism and you think about different aspects of it I don't know if I'm very interested in Stories of celebrities of it. It just doesn't I have never been much of a celebrity person I didn't have many role models Growing up in terms of light celebrities, so Yeah, I don't know I Should probably give stuff like I watch I haven't even watched the Chris Backham 101 at this point Which I've heard that was Really good really interesting point is that I was almost going to be cast to be the voice of the Non-verbal autistic man that was in the Documentary the Chris Backham documentary, so he's almost close. So it's the top top two, but Apparently the the photo that I sent in was so relate to You know they needed to get permission from my photographer and he didn't get back to them in time so Yeah, so I could have got that although I don't know how much of it an exposure that would be maybe maybe it might be Interesting like to any of you follow me and you just start watching the documentary and you just hear my voice That would be quite like for full breaking but Yeah, what did you think of it? You know do you think it's worth watching? Quindillian asks if you could have a super power What will it be and why? stopping time Being being able to control time She can do anything if you control time. It's like Like why wouldn't you like you don't you don't even need to to give yourself super speed because you can stop time So, you know, it's like it's like multiple powers in one. I mean like you wouldn't even have to sort of double up your strength very much as well because Because time is so slow all of your movements are just so quick and like You know, so you'd be super strong You'd be able to take as much time as you want during an exam you could go home Get you down upside look at them come back Pretty much every circumstance. I feel I think time that time superpowers are the best ones Um, although it would be really cool to like fly but again Could slow time down really slow and just get some like Some wings or something and just flap and you'd probably get enough sort of I don't know maybe speed I don't know. Maybe that would work I'm good. Thank you Uh drawing autism asks Uh any advice when autistic people have to work with anti-colleagues that don't know about autism um Yeah, get get get your organization to do some disability and inclusivity training that they should do and get them to have an autistic speaker Find someone from the community and and tell your company. Hey come and come and Get this this autism advocate to come come speak. I'm not not necessarily talking about myself, but I would be up for it um but that would be a good way because A lot of people don't really have the right mindset about it Or they don't really understand much about it or they haven't met someone who's openly autistic so they don't know exactly how we work and You know, so stuff like that would really really help I think also You know, it really depends on the workplace that you're in If you're in somewhere like myself, which is like a charity So it tends to have people who are a lot more amenable to be self-opin minded and supportive um You know, perhaps if you work in like a garage or something Uh very small business might not be the case might be a bit tough uh customer service where you kind of funneled into Jobs checkouts and socializing probably probably not too great either um Yeah, I mean Let's suppose suppose what you could do is you could Hold some training yourself or do a presentation That's what I did you could do that Um, it wouldn't cost you the business anything you could just say hey look I want to want to talk a little bit more about autism. Maybe pull up some One of the many videos online that you can find Um, show that instead if you don't want to present You know, there's a lot of options. It's just I I think The ideal would be your business takes care of you As an employee, but quite often might be the case that you just have to Say hey look Um, I would really appreciate if people understood a bit more about autism My help me feel a bit more included might help people Understand and work with me better. I think it would probably be a good idea You kind of you can't you can't have to lead it yourself which can be um a bit of a struggle You know, there's there's lots of options that you can go with Hi Austin, how you doing? Uh Yings says about the christine guiness documentary um Yes, I should watch it as it is more about how autism affects women Um, so it was very interesting. I also saw the the packham series the voice actor was shown a few times god damn it Oh, I would have really loved to be that person Uh That would have been like The dream opportunity. It's so close as well. It's crazy Um, I'm trying to get him on the podcast at some point, but he has taken like a three month hiatus. So It's gonna be Um, if it does happen, it's gonna be a quite a while in the future um I think I love stuff around around women and I would like to see some more stuff about um Um What would you say minorities the racial minorities and autism I'd like to see some more stuff like that Because anything that we can really do to to crush those autism stereotypes. I think it's really good um And I think we could we could do more with that kind of thing definitely Early be joined. All right. Nice to have you on life of Aaron. Hello design witch Uh, queen Dylan asks when is your birthday? Um, 17th of february so it was um earlier on in the year And I'm 26 now. So I've I've officially passed Well, I I'm in my mid 20s, which feels weird but um I am just happy that my brain has developed to its full potential at the moment, um You know 25 tends to be like the cutoff point for like developing your brain and stuff, but I know that um, as you get into your 30s or like 20s your facial Like structure tends to fill out a lot more as well So that's also a good thing to look forward to for me, but um Yeah, yeah um I was gonna say Any more questions find them at me Queen Dylan asks as someone with autism. How do you deal with a teacher getting a haircut? Um, it doesn't bother me Uh I think maybe what you're asking is changes and changes can be Quite hard for us to deal with especially if there's changes. I would imagine for someone who who we know. Well um I I'm I'm very uh, sort of face-blind so I think a lot of the time is going through life. It's um I've had a lot of occasions where I've just walked straight past people and then they've come Talked to me at a later date and said hey, like you don't notice anything. You didn't even see me. I'm like Just didn't just keep focusing on myself. Um Changes though, I mean I don't know about that specific case but changes in general, you know, I think being exposed to change and Experiencing yourself managing it over time um builds a lot of sort of Self-resilience, I would say like um, you know that You're competent at dealing with changes. I think that the point at which Changes become an issue for me is if someone changed something and then change it again and then they change it again um That can be really tough because It's like every time that someone changes things you kind of have to rearrange what's going to happen and you're Routine in your head And then it changes back and then changes again. It kind of you kind of lose that certainty around it um And I can find that really difficult But just off the cuff changes doesn't doesn't tend to bother me as much um Yeah I don't know what's on this chat. I cannot see Pop out the chat. Does that work? Oh Yes, it is working. Uh, but it doesn't seem to work Uh, cat. Oh, there it is. I I supposed to switch it to live chat. Hello, cat Lily. Thank you for coming back and uh uh core pizza and says the ZZ top documentary sneak sneakily implies autism might be one to check out um What's this? What's the ZZ ZZ documentary I I don't I don't know about that one um No, okay, so celebrities, you know, I I didn't really feel much growing up that I really felt represented by any of the like mainstream celebrities. So I never really Latched onto them the people I did watch latch onto is uh anime characters like Dragon Ball Z and uh broccoli of Naruto and stuff like that um Those were really big inspirations for me because it kind of You know, it's some It's obviously fictional, but I just you know at the time I was just very very obsessed with anime and stuff like that and um I don't know. There's just something about the sort of stoic mindset that they had Sort of battling for adversity that that really struck a chord with me Um, but no no no real sort of celebrity role models. Um No, not even to be honest not even with any of my online work like, um, I wasn't inspired by anyone to do blog writing podcasts Um, actually no Not youtube but podcasts maybe a little bit I watched this podcast. It's probably one of the only podcasts that I watch called The Triforce podcast, which is if you remember there was this streamer called um Well not streamer youtube channel called the ox cast and they did like Minecraft series and stuff like that um And one of those people from the ox cast got called lewis As long as a guy called sips and pyrrion Um, I think they're in like like middle age or or or mid thirties. They just have just the funniest chats ever Um, it's just so entertaining to listen to them. Um, I mean they actually have this Uh, they have this code word um I don't to be honest. I don't know if I'd be able to say the actual word but um They have this code word that that that their listeners that will whisper or Or talk to another person say these say these code words and they're just so funny And like anyone out of that sphere would just have no idea what they're talking about just thinking they're a crazy person Um, it's really really really funny. I I mean it's it's good for me because Having a podcast on in the background. Is it really good if i'm doing like writing on my phone? So doesn't mean I have to switch on my tv at night time So I could just kind of Lay in my bed do some writing Um, it seems to work for me Uh, even says hey o thomas Thank you for your newest podcasts You know very good. There's more coming up. There are more coming up. I'm glad that you've enjoyed them. Um I think one of the next ones is either going to be about personal development um Or it's going to be about dissociative Identity it's sort of the idea with uh, no tricks from the nirvana virgin crib and um No, I mean I Me no tricks quite good good friends and I won't be we've been chatting a lot and I know that it's not something Particularly to do with autism, but it is kind of under that neurodiversity umbrella And it's really interesting to me um I I find different Perceptions and ways of living just really interesting. So I was just like, you know what? Um, I I keep most things autism centered. I might as well just have some Have some fun. Actually, you know probably learn a lot more than I would do In an autism podcast about about someone's life and different ways of living. So I think definitely There's some more messages on insta is it haram to watch anime no idea Hello, jordan Hi Funnel scope Nice to see you um What is your favorite cartoons beside anime? Depends what age um round about teenage a teenage age or um Early adulthood probably a lot of spongebob I like it and the net edit and eddy. I like a lot of like the cartoon networks things um I still find them really funny and pokemon um, although that is Is it an anime? Would you classify it to be an anime? I don't know. I think it probably is Definitely from japan As someone uh with autism will my friends What's them? It doesn't talk Talk It depends on the person. Um, some people don't some people do Uh dreaming color says Hey new follower My four-year-old ashtens autistic and I'm still very much learning. Well, I am glad to be a source of learning experiential learning for you um And I hope I hope that our community can sort of help Definitely Um, hello, valley red. Thank you for joining Sophia web Roberto Benino Uh Accessibility coalition Hello Any more questions? Let's get some more questions in um Trying to think of what else I've done done this week. Oh, yeah, I got some really big news um lately It's like american celebrities wanting to like work with me on this like big project Uh, but it was really interesting actually because I made a post or made a story On the day saying that I hadn't had a meltdown in like three months Or when I got that news I was I was kind of upstairs at the gym. So I'm trying um to this this american celebrity person and um Yeah, it was a very positively overwhelming and it's one of the few times that I've ever had a happy meltdown I'm sort of overwhelming positive emotion. So That was interesting Um Good job that I had someone at the gym who I knew Someone who's a good friend um Had someone come to fit me up and stuff, which You know, it's very very annoying I kind of had like a An internal feeling that I was probably going to have a meltdown that day and then I was like, oh, I haven't had a meltdown Um, because it made me think about it Who knows Do you guys find do you guys find positive emotions to be a trigger for a meltdown? I definitely do now and again. It doesn't happen often because of my mental health, but Definitely does happen um I think it's uh Can you see the youtube chat now? Yes, I can I'm sorry about the camera. By the way, it's it's that I need to find some way to Attach my Phone so that I can like however everyone at eye level. I suppose it must be a bit annoying to see the top of my head So I apologize for that Um, I'll sort it out for the next livestream. Definitely anyway Ashton ashton does yeah Positive emotions can can just be as overwhelming um I tend to not get excited about things just for that reason Because I just don't want to feel Um, because it tends to be that that excitement that positive emotion could be a trigger for a meltdown And then if I get the situation wrong and it's actually not a good time Then it kind of sends me the other way as well. And then there's like another possibility to have a meltdown. So Um, but my meltdowns at the moment. They're not too bad. Um Not very often at all, which I'm happy about As you can imagine, they're not the most exciting thing in the world um But I've got quite a good support network at um at home sort of around my local area. So It's never really an issue Only times it's really an issue is when I've gone out so when you I'm in a new place or I don't know people um Those tend to be issues that I remember I had one in On the train I was going I was going across the country into this place called Leamington Spa and um I had I yeah, I I had a meltdown because I missed my train stop um and uh It's very difficult to sort of manage that situation because I was kind of on the phone with someone um Sort of supporting me Uh, by the same time I was having to communicate with the trained people to Get myself on the right train and stuff. So uh It was it wasn't the biggest meltdown, but it was like one of those sort Partially likes sort of like teetering on the fence Jamie Gopi Singh says uh, what age were you diagnosed 10 years old? 10 years old I only really started to understand know about autism Research it a bit more When I was Late teens early 20s, so It's kind of like a second diagnosis because Up until that point. I only really understood autism as me finding environments hard with the sensory stuff and me finding talking to people hard so Obviously, it's a lot more than that. It's a lot more complex. It's a lot more interesting and it's a lot more sort of um multifaceted Then Then just that there's time to be the things that people just kind of know about autism, but Yeah, I mean obviously it helps a little bit to Understand I think ying ying has asked um, do you think that getting a diagnosis is always a good thing? I think getting a diagnosis if you are struggling Um, is a good thing if you can get one Because it allows you to have lots of different benefits and Whether that be monetary within the workplace within social care in terms of legality Can be really important. Um Good thing about it is in well as in the uk. You don't have to disclose it if you don't want to so Even if you you feel like it would be a disadvantage for people to know that you're autistic in the workplace Still don't really have to tell them um But you do kind of have that um status as a protected group Which I think is really important because if you're a protected group then you are you know If people are discriminatory against you or they treat you badly you know with its um Or don't make the adjustments that really help you a lot You know, they could they could get in trouble for it. So it kind of gives you a bit more protection Um, but if you if you're not if you're not struggling And you just kind of want to know just to understand yourself a bit better Um, try and process things in your past Could be helpful just to acknowledge You know, so if you're struggling with imposter syndrome um You know, you're not really totally sure about Whether you're autistic or not. Sometimes that could be a good place to go um for a number of different reasons, but um You have to work a long time if you have general health care And if you don't Where you want to get it done quickly it's going to cost you money. So Really depends you can you can do a lot of work a lot of work Sorry Every time that my battery notification Tends up It just stops the stream. I don't know why it just doesn't just continue. It's very annoying um But self diagnosis you can do so much just Work on yourself just not getting a diagnosis. Um Other than those sort of benefits in terms of legal stuff workplace things like that um, you might be more eligible for certain Things like disability programs um uh There's there's lots of other things, but if it's just something that you know your life's going Um Well, you're not really struggling with things. You just want to understand yourself a bit better Maybe don't go for a diagnosis. So this this point might be something that you might want to consider in the future um But really there's just such a wealth of information that's out there on the internet wherever it's youtube, whether it's podcasts, whether it's Instagram that actually benefits you a lot Can actually help you a lot without process. So it's Very very well. I think it it depends um I think for me If I didn't have a diagnosis, I would probably go for one um, it obviously took me like two or three years to sort of stack up on that waiting list that long general healthcare waiting list um uh but yeah I mean one of the disadvantages about getting diagnosed in adulthood Is that you you don't really have as much support if you get diagnosed when you younger um, a lot of the medical systems the education system They tend to tend to provide you with a bit more um, than you would have as an adult So that can be really useful um If you also struggle with mental health difficulties um I think knowing that you're autistic Whoever you're diagnosed or not can can really help sort of process and understand and um more or less It loads loads of different ways. Definitely Mark Dragonite says I'm 46 diagnosed last year a diagnosis was critical for me It took seven years but that's changed my life Fair enough Well, why why do you think that the the diagnosis did you get like any Sort of support systems or benefits in place or is it just kind of When there's things where you just feel validated or You know you you feel like So for some people it can be important. Um What what would you say about that? I'm just gonna I mean, I I called it oughty time, but pretty much every time that I've done it so far More or less just drinking energy drinks, which I know it's not not the best. I know it's um good this This red funder knock off red bull brand energy drink Very classy very classy but yeah, um Be interested to know what what your opinions of sort of self diagnosis first diagnosis are um Because I don't really know because I was diagnosed so young so it's kind of It's just part of me part of my life um I think it was definitely helpful for my parents during that time Because you do kind of need that diagnosis to get supports um Get more adjustments and things in education Okay, so mark mark. I've diagnosed responded No support important for self identity Settling my mother, but most to say I'm autistic. Please hold my hand when I'm melting down Yeah, so it's it's kind of that validation thing Yeah, and I know some particularly I think The people who are not involved in the autistic community um, they don't really understand self diagnosis and they kind of Shift it to the side slow. How can you diagnose if you're not? You know, yes, it's it's not about diagnosing yourself. It kind of is but not not officially um, it's It's just it's just a reflection of the lack of support and sort of roots into Getting diagnosed that we have It's going to make you crash drinking that that's what I'm counting on It's what I'm counting on. I want to crash It's about time to crash. I need to have a good long just Mellow mellow in bed. Just just chill out not myself out um the thing is is I can go without caffeine and I have done The the the thing is is that I'm on a antidepressant medication got my tazapine Uh, I can't see it catalyzed. I don't know. It might it might be a bit slow slow, but um Um, definitely. Yeah I think it's very slow behind Oh my god Maybe it's because I scheduled it and then like there's been a stream of OBS sort of going up crazy, um But yeah, uh caffeine Because because the medication is sedative it can make me feel very an extraordinarily uh tired lethargic Not being able to get out of bed in the morning so I when I'm when I haven't been on my tazapine. I don't really drink it Um, don't really drink caffeine, but with the metazapine. It's it's very hard to get going without any um, and especially in the mornings It can be really tough to Get going get to work make sure that I don't fall back asleep Yeah Caffeine that's indeed You know, what is your favorite way to relax in the evening? um Just playing a mobile game probably watching some tv Netflix watch some youtube videos see what's going on in the world uh the big wide worlds um I suppose yeah, I suppose gym is helpful to relax not not whilst I'm at the gym, but definitely after the gym Okay, it does help with the old relax ancient um Because I love the anxiety that I hold tends to be like in my muscles Um in my legs particularly so when I've been to the gym it kind of empties out all those tanks helps a lot Um vector on youtube asks i'm not really involved in the autistic community, but i'm autistic Uh was diagnosed at 28. I wonder at times if that Was not maybe also beneficial for me in terms of I had really no help at all. You should really have some help You should really have some support some support like It boggles me But yeah, at adulthood getting diagnosed you don't tend to get as much support as when you're a bit younger Which is kind of sad um And yeah catlily it does it depends on the way you live depends what their policies are like and in your area and what kind of support systems even like groups and organizations charities Any local area can really make a lot of difference um It's because sometimes the systems that are in place the governmental systems. They're not totally Brilliant. Yeah um Yeah, so we got about five minutes left on the livestream so If you've got any last minute biting questions that you really want to ask Uh go for it because um I'm gonna I'm gonna sign off soon And as I said, I just came from the gym. So I need to get a shower mostly I don't know. Um What do you guys think about Me doing a twitch stream instead I'm considering it. I know that oughty now when I spoke to both of them They were doing study valley twitch stream Because I would really like to do something like that like play a game Because I'd probably be able to tolerate a lot more just kind of switching between talking to chat and Don't and play my game Um, I don't know what game I'd play that and I think the issue with that is that Sometimes when you play a game you'll try out people both By by my name being support is related Um, but also the people within that game and community And people are not always the best if they're not from from the community Um Hey, yeah, I'm mommy It's spelled as it's written Very cool. Um, we just we don't say mom in in the uk we say mom I'm sure some people do I'm sure a lot of autistic people do just because of just how You know if we get a strong mindset Well, it does, you know going through hardships going through struggles. It does Well, it can give you a stronger mindset and I think it's it's mostly about Developing that that muscle of grit, you know things start going bad. Are you gonna kind of? Ignore it and you're gonna Just let it kind of overtake you Or are you gonna kind of Maybe take a rest and then approach it slowly Um, and you you would you would like me to do a trip stream. Maybe maybe I will I will do a poll over on Um, see what you guys think Um I don't know because I'm not the biggest creator or either on youtube or instagram so I might be kicking myself to not like do things that are native to the platforms But we'll see we'll see um, it will also take a little bit of time to sort of Iron everything out and create create the user and link to it and things like that, but um Could be a possibility could be a possibility Well, I'm I'm gonna wrap up Now, um, I hope you guys have had a good working week If you're from the uk and if you're not uh, good morning Or good night, um Yeah, uh, I will be doing another live stream next week if you want to catch that one um Always friday 5 30 p.m. BST Um, I might try my analytics see when most people are online because I think because of the fact that it's a working day Um, there might be some people who really don't Sort of there might be a work or something on a Friday, but um Yeah, we'll we'll see we'll have a go at it and Yeah, if you haven't already go check out my podcast. You can find it in my link tree as well as the youtube thing um You can see the visual versions of my podcasts, um, which I'm I'm sure some people will prefer Uh, I apologize. I haven't been making as many reels as usually on my podcast Uh, it's what the sort of the short reels I was doing, but I've had a bit of a like this week So, uh, it's going to start from today I should really go probably to like monday, but Anyway, I hope you have a good week Oh weekend, um, if you have a nice chill place and yin is no worries I'll have a great week weekend too. Well, thanks for asking questions Um, thank you stallion I hope you have a good night as well Uh, back to says thanks man and thank you a lot for the podcast you do never said thank you. I realized No worries at all. I I appreciate that you've come on and stopped during the stream and uh, yeah Well, I will end the youtube stream here and thank you for watching guys and uh, I'll see you next week And instagram hello, we're just on the instagram now