I haven't told many people this, but in my head, I've got thousands of secret worlds all going on all at the same time. I am also autistic.
Non lle contei isto a moita xente pero na miña cabeza teño centos de mundos secretos todos ó mesmo tempo. Tamén son autista.
People tend to diagnose autism with really specific check-box descriptions, but in reality, it's a whole variation as to what we're like. For instance, my little brother, he's very severely autistic. He's nonverbal. He can't talk at all. But I love to talk. People often associate autism with liking maths and science and nothing else, but I know so many autistic people who love being creative. But that is a stereotype, and the stereotypes of things are often, if not always, wrong. For instance, a lot of people think autism and think "Rain Man" immediately. That's the common belief, that every single autistic person is Dustin Hoffman, and that's not true.
A xente tende a diagnosticar autismo como un exame tipo test con respostas moi específicas. En realidade, hai moitas variacións. Por exemplo, o meu irmán ten autismo severo. Non pode falar en absoluto, Pero a min encántame falar. A xente soe asociar autismo con que che gusten as mates e as ciencias e xa, pero coñezo moitos autistas que gozan sendo creativos. Iso é un estereotipo, e coma todos os estereotipos case sempre ou sempre son mentira. Por exemplo, moita xente pensa en autismo e venlle <i>Rain Man</i> á cabeza. É unha crenza común que tódolos autistas son Dustin Hoffman, e iso non é verdade.
But that's not just with autistic people, either. I've seen it with LGBTQ people, with women, with POC people. People are so afraid of variety that they try to fit everything into a tiny little box with really specific labels. This is something that actually happened to me in real life: I googled "autistic people are ..." and it comes up with suggestions as to what you're going to type. I googled "autistic people are ..." and the top result was "demons." That is the first thing that people think when they think autism. They know. (Laughter)
Isto non pasa só cos autistas. Pasa tamén co colectivo LGBTQ, coas mulleres, xente de cor. Á xente dálle tanto medo a variedade que tentan meter a todo o mundo no mesmo saco cunhas etiquetas moi específicas. Isto é algo que de feito pasoume a min na vida real: Busquei "os autistas son..." en Google e apareceron certas suxestións tras o que acababa de escribir. Busquei "os autistas son..." e o primeiro resultado era "demos". Iso é o primeiro que a xente pensa cando pensa en autismo. Sábeno. (Risas)
One of the things I can do because I'm autistic — it's an ability rather than a disability — is I've got a very, very vivid imagination. Let me explain it to you a bit. It's like I'm walking in two worlds most of the time. There's the real world, the world that we all share, and there's the world in my mind, and the world in my mind is often so much more real than the real world. Like, it's very easy for me to let my mind loose because I don't try and fit myself into a tiny little box. That's one of the best things about being autistic. You don't have the urge to do that. You find what you want to do, you find a way to do it, and you get on with it. If I was trying to fit myself into a box, I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have achieved half the things that I have now. There are problems, though. There are problems with being autistic, and there are problems with having too much imagination. School can be a problem in general, but having also to explain to a teacher on a daily basis that their lesson is inexplicably dull and you are secretly taking refuge in a world inside your head in which you are not in that lesson, that adds to your list of problems. (Laughter) Also, when my imagination takes hold, my body takes on a life of its own. When something very exciting happens in my inner world, I've just got to run. I've got to rock backwards and forwards, or sometimes scream. This gives me so much energy, and I've got to have an outlet for all that energy. But I've done that ever since I was a child, ever since I was a tiny little girl. And my parents thought it was cute, so they didn't bring it up, but when I got into school, they didn't really agree that it was cute. It can be that people don't want to be friends with the girl that starts screaming in an algebra lesson. And this doesn't normally happen in this day and age, but it can be that people don't want to be friends with the autistic girl. It can be that people don't want to associate with anyone who won't or can't fit themselves into a box that's labeled normal. But that's fine with me, because it sorts the wheat from the chaff, and I can find which people are genuine and true and I can pick these people as my friends.
Unha das cousas que podo facer porque son autista —é mais unha capacidade que unha discapacidade— é ter unha imaxinación moi intensa. Deixádeme explicarvos. É coma se camiñase en dous mundos ó mesmo tempo. No mundo real, no que todos vivimos e noutro mundo na miña mente, e este na miña mente ás veces é moito mais real que o mundo real. É moi doado para min deixar voar a miña mente porque non intento meterme nunha caixiña pequena. Esta é unha das mellores cousas de ser autista. Non temos a necesidade de encaixar. Encontras o que queres facer, encontras a maneira, e falo. Se intentase meterme no saco, non estaría aquí, non daría conseguido a metade das cousas que teño. Hai problemas, claro. Existen problemas cando es autista, e problemas cando tes imaxinación de máis. A escola pode ser un problema, en xeral, e ter que explicarlle ao mestre tódolos días que a súa clase é aburrida e estás buscando refuxio en segredo nun teu mundo interior no que non estás nesa clase, engádelle outro problema á túa lista. (Risa) E cando a imaxinación se apodera de min, o meu corpo cobra unha nova vida. Cando algo do meu mundo interior é moi emocionante preciso correr. Teño que moverme dun lado a outro ou mesmo berrar. Isto dáme moita enerxía, e preciso unha saída a toda esta enerxía. Sempre fixen isto dende cativa, dende que era unha neniña. Meus pais pensaron que era bonito así que non falaban do conto, pero cando entrei na escola xa non pensaron que era tan bonito. Podo ser desas persoas que a xente non quere como amiga, a nena que berra na clase de álxebra. E isto normalmente non pasa nestes tempos, pero hai xente que non quere ser amiga da nena autista. Hai xente que non quere tratar con ninguén que non poida estar no saco do "normal". Pero paréceme ben, porque isto separa o gran da palla, e podo encontrar xente auténtica e pura da que facerme amiga.
But if you think about it, what is normal? What does it mean? Imagine if that was the best compliment you ever received. "Wow, you are really normal." (Laughter) But compliments are, "you are extraordinary" or "you step outside the box." It's "you're amazing." So if people want to be these things, why are so many people striving to be normal? Why are people pouring their brilliant individual light into a mold? People are so afraid of variety that they try and force everyone, even people who don't want to or can't, to become normal. There are camps for LGBTQ people or autistic people to try and make them this "normal," and that's terrifying that people would do that in this day and age.
Pero se o pensas, que é normal? Que significa? Imaxina que ese fose o mellor piropo que che digan. "Vaia, es moi normal." (Risas) Pero piropos son, "es extraordinario" ou "es do que non hai", "es marabilloso" Se a xente quere ser estas cousas, por que hai tanta xente que morre por ser normal? Por que se desfán da súa propia luz para poder encaixar nun molde? Á xente ponlle tanto medo a variedade que intentan e obrigan a todos, incluso á xente que non quere ou non pode, a ser normal. Hai campamentos para persoas LGBTQ e para persoas autistas. Para facelos "normais". E que isto exista nesta época é polo menos aterrador.
All in all, I wouldn't trade my autism and my imagination for the world. Because I am autistic, I've presented documentaries to the BBC, I'm in the midst of writing a book, I'm doing this — this is fantastic — and one of the best things that I've achieved, that I consider to have achieved, is I've found ways of communicating with my little brother and sister, who as I've said are nonverbal. They can't speak. And people would often write off someone who's nonverbal, but that's silly, because my little brother and sister are the best siblings that you could ever hope for. They're just the best, and I love them so much and I care about them more than anything else. I'm going to leave you with one question: If we can't get inside the person's minds, no matter if they're autistic or not, instead of punishing anything that strays from normal, why not celebrate uniqueness and cheer every time someone unleashes their imagination?
A pesar disto, non cambiaría o meu autismo nin a miña imaxinación por nada. Grazas a ser autista presentei documentais na BBC, estou a escribir un libro, e a facer isto, o que é fantástico. E unha das mellores cousas que dei conseguido foi encontrar maneiras de comunicarme cos meus irmanciños (el e ela) que non poden falar. Con frecuencia a xente anula aqueles que non poden falar, o cal é unha parvada porque os meus irmáns son os mellores irmáns que alguén podería desexar. Son os mellores e quérolles moito. Impórtanme máis que nada no mundo. Vouvos deixar cunha pregunta: Se non podemos entrar na mente da xente, autista ou non, en vez castigar o que sae fóra do normal, por que non celebramos a singularidade e nos apoiamos cada vez que alguén dea rédea solta á súa imaxinación?
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)