Autistic Brains Solve Problems in a Different Way

Let me be clear, Autistic people are not better than Non-Autistic people or vice versa. I think we make great partnerships when we can come together to communicate. But there's a lot of struggles that we work through to find ways to communicate.

Not all autistic people will have the same point of view on all of these topics. But in general a lot of us struggle with Arbitrary Social Constructs. This is my personal opinions and I am open to learning more from respectful and polite people. I hope you extend the same courtesy and learn from my perspective today. A lot of times Autistic People just view the world through a different lens.

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I am NOT a medical channel. This is a personal vlog coming from a lived experience point of view.

[i.am.mindblind]

Neither Neurotype is better than the other, but we definitely do think differently. I think how we approach social constructs highlights our Bottom Up Thinking style vs Allistic who use a Top Down Thinking Style. Different, not better or less. 😊 Thank you all for watching!

[jesterr]

I once had a coworker who was telling me that she hated when the seasons changed, because it meant she had to swap out her wardrobe. When I asked her why she had to do it, she said "What do you mean?". When I repeated my question, she said "Stop being annoying", and stormed off. Afterwards, I realized that it had never occurred to her to question why she had to do something she did not like doing. She was doing it without even knowing why, simply because it was what she had been conditioned to do.

[nerdalysis]

I’m autistic and I used to be a high school teacher. It took me getting a master’s degree to be able to finally figure out how test questions are written and to figure out how they trick students. It’s a pattern, sure, but it’s one that doesn’t make all that much sense. I hated being forced to give my students those tests because I knew they weren’t a reflection of what they were actually learning.

[jesterr]

As an Autistic person, I have never understood social constructs. One thing that bothers me is how clothing can be designated for a particular gender. I am biologically male, but I wear mostly clothing that is designated for women. It feels totally natural to me. I always felt out of place in men's clothing. I am totally comfortable wearing skirts or dresses, and I have never been able to understand why some people have such a issue with it. It feels normal to me and doesn't affect anyone else. People seem to feel as if I dress the way I do as some sort of sexual fetish, and I don't even understand how clothing can be connected to sex. I don't understand why my happiness bothers some people, even though it doesn't affect them in any way. I am considered to have a atypical gender presentation, but who determines what is typical? Something only becomes typical because people are conditioned to do it without asking why.

[holly]

Your kids are so lucky to have such an articulate mom. You understand SO MUCH! I am seventy five years old and didn’t know I was on the spectrum until last year. I spent so many decades trying to learn all the rules of life ( social constructs!) in order to survive. Exhausting. I bet you and your kids had a great time homeschooling together. Best wishes to you and your kids. School is so triggering for anxiety, so I wish you strength!!!!💚💚💚

[AA-lqpu]

This is so refreshing. I noticed this too. OMG - This is how I think...
Having to finish whats on your plate, Christmas Lunches, Birthday Cakes and going to Church every Sunday just does not make sense to me.

[Marty]

This talk made me recall videos from another autistic youtuber. He mentions in his videos the collective (or "hive") mind of neurotypical people and he used the word SUBLIMINAL. I thought it was such a wonderful word, it describes "stimulus or mental process below the threshold of sensation or consciousness, perceived by or affecting someone's mind without them being aware of it". I think it beautifully sums up neurotypical way of thinking and why they don't question social constructs and perceive them as a given. They connect on another level. 

I personally don't approve of stealing and if someone's bragging about stealing from others, even if it's a corporation, that's a major red flag for me. It makes no sense, the cost of what people steal will be reflected in the price of stuff for other people. So people are making situation worse for everyone else whilst individually benefiting.

[ArmoredWitch]

The math I did that stopped me from speeding was recognizing that building bad driving habits is more dangerous than just about anything. We drive for most of our lives, it adds up, if you learn bad habits it adds into the danger of each of those times, collectively the effect is just really not worth it.

[laina]

Absolutely agree❤ I feel the entire system needs to be taken apart and started from scratch. It isn't that difficult to understand that things need to change. So it's always frustrating when others just can't see the obvious or are willfully ignorant. Thank You for sharing this 🙏🏽

[aabrightlove]

20:00 - "You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time." - Angela Davis

[cassettetape]

You're so amazing. I could never pick up the plot on camera the way you can. Everything you said here are things I think about too often...

[MadMadMandy]

Allistic people are so defensive and I don't understand why. I'm not saying I want a waiter/server/teacher to starve. I'm saying I want systematic change so that no one should be reliant on the kindness of a stranger to get by in life...
Being a server in USA just sounds like being a beggar with extra steps. That is fucked up. My priviledge is that I come from Denmark. We do not have tipping culture.

[notsillyone]

Thanks Amanda, as usual you covered a lot in this video.

One point that I did relate to very well was struggling to do assignments. In grade 1, we had to do a two page assignment on where milk comes from. I knew milk came from cows, but that was it, and could not understand how we were supposed do two pages on that. So I just drew a picture of cows in a milking shed. The teacher assumed I was lazy. For the next assignment the teacher actually provided really clear instructions on what was needed, and where to get the information to do the assignment, so this time I was able to complete it. The teacher didn't expect me to do well at all, and said in front of the whole class in a condescending way that she was amazed I completed it. I was very lucky not to be kept down that year. At the time I thought it was just me having problems. But years later I was talking to the Mother of one of my friends in that class, she had recognized the teacher had treated me badly compared to her Son. That teacher left the school a year after I finished grade 1. I've always wondered if that was because the school knew about the bad experiences kids like me had with the teacher.

My year 4 teacher was one of my best teachers. I think she realized I was different and knew how to handle differences. Near the end of a math exam she asked who was still working. I put my hand up and one of the class mates made a condescending comment about me for taking so long. But the teacher defended me saying that I need more time make sure I don't make mistakes. To this day I'm still slow, but all my work mates don't complain because I give them accurate results that rarely if ever require re-work.

[oiytdwugho]

I always have such a hard time explaining social constructs to people. They very often are upset by being told that, for instance, nationality is a very recent construct (less than 4 centuries old). It's also for some reason harder still to point those things out when it comes to science - planets are very much a made up classification that we don't even have a definition for; or someone might understand that gender is a construct but refuse to accept that sex is very much one as well.
I think this is rooted in needing some external authority to affirm and direct oneself - for instance a person might need to be told by their documentation and the people around them that they are, say, American, instead of just identifying with an American identity. This need seems greater in allistic people (though, I have no proof of that being the case). I have a theory that this is why so many trans people are autistic compared to the rest of the population.

I never quite had any issues with multiple choice questions but struggled with impreciseness - so a question could be for instance: "What did the protagonist want to see: -the city - the sea -their family -none of the above" and I select "-none of the above" but it turns out "-the sea" was correct because the text said they wanted to see _the ocean_ " - just an example. Though, I never cared about grades so it wasn't a problem really

13:50 I think "bottom-down thinking" is called depression :)

I don't think we necessarily _need_ social constructs to work together in the literal sense - they're impossible to get rid of once they're there, but they weren't created with some common goal. For instance, money didn't pop up because we couldn't keep track of exchanging things with each other, money came into existence because individuals needed it to fulfill their own goals, often war was a catalyst for creating money.

I never believed stealing was wrong, the reason I don't steal is because it usually causes _harm_ and my system of morality is based around _harm._ I never thought certain actions were wrong - For instance: punching someone isn't wrong in and of itself - in 99% of cases it's wrong because you're causing harm, but the remaining 1% you're either preventing harm or received permission.
The thing about strictly following rules is that they can be fully internal - I only care about the law because it's enforced, but my own rules come first (especially since the law is biased against me in ways I contend with every day)

Oh, and I didn't know hairdressers got tipped anywhere. It's only restaurants that get tips where I live (and hotel staff if you're rich, I guess)

[xsarahelisa]

I love that your videos kind of go off on these tangents that are related to the main topic, and you don't edit that out. really reminds me of the way my brain works (AuDHD) and feels super authentic.

also great discussion overall, this is something that's always bothered me but I couldn't put to words. thank you

[umairahfaridfaisal]

For the shoplifting part, personally I find it as an act of working class solidarity. More as a signaling of defiance than it is to actively topple the system. It's how the normal people without power keep up morale during hard times, really. More to keep the fire of rebellion stoked among the working class, that rebellion can be fun grassroots thing and not just drab theory. It can also work as an anti-doomerism rhetoric since it injects generational humor in the mix.

[fintux]

On another channel, the author sometimes refers to allistic people as "hivemind people". Well, I kind of feel that is a form of name-calling, so I don't want to do that myself, but that said, it kind of describes an important difference between autistic and allistic people. Allistic people absorb information and fill the gaps. The pro there is that they will adapt quickly and automatically. The downside is that information will often be more shallow and they might not end up questioning things or noticing contradictions. As an autistic person, I simply cannot stand cognitive dissonance, and I have to figure out the truth. Allistic people are more of the "Oh well, it is what it is" type of thinkers. There are exceptions of course, but this to me seems to be the typical way.

[DaniRose]

How condescending that someone thought as a 40-something adult, you would somehow not know what tipping is! My goodness.

[theoneandonly]

I was cutting my husband's hair yesterday and my son's. $85 for a haircut is just ridiculous ( for me) but thats because we dont have much money. Seriously, there goes my food. We live on a budget that has zero wiggle room. I remember when hair cuts were 10$. And on top of that, tip. The more i unmask, i see how society is beyond broken, and how i what little to no part of what they offer. So i agree totally with the broken system and stealing, yeah, that will never fix anything.

[JAYSCHULBERG-bu]

The 19th century book "Walden"by Henry David Thoreau was a masterpiece work of literature that challenged the social constructs of that day.Henry David took kind of a slash and burn approach to the subject.Some people believe that he was very likely to have been autistic himself and I read somewhere that "Walden" could be considered as the original autistic self-help book.I discovered the book many years ago when I was 16 years old.I thought Thoreau wrote the book for me and it has served me well as a survival guide in our crazy world.I think that other autistic people might find this classic an interesting read.