WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.330 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.330 --> 00:00:02.550 align:middle line:90%
I'm Vikram Jaswal.

00:00:02.550 --> 00:00:04.350 align:middle line:84%
I'm an associate
professor of psychology

00:00:04.350 --> 00:00:06.120 align:middle line:90%
at the University of Virginia.

00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:09.210 align:middle line:84%
For the past three years, I've
been teaching this two semester

00:00:09.210 --> 00:00:12.450 align:middle line:84%
seminar called the Science and
Lived Experience of Autism.

00:00:12.450 --> 00:00:15.900 align:middle line:84%
We try to explore the tension
between what the science says

00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:19.590 align:middle line:84%
about autism and what the lived
experience of autism is like.

00:00:19.590 --> 00:00:22.500 align:middle line:84%
We work as a class
of about 16 students

00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:25.140 align:middle line:84%
with a partner cohort
of non-speaking autistic

00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:26.010 align:middle line:90%
individuals.

00:00:26.010 --> 00:00:27.930 align:middle line:84%
They don't use spoken
language reliably

00:00:27.930 --> 00:00:29.760 align:middle line:90%
or, in some cases, at all.

00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.700 align:middle line:84%
And something that happens as
these guys are spelling out

00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:36.300 align:middle line:84%
their responses is that the
non-autistic participants,

00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:38.430 align:middle line:90%
we all learn to slow down.

00:00:38.430 --> 00:00:41.190 align:middle line:84%
What we do is we come prepared
with a reading or maybe

00:00:41.190 --> 00:00:42.820 align:middle line:84%
a video clip that
we've all watched.

00:00:42.820 --> 00:00:44.820 align:middle line:84%
And then we spend the
entire day kind of digging

00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:48.200 align:middle line:84%
into what we got out of it, both
from a neurotypical perspective

00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:51.870 align:middle line:90%
and an autistic perspective.

00:00:51.870 --> 00:00:54.913 align:middle line:84%
They basically show that there
was no significant eye fixation

00:00:54.913 --> 00:00:56.580 align:middle line:84%
difference between
the two groups, which

00:00:56.580 --> 00:00:59.070 align:middle line:90%
is a very surprising finding.

00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:04.400 align:middle line:84%
A-C-T. I find the obsession
with eye contact--

00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:06.590 align:middle line:90%
N-G-- to be annoying.

00:01:06.590 --> 00:01:12.590 align:middle line:84%
M-A-L. I believe it is about
NTs wanting us to look normal.

00:01:12.590 --> 00:01:14.810 align:middle line:84%
One of the goals is to get
students to think about,

00:01:14.810 --> 00:01:16.550 align:middle line:84%
what do you do when
the science doesn't

00:01:16.550 --> 00:01:18.005 align:middle line:90%
match the lived experience?

00:01:18.005 --> 00:01:20.630 align:middle line:84%
It's a really wide misconception
that, if you're not displaying

00:01:20.630 --> 00:01:22.970 align:middle line:84%
interest in a neurotypical
way, if you're not,

00:01:22.970 --> 00:01:25.387 align:middle line:84%
for instance, making eye contact
or you're not verbalizing

00:01:25.387 --> 00:01:26.928 align:middle line:84%
something that you
want to verbalize,

00:01:26.928 --> 00:01:28.553 align:middle line:84%
you're just not
interested in engaging.

00:01:28.553 --> 00:01:30.220 align:middle line:84%
But when you actually
talk to these guys

00:01:30.220 --> 00:01:31.595 align:middle line:84%
and you spend time
with them, you

00:01:31.595 --> 00:01:33.803 align:middle line:84%
find that, for many of them,
nothing could be further

00:01:33.803 --> 00:01:34.440 align:middle line:90%
from the truth.

00:01:34.440 --> 00:01:35.970 align:middle line:84%
They're longing for
social connection.

00:01:35.970 --> 00:01:37.053 align:middle line:90%
They want to make friends.

00:01:37.053 --> 00:01:39.650 align:middle line:84%
But their bodies just aren't
able to cooperate in a way that

00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:41.032 align:middle line:90%
allows them to do it.

00:01:41.032 --> 00:01:42.740 align:middle line:84%
I think the most
shocking thing continues

00:01:42.740 --> 00:01:46.023 align:middle line:84%
to be how wrong I was about what
it looks like to be listening

00:01:46.023 --> 00:01:47.690 align:middle line:84%
and what it looks
like to be interested.

00:01:47.690 --> 00:01:49.730 align:middle line:84%
For the most part, the
educational experience

00:01:49.730 --> 00:01:52.400 align:middle line:84%
of autistic folks
is one of separation

00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:54.370 align:middle line:84%
from their typically
developing peers.

00:01:54.370 --> 00:01:56.930 align:middle line:84%
And I see our
seminar as an example

00:01:56.930 --> 00:01:59.390 align:middle line:84%
of how we can create an
inclusive educational

00:01:59.390 --> 00:02:00.260 align:middle line:90%
environment.

00:02:00.260 --> 00:02:02.510 align:middle line:84%
Part of what has to
happen is for society

00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:05.180 align:middle line:84%
to make accommodations,
for the neurotypical folks

00:02:05.180 --> 00:02:08.570 align:middle line:84%
to learn ways to support
autistic people as they are.

00:02:08.570 --> 00:02:09.992 align:middle line:84%
If we come in with
a baseline of,

00:02:09.992 --> 00:02:11.450 align:middle line:84%
let's just see what
this person can

00:02:11.450 --> 00:02:13.940 align:middle line:84%
do, trust their capabilities,
trust their interest,

00:02:13.940 --> 00:02:16.312 align:middle line:84%
then I think we can create
way more inclusive spaces

00:02:16.312 --> 00:02:18.770 align:middle line:84%
because we don't bring in all
of these preconceived notions

00:02:18.770 --> 00:02:21.610 align:middle line:84%
about what someone
can and can't do.

00:02:21.610 --> 00:02:28.049 align:middle line:90%