Humor in Autism...

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Hi,

I am an Individual Needs Assistant in the UK who works 1-1 with a 5 year old boy with autism in a mainstream school and part time 1-1 with a 3 year old boy with autism in the attached nursery. I have been doing this for a year. I started the job without any experience and without any particular idea as to what would develop. What has entailed has been an extraordinary year that has lead me on a journey of discovery that I could never have imagined. I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing professionals and other care workers, but by far the experience and adventure of working with the 5 year old autistic boy has been the most extraordinary.

At first I found it very difficult – the other care worker had been with him for 4 months is an incredibly caring person, also found it really difficult – as did the little boy who was trying to fit into a school system, which made very little sense to him (it doesn’t make that much sense to me!). He had been at a nursery where generally he was in a room on his own to safeguard the other children… To cut a long story short, at present he is a very happy child. He is getting incredible social skills integration, is adored by the other children in the school, by the PE teacher, by the caretaker and most teachers... He has gone from mainly non-verbal to chatterbox, draws, makes models, and is beginning to write stories. He also does maths, spelling, in his own way of course. He is, at the top of the list, completely hilarious! His sense of humour is brilliant. That is of course on a good day… every day throws up events that can lead to frustration and raised stress levels, anger, sadness and aggression. The key to getting him back is humour and creativity, once his curiosity is pricked by something and he laughs – bang, stress levels drop and we’re off again. It’s a joy!


Why am I posting here? Well, as well as working as a Needs Assistant, I am a writer and a writing teacher and before that I was a Portfolio Analyst in the City of London. A friend of mine who runs a social enterprise that works with diversity in education (disability/ dyslexia) recently said to me (as I was recounting yet another story about the wonders of working with Autism), that I seemed to have an ability to bring the story to life… a small seed planted in my head. A week later I thought, hold on a minute, I have a lot of skills in analysis, I have writing skills, I love the humour and complete anarchic joy that seems to be part of the job I am doing – why not take this further…
I do not know what role humour plays in an autistic persons or autistic parent’s life. I know the parent of the child I work with find humour in him. I know that humour lowers stress levels in this boy, if I get him to laugh and his says ‘You funny’, then I can get him happy, and then everything becomes possible.

So to cut a long story a little bit shorter, I would like to write a book on the humour in Autism, it sounds wrong, but I think in it there is a right! I would like to receive as many stories as possible from people with autism, parents with autistic children, carers/ therapist etc. and then I am going to analyse the stories and start to see which elements are key to them, what humour/emotion/ situation and so forth. Maybe it will reveal patterns, maybe it might not. If it makes someone laugh, that to me is enough in itself. It’s good to laugh, especially in what is a sometimes very difficult world for children/ adults, parents/ friends… so if anyone is willing to share I am willing to receive stories privately, publicly, over the phone, email, any way you like and take it from there. Thanks for reading!

I am not sure if you are aware what kind of place WrongPlanet is. Here you find a large number of people that are themselves autistic. So, apologies if you find some of the responses odd.

(1) I guess documenting humor in autistic world is alright. But I can tell you up and front that, there are families out there that are struggling everyday, just to get their children to get by each day. I don't think they need people to tell them how to get humorous. So by nature, your work is catering to the neurotypical audience, in my opinion.

(2) Be careful about wanting to make an autistic child social. It's OK to create opportunities for their social interactions. But any ideas on "conversion therapy" to try to make an autistic child neurotypical should be avoided. The region responsible for social interactions is the frontal cortex of the brain, which is also the region that handles rules. But, rules and creativity don't mix. And don't expect tomorrow to be like today. Our children will be living in the robotic era, and they have also already grown what they call "baby brains" in the lab, full with rudimentary eyes and a spinal cord. No science fiction there. In fact, our school district's program looks more and more autistic by the day, with more and more emphasis on the STEM/STREAM fields, and that's for all children, neurotypical or otherwise. What I want to say is, in tomorrow's world, creativity is everything. And remember, creativity and rules don't mix. That also means there is no need for artificial efforts in socializing these children. The new generation won't be like the generation of the millennials, if you know what I mean.

(3) The best known autistic comedian is probably Robin Williams. You may want to look into his work and style. You may also want to look into why he committed suicide. To understand his talent, you may want to look at the "giant sequoia" section of my recent posting on "AMoRe" http://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=335129, and get an idea why he was able to improvise comedy on the spot.

(4) With all that said, sure, raising autistic children can be fun. At least I've had tons of fun, and both of my children are always happy and smiling. They find humor in little tiny things in life. Check out my YouTube channel and you'll find plenty of humor in my video clips. I'll just include a few of them here.

It's Raining Tacos:


From ice cream cones to software programming:


From popcorn to multiplication


Cows in the elevator


Wizard stuck with honey

I don't know how much of a market there would be for humor specifically designed for autistic people.

Obviously humor at the expense of autistic people is offensive. I don't know if NT would or would not be be offended at humor about NT people from the point of view of autistic people (What autistic people would find funny/ridiculous about the (NT) world at large) but assuming it could be done non-offensively, I think that would be a humor for an autistic person to write. Otherwise you are getting into an appropriation type issue where you would be appropriating and profiting off the stories of autistic people, who (if they want to) should be doing so themselves.

Obviously, I am not going to contribute to this.

Hi Pete.

I think maybe either I'm getting your intentions wrong or the poster above did. You want to write a book about how funny and lively it can be to live with and work with kids who have autism? And how appreciating this about them can help parents and carers connect? And maybe (I hope) include some stories that show how autistic people think the NT world is funny, too? If you can do that in a way that helps people humanize autistic people, I think it's a great idea.

Autism books are very popular right now. There's a lot of good publishing going on.

I used to work in special education, and I agree that it is both very challenging and very rewarding. I really found companionship with the kids to which I was assigned and I agree that the world needs to hear how great these kids are. I'm not really into books that drone on about how hard we are to raise. I mean, it's good to acknowledge it. We are a lot more work than you average kid. That's why it's so important that society supports families. But that's just one side of the story.

I think you'll find a kindred spirit in the man who runs a facebook page called Special Books by Special Kids. It has nothing to do with books, I don't know why he named it that. But he is a sped teacher who has a nack for connecting with hard-to-reach kids, and he uses humor a lot.

I think you have a great idea. If you really want to flesh it out, it's going to take some time. You're pretty new to our community. But that's OK. The idea of neurodiversity includes everyone. Because diversity includes everyone. It includes you. In that way, you are one of us. Keep up the good work. I'm glad your students have the chance to work with someone who likes them. That's really important.

Feel free to PM me if you want more support.

As there is an identical thread in the General forum, this one is in contravention of the rule that prohibits cross posting so it is now locked.
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