NY TV Special 'Autism Speaks, Life on the Spectrum'

Post Reply New Topic

It is about 20 minutes.

The title of the special says "Autism Speaks". The only connection to the controversial organization I could find is that Kerry Magro the Autistic motivational speaker interviewed in special did part-time consulting for them while pursuing his master's and wrote a thank letter thanking them for giving him an opportunity.

The Anderson Center highly touted during the special is like the vast vast majority of American autism services is ABA.


I will say more when you have had a chance to watch it.

Okay . . . my first response was my usual "Never let YouTube do your thinking for you".

My second response was, "Waitaminnit . . . Fox Media and Autsim Speaks?!  Gotta check this out just to see what they have effed up."

My third response was a growing awareness that this video was thoughtfully produced, in that it featured inspirational testimonies of autistic people becoming successful, each in his or her own way.

So, here are my take-aways, kinda jumbled, but I hope they make sense.

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability characterized by personal challenges in behavior, communication, and social interactions.

• Just say, "Autistic", not "people/person with autism".

• Autism is not a choice. You cannot just "try not being autistic".

• Focus on skills, not disabilities.

• Each autistic individual has to be looked at differently, because they have different skillsets, needs, and wants.

• "Autism cannot define me, I define autism." -- Dr. Kerry Magro, PhD, CEO and founder of KFM

• Autistic people tend to follow protocols repeatedly.

• 39% of people are autistic; 66% of autistic adults are unemployed; people with disabilities have some of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

• Just keep it going. Never give up. Just be yourself. You can do it.

These are all points that I and many others have stated on this website.

I still believe that no one should let YouTube do their thinking for them, but it is nice to know that there is at least one YouTube video that repeats some of the best advice ever given on the WrongPlant website!

I just watched it. Thanks for posting.


I've never seen "Fox Media" and don't know why it has such a bad rep. It seemed fine to me. Autism Speaks also has a bad rep but the video wasn't as troublesome as I expected. I had a few main issues, like the fact they didn't explain what autism is except a quick flash at the start saying "social, communication and behavioural challenges". What are those? I felt like they were never clearly defined apart from showing quite a few nonverbal people. What are those challenges? They didn't really offer any insight except to show people integrating into NT society with their special "skills", or learning something like ABA with special caregivers most of us don't have. I didn't hear anything about sensory at all, even though sensory disorders are described in Part B of the dx criteria and being nonverbal isn't described in Part A.

The residential school creeped me out. It was far too crowded, had communal spaces, had bright ceiling lights, and lots of light colours which often hurts our eyes. They said that the residents follow a tight schedule? What? I'm not following anyone's schedule but my own. I'd need an IEP. They kept saying everyone was an individual but also said they impose uniform routines, unless I heard that wrong. I didn't catch anything about autistic people wanting alone / quiet time and privacy even if they're working. Nothing about burnout or the reasons we don't always manage employment for socio-sensory reasons and fatigue. Nothing about mental health that I recall. Nothing about employers changing the lighting or reducing noise levels if they do find work. I don't even remember them talking about stims, even though it showed people seeming quite robotic or jerky in their movements.

If I didn't know what autism was, none of that would have helped me. It seemed a little patronising like special needs porn. They claimed DSP needs more funding but they didn't make it look like a desirable career choice because the participants didn't engage with the audience enough to make it compelling. I didn't even think they were going to show a girl / woman until there was one at the very end.

Overall - meh. Maybe 3/10.

I've seen much better news shows about autism. Most are produced and directed by autistic people themselves.

The show was produced by Fox's New York affiliate.

It was a little bit too inspiration porn for my taste but it was nice to see accomplished autistics interviewed

Bottom line is that 20 minutes is not nearly enough time to cover a topic as complex as autism.

I've watched the entire video just now. It's a very good video. I wish that the announcers would have said autistic people instead of people with autism. I like the fact that there's a residential program that prepares autistic people for independent living. I hope that in the future that the majority of people autistic people will be gainfully employed. I think that Love on The Spectrum looks like a good TV series. It shows the laymen of the world that we can be sexual and romantic like everybody else. I would also like to add that autistic people are not to be pitied. I hate it when people apologize when I tell them that I'm on the spectrum.