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Young people about autism

Young people tell about what they think autism is.
9.5
SPEAKER 1: It’s difficult for a person to speak to others and to communicate.
13.1
SPEAKER 2: For me, autism is a way to see a life in a different perspective. It is when you have difficulties with expressing yourself and seeing everything in a way that only you can see it and only you understand yourself.
30
SPEAKER 3: A person whose brain functions differently, and I think of a person with autism who might not be that good in– good in social situations or might find it harder to act as what is perceived as normal.
56.4
SPEAKER 4: Well, you are a bit– you can’t think as clearly as others and you are kind of lost in your own mind.
64.6
SPEAKER 5: It’s a mental illness and it’s hard to socially interact with people.
71.3
SPEAKER 6: Seeing the world through a different perspective and to my mind, I think the word autism– I think of ears. I don’t know why.
81.6
SPEAKER 7: Well, usually think of someone smart that doesn’t really get along with a lot of people.
87.7
SPEAKER 8: I think it’s just you act differently than other people and see things differently than most people would.
95.2
SPEAKER 9: I think about geniuses, because autistic people usually specialise in one or two things, like art, physics, or math, so I think about genius.
108.1
SPEAKER 10: You can’t socialise and you can’t understand what people’s emotions are like.
113.8
SPEAKER 11: Someone who’s slightly special, someone who thinks– who can’t think like normal people do, who thinks of stuff different, yeah, who have trouble interacting, like talking to people, as well.

We asked some teenagers about the things they think about when talking about autism. You can listen to their answers in this video. Was your answer in there as well?

This article is from the free online

Young People and Mental Health

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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