Several celebrities such as Elon Musk and Dan Aykroyd have come out with being on the autism spectrum. However, I found Andy Burns on YouTube who created his channel in order to educate and share his thoughts, feelings and experiences as somebody with ASD.
Self Concept and Perceptions (& How They Cope)
Andy talks about being a teenager with autism and how medias portrayal of ASD made it hard to talk about. In his video Being Open About Autism (And How I am Open About Being Autistic), Andy states that media either portrayed those on the spectrum as "super geniuses or incompetent" which caused him to be asked a lot of uncomfortable questions. This made him self conscious and often says he was very embarrassed of his diagnosis (IndieAndy, 2020). Andy wanted to feel like everybody else and normalize this disorder, which is why he started his YouTube channel IndieAndy. Andy expresses feeling socially awkward and incompetent due to his inability to understand social cues and because of he never understood sarcasm. Everything was literal and jokes always went right over his head, which caused a lot of misunderstanding. Andy often compared himself to his peers and felt very isolated and alone- his coping mechanism was YouTube.
How Autism Impacts Physical Development
Autism in children often results in delays in their physical development. It affects the lower brain which is responsible for the child’s balance and coordination. The muscle tone of children with autism may also be different from that of typical students (PLB, 2022). Andy discussed his realization of this and expresses that it was hard for him to understand why he could not do the jobs and work like other kids his age were. He needed jobs more catered to and more appropriate for him (IndieAndy, 2020).
How Autism Impacts Psychological Development
Psychological development varies case to case in those with autism. Andy explains that overstimulation with work and school would often cause him to have what he described as "melt downs" (IndieAndy, 2020). He also described it as hearing he is too old to play with his Llama action figures, but doing it anyway because it was a stress reliever and it made him happy, even though at 27 it may not be age appropriate (from what his peers have said). He also says that he never grew out of his "why" phase that toddlers get, which can be very frustrating for his family and friends (IndieAndy, 2020).
How Autism Impacts Social Development
Social development is something Andy was very open about. He found that he struggled with this more-so than anything else. Andy, like previously stated, found himself at a deficit when it came to his social development. He explained it as a lack of understanding other people and a lack of understanding jokes and sarcasm (IndieAndy, 2020). Many individuals with autism do not develop functional language skills and show deficiencies in non-verbal communication. Those who do acquire language have problems in communicating because effective communication requires the ability to share perspectives with others which is usually a major deficit in those with autism (Sigman, 2005).
Heres More From Andy!
https://www.youtube.com/c/IndieAndy
Andy also has a podcast on Spotify where he discusses all things autism: The Unmasked Podcast
References:
IndieAndy. (2020). Being Open About Autism (And How I'm Open About Being Autistic). YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW03ZaEvjZI.
PLB. (2022). Autism in children: Physical development. Professional Learning Board RSS. Retrieved from https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/autism-in-children-physical-development/
Sigman, M. (2005, August). Autism and its impact on young children's Social Development. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. Retrieved from https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/autism/according-experts/autism-and-its-impact-young-childrens-social-development
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