What Is Autism? | The Trait Spectrum

A comprehensive crash course of the scientific and social views of Autism Spectrum Disorder delivered and presented by an Autistic adult (NOT A DOCTOR)
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder? How is Autism described in the scientific literature vs the online socio-political world? What are the signs and symptoms of ASD?
Autism has many different facets which can be hard to grasp by reading a few chapters of a medical textbook or a quick Google search, furthermore, this perspective lacks input and nuance from REAL Autistic people, as well as the more complex but important traits of Autism
Join Thomas Henley for a FULL crash course on the many signs, symptoms and traits of Autism in Autistic adults and Autistic children!
Subscribe to the channel to get notified when I next go live - / thomashen. .
My Socials/Links - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/thomashenleyUK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...
Dbud Noise Cancelling Adjustable Ear Buds (20% Off with code: THOUGHTYAUTI) - dbud.io/bntvs5
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:48 The Basics Of Autism
03:06 What Is The Autism Spectrum?
05:49 The Triad Of Impairments
09:05 Autistic Communication Differences
14:52 Autistic Masking and Social Camouflage
17:36 Theory Of Mind and Double Empathy
20:08 Autism Theory: Empathising-Systemising
21:09 Do Autistic People Lack Empathy?
23:59 Autistic Alexithymia and Emotions
26:41 Pathological Demand Avoidance
29:14 Autism Creativity and Rigidity
32:36 Routines and Rituals
34:41 Autistic Monotropism
37:46 Autistic Intertia and Hyper-Focus
42:00 Executive Dysfunction and Transitions
44:25 Autism Sensory Difficulties
49:30 What Is Autistic Stimming?
55:04 Autistic Meltdowns and Shutdowns
58:44 Medical VS Social Model Of Disability
1:03:43 The Positives Of Autism
01:06:14 What Is Neurodiversity?
01:09:15 Learn More About Autism!
◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️
WHAT SERVICES DO I OFFER?
🏆 1:1 Talk To Thomas sessions for Autistic adults & partners
💻 Workplace Training Sessions
🗣️ Public Speaking For Events
📸 Neurodiverse Modeling (Contact for details)
📧 CONTACT: www.thomashenley.co.uk 📧
◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️◽️
FOLLOW MY SOCIALS ♥:
Instagram - @thomashenleyuk
TikTok - @thomashenleyuk
Facebook - Thomas Henley
Twitter - @thomashenleyuk
Linkedin - Thomas Henley
All my links: linktr.ee/thomashenleyuk

[@keyc.1109]

Y'all I got my eval results and I am autistic 🤯

[@totallynotacultleader]

congrats on your dx!!

[@loverainthunder]

Congrats 🎉welcome to the club... is it a club? 😂 For this moment, it is. ❤

[@ThomasHenley]

Ayyyy congrats!

[@user-fr2tg7pz8r]

It is a bit mind-blowing at first, isn't it? I hope your diagnosis is as liberating and helpful for you as it has been for me!

[@kuibeiguahua]

Now try to sneak into New Zealand!!!!

[@andreahodson7031]

I have autism and adhd and my problem has always been having too much empathy. I used to cry for the world. I learnt to at least mask it. I am also a qualified counsellor.

[@user-fr2tg7pz8r]

Intermittent mutism is perhaps a more precise and correct term than selective mutism.

[@johnrice1943]

Yes!

[@congratulations-]

I envy people who got diagnosed when they were kids. Wish we all could have. Would have made the world a place somewhat livable.

[@kellypawspa]

Wouldn't have mattered to me... my mom was an alcoholic and covert narc. If I knew I was neurodivergent as a child, she surely would have exploited it to my fullest disadvantage at every opportunity presented to her.... she still makes it her life's mission to obliterate any joy or chance of it that she might somehow perceive. In me. Whether it's real or not. Finding out as an adult has given me the beneifit of her ignorance.. I am very grateful for that. 😊 I will never tell. Lol

[@congratulations-]

@@kellypawspa oh my can’t imagine having a mother like that. Hope you are doing well.

[@ThomasHenley]

Hey peeps! Hope you enjoy this video, it will be available for ALL my members today but will go live for the public on Wednesday. Thank you for all your support this year

[@austinhenshaw2140]

Hi.

[@ned_frankly]

Thanks for the great work in 2023, looking forward to 24!

[@user-fr2tg7pz8r]

Your videos have been extremely helpful to me since my diagnosis. Thank you for doing what you do. Also, don't forget to take care of yourself in the new year!

[@candor-and-moxie]

I like to think of processing delays as my brain saying "Buffering... Please wait."

[@relentlessrhythm2774]

I need to send this to several people I know. They don't understand the spectrum. I've tried explaining many times that you can't be "mildly" or "a little bit" autistic.

[@DandyXandy36]

56:44 a lot of the things we do when we have a meltdown displays as childish manipulations. It’s sad when you can’t explain that you’re not just being a brat

[@yoni-in-BHAM]

I've noticed that ever since I came out of the autism closet, people who used to focus and comment on the things that I did right now only focus and comment on what I did wrong. WTFUDGE NUGGET?! 😳🤷🏾‍♀️

[@julesonthebeach777]

I’m only thirteen minutes into the video but I’m struggling to accept I’m on the spectrum. I do have delayed processing which causes me to interrupt at inappropriate times and I recall a conversation from several months ago when this happened and someone was angry with me. I’m sixty-one years old and was never diagnosed with ASD. I’ve done online tests and scored high. I recognize my dad has traits too. Thanks for your videos. They really do help me understand ASD.

[@TheWilliamHoganExperience]

4:20 -(lol) - The spectrum is represented as a polar / pie chart diagram. It's better than a linear diagram because the magnitude of each impairment is represented relative to other factors. What's missing is a third axis for relationships / synnergies and positive traits / characteristics. Might have to get some 3D modeling software and model it as a sphere. You could then take slices or wedges or areas In other words, it's gonna take more than 2 dimensions to model the experience and expression of Monotropic traits in human beings. Even that will never fully capture it - A spectral map quantifying impairment and sensitivities and behavioral expression is not the territory of my autism. Not even close. But it's a start I suppose

[@kr3642]

I'm a little more worried now actually. Because i struggle to show the appropriate emotional reactions to people when they expect certain things from me. Like getting a gift, or reacting to very good or very bad news. My reaction is just not intense enough to mirror them and I can see the imposition, confusion, offense, and disgust on thier faces when I can't preform. I dont think I'm a psychopath. But I am certified autistic.

[@gigahorse1475]

A psychopath wouldn’t care about reacting appropriately. There’s no reason to be worried. But I get it. I was afraid of how I would react when someone dies or when I get a gift. I think my family accepts I’m not super emotional.

[@MrAtheistQueen]

Thank you for this EXCELLENT video!!! It's probably the most comprehensive video outlining the real differences between neurotypes. I was diagnosed a couple years ago, and have lost my job due to discrimination. I, too, hope things get better for autistics soon. Thank you for all you do for the community!!!

[@TheRawChuck]

This is why I need an official diagnosis. I have cognitive problems. I also have sensory problems. In physical science we often grouped up to do assignments and I was always the one doing all the work. I enjoyed what I was doing so it didn't really bother me. I started masking in grade school to make friends and to get beaten-up less.

[@ChandlerSavage]

This was fantastic and covered the important aspects of autism from my personal experience. It's a complex topic and I like the way you broke it down by the major categories and bullet points. My brain LOVES bullet points! =)

[@ThePhilosophicalOpossum]

You are putting this video out at the perfect time thank you! This is assembling so much of my experience in a whole picture standpoint. I'm then able to identify, use the correct terminology and weave it with my own personal experience and script it to convey to people who I want to reveal my autism to. Many thanks to you for making this nearly comprehensive video!

[@Pallasathena-hv4kp]

Glad I ran across your video! I find it best to follow “spoon theory.” As an autistic person I find it hard to regulate emotions and they seem very intense at times. Wears me out. I try to go easier on myself (not be so self critical) now that I was diagnosed. A pet peeve? Sudden change of plans. With plenty of notice I can “psych” myself up for tasks, but if there is an unexpected change of plans that I can’t refuse or prepare for? Yikes! A few of those add up to a shutdown. Ah, well. Thanks for sharing so Much with us

[@Diverse_Interests]

It cannot be all negative, especially ASD. Most in common with gifted labeled people with traits that are the same but not considered negative or impairment in gifted people. No neurotypical ever says gifted people are somehow broken. We are part of neurodivergent communities even though it’s rarely mentioned except when a person is 2E, twice exceptional and even then, the gifted half of the label is not examined.

[@ericgrim6849]

I watched the whole thing. As someone on the spectrum, I think it was good presentation.

[@r.w.bottorff7735]

Hello, I'm amab autistic and I just wanted to point out that masking for me was a very deliberate and carefully adjusted social technique. I'm sure I can't be alone in this respect. I really enjoyed the video, thank you!

[@ThomasHenley]

Thank you for sharing your experience!

[@r.w.bottorff7735]

@@ThomasHenley Thank you for your video. I found it to be one of the most comprehensive and thorough examinations of autistic culture and behavior that is available at this time.

[@congratulations-]

It came to me really automatic and unfortunately I adjusted it to be as perfect as possible from young age so much so that I don't know who I am and probably never did

[@neuroticnation144]

I loved creative play when I was a kid too. Still do.

[@ginnyjanisse1220]

I feel like selective mutism could be better described as situational mutism. Where a situation can lead to being nonverbal or severely reducing our communication abilities. Maintaining a level of articulation and comprehension requires a lot of mental effort, which is diminished by stress and or distractions. ❤️

[@groushka]

Very wise words on the medical and the social models, honestly i think the same - being autistic to me is not a problem really, but i struggled with the mental health because of these fucked up shit that happenned to me. i mean i still struggle but at least i beat my depression 2 months ago (finally) so its better

[@Kagomai15]

It's striking how the written word never comes up when discussing "nonverbal communication".

[@thesincitymama]

Appreciate all the similes and metaphors you used in your descriptions

[@Pallasathena-hv4kp]

Oh, I don’t like fluorescent lights too much. Used to bother me more as a teen and gave me a feeling of unreality. Weird. I guess that is a dissociative state? Like the world feels like a dream or something. Eerie feeling 😮

[@exentric1987]

I really like the graphs and visual information you are utilizing to illustrate your talking points. Great job. I’ve been watching your videos with more frequency and look forward to you covering a wide array of topics. Something I have pondered for a long time is thinking about people that are suffering the consequences of being overlooked/undiagnosed and also have incredibly difficult upbringing. With stable environmental factors being crucial to the stability of someone on the spectrum, it really ask the question how would that affect that person if a stable environment was not available. Keep making great content and keep making your audience think deeply about Neurodivergence.🎉

[@Kagomai15]

Okay back a month later and watching more of it than last time. Procrastinating an assignment lol

[@franscronje1939]

This is by far the best bloody video made with a holistic view of the matter. You have super powers my friend. Stay blessed and keep up the good brilliant awesome interesting comprehensive non-dramatised work you are doing. Sending you love from South Africa. You rock!!!!!!!

[@Zorkroz]

In novels written before the age of mass communication, people spoke in miniature essays. Conversants gave one another time and space and took time to digest what was said before replying. The conventions of Jane Austen's world were more like modern autistic conventions than the bumper-sticker throwing contests of modern neurotypicals. Since it is strictly inherited, the majority in that world could not have been autistic, but an A1 might have felt perfectly at home as far as conversation goes. How to converse seems to be a norm subject to change for NTs, but I think the Autistic/Austen style is at all times better for any serious discussion as well as for story-telling.

[@greenweave3882]

Thank you for this channel. U do an amazing job and it has helped me so much. 💚🔆

[@mikelopez9071]

You're doing a good job man, thank you for clearing up the stigma and showing us in a light that isn't this charicture

[@sharonharbeck507]

Thank you, Thomas, for a great video that explains so much about Level 1 Autism. I just subscribed to your channel and look forward to more of your videos!

[@lawrencetendler7747]

we must just be ourselves ,if others do not like us then to hell with them !

[@Kagomai15]

Also, I disagree that communication can't be an issue with other autistics. We're not all the same, and sometimes our communication styles clash and misunderstandings still happen. Like, I lived in a house where all five of us friends were definitely neurodivergent, diagnosed or retroactively self-identified as autistic, some of us ADHD, too. It was a disaster lol I don't talk to two of them anymore.

[@123ElectricMonkey]

This is great.

[@romanaaziz9946]

Thank you so much for everything! You have saved my life Thank you ❤

[@wingofafly]

Excellent video. Very clear and informative.

[@JamieHumeCreative]

Thank you.

[@Jules.A.C.]

Recently found your channel and love your approach to these topics! Interestingly, the scientific definitions of cognitive vs adaptive empathy as stated in your video seem to match up with what is generally understood as empathy vs compassion, respectively. Seems interesting that autistics show high adaptive empathy (ie compassion) but low cognitive empathy. Makes me wonder whether it's even possibly to respond to someone's emotions without (at least subconsciously) recognizing what those emotions are - either directly or through indirect cues/systematic thinking...since many of us have spent loads of time/effort trying to intellectualize emotions and imagine how we would feel in others' situations, maybe we eventually learn the cognitive empathy skills (some sooner and/or easier than others) that allistics seem to just be born with. Could explain why autistics tend to score higher in cognitive empathy in adulthood than childhood. Anyone else have thoughts around this??

[@sandytaggart6947]

Loved 97.5% of it. But at the end.... Please try to rethink lumping psychopathy with epilepsy. 😬 Other than that, really great!

[@rita.amstlv]

Hi Thomas, about so called lack of empathy, totally not true, too much empathy sometimes. I have from age 3 always struggles with anxiety. Every single day I must try to overcome the anxiety before I can go outside. Unhappily the NT's have always bullyied me and they still do up to this day. At least I have now the alarm systems with video cameras so that the burglars are not getting away if they burglar in my house! The last + - 20 years some individuals are shadowing me wherever I go. Probably figures who are obsessed with me, which is ridiculous!! Okay, it is what it is. Maybe they find me an interesting person, I have no idea!!! I hope that they enjoy seeing when I go to the groceries and when I go to my weekly meetings for people like me. Very interesting, surely😀😀😀

[@rita.amstlv]

They will have a top day tomorrow, I am going to the dentist!! Very, very interesting for those obsessed followers! 😯🦷🦷🦷🧑‍⚕️🧑‍🔬🧑‍⚕️🦷🦷😸

[@rita.amstlv]

I wonder what kind of life those followers self have? If my groceries and meetings are so very interesting. I think that they have no life whatsoever themselves!!!

[@cmdrpanditt]

Fantastic 'all in' video which is difficult to quantify and sum up in one hour. I think you did a good job!!

[@ThomasHenley]

Thanks so much! It’s defo not everything, but if it was it would be week long! 😅

[@theleftyboater]

Amazing video. It’s given me a lot to think about, time for a chat with my GP I think. Thank you 🙏

[@ThomasHenley]

I’m glad it was helpful! Defo consult a professional if you are thinking you might be autistic. Dr. Megan Neff is a good shout in my opinion

[@mazzmuse]

This is so helpful, but I'm noticing that I can't play it on background. Is that feature disabled for these member vids?

[@ThomasHenley]

Im really glad! I think KZbin stopped that feature unless you buy premium membership. Is it only on this video for you?

[@turtleanton6539]

Buy premium

[@johnrice1943]

You can now. For free.

[@mazzmuse]

@thomashenley it's working now. 💪🏾

[@mazzmuse]

@turtleanton6539 I have premium. Just a weird thing that happened. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@Manoirlatelier]

About the stimming bit, I've noticed that I've been stimming all the time since i can remember(and im not playing when i say all the time), idk if it's justa me thing or if it's a sign but oh well

[@jenniferferris44]

All my 4 evals ive had from childhood age 7 to this year have diagnosed me as autistic, however life has caused many many more issues beyond just being autistic 'Short co-monologuing' is what ive been told is the 2-3 minutes of back n forth with longer pauses My younger stims came from artistic skating n omg they helped so much but i have overehelming fear related to skating n have been repeatly told by the person i remember being the cause of what made me so upset i stopped skating, that i dont remember it right that i never expressed dysphoria or was threatened to stop feeling that way or they would be institutionalized or that if i expressed that to therapists or teachers would be institutionalized and i remember skating being a source where i felt it could be the most freeing if i expressed self but also the most painful cuz believing how freeing expressing myself could be

[@Pallasathena-hv4kp]

I was never really impressed with MJ. Time dilation makes me feel anxious and I don’t like my short term memory disappearing. It feels like an alcohol blackout to me 😮

[@DandyXandy36]

27:45 omg my bf thinks I’m super egotistical but he doesn’t understand that I just need certain things