when I was a little boy at school I was
described as a very clever boy
who didn’t apply himself lazy it
confused me quite a lot because I
actually really wanted to know this
stuff I really wanted to learn but the
problem I had was I couldn’t listen or
even half listen to the teacher droning
on for hours and hours and hours or what
felt like hours and hours and worse than
that writing stuff to hand off the board
until my undernourished little 1970s
wrists ached you know because we had no
food in the seventies and but I’m
delighted to say I’m delighted to say
that things have improved mmm
immensely since then in learning and
teaching and I trained as a teacher I’m
no longer a teacher but the most
powerful piece of advice that my mentor
gave me when I first died was the enemy
of the child
there’s the talking to each so guess
what I did I shut up yeah now I am Ungh
stunned things over and workshops in
special needs ADHD is what I do and what
I’ve been an ADHD workshop something
really interested in always happens
about halfway through the day one of the
delegates usually a man usually a man my
age comes up to me and said that was me
I think I had ADHD when I was at school
well that’s as may be but you can’t just
have ADHD at school it’s a lifelong
condition and you have it everywhere
most likely you were being expected to
learn in a way that you don’t process
okay which is why we do things
differently today now I’ve been working
in neuro with neurodiversity x’ for a
long time such as autism ADHD dyslexia
and I’ve come to understand one thing
that I’m absolutely convinced of these
people have got something special going
on and when I say special I mean special
yeah maybe even superpowers
I was in a school earlier this year
large secondary school oh by the way
that was my school report that’s how it
really opened 1973 I was in a large
special school and there was a sorry I
wasn’t in a large special school at all
I was in a large secondary school and I
was met by a young boy about 15 years
old he was a meter and a greeter showing
people around and he was in a stinking
mood I said what’s your problem it’s in
a nice way you know nice it I said I’ve
been showing this guy around he’s been
really rude to me really taking a rise
out of me he said people always do that
to me because I’ve got special needs I
said special needs what’s your diagnosis
he said comorbid ADHD and autism so I
thought about this and I said you got
superpowers right and he beamed back he
went yeah yeah okay so what am I talking
about
Ted TED talks they want me to talk for
up to I think it’s up to 18 minutes but
they’re happy with five as long as I
make my point and
and I’ll make a point and and the thing
is why is that well they argue because
it works they’re quite keen on this
because people can concentrate on a
short amount a small amount of
information in short chunks one thing at
a time
and this is really interesting to me
because just in case I don’t process
that information this is actually from
the TED Talks manual they’ve given me a
visual to help me understand visuals
let’s talk about visuals okay many if
not most autistic people learn better
through visuals they process better
through visuals they understand things
better through visuals okay and this is
the thing this is not new
Lorna wing in a seminal work from 1988
talks about the benefits the many
benefits of visual resourcing Olga Bob –
inna talks about using images photos
drawings objects things to get your
message across in autism and then
autistic writer Temple Grandin actually
says I think in pictures during my
thought process there is no words it’s
just pictures so Ted
they don’t insist on me using images but
they strongly hint at the benefits of
using images which is really interesting
to me because not only do they hint at
the benefits they give me an image to
get the message across this here this is
straight from the talk guide again these
people are know puddings right okay
so let’s talk of what we used to call
lack of flexible thought in autism we
call it lack of flexible thought we used
to call it rigid thinking it’s really
taking things literally alright Tony out
would autistic writer calls it a
one-trick mind taking things literally
what’s interesting to me is it’s not
everybody don’t we sometimes feel that
we’re taking things literally we don’t
understand we’ve all had that email that
you have no idea whether it’s rude or
not or whether it’s just completely
ambiguous you didn’t send the paperwork
you didn’t send the paperwork how about
this one you didn’t send the paperwork
what about this one you didn’t send the
paperwork you didn’t send the paperwork
and my favorite you didn’t send the
paperwork thank goodness for that this
there’s no mystery here is there there’s
no mystery here they’re great they
decode the situation the only thing I
will say about emojis is they’re quite
limiting you know there’s only so much
you can do with a horse’s head and a
Grenadier Guards I don’t know why that
always makes me laugh I’m sorry there’s
only so much you can do but actually
they’re very powerful Apple August 2016
took down their gun emoji and replaced
it with a water pistol for fear of
inciting gun crime what’s up did a
similar thing there water pistol is
green I know that my daughter sent it to
me
the power of the emoji but they are
limiting so how about personal emojis
have a look at this
what sort of day was I having I’ve
chosen this one this I actually posted
up on on September the 4th anyone who
understands the academic world will know
how I felt on September the 4th now
these things are really interesting
their personal emojis there were mobile
phone app you can change them to your
body shape skin tone face shape your own
self image whatever you want to do
interestingly in the last couple of days
I’ve shortened my hair on mine yeah
these are really really powerful
powerful images yeah and they help to
decode social situations most
interestingly few weeks ago I was in a
primary school in London and the special
educational needs coordinator said to me
I used these with my boyfriend we send
messages back and forth no words just
these pictures I really wanted to see
them but I thought I thought I thought
better of asking
another area affecting autism is social
and emotional understanding actually
again decoding situations and people who
don’t want to talk about their emotions
and then I say well that’s me sometimes
as well and isn’t that everybody you
just don’t want to talk about this stuff
so how about this this is her in the
reception of an accountants office and
what this accountant had done
he’s got the faces of all his staff and
he gets them to encourage them to share
how they feel not only with each other
but with their clients and look at for
decoding the guy in the stay-away column
that’s great in it as abs absolutely
great I know I know and the benefits of
this to a socially inclusive working
environment as far as I can see are
fantastic it’s brilliant
it’s it’s just it’s it’s perfect and yet
the only places I’ve seen this kind of
thing done are in preschool environments
yeah and in special schools I think
we’re missing a trick here army yeah I
think we’re missing a trick here and so
much I have not been everywhere I have
to admit but I think we’re missing
something quite great with this one
no these kind of images and visuals have
been being used in the autism world for
decades yet we’re only just picking up
on this stuff we’re only just getting it
now I say we I’m in over fifty my
children and probably yours too if you
have any children
I’ve probably accepted these in the most
natural way possible and what I find
interesting is if we want to build
bridges between the neurotypical world
whatever that is and the neuro-diverse
world whatever that may be then we’ve
got a lot to learn from autism’s past to
take us into the future
now here’s another thought for you yeah
that what is the thought oh yeah
that that what what else apart from
pre-empting the future and let’s call it
time travel have we got in the way of
superpowers for disability well I had a
head injury small head injury ended up
in hospital a consultant or the doctor
looking at my head said what do you do I
said I work in special needs he laughed
he said they’ve all got Asperger’s
syndrome here while the consultants have
everywhere I thought that’s an
interesting thing have the consultants
can Asperger syndrome sometime later I
had to see a consultant about the
atypical nature of my stalls and I was
delighted to me an obsessive man with a
drawer full of stool flashcards he said
pick one out that looks most like yours
so I handed him one he said oh that’s
perfect oh yes I’m very pleased with
that this I was in safe hands now I’m
not saying he had Asperger’s syndrome
what I am saying is I wouldn’t have been
surprised to find that out and when a
friend of mine or by the way must all
define then when a friend of mine got in
touch and said I’ve got some dyslexic
architectural students visiting from the
Middle East he said they were all
dyslexic I thought well dyslexic people
struggle to track text on a page and
they see it from behind and above and
around and holistically isn’t that
architecture isn’t that what you need
yeah and here’s another one so I got
called in by a company that trains taxi
drivers our taxi drivers they’re all
dyslexic and they can’t get through
their written exams and I thought I’ve
never been in a traffic jam in a taxi
because maybe that’s how they see routes
and maps and journeys and does that mean
that all architects taxi drivers and
medical consultants have got superpowers
and is that how disability becomes
superpowers thank you very much
described as a very clever boy
who didn’t apply himself lazy it
confused me quite a lot because I
actually really wanted to know this
stuff I really wanted to learn but the
problem I had was I couldn’t listen or
even half listen to the teacher droning
on for hours and hours and hours or what
felt like hours and hours and worse than
that writing stuff to hand off the board
until my undernourished little 1970s
wrists ached you know because we had no
food in the seventies and but I’m
delighted to say I’m delighted to say
that things have improved mmm
immensely since then in learning and
teaching and I trained as a teacher I’m
no longer a teacher but the most
powerful piece of advice that my mentor
gave me when I first died was the enemy
of the child
there’s the talking to each so guess
what I did I shut up yeah now I am Ungh
stunned things over and workshops in
special needs ADHD is what I do and what
I’ve been an ADHD workshop something
really interested in always happens
about halfway through the day one of the
delegates usually a man usually a man my
age comes up to me and said that was me
I think I had ADHD when I was at school
well that’s as may be but you can’t just
have ADHD at school it’s a lifelong
condition and you have it everywhere
most likely you were being expected to
learn in a way that you don’t process
okay which is why we do things
differently today now I’ve been working
in neuro with neurodiversity x’ for a
long time such as autism ADHD dyslexia
and I’ve come to understand one thing
that I’m absolutely convinced of these
people have got something special going
on and when I say special I mean special
yeah maybe even superpowers
I was in a school earlier this year
large secondary school oh by the way
that was my school report that’s how it
really opened 1973 I was in a large
special school and there was a sorry I
wasn’t in a large special school at all
I was in a large secondary school and I
was met by a young boy about 15 years
old he was a meter and a greeter showing
people around and he was in a stinking
mood I said what’s your problem it’s in
a nice way you know nice it I said I’ve
been showing this guy around he’s been
really rude to me really taking a rise
out of me he said people always do that
to me because I’ve got special needs I
said special needs what’s your diagnosis
he said comorbid ADHD and autism so I
thought about this and I said you got
superpowers right and he beamed back he
went yeah yeah okay so what am I talking
about
Ted TED talks they want me to talk for
up to I think it’s up to 18 minutes but
they’re happy with five as long as I
make my point and
and I’ll make a point and and the thing
is why is that well they argue because
it works they’re quite keen on this
because people can concentrate on a
short amount a small amount of
information in short chunks one thing at
a time
and this is really interesting to me
because just in case I don’t process
that information this is actually from
the TED Talks manual they’ve given me a
visual to help me understand visuals
let’s talk about visuals okay many if
not most autistic people learn better
through visuals they process better
through visuals they understand things
better through visuals okay and this is
the thing this is not new
Lorna wing in a seminal work from 1988
talks about the benefits the many
benefits of visual resourcing Olga Bob –
inna talks about using images photos
drawings objects things to get your
message across in autism and then
autistic writer Temple Grandin actually
says I think in pictures during my
thought process there is no words it’s
just pictures so Ted
they don’t insist on me using images but
they strongly hint at the benefits of
using images which is really interesting
to me because not only do they hint at
the benefits they give me an image to
get the message across this here this is
straight from the talk guide again these
people are know puddings right okay
so let’s talk of what we used to call
lack of flexible thought in autism we
call it lack of flexible thought we used
to call it rigid thinking it’s really
taking things literally alright Tony out
would autistic writer calls it a
one-trick mind taking things literally
what’s interesting to me is it’s not
everybody don’t we sometimes feel that
we’re taking things literally we don’t
understand we’ve all had that email that
you have no idea whether it’s rude or
not or whether it’s just completely
ambiguous you didn’t send the paperwork
you didn’t send the paperwork how about
this one you didn’t send the paperwork
what about this one you didn’t send the
paperwork you didn’t send the paperwork
and my favorite you didn’t send the
paperwork thank goodness for that this
there’s no mystery here is there there’s
no mystery here they’re great they
decode the situation the only thing I
will say about emojis is they’re quite
limiting you know there’s only so much
you can do with a horse’s head and a
Grenadier Guards I don’t know why that
always makes me laugh I’m sorry there’s
only so much you can do but actually
they’re very powerful Apple August 2016
took down their gun emoji and replaced
it with a water pistol for fear of
inciting gun crime what’s up did a
similar thing there water pistol is
green I know that my daughter sent it to
me
the power of the emoji but they are
limiting so how about personal emojis
have a look at this
what sort of day was I having I’ve
chosen this one this I actually posted
up on on September the 4th anyone who
understands the academic world will know
how I felt on September the 4th now
these things are really interesting
their personal emojis there were mobile
phone app you can change them to your
body shape skin tone face shape your own
self image whatever you want to do
interestingly in the last couple of days
I’ve shortened my hair on mine yeah
these are really really powerful
powerful images yeah and they help to
decode social situations most
interestingly few weeks ago I was in a
primary school in London and the special
educational needs coordinator said to me
I used these with my boyfriend we send
messages back and forth no words just
these pictures I really wanted to see
them but I thought I thought I thought
better of asking
another area affecting autism is social
and emotional understanding actually
again decoding situations and people who
don’t want to talk about their emotions
and then I say well that’s me sometimes
as well and isn’t that everybody you
just don’t want to talk about this stuff
so how about this this is her in the
reception of an accountants office and
what this accountant had done
he’s got the faces of all his staff and
he gets them to encourage them to share
how they feel not only with each other
but with their clients and look at for
decoding the guy in the stay-away column
that’s great in it as abs absolutely
great I know I know and the benefits of
this to a socially inclusive working
environment as far as I can see are
fantastic it’s brilliant
it’s it’s just it’s it’s perfect and yet
the only places I’ve seen this kind of
thing done are in preschool environments
yeah and in special schools I think
we’re missing a trick here army yeah I
think we’re missing a trick here and so
much I have not been everywhere I have
to admit but I think we’re missing
something quite great with this one
no these kind of images and visuals have
been being used in the autism world for
decades yet we’re only just picking up
on this stuff we’re only just getting it
now I say we I’m in over fifty my
children and probably yours too if you
have any children
I’ve probably accepted these in the most
natural way possible and what I find
interesting is if we want to build
bridges between the neurotypical world
whatever that is and the neuro-diverse
world whatever that may be then we’ve
got a lot to learn from autism’s past to
take us into the future
now here’s another thought for you yeah
that what is the thought oh yeah
that that what what else apart from
pre-empting the future and let’s call it
time travel have we got in the way of
superpowers for disability well I had a
head injury small head injury ended up
in hospital a consultant or the doctor
looking at my head said what do you do I
said I work in special needs he laughed
he said they’ve all got Asperger’s
syndrome here while the consultants have
everywhere I thought that’s an
interesting thing have the consultants
can Asperger syndrome sometime later I
had to see a consultant about the
atypical nature of my stalls and I was
delighted to me an obsessive man with a
drawer full of stool flashcards he said
pick one out that looks most like yours
so I handed him one he said oh that’s
perfect oh yes I’m very pleased with
that this I was in safe hands now I’m
not saying he had Asperger’s syndrome
what I am saying is I wouldn’t have been
surprised to find that out and when a
friend of mine or by the way must all
define then when a friend of mine got in
touch and said I’ve got some dyslexic
architectural students visiting from the
Middle East he said they were all
dyslexic I thought well dyslexic people
struggle to track text on a page and
they see it from behind and above and
around and holistically isn’t that
architecture isn’t that what you need
yeah and here’s another one so I got
called in by a company that trains taxi
drivers our taxi drivers they’re all
dyslexic and they can’t get through
their written exams and I thought I’ve
never been in a traffic jam in a taxi
because maybe that’s how they see routes
and maps and journeys and does that mean
that all architects taxi drivers and
medical consultants have got superpowers
and is that how disability becomes
superpowers thank you very much
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