Microsoft Autism w/ Live Q&A

AQ 40 out of 50. I have always felt different. Now at 75 reading your book the light came on. I cannot thank you enough for writing it.

Wow. I think I should go talk to a Dr. I've struggled in my employment, and it sounds like I may be on the spectrum. It would certainly explain a few things.

As someone with autism, This video was very good! There is one slight thing I wanna add on constructively, however. 21:58 This sounds like the person/people in question were possibly displaying symptoms of sensory overload and/or autistic meltdown. General aggression and things along those lines can/do happen in sensory overload / autistic meltdowns. My guess would be that a long meeting might be overwhelming for someone with autism, and they might experience some sorta sensory overload / meltdown. Sensory overload can happen in neurotypical people too, just to a lesser extent. In my personal experience, My meltdowns do have a slow start, and more signs display the further into said meltdown. This is just my thoughts, and I likely won't get noticed.

Wow! This was extremely relatable.

For God's sake do NOT call it a "safe space". That term has already acquired baggage of a sort that sets at least ME off. That said, an office with a door is a safe space that allows me to discharge. Another trick, for me, is schedule into my schedule some time for following my nose. I find new ideas and forget I have a schedule to meet. And what has come out of those side excursions has ultimately been beneficial to the companies I worked for. I guess in summary level terms a "safe space" (did I say I HATE that term) for me is a private space in which I can control my environment and some time to follow where my nose leads. Wish I'd run across the notice for this sooner today. I hit the last five minutes. I'll note similarities with Dave's history. But, I predate him by very nearly a quarter century. So my life experience is very much different. I learned very early on that if I reacted my way around other people it could be very literally lethal to at least my mind. Ice picks were popular tools for use on people who were different when I was a young hyperaware child. So I learned to think extremely fast in social settings, meaning I was not alone. That meant that when I blew it the damage was minimized. It also has left me terrified of being around people I feel I cannot trust implicitly (period no qualifiers). That leaves one person I am comfortable around. And he's not that much different from me. {^_^} (Another 42 on that Aspergers test. I'm late in my 8th decade so I'm not bothering with the formal diagnosis.)

OMG Dave, talk about uncanny. I too walked into a Radioshack store when I was 11 in 1979! At the time I was supposed to have a modeling career. But after that fateful day everything changed. I WOULD NOT leave the store without getting a book on the TRS-80 computer. When my Grandmother asked me why i HAD to have it, I simply said, "When I grow up Grandma I am going to be in computers." My entire career has been. I guess we are the same age. It was last year, when I was 52 that I suspected I had ASD after watching Elon on SNL. (I thought to myself, I totally understand him, when most people don't, I wonder if I have it too. ) So I called up Tania Marshall who wrote the book, "I am Aspien woman" and chatted with her for a couple of hours. She said, it was likely that I was Autisic. I haven't done my formal diagnosis yet, but I think I will soon. Thanks so much for sharing your story as I totally see myself in it.

49/50; I had my testing done last week after a 4 month wait, oh and I will be 57 years old in a couple of weeks. Sooooo many past behaviours have been explained! Great video, I will save it and send it to anyone who says "Autistic?! You" as I expect to happen in my future. Ps I bought your book.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you 👍

Good stuff! Thank you!

After listening to that story, I think I should get myself tested one day soon!

Thank you for posting this, Dave. Information like this is valuable for people on the spectrum as well as for others interacting with people on the spectrum. I relate to a lot of this though I've never been formally diagnosed (I was diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago in my 30's and many traits seem to overlap as I learn more - seems I've been walking a path leading in your direction). It's amazing how humans can develop coping mechanism and find ways to mask. We can't change the past, but when I think back I really wish someone had been able to recognize my behaviours as a child and see it for what it was so that I could have benefited from help available. All that said, I'm really happy that culture is changing and we're all becoming more informed/empathetic. I think that being open about our human experiences and having it received with compassion/empathy is what will help us become a better species. People change people. And it might sound hyperbolic (in fact I don't think it is however) to say that the more that individuals like yourself openly share their experiences with others, the better the world becomes. Story telling, understanding and empathy make a better world for future generations.

I just want to thank you for posting this. You are genuinely helping me figure out why I am the way I am. If somebody had not explained it, I would have not given autism another thought.

Great video Dave, packed with practical and illuminating first-hand info, valuable and entertaining!

I'm really looking forward to seeing more uploads on this channel. Every time you upload I realize how similar my brain works compared to yours. I am so grateful. The knowledge you are sharing I truly believe will allow me to live a better life because I'm able to understand on such a different level

I've been working at Microsoft for 5+ years and all of this hits home... So glad I found your channel and thanks for your video.

Hi Dave This was the best video I've ever seen on the topic of autism - I wish I could have seen it 30 years ago, as it would've made my school and work-life so much easier. Thanks for all your hard work, and sharing your thoughts, experience and research - you are a legend!

I took an online test, and scored very high. I am seeing both a counselor, and a psychiatric prescriber for depression. My counselor wanted me to get an actual diagnosis, and my prescriber referred my to an office that would do the diagnosis, but they don't take my state insurance I'm on (because of being unemployed while applying for disability from Social Security because the depression), and it would cost me $800.00 for the diagnosis, which was way too much, being on state assistance while I go through the process of applying for the disability from Social Security. I flunked US History and Government in High School and tried taking correspondence classes as a junior, and that bombed. I never took it the next year (as a Senior), and ended up having to stay in school to make up that missing credit. It was that year that I got into computers after a new high school building was opened up with a computer lab. It was also that same year that I was told I was "highly intelligent" after the whole school was given a test. As a result of that I was put into a special program, but didn't have motivation (due to depression, I imagine, because my original counselor told me she thought I exhibited signs of having had depression going all the way back to at least High School), so I didn't stay in the program. I am also an INTJ. Thank you for your video. I hope to watch more.

Thank you for everything you do

It's awesome that you share this. Maybe there are young people like how I was who won't have the life I've lived (not complaining, is what it is) because more is known and people who did ok (or much better than ok) are ok talking about it.