Neurotypical Page #2

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Is there any stopping?

WOMAN:
Right, she might be on it

for the rest of her life.

And, in fact, a lot of

autistic adults

take one or more medications

to help them

cope with their anxiety

and cope with depression.

VJ was at a point of frustration

when we lived in Louisa

where I'd come home from work,

and she would cry to me, like,

every day.

And something was wrong --

and she knew it and I knew it.

So -- and I had always battled

depression really badly, too,

but I'd never gotten on

medication for it.

So she goes to the doctor

and gets a pill,

and then, like, a week later,

she's like, totally -- not

a totally different person,

I'm not gonna say that.

But she's not -- she's happier,

and, like, just more even.

You know, and I was like,

"I need me some of that."

[Laughter]

[Laughing]

WOLF:
There's some people that

use medication

as a chemical straitjacket,

and that's always wrong,

especially with autism

because, with autism,

you have tantrums.

And I'm still pretty good

at tantrums.

I don't think

you ever lose it.

But when I was a kid,

I was especially good.

And some people will use

medication

to just keep them quiet,

and, you know, so that they can

have a nice eight hours,

you know, working

with the kids.

And that's always

going to be wrong.

Because my tantrums

gave my parents insights

to how to help me, what things

were I having trouble with.

Now, medication is fine

as long as

the medication is only trying

to help the autistic person

work better

and work smarter.

But if it's just meant to be

a chemical straitjacket, no.

The autistic person

has to be a partner

in their success.

They have to be a partner

in growing up to be

the successful person

I've become.

The cool thing about

my family is that

they made me

a full partner.

You know, they showed me

the world the way it really is

and they said, "Wolf, this is

the world the way it really is.

You might not like it,

but you're going to have

to deal with it.

And you can't have tantrums

and you can't throw

a chair across the room,

you know, when somebody

makes you mad.

Or when somebody blows

one of your systems.

When somebody does something

you don't expect.

You can't kick everybody

in the face

just because they touch you.

You know, and that's the way

the real world is."

And my parents gave me that.

And because of that,

you know --

and if medicine helps me to calm

down to the point to where,

okay, I understand why I don't

need to kick them in the face,

then that's a good use

of medicine.

Because medicine is helping you

to keep your system calm.

But it's not calming you

so much

that you are

involuntarily calmed

and you have no input

and no part to play

in who you become.

MAN:
Okay, stop.

Stop.

Turn around.

Turn around.

Go on.

GIRL:
No!

[Whining]

Let's go this way.

[Girl shrieking]

GIRL:
Stand up?

MAN:
No, you don't have to.

I think she just wants to keep

going, keep exploring forever.

Like always, like that's...

I don't know, man,

she just doesn't...

Like she just doesn't want

to go back, you know.

It just seems to us like she'd

just want to keep walking

until she just collapsed.

You know.

And then she'd wake up,

eat some grass,

[Chuckles]

and then just keep going.

We can't figure out, you know,

like we just can't.

We know some things.

We know how she's going to react

to some things,

but like, we don't know.

She's a mystery.

That's like the whole point.

She's so mysterious,

and like you said yesterday,

really stoic.

No, thank you.

GIRL:
No!

-Be a good girl, please.

GIRL:
No!

MAN:
Please be a good girl.

GIRL:
N-N-No.

MAN:
Be a good girl.

We're going to have to

go this way.

[Girl shrieks]

GIRL:
Stand up?

MAN:
You don't have to

stand up.

You just can't go

any further.

[Girl whines]

Just be a good girl.

[Kiss] Yes, that's right.

I mean, it was definitely

a lot easier

when we got the diagnosis,

but...

Big hug? Okay.

Oh!

[Girl whines]

MAN:
I know.

I know.

That feels good on your face,

doesn't it?

[Chuckles]

Feels good on your face,

that breeze.

[Girl coos]

I don't like looking in people's

eyes for some reason.

It really distracts me.

It's something

that I actually

had to be coached

for a while to do.

I remember it was

a big thing, actually,

and I felt a little bit miffed

when I got to middle school

because half the time,

people talked to you

without looking at you.

It...

I kind of always felt like,

if people are normal,

they are allowed to act however

they want to some extent,

socially, but if people have

a syndrome,

everybody feels like they need

to improve them.

Let your buddy across.

Thanks, dudes.

Hey, Billy, can you grab

the door?

BOY:
Close the thing up.

MAN:
It's okay.

GIRL:
Can't reach.

MAN:
Hey, man,

how'd it go?

Good.

MAN:
It's a predictable

question, but...

Made it through

another week.

BOY:

Yeah. Alan Wolf

came and talked to us today.

MAN:
Oh, did he?

Yeah.

MAN:
Did you talk to him?

-Yeah.

MAN:
Did he know

who you are?

No. I just told him

he did a good job.

MAN:
Oh, jeez, man,

you should have told him, uh...

You should have told him

who you were.

How? Why?

MAN:
'Cause we know him.

Oh.

MAN:
His mom helped do

a poem at our wedding.

We're really good friends

with them.

-Crap.

MAN:
Yeah, man.

GIRL:
Okay, can we put

a dunce cap on him now?

MAN:
No, he doesn't need

a dunce cap.

I just wished he'd have

told Alan.

My whole life, until I was maybe

like 22 or so,

when I was diagnosed,

I thought that the reason people

made small talk --

you know, like standing in line

at the grocery store,

and, "oh, nice day today" --

I thought that the reason people

did stuff like that

was because they had nothing

interesting

to think about

inside their heads.

So, I thought that most of

the rest of the world

were a bunch of idiots

with no thoughts.

So, if somebody was friendly

and said like, "Oh, nice day!"

I didn't really -- sometimes I'd

just be like, "Mm-hmm, yeah."

'Cause I just didn't see

the point

in carrying on a conversation

when, one, this person

was being really rude.

They're interrupting

my thought process.

I had interesting things

going on up here.

You know, they want to talk

to me about the weather?

What?

And my dad explained to me,

people get

little positive vibes from

interacting with other people,

even strangers, and even on

really benign things.

He said, "It's like when you

play the Sims

and they get little plus signs

above their head

when they talk to each other."

And I was like, "Huh."

So that was

why people did that.

I was like, I don't feel like

I get little plus signs

above my head

when I talk to people.

And I still don't, but like I

understand that other people do.

So now I engage

in small talk more,

because I respect

other people more,

because I'm understanding

their behavior.

And I no longer think

that people are idiots.

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