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tv   Breaking the Set  RT  July 18, 2014 1:29pm-2:01pm EDT

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over the years already i don't think that they're just going to pack up and leave on their own one day but that's just my opinion. if it looks good but then the stability says. to me she said. you can call it so what. was it on the boys you pulled was made of lead to. a. leg.
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hello welcome to surf and co i'm so sorry shevardnadze diagnosed with autism as a baby doctor said he'd never lived a life outside a special situation but it proved them wrong that he's a professor teaching others about the needs of people with autism dr stephen shore is my guest today. the number of children affected by autism is on the rise but the condition remains hard to define while many think it's an illness that people who have a which isn't don't consider themselves sick what does it mean to be so different are autistic people really disadvantaged. can they be integrated into society and
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can society benefit from their innate talent. dr stephen shore professor at adult fire university out is an researcher lecturer diagnosed with a stay himself welcome it's really great to have you on our show today so let's start from the big thing out isn't what is it is it a new or a logical disorder or is it a psychological thing or doesn't is a neurological difference i look at autism as a nonstandard way of perceiving and processing the environment and doing so it causes differences in communication social interaction sensory issues and. it also results of us having widely varying skills which means the things that we're good we can be extremely good and the things that challenge us can be extremely challenging. i just want to go to the
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origin so where it comes from out to them is the second most prevalent developmental disorder among children today about one in sixty eight children has been identified with a.s.d. in the united states why is it growing so fast why is it always has it always been there but we just didn't know about it before. even just a generation ago we see a sharp increase in the prevalence of autism from one in ten thousand to now one in sixty eight in the united states and i believe it's a combination of greater awareness and expansion of the definition of autism and also i think we may be doing something to the environment which may be causing it increase. talking about the environment there's a new study found that says stat exposure to sterile common agriculture of pesticides during pregnancy increases the risk of autism for children is it
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something you would agree with i would say that at least it's something that's worth looking at and validating this study. we know the pesticides been causing other health problems so it's possible that that's also causing. contributing to an increase in autism i do know that the environment is dirtier than it used to be and that's causing an increase and all kinds of disorders but i mean you researched autism do you have one core reason that causes autism that causes disorder or there is no such thing or we still don't know where it comes from well at this point the best minds in research believe autism starts with the genetic predisposition. and that can be seen as autistic characteristics tend to run in families when i meet children on the autism
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spectrum i often see those characteristics in their parents or other siblings so that speaks to genetics if we get deep into the science of genetics the best that they come to. this point is that the characteristics of autism are spread over more than one hundred genes and then this genetic predisposition interacts with something in the environment and we have a lot of clues as to what that is it might be as you just mentioned possibly. possibly other things. the problem is is that we don't have a firm grasp on exactly what those triggers are. now talking about real life what is it like to be an autistic individual and at the same time leave a highly functioning social life. does it stress you out is it stressing well it can be. for those of us on the spectrum who are socializing who are out in the
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community it requires a lot of thought keeping track of the rules of social interaction and it almost seems like most people have these rules built into their brain it's almost as if the program is hardwired for those of us on the autism spectrum even though it may not be hard wired the good news is that we can learn these rules of social interaction the challenge can be. a number one we have to be taught and then too we have to keep these rules in our minds as we socially interact so for example sometimes i have to even remind myself to make sure i do have proper eye contact that i properly interpret in non-verbal communication and i believe that most people who are not on the autism spectrum don't think about these things so you're saying the double meanings are really hard to grasp for autistic people is that what you're saying. that's right. double meaning idioms mixed
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emotions office politics these can all be very challenging for those of us with autism and it just so happens to be that because this is a challenge for me it's actually become an area of special interest something that i enjoy studying and thinking about learning. however practicing in real time can be a challenge now we all know that school is a coral environment children aren't that tolerant to someone being different children are actually pretty mean how do you deal with a i mean you've been very different from others in high school well our. public school a great school for me it was very difficult because as you said it was different very different from michael. it's so then that there was a lot of bullying and teasing and even today. we find more
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people than not on the autism spectrum are bullied in school and i believe the resolution to this problem is education education and developing awareness in students at the grade school level of people who have differences because with greater awareness with explanations as to why their classmate might behave the behavior in a certain way of doing a certain thing. comes the power to be of help and i've seen situations where a child who was diagnosis of autism was explained to a classroom where work has been done in appreciating and understanding differences classmates become helpful to that student. bullying decreases sharply. now tell me something how come some people with autism are able to find personal fulfillment
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and like like yourself and then others are stuck in a certain point in development and can never integrate into society what does that depend on well a lot of them is an extremely widely varying condition and believe some of the preconditions for promoting success and fulfillment in people with autism. has to do with recognizing the straights and accepting people for autism is who they are but at the same time realizing that there may be significant challenges that need to be overcome so when i was diagnosed with autism i was pretty sick significantly affected i was non-verbal i had meltdowns and nobody knew what to do in those days when i finally did get a diagnosis my parents accepted me for who i. but at the same time recognized that there were significant challenges to be overcome if i were to lead it fulfilling
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and productive life now like you've said to the progress is for your future was pretty dire i mean institutions doctors said you were very ill but you were able to overcome all of that what was the most important thing that helps you overcome it. the most important thing was that my parents believed. i was an intelligent person and they responded to my interests they promoted my interests so for example the age for it was found in the kitchen taking apart watches with a sharp kitchen knife taking out the motor of the gears the hands of the thing and putting it all back together again the watch still worked so instead of looking at that as perhaps some sort of strange behavior maybe i should be focusing more social interaction a communication sue my parents provided all kinds of other things to take apart so i think promoting those interests in people with autism is an important road
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important key to success and i find that those on the autism spectrum who are successful have found a way which to follow their interests and tell tell me something if an autistic person has someone who gives him extra time extra care and has an understanding and acceptance of who or she is does that mean that that person can certainly overcome autism. i think it increases the probability that they can learn better how to work with their artistic characteristics so when we talk about overcoming autism. i wonder if a better word is learning how to work with the characteristics of autism so i still have autism i still have challenges i've learned how to work around these challenges and even to avoid some of those challenges that are particularly difficult still unable to lead a fulfilling and productive life. dr shore we're going to take
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a short break not right now and where come back we're going to continue to talk to dr steven schorr autism expert and i'll talk about problems of integration for optimistic individuals and the nuances of their vision off the world stage and. the. economic up and downs in the final. days. and the rest because i think the case you believe every week the lead.
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to try to. pull it out of. your life or if you're preaching everybody. may. know well. why but. let's say any length skis is going to lead to lead sometimes from noticing the leg this leads. to it's not just you steve. could still be jobst if the safety he stayed to
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stay to keep tabs on speech was. people with autism. great contributions. to society and would beginning to see organizations schools. businesses otherwise seeking go and hiring people with autism. but almost told him a language of what i will only react to situations i have read the reports from.
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the pollution and no i will leave them to the state department to comment on your minor point of the month to say to mr kerry you have a car as all your talk is no gonna. go no more weasel words. when you made a direct question be prepared for a change when you punch be ready for a. printout of speech and a little down to freedom to cross. and we're back with dr steven sure a professor i don't fire university autism researcher diagnosed with a stage himself welcome back to the show now let me ask you is it important for
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people with them to be integrated into society or it just feels more comfortable to be in your own world well i think it's important for those of us with autism to be integrated into society society is pretty much integrated with. we're all integrated with ourselves with each other i should say. as for being in our own world. the way i look at it is the people with autism. are in the world and in some cases are in the world too much and what i mean by that is due to sensory sensitivities we may perceive light vision. touch and other things more strongly than other people and if the sensations are too strong they can cause the person with autism to be overwhelmed and then appear to withdraw. so sensory sensitivity that you mentioned is that
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a common thing for all who have autism what forms does it take well at this point everybody who i've met on the autism spectrum has sensory issues i do have a friend on the spectrum who says he doesn't have any sensory issues at all but i also wonder why the shades of doubt in this house of the lights are off. and. the way these sensory issues can take place for example many people with autism see fluorescent lights like most people perceive a strobe light. so i magine having to go through work all day and go through school the entire day in a room that's lit with a strobe light it's certainly going to have an effect. on your productivity. because they're what do you see and i understand that other people don't. know that's a good question because so often the focus is on what people with autism. don't
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perceive that most people do but we can also flip that on its head and recognize that there may be things that people with autism recognise and see in perceive that most other people or most other people and things that i often perceive that other people don't include. disruption in those outer for example that makes me a very good proofreader or i can even see in a in a document if a picture is even one pixel. to one side or another too far autism also helps me be a good musician and also understanding mechanical devices so this is some of the strengths that autism brings to me tend to be beyond the typical population and what is the hardest thing for you to handle while interacting with others the hardest thing for me to handle is when there is mixed messages mixed emotions so
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that is for example when the person is saying one thing they're actually feeling something else. and linking what you said you're studying that phenomenon why is it so difficult for an artistic person to understand what the other person is feeling did you come up with an answer. i believe that the difficulty stems from a difficulty or challenge in reading nonverbal communication research suggests that non-verbal communication makes up to eighty percent and some researchers believe even up to ninety three percent of total interaction so that means those of us on the spectrum are only getting maybe seven percent or twenty percent of the total interaction package and that seven or twenty percent is just words so we're highly dependent or over dependent on the written or spoken word. and we have difficulty perceiving what is known as pragmatic so what is happening between the lines of
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behind those words and that is why one we tend to be very literal interpretation of language because that's all we have without the backdrop of the non-verbal now you also said that music is that are under stude by people with doctors and then words do we know why i believe that whatever scrambles the speech centers of the brain leave the musical once intact. one of the one of the thing. one of my activities includes giving music lessons to children on the autism spectrum. and i find that those individuals i work with they're all over the spectrum some over a ball some are hyper verbal some of non-verbal in their skills also ranges over the entire spectrum where some of them could be professional musicians if they so choose and others work harder at it but they still enjoy it and i believe
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whatever. you're a logical reason is allows people who stutter to not start or when they sing is likely the same reason music can speak to many people with autism where is verbal interaction may daughter may be difficult but since you're saying that it's really hard for you to read between the lines how did you figure out what to do in your personal life because you went to school he went to college i mean you had several dating experiences before you got married so how did that happen for you did you make friends right away and how were you dating women if it was so hard for you to understand the unspoken they on sat or part of it is studying nonverbal communication and what it is once i realized that nonverbal communication was a you might say a channel of interaction that caused me to become extremely interested in it and i
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would spend hours reading books on body language social interaction dating relationships and so on so i did my own intensive study on. another. and know another thing that helps me is just being very vocal about things i don't understand so for example perhaps with my wife it means that we have to talk about things more than perhaps. the average couple in there isn't that you might say magical mind reading the couples are supposed to have we just realize that it's either not there or it's going to be less than a typical couple so we talk about things perhaps more than others and in that way perhaps having autism even helps a relationship because we have to talk about issues in the order to understand them tell me something is there such thing as intuition for artists do you have it. yes
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i do people with autism do have intuition i know many people with autism who are in some ways very good at reading certain aspects of people i believe i'm pretty good at touching certain things. about people when i interact with them and it may be that we look at things differently than the typical population so in that way it can be helpful so you said you studied body language like people studying math or physics and you've been married for twenty years now what about you know why was she familiar with your condition how did she approach the whole thing when you guys started dating and then in together well that's a very interesting question when we started dating and my wife like. the other women i dated never was able to perceive the nonverbal cues that indicated a woman was interested in me so they would have to basically just tell me. the
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same thing with my wife we had met as music students. we started by reviewing each other's homework which then morphed to words. doing things socially and then one day at a beach she suddenly gave me a hug and a kiss and held my hand and at that point i had a bit of a social story down there having been through some experiences of just not getting it. and at that point i created a bit of a social story which went something like this if a woman hugs who kisses you and holds the end all about the same time they're probably means they want to be your girlfriend and if that's the case you better have an answer right away it could be guess no or further investigation of an analysis is indicated and it seemed to be a good thing to do as a result we've now been married for a little over twenty four years. now you were hired as
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a professor because of your artistic abilities now in spite of your artistic limitations so autism can turn from men inhibition as it is commonly perceived to an advantage right yeah that's right and i believe that we're reaching a cost realization as a society that people with autism. intentionally have great contributions to make to society and we're beginning to see organisations schools and. businesses and otherwise seeking out and hiring people with autism for those characteristics so when i interviewed for my job at adelphi university they had done their research and it was a very good and refreshing interview because instead of my disclosing that i have autism and trying to convince them this is where i might want to hire
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a person with autism than someone who doesn't have autism it was more about we could just focus on the aspects of the job and whether i was suitable for the position we see other organisations such as s a p which is a big software company that. is now collaborating with special the star which is translates to the specialists danish and together they're hiring people with autism they're seeking people with autism. because of the skills they have in information technology and i believe we're just getting to a point no where society is beginning to realize that there are some straights that people with autism can be very useful in a in an employment situation. professor just really quickly what is the most common the biggest misconception about options and just in a nutshell i believe the most common misconception about autism is people with
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autism do not want to interact with others and do not have emotions. in my. in my communicating with my colleagues on the autism spectrum a meeting hundreds of people on the autism spectrum number one i find that we have emotions just like everybody else. and we do desire to interact with others i believe that myth may stem from those of us with autism because we interact differently and communicate differently many of our social interactions end up in failure sometimes out of straw for it phil. if anybody had the same amount of failure in attempting to successfully socially interact then maybe they too would give up on interacting with others. professor thank you so much for
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at this amazing insights into the world of losses and. we thank you for the interview wish you all the best with your research and i were talking to dr stephen schorr oxes and researcher lecturer ah they're diagnosed where they asked to himself talking about where our system comes from where it stands right now in the world and how optimistic people should be integrated into society and that's it for this edition of said i will see you next time. reversals of fortune and stalemate the harder the western backed regime in kiev assaults to resistance in the east the more the resistance is able to push back
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washington supports a military solution is flogging as well as pushing coast. i want to allegations of propaganda also represent. because what you do is essentially dealing to my think in some words without looking at the context without looking at this. and that's not what i think of as a real problem i think the political columns need to play which to stall to belittle. the ukraine crisis some of. them on the left maybe one side. or the p.m.o. and most of you know i'm basically sourcing the whole of the reporting. and i think there's a need for the whole company squash remember. we chase profit very large very attractive and now very globally recognized source of
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oil for the world into the world's cheapest and best petroleum deposits have been we have to use more energy to get this energy industries grow like each of these square. kilometers where. whole area is slated for the play and that's her dream for water that's our world so everything. this is the. secret. to building a new. mission
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to teach music. only. headlines malaysia airlines says ukrainian traffic controllers told their plane to fly. before the jet crashed killing. and crew. the u.s. claims it is evidence that ukrainian government forces were behind in. supporting them despite any involvement. grief stricken relatives struggle to come to terms with the tragedy in which the majority of victims were nationals. and also we're getting reports of up to twenty civilians killed by ukrainian army shelling in.

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