you have asperger's syndrome. i was like, my gosh. you're right. i learned to talk backwards when i was 5. my brain simply understood how that worked and i was intrigued by it. i was also intrigued by machinery as a kid and i never played outside. it was all about technology. i'm going to talk more and more about what life was like growing up with aspy. >> has that really changed anything for you? my own son is on the spectrum. i'm interested to see how you feel about getting that information. >> i felt very relieved. because there have been a lot of things in my life that have been very difficult. especially with relating to people. so it's been a big relief. and they also told me that it wasn't a bad thing. they told me that it was a gift. >> we're always talking about your ability to speak backwards. how does it work? everything that i could say, could you hear it in your head playing backwards? >> almost, yeah. usually the way that works it's line by line. if you say a certain phrase, my brain can just flip it. i can walk around and see signs a

that was the experience of patrick samuel, who was diagnosed with asperger syndrome at 38.llowing a violent outburst. since his diagnosis, he says his life has been turned around by art therapy. it saved my life. there is no other way to put it than that. without art, i would way to put it than that. without art, iwould not way to put it than that. without art, i would not be here today. the life i had before art, i was incredibly frustrated, angry, depressed. i became non—verbal. i was not talking about my problems, the things that were troubling me of the things that were troubling me of the incidents that were occurring quite frequently, the meltdowns, the self injury. my carer put an a3 pad in front of me and said draw. every day for years i have painted as a form of therapy. my first drawing is one that i am fond of. it means a lot to me. a self—portrait with half of my face being normal and the other half being skill —— skeletal. that is how i felt, useless and dead. now i feel like i have paint in my veins. it is how i breathe and live. it was a very long flight to g