Inside my autistic mind | BBC Ideas

Do you want to sit down? Just look straight ahead. That's really good. Great. I like that. I am an autistic person. It is obvious when you see me. I have no voice, but yearn to say so much. If you are willing to listen, I will try to say how I feel. (STATIC CRACKLING) I live in a total blur of information. If I have too many people in a room at one time and one place, it is too overwhelming for me to have to process. I have to jiggle my brain to make it settle. It's just how I cope. Water takes

my pain away because it allows me to lose myself in a place that asks no questions of my abilities. Every drop lets me be me. Before I could communicate through typing, I remember that I was frustrated by people who were kind, but didn't know my brain was as good as people who can speak. I remember being told that I liked the Teletubbies, which I did, but I wanted to move on and was desperate to read books for my age. Now I have the chance to speak up for people like me. I'm speaking from my hea

rt. Non-verbal people are pleasing to be around because we sense the world in a deeper way than those who talk. Because we cannot express our emotions instantly, we become deep thinkers. People-watchers. We have the same dreams as everyone else, so please don't treat us differently. Each of us is a star... ...eager to be discovered and named in the atmosphere. If you acknowledge our abilities, we can shine brighter. We have so much to say. Please hear us. (APPLAUSE) I think we're all better peop

le for knowing Murray. He's made such a big difference to all our lives. We can actually understand how deeply he thinks about things. We've been very privileged to be part of his life. His whole experience is expressed there in just a few minutes. It's... It's wonderful. Wonderful. That just sums up everything about Murray, and it's just lovely to be telling us how his world is. MURRAY: I am happy that the world can see the real me.