article by Andrea Papacotsia Y12
In honour of Neurodiversity week, Michael Barton, an autistic speaker, joined us at La Châtaigneraie’s campus for an interview on neurodiversity and life on the spectrum (the video interview can now be found on our website and YouTube). He started by defining autism as “the deficit a person displays when interacting with other people”, stating that, as a young autistic child, he had to be taught how to communicate, in the same way neurotypical humans learn mathematics at school. Indeed, social interaction is a challenge and social skills are most often taken as granted.
However, a common misconception of neurodivergence is that it only presents difficulties and can stand between a person and their career, which is absolutely false! Being on the spectrum actually contains many benefits: neurodivergent people possess their own, unique thought process which differs from neurotypical humans, and therefore are able to offer new knowledge and solutions. Indeed, some humans have, as Barton stated, a “logical and analytical way of thinking that is synonymous with autism” which fits perfectly for careers in engineering, science and management. Did you know that Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and billionaire businessman, was autistic? Many successful people are neurodivergent and this “disability” is actually partly responsible for their triumph. Barton explained that society needs “to understand and appreciate autistic people” because, when put in the right environment with the right conditions, they can excel.
Later in the interview, Barton mentioned the need for education on neurodivergence, and how our society currently lacks such pedagogy. He reinforced his statement by referencing the 1988 movie “Rainman”, in which an autistic man played by Dustin Hoffman is the main character, as unfortunately being today’s main portrayal of autism – despite the film being more than 30 years old. It therefore is vital to reshape our mindsets on neurodivergence in order to adopt a more modern and accurate definition of something that has proven to be an asset rather than a disability. To follow up on that comment, Barton was asked to specify certain ways in which schools and organisations could become more inclusive for autistic or other neurodivergent individuals. He explained that the very first step was understanding and truly comprehending what it means to be on the spectrum – especially since a relatively high percentage of 2 to 4 % of the population is autistic, as Barton illustrated in the interview. This means it is more than likely that there will be at least one autistic person in any work or school place. With regard to school in particular, he also added that new ways of teaching should be incorporated in order to encourage and support neurodivergent learning. As for the workplace, UK law actually enforces that employers make reasonable adjustments, “such as flexible working or installing specific software”, when hiring autistic people, an innovative but extremely important step that other governments should feel pressured to also take.
Ultimately, Michael Barton aspires to convey a specific message through his talks around the world: autism can be an advantage, but we as a society must hold ourselves responsible for not reducing it to a lack of social skills. Instead we should encourage the growth of inclusive, equitable environments. As Barton himself stated, “some of us can make a real difference to society”, and that is exactly what he is doing.
Here is the link to our interview with Michael Barton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5tWDr40dFw&t=3s
cover photo taken by Andrea Papacotsia
other resources used for article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/denisebrodey/2021/05/13/how-elon-musks-neurodiversity-comment-showed-the-power-of-getting-personal/