Youtube autists

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The more I see those videos by people on the spectrum the more I question things being reduced to an ASD 1-3 spectrum or a UK equivalent .
There are those that need round the clock care and support, and at the other end the media friendly types that make those videos .

I don't see myself like either extreme. I'm not as disabled as the former, but have nowhere near the self confidence of the latter.

Autism is a complex spectrum.

You can never be sure of self confidence from a video. I'm sure you could come across as self confident with a script , practice , many takes and editing.

I may be misinterpreting your post (if so I apologize) but I understand the concern of being on the spectrum and not quite seeing yourself on either extreme (and if there are two extremes, I think the 'middle' is a huge variety). I wonder that the YouTube form of advocacy is a younger generation thing; even though I'm only 23, the uptick in how many individuals launch a sort of online career came in the past few years and is kind of foreign to me as well.
I'm certainly relatively independent in my functionality but like yourself, I do not have self confidence to film myself and put myself out there (even posting on forums is new and difficult for me haha). Apologies for repeating myself, but I think my thoughts on this go back to my original point - I think there's a great variety of social functionality among spectrum individuals, and a lot of that can also do with how we're socialized. Personally, I am very socially anxious but this is not true for everyone I see with autism/Asperger's - there are many people who don't have 'self-consciousness' and therefore can socialize without the concern of messing things up whereas I am hyper-sensitive to how others perceive me, to a fault.
I hope I didn't diverge from the topic too much! I had a friend tell me recently that apparently there's people on the app 'Tik Tok' (which I don't use) who make videos about having autism (not to be confused with what I've heard was a tasteless 'challenge' circulating the app) - anyways, the news of this new form of advocacy did kind of take me back as it seems like such a foreign concept to me.
Final thought about videos, though - videos do allow one to talk without feeling, in the moment, as if they have an audience, which can take off some of the stress. It does seem difficult to me, though, once you get to the point of having the audience and comments and such.

Well...it IS a spectrum.

I do (or before the Pandemic, I used to do)an hour long public access radio show- from studio in a building I communted to once a week. Play music, and talk. Have some fans. Similar to doing a Utube production. But I don't get promotions in my boring day job, and have trouble keeping up with house keeping. If its a thing I am obsessed with, like music, my executive skills are pretty good. But not with boring other stuff.

Also most autistic U tubers just talk about autism itself. Talk about their own life experiences. Which isn't all that hard for anyone to do. Like talking about breathing. Not to put them down. Just that its like a NT talking about how to gossip, or something.

There's no need to apologise . You interpreted correctly. I'd definitely say I fall in the 'middle' , but that may be, to some extent, because of the schizoaffective disorder.

Good comment . I tend to forget that for others on the spectrum, as well, functioning is not a fixed point on a graph . That , like me , there's dots spread across that graph .

I'm crap at keeping my flat clean , but manage my finances reasonably well . I say reasonably because I don't owe thousands on credit cards and loans etc . It might not be much to many people ,but I do have 4 figure savings .

Which Youtube autists are you thinking of?

Yes. I am curious as to who he is listening to.

There are a number of aspie/autistic folks who say upfront that they are that (autistic/aspie), but they all do programs that are about autism itself. So I assume that he means one of the number of autistics who do shows about autism.

I am sure that there are also aspies on Utube who do shows about unrelated other topics, but those folks don't generally ID themselves on screen as being aspie/autistic because its not relevant to what they do talk about. So you wouldn't know that they were autistic. There is one guy who does a science related show who sometimes strikes me as being overtly aspie though.

Aspie world
Yo Samdy Sam
IndieAndy


Aspergers from the Inside

Amythest Schaber

4th- I'm neutral about

5th- Amythest is fine .

I don't know how famous youtubers do it either. I have a youtube channel, but when I try to talk on camera there are a lot of awkward silences, and lots of bits I need to edit out or re-film because I misspoke. I stink at voice-overs, and I don't like to vlog, so most of my videos just have readable text on the screen instead.

It seems like a particular skill one develops, whether AS or NT.

I'm exactly the same, apart from not having a YT channel . I have never been good when it comes video chat , and would never be able to have even a half way decent YT channel .

Firemonkey, I think you answered your own question. Most of us wouldn't be comfortable making YT videos about ASD. Here are some interesting channels I watch that depart from typical ASD channels.

Princess Aspien

Rebranding Autism

Personally, I watch The Mysterious Mr Enter's videos. He's a YouTube reviewer that mostly talks about cartoons. It should be noted that his reviews are mostly aimed at adults that have an interest in writing, or otherwise making cartoons, and usually aren't suitable for children. He reviews adult animation as well as animation aimed at kids.

The majority of the focus is on the cartoons. However, he has mentioned being autistic multiple times. A few videos address it directly, particularly when he talks about his dislike for Autism Speaks and his take on their videos. He's also mentioned it in his cartoon reviews when relevant. Most well-known for his two main series; Admirable Animations and Animated Atrocities. He's also published books and he attempted to get an animated series of his own green-lit but it was an unsuccessful attempt.

Plus, there's also a TV tropes page about him: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ ... ousMrEnter

Speaking of animation, there's an animator I follow because I liked her work. Quite recently she uploaded a video where she came out as a lesbian and autistic. I don't know if she's ever mentioned those two facts before then, but yeah. Goes by the username Leafydragon.

I know of quite a few reviewers and animators on YouTube that are autistic. There's a female reviewer that I occasionally watch that mentioned being autistic but her name escapes me currently. However, I do tend to find myself in parts of YouTube that tend to attract people with special interests in media rather than the more mainstream section. I realise that makes me sound like a hipster, but I just like to go there to see and / or hear a YouTuber that is as excited about the content as I am.

I can't do Aspie World. No offense against him personally, but his personality isn't compatible with mine. He's too amped up for me to enjoy watching.

Yo Samdy Sam. Newer YT channel. Impressive on the number of subscribers she's gained in a short time. This is not a criticism or slight in the least, I'm stating a known fact: There's said to be a difference in how girls/women present with autism than how boys/men present. I think she's a great example of this since she seems to present as NT to me. I am NOT disbelieving that she has ASD. I just don't pick up on it at all. That's because I'm not trained in autism assessments and not because she's not autistic. I'm also not a woman so I'm wondering if other autistic women watch her and pick up on things that I don't.

IndieAndy: I've never watched him.


Aspergers from the Inside: I've seen a few of the videos and like you, FM, I'm neutral. Maybe I should watch more of his since I did think the few I watched were good.

Amythest Schaber: My favorite out of all of them on the list. She is closer to my calmer personality and to my carefully considered communication. Her videos are easy for me to watch and pay attention to. Unless she's started back up, sadly I don't think she's posted any new content for sometime. I sure hope she does in the future.

I think I like Amythest best for her understated but intelligent approach . She doesn't come over like someone channelling an OTT TV presenter .