1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,808 I wanted to share with you how my Autism helps me connect with animals... 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,970 It's happening right now... 3 00:00:06,970 --> 00:00:11,289 There's s squirrel outside the window and he's upset... 4 00:00:11,289 --> 00:00:12,401 about... 5 00:00:13,588 --> 00:00:15,530 ..an acorn. 6 00:00:17,169 --> 00:00:21,495 Okay, it's not THAT kind of connection.... 7 00:00:22,593 --> 00:00:33,276 (Music, scribbling noises, animal calls, bird song, bees buzzing) 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:38,560 Hi, it's Emily from BiteSizeVegan.org, where you can find free resources, eCourses, kids' content, 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,290 and a Guided Search to help you find just what you need, even if you don't know what to ask! 10 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,090 I've wanted to speak on this topic for some time now, 11 00:00:46,090 --> 00:00:49,540 but I'm honestly worried I won't be able to do it justice. 12 00:00:49,540 --> 00:00:53,249 I know I won't be able to convey everything I want to convey, 13 00:00:53,249 --> 00:00:55,770 but I wanted to try, best I can. 14 00:00:55,770 --> 00:01:00,160 I do want to be clear that I do not speak for all Autistics. 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,100 I am sharing my own personal experience. 16 00:01:03,100 --> 00:01:05,370 Every Autistic person is different. 17 00:01:05,370 --> 00:01:08,610 I didn't know I was Autistic until my thirties. 18 00:01:08,610 --> 00:01:14,324 Looking back, I believe my Autism has been an integral factor in my connecting with non-human animals. 19 00:01:14,324 --> 00:01:18,430 I’m far from the first Autistic person to draw this association. 20 00:01:18,430 --> 00:01:23,550 Perhaps the most prominent voice on this topic is animal behaviorist Temple Grandin, 21 00:01:23,550 --> 00:01:27,140 who has spent decades designing slaughterhouse equipment. 22 00:01:27,140 --> 00:01:33,280 Grandin has written extensively on how being Autistic allows her to put herself in the place of animals; 23 00:01:33,550 --> 00:01:38,348 how she can understand how they think, what scares them, what makes them feel safe. 24 00:01:38,540 --> 00:01:42,145 And, how she uses that profound connection to design 25 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:47,090 “better” and “friendlier” ways to systematically slaughter them. 26 00:01:47,090 --> 00:01:52,030 I, on the other hand, arrived at a different conclusion. 27 00:01:52,030 --> 00:01:58,060 It never once occurred to me that non-human animals don't have thoughts, emotions, desires, 28 00:01:58,060 --> 00:02:00,900 and rich interior lives all their own. 29 00:02:00,900 --> 00:02:06,423 While I didn't know it at the time, looking back, I believe this was due to my own Autistic experience. 30 00:02:06,423 --> 00:02:12,530 My entire life, I've felt like everyone had some manual that I’d failed to receive. 31 00:02:12,530 --> 00:02:16,780 Human interaction and communication is utterly baffling to me. 32 00:02:16,780 --> 00:02:21,342 Growing up, out of necessity, I became something of a child anthropologist— 33 00:02:21,342 --> 00:02:27,531 observing the behavior of the people around me and doing my best to approximate what I thought was expected. 34 00:02:27,531 --> 00:02:32,233 Navigating everyday interactions was—and is—exhausting. 35 00:02:32,233 --> 00:02:38,580 This was made all the more distressing by the fact that I felt everything so intensely. 36 00:02:38,580 --> 00:02:44,130 There was so much I was experiencing and wanted to communicate—yet it was impossible to 37 00:02:44,130 --> 00:02:46,760 translate it out to those around me. 38 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:52,790 But, just because I couldn't express everything in a way others could understand, didn't mean 39 00:02:52,790 --> 00:02:54,360 I wasn't going through it. 40 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:58,690 I assumed this was the same for others— human and non-human alike. 41 00:02:58,690 --> 00:03:04,470 That just because non-human animals couldn't speak in a way humans could fully understand, 42 00:03:04,470 --> 00:03:08,180 didn't mean they weren't capable of thought, emotion, or communication. 43 00:03:08,180 --> 00:03:11,511 In fact, I was certain they were communicating. 44 00:03:11,511 --> 00:03:12,812 Just as I was. 45 00:03:12,812 --> 00:03:17,747 It was only that humans couldn't understand their language at the level they could, 46 00:03:17,747 --> 00:03:20,870 just as people around me couldn't understand mine. 47 00:03:20,870 --> 00:03:27,951 I knew how profoundly frustrating, isolating and demoralizing it was to be unable to convey 48 00:03:27,951 --> 00:03:29,510 what I wanted to convey. 49 00:03:29,510 --> 00:03:33,455 I knew how it felt to never be truly understood. 50 00:03:33,877 --> 00:03:41,562 And it broke my heart thinking of what non-human animals were experiencing at the hands of humans; 51 00:03:41,562 --> 00:03:48,013 that, no matter how desperately and clearly they communicated their terror and pain, 52 00:03:48,013 --> 00:03:51,263 they were ignored and discounted. 53 00:03:51,263 --> 00:03:56,280 Honestly, I think most people do connect with non-human animals in their childhood. 54 00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,421 If you put a piglet or chicken in front of a child, they will want to play with them. 55 00:04:00,421 --> 00:04:04,793 But we're taught to conditionally sever this connection. 56 00:04:04,793 --> 00:04:08,819 This animal is okay to love, this animal is okay to eat. 57 00:04:08,819 --> 00:04:11,160 Love Babe the pig, but eat bacon. 58 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:13,710 Watch Finding Nemo, but eat fish. 59 00:04:13,710 --> 00:04:16,297 Love dogs, eat cows. 60 00:04:16,297 --> 00:04:24,535 Over time we separate ourselves from the most fundamental truth we knew inherently as kids: 61 00:04:24,535 --> 00:04:27,229 that it's not okay to hurt others. 62 00:04:27,229 --> 00:04:31,123 For me, this separation never seemed to fully take. 63 00:04:31,123 --> 00:04:36,025 One of the most troubling—and, frankly offensive—theories about Autism 64 00:04:36,025 --> 00:04:40,087 is that Autistic people are deficient or totally lacking in empathy. 65 00:04:40,087 --> 00:04:44,893 More recent theories of Autism propose that the exact opposite is true: 66 00:04:44,893 --> 00:04:51,156 that "rather than being oblivious, autistic people take in too much and learn too fast. 67 00:04:51,156 --> 00:04:55,234 [That] they are actually overwhelmed not only by their own emotions, 68 00:04:55,234 --> 00:04:57,102 but by the emotions of others." 69 00:04:57,186 --> 00:04:59,778 This is certainly the case for me. 70 00:04:59,778 --> 00:05:04,460 As odd as it may sound, I empathize to a debilitating degree. 71 00:05:04,460 --> 00:05:09,620 I can't help but put myself in the place of others, including non-human animals. 72 00:05:09,620 --> 00:05:15,870 Growing up, I assumed that others did this as well, which made cruel or even simply inconsiderate 73 00:05:15,870 --> 00:05:18,860 behavior seem all the more menacing. 74 00:05:18,860 --> 00:05:25,280 I couldn't understand how people could knowingly harm one another and other sentient beings. 75 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:29,979 I couldn’t understand how they could be so seemingly disconnected. 76 00:05:29,979 --> 00:05:35,639 How could they not recognize the piercing screams of pigs being lowered into a gas chamber 77 00:05:35,639 --> 00:05:37,180 as an expression of pain. 78 00:05:37,180 --> 00:05:41,689 How could they not recognize the cries of a mother cow in the dairy industry 79 00:05:41,689 --> 00:05:47,389 after her calf has been ripped from her side as an expression of grief and anguish. 80 00:05:47,389 --> 00:05:54,340 I couldn't understand why so many people didn't appear to see what seemed so clear to me. 81 00:05:54,340 --> 00:06:01,439 And honestly, it hardened me some to humanity, because I assumed it was intentional blindness 82 00:06:01,439 --> 00:06:07,360 You see, my brain doesn't filter things the way most peoples' brains do. 83 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,249 Once I become aware of something, I have no way of turning it off. 84 00:06:11,249 --> 00:06:15,389 I essentially take in everything all at once, all the time. 85 00:06:15,389 --> 00:06:19,610 I feel everything all at once, all the time. 86 00:06:19,610 --> 00:06:23,639 For me, everyday life is often neurologically traumatic. 87 00:06:23,639 --> 00:06:29,139 While certainly exhausting and challenging, I believe this aspect of my neurology eventually 88 00:06:29,139 --> 00:06:35,260 led me to a better understanding of the disconnect many people have when it comes to non-human animals. 89 00:06:35,445 --> 00:06:39,183 As well as the resistance many people have to going vegan. 90 00:06:39,183 --> 00:06:48,439 Truly confronting what sentient being are subjected to for our dietary choices is itself traumatic. 91 00:06:48,439 --> 00:06:53,419 It's ripping off the blinders and seeing what you can never unsee. 92 00:06:53,419 --> 00:06:59,490 As someone who has no ability to filter, I understand how extremely painful it is to 93 00:06:59,490 --> 00:07:03,456 suddenly be overwhelmed by the suffering all around you 94 00:07:03,456 --> 00:07:07,124 —in every glass of milk, cut of meat, and carton of eggs. 95 00:07:07,124 --> 00:07:12,883 And I understand why someone would resist that pain of awareness. 96 00:07:12,883 --> 00:07:19,584 So, eventually, rather than viewing non-vegan resistance as willful blindness, ignorance or uncaring, 97 00:07:19,584 --> 00:07:25,354 I began to see the majority as springing from understandable self-preservation. 98 00:07:25,438 --> 00:07:32,813 Now, recognizing the obvious emotionality of non-human animals is often criticized as anthropomorphizing 99 00:07:32,813 --> 00:07:37,620 — meaning attributing human emotions and intentions to non-human animals. 100 00:07:37,620 --> 00:07:44,819 But there is a stark difference between personifying animals and striving to see from their perspective. 101 00:07:44,819 --> 00:07:49,830 We humans have a tendency to define everything through our own lens of reference. 102 00:07:49,830 --> 00:07:54,409 This is understandable in many ways given it's the only lens we've ever seen through. 103 00:07:54,409 --> 00:08:00,734 However, it's a highly problematic approach that invalidates the experiences of everyone unlike ourselves. 104 00:08:00,990 --> 00:08:05,514 An example of this within our own species is the history of our understanding of Autism. 105 00:08:05,514 --> 00:08:09,827 Autistics were—and often still are—ranked by levels of functioning, 106 00:08:09,827 --> 00:08:13,527 with non-verbal Autistics generally labeled as "low-functioning." 107 00:08:13,527 --> 00:08:18,300 This is a perfect illustration of assessing the Autistic person through a non-Autistic lens: 108 00:08:18,300 --> 00:08:23,240 just because someone is non-verbal doesn't mean they cannot or are not communicating. 109 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:28,619 Of course, if a non-verbal Autistic puts things into an accepted format, like the written word, 110 00:08:28,619 --> 00:08:33,572 suddenly their level of functioning and validity of experience is reconsidered. 111 00:08:33,572 --> 00:08:39,281 In a similar manner, we are consistently astounded by non-human animals’ emotional capacities. 112 00:08:39,281 --> 00:08:44,650 Every now and again there’s a new article or study expounding upon the amazing possibility 113 00:08:44,650 --> 00:08:50,260 that animals experience complex emotions, or are far more intelligent than we once thought. 114 00:08:50,260 --> 00:08:56,354 Yet somehow, despite this happening time and again, we don’t take these revelations to their ultimate conclusion: 115 00:08:56,506 --> 00:09:02,220 that animals obviously possess multifaceted inner lives that we are not privy to. 116 00:09:02,220 --> 00:09:06,924 They have been thinking and feeling long before we were able to "prove" it 117 00:09:06,924 --> 00:09:09,908 within our own framework of understanding. 118 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,168 The same, unfortunately, holds true for pain perception. 119 00:09:13,168 --> 00:09:18,344 Humans have long carried out horrific experiments to determine if animals feel pain. 120 00:09:18,344 --> 00:09:24,657 For the centuries that humans have been hurting animals to prove for ourselves that they could feel, 121 00:09:25,147 --> 00:09:27,030 they were feeling. 122 00:09:27,131 --> 00:09:30,220 So, why not assume that they do feel? 123 00:09:30,220 --> 00:09:33,560 Why not assume that they do emote? 124 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:40,259 Why should they have to suffer to prove to us within our own limited understanding 125 00:09:40,259 --> 00:09:42,429 that they are sentient beings? 126 00:09:43,071 --> 00:09:46,130 I've really struggled with putting this video together. 127 00:09:46,130 --> 00:09:51,100 There is so very much I wanted to convey that I'm simply unable to. 128 00:09:51,100 --> 00:09:56,910 While I am verbal, the process it takes for me to put things into words is extremely difficult. 129 00:09:56,910 --> 00:10:02,330 And honestly, words can't help but fail to fully capture what I'm meaning to express. 130 00:10:02,330 --> 00:10:07,750 While I think my experience of feeling more at ease and connected with non-human animals is hardly unique, 131 00:10:07,750 --> 00:10:14,204 I do believe that animals—in many ways—have helped me survive being Autistic in a non-Autistic world. 132 00:10:14,325 --> 00:10:16,886 And I cannot help but try to advocate for them. 133 00:10:16,886 --> 00:10:20,382 Not to be their voice, nor speak for them. 134 00:10:20,382 --> 00:10:22,706 They have voices all their own. 135 00:10:23,061 --> 00:10:25,456 They communicate quite effectively. 136 00:10:25,811 --> 00:10:28,780 We... just don't listen. 137 00:10:29,185 --> 00:10:31,844 While this video isn't everything I wanted it to be, 138 00:10:31,997 --> 00:10:36,621 I hope at the very least that sharing how I see the world differently 139 00:10:36,621 --> 00:10:40,780 may help others begin to think differently. 140 00:10:41,710 --> 00:10:47,498 To stay in the loop about new Bite Size Vegan content and updates, please subscribe, and sign up for the newsletter 141 00:10:47,498 --> 00:10:50,641 or follow the Telegram channel for the most reliable notifications. 142 00:10:50,641 --> 00:10:53,239 Now go live vegan, and I'll see you soon.