Short Introductions Lyrics by Gary GR Music by The Nomen Autistic-Radio EP33

Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
We speak our words, we listen,we speak our words, we listen.
We speak our words.
We listen.
We speak our words.
We listen.

Jules-AutisticRadio.com (00:19):
I hear you were listening to Bob
Dylan Love and Theft earlier.
Is music one of your big things, Gio?

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: Yeah, music is, , it started (00:26):
undefined
off, . With the Rolling Stones, Isaw the Rolling Stones on top of the
pops in 1978 performing Miss Shoe.
That was, , a life changing moment.
It's taken me halfway around the world.
I've seen the band 130 times.
I've got.
Over a thousand cassettetape of recordings.

(00:48):
I've got everything they officiallyreleased and most everything they haven't
released thanks to wonderful bootlegging.
The Rolling Stones took melistening to their music.
I went back to their roots, which isthe Delta Blues of the 1930s then into
Chicago Blues, and then rock and roll.
I pretty much like most sorts of music.

(01:09):
I'm not really into dance or pop.
I'm of an age where contemporary musicis pretty much a head scratcher for
me, but that's always been the same.
Older people generally don'tgo for younger people's music.
Doesn't mean it's bad, I'm justnot their audience anymore.

Okay, GIA, that is a wonderful introduction to yourself.
Hello again and welcome to Autistic Radio.
This is one of our programs wherewe hear from an autistic person
with an enthusiasm, a passion.
We're speaking to gr.
GR is an audio file.

(01:47):
Somebody who has a whole collectionof contemporary music from his era.
Hi gr.
Hello today.
Hello.
Hello mate.
We are good.
So when you originally contactedme, what was the idea behind it?

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: Well, about a year and a half ago I (02:10):
undefined
saw a, a request on a local autismHampshire charity Facebook page from
some students who wanted to make a filmabout lake diagnosis of autism in adults.

(02:30):
I contacted you about the filmbecause it's an important issue.

Okay?
I'm gonna play it and we'regonna see where we go from there.
Our lives may seem eccentric andweird, but they have meaning and value.
My name's Gary Robertson.
I'm 62 years old.
I was diagnosed with autism at 53 andI wrote some lyrics, which I called

(03:00):
Autism Man, which Aleks Finest Cult Band.
The No Men Recorded, so this is No Men.
Autism man, I hope you like the song,and I hope the message gets out.
We are neurodiverse, we are here.
Our lives have meaning and value,even if they seem weird and eccentric.

(03:36):
I have.
Very good spatial perception.
I struggle with social situations.
I've pushed myself in the past.
No hands shaking.
Um, bright fluorescent lightsare, are, aren't good for me.

(03:57):
Sudden noises aren't really good for me.
Um.
But I have pushed myself in the pastand, and masked very, very well.
And, um, I can still dothat, but I would rather not.
Eye contact is, is notgood either, panicky.

(04:17):
I, I don't like it at all.
I, I mean, I can suppress it.
Um, like when I go to town,I tend to laser focus on one
thing, and when I focus on that.
Right.
When I go to AMP and I'm in, I'm,I'm just going round the same
route that I always go round.
And that's how I get through it.

(04:38):
It's a, it's also part ofthe, the routine thing.
I've got a fixed routine for everything.
I very rarely, um,don't follow my routine.
When I do, it's, it's quite uncomfortable.
I can get through it, but it's nota situation I like to put myself in.

(04:59):
There's a TV series called, um,
extraordinary Attorney, woo.
And there's a quote in that ourlives may seem eccentric and weird,
that they have meaning and value.
And that's very true.
We, we, we are, we are different.
We are diverse,

(05:21):
and we can, we have alot to offer the world.
And really it's just alittle bit of patience and
understanding is, is all it needs.
Sound, epic group is, is, is what,is what you want it to be really?
I, I, I just tend to, to sitand, and listen to people talk.

(05:44):
I, I do talk, um, it means I findout about other people with the
same condition as I have and I canjust go there and sit there and.
I can just learn about other peopleand doing so, learn about myself
and, uh, it's a, it's a safe space.

(06:06):
It's, it's what you bring to it, really.
I say if you want to sit there andlisten to people talk or if you just
wanna sit there and just be quiet orif there's an activity going on, you,
you don't have to take part in it.
You can, or you can't.
It is just a, it's justa pressure valve really.
You can just relax.

(06:33):
Well.
There's lots of things that you saythere that, um, people who identify
themselves as autistic later inlives will also identify with.
Thank you for that.
Um, gr that's lovely.

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio (06:49):
Yeah.
Um, there's just one thing I want to say.
Um, 'cause at, um, at a social groupthey showed the films and someone
said to me that you are a film star.
And I really want to emphasizeit's not about me, it's about us.
It must be about us.

I think that's a lovely sentiment that you
are expressing there and it, it reallyfits with what we are doing here.
GR autistic radio is about us.
It's not about any of the individualsinvolved, even though at different
times they speak their own truths thatmight be different from each other.

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: In her late discovery, there's a (07:33):
undefined
part where Charlotte, the directorwho's on the spectrum as well, she
asks me why I did the film and Isaid, because I have a voice and
some of us don't have a voice and.
I think I'm reasonably articulate andsome of us aren't articulate, so sometimes

(07:56):
one of us will have to speak for, forthe, the situation that we are in.

You've got a lot of support here in the text.
We are playing in the band says,somebody here, here says another.
And you used the word serendipity,which, uh, Raymond particularly
likes as one of his favorite words.

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio (08:21):
Yep.
Serendipity is the name ofthe social groups that are
organized by autism Hampshire.
Yeah, it's,
.It is a nice word.
There are certain words that I reallydon't like and I don't like to say funnily
enough, I don't like the word autisticsimply because it sounds like a sharp
stabby word, but I like the word autism'cause I think it's a smooth flowing word.

(08:43):
But that's just me.

I like what you are saying there.
I empathize with what you are saying therebecause the sound of a word is important
I want to go to , the text of what youexpressed when you were being interviewed

(09:07):
in that last interview , because youdescribed yourself there as diverse.
And you use the word diversity ratherthan divergent or neuro divergent.
Is that a purposeful decision?

(09:30):
, Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: I will use the term nd uh, but
I will use it as neurodiverse.
I don't really use the word divergent.
, It seems slightly.
Derogatory , , you are diverging away fromthe norm, whereas I think diverse is a

(09:51):
more inclusive term, but it's down to whatpeople, , what they want to identify with.
If someone says they'reneurodivergent, that's fine.
, The only term that I really, reallydo not like at all is Aspergers
because of the, um, historical,, connotations of that word.

(10:15):
You give me a feeling of a very kind man,
and I think that is a lovely thing.
So.
When there are people listening to thisbroadcast and they have a very strong
preference for the word neurodivergent,I hope that they will be kind to you

(10:44):
because even though in the dictionarydiverse has synonyms like divergent.
And it can be used in differentcontexts to express how a person feels.
There is a movement for people to onlyuse very specific terms and not allow

(11:11):
people to choose terms and not allowpeople to use common usage of words.
So I hope the people who post onthe internet will accept that.
You have a preference for using theword diverse and that you're not
confusing the paradigm of neurodiversity.

(11:34):
You understand that neurodiversityincludes the whole of the human race,
but you choose to use the word diverseto say that you are part of the group
that is not part of the majority.
Have I expressed that correctlyor am I making assumptions?
, Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: I think it's entirely down to

(11:57):
a personal, um, whatever youwant to label yourself is fine.
Um, that's the way I label myselfand to me, , we're diverse.
There's, a lot of usand we're all different.
We we're just like neurotypical people.
There's a lot of us andthe experience of autism.

(12:22):
It's personal to each of us.
I've not met people who haveautism, who , are much like me.
They're different, and Iaccept that difference.
I'm gonna include some of the texts here
and give the names of the people.
Raymond originally said, Hey,we're playing in the band and

(12:44):
feeling his communication.
He also says that diverseis open as a word.
It feels open.
Robbie says, I won't use Asperger'sfor the same reason as you.
Robbie says, I won't useAsperger's for the same reason.
Ray comes back with the dictionaryis just a toolkit, a palette.

(13:09):
I like that metaphor.
Painting with words, using words inpoetic ways and not sticking to rigid
meanings, I think is a quite a bigpart of communication, and you are
being described here as very insightful
I hope that means something to you.

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: It's, it's, it's very humbling. (13:30):
undefined
, I just consider myself with, theHampshire Autism film and the Autism
Man song, , I have been labeled anautism advocate and, , I'm just someone
with autism who can talk about it.
Clearly describe how I feeland what it means to me.

(13:54):
When I wrote the lyrics for AutismMan song and I read them out at
a serendipity group one of thepeople there was saying, that's me.
That's me.
I, I'd never really thought beyond.
Just getting those words down onthe paper to get the song, , written
in a way that would communicatereally with, , neurotypical people,

what you represent to me, Gary is an identifiable
group of autistic people withautism who are in their middle age.
They're male.
They have a gentleness about them and aconsideration about them, and a kindness

(14:36):
about them, and I think that's a verypositive representation of autism.
So just being yourself for me is advocacy.

Gr-Gary-Robertson-Autistic-Radio: I, I also think that kindness is (14:49):
undefined
people, when someone's kind to you.
There's a deficit that you nowowe a kindness to someone else.
And when you are kind to someone elsethat will balance your, uh, karma

(15:13):
or whatever you want to call it.
For example, like the other week, Iwent to my local supermarket and there
were no shopping trolleys down by.
The entrance and there was an old ladyon, , crutches and she said, I can't
see a, trolley anywhere, I'd wheeled onedown from the other end of the car park.
And I said, well, that's okay.
You have this one.
And I just walked back andgot another shopping trolley.

(15:35):
I mean, it was just something small, but.
You know, being kind isn'tnecessarily curing a, a disease.
It's just a, it's just a small actand it can make a lot of difference.
It can make a lot ofdifference , for people.
So don't think that kindness hasto be big and massive and huge,

(15:56):
and it's a Hollywood production.
Kindness can be just something small.
Yeah, I had this 12 blues in my.
For a long time, which was the chorus,and I contacted a musician I know
called Dave Renegade and he said,you should send that to the Nomen.
I've been an avid fan of theNomen for about 10 years and I

(16:17):
said, , here's a 12 bar blues.
I just had the chorus.
, Alan Noman sent me this instrumentaland he said, , here's the tune.
Write the lyrics, it took me twodays to write those lyrics, they,
uh, they did their No Men Magic.
So it, it, if it had been a blues,I think it would've been a lament.
They've done it in a veryrocky way, it's very Rolling

(16:38):
Stones, primal Scream, Iggy Pop.
, they've turned it from, a lament,they've done it as a song of, of pride.
And, , a song saying,this is us, we're here.
You know, it's a, it's a song ofof, of standing up for yourself
and being proud of who you are.

. Jules-AutisticRadio.com: That's a great introduction. (16:57):
undefined
Let's hear the track.
Autism Man.
There by the Nomen lyricsby GR Gary Robertson.
Find them on topless record.
For no men.org.

(21:36):
Wow.
Thank you Gary.
Uh, I can see that people in thetext saying that they're rocking
along to it, that they see theinfluence of the stones there.
Somebody says Drop Detuning West Coast,Scotland has a tradition for this sound.
I'm rocking in my seat.
Totally hear the stone'sinfluence in there.

(21:58):
Brilliant stuff.
Gr Thank you Gary.
Thank you for sharing.
Your words, your art, yourconversation with us today, and
for listeners out there, bring usyour stuff here on Autistic radio.
We have a platform for you.

(22:19):
We'll record with you andput you out in our series.
Short introductions too.
Today's been a short introductionto G Robertson and the No Men.
Cool.
Gary, thank you.
Autistic radio is about us.

(22:39):
It's for us, and it's from us.
Autistic Radio is about you.
It's for you, and it can be from you.
We have every single Sunday dropin four, four 4:00 PM every Sunday.

(23:02):
That's not live.
That's us getting together,us talking community.
Every Sunday, Harry leads a fivefive 5:00 PM a discussion around
the Facebook page that he creates.
Involve yourself by suggestingwhat we should talk about next.

(23:24):
Share it with Harry and.
The bigger picture, advocate, use us.
Speak to the world, your project,your idea, your enthusiasm.
We have a whole range of differentprograms that will fit what you want.

(23:49):
As far as listening goes, there'ssome challenging stuff out there.
Because amongst the identity, theentertainment, and the community,
we also make serious programs withautism professionals challenging

(24:09):
their ideas and bringing whatyou say in other spaces to them.
A lot of those are difficult listens,but it's a holistic gathering.
It comes all together.
Autistic radio is very varied.

(24:31):
We need a favor to encourage us.
We need you to share us.
When you share us.
You give autistic people power.
When you share us, you makeus impossible to ignore.
When you repost on LinkedIn and Facebookand anywhere else, you are advocating

(24:58):
for everybody in the autistic community.
So pick the things that you arehappy with and get them out there.
So thank you, thank you, thankyou, thank you from all of us.

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