May 25, 2023 • 30 mins
For this episode i was joined by Daniel Jones better known as TheAspieWorld who has over 238k subscribers on Yotube for doing videos as a help guide for those who are Autistic.
Daniel spoke in depth about the diagnosis he got of Aspergers (as it was called at the time) and it finally made sense as to why he had those quirks and with the way he acted.
He spoke also about the Youtube Channell he started and how he didn't expect to get this amount of people viewing his videos, Daniel has now become one of the pioneers of the Autism community.
Daniel spoke about his childhood, what school was like and how he's now raising a little family, Daniel did also speak about what it's like to be a parent and Autistic which was an interesting insight for someone like myself wanting to have a little family of my own in future.
i throughly enjoyed doing this episode and i hope for those that watch his content that it gives a more hollistic side to him
Daniel spoke in depth about the diagnosis he got of Aspergers (as it was called at the time) and it finally made sense as to why he had those quirks and with the way he acted.
He spoke also about the Youtube Channell he started and how he didn't expect to get this amount of people viewing his videos, Daniel has now become one of the pioneers of the Autism community.
Daniel spoke about his childhood, what school was like and how he's now raising a little family, Daniel did also speak about what it's like to be a parent and Autistic which was an interesting insight for someone like myself wanting to have a little family of my own in future.
i throughly enjoyed doing this episode and i hope for those that watch his content that it gives a more hollistic side to him
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good Hello everyone, Welcome to yourbrand new episode of the podcast. Today,
I have the pleasure of inshooting DanielJones aka the asp World is well
renowned autistic content creator on YouTube.Over it to Roger of forty k subscribers
and forty k followers on Instagram.So he's so, he's very well known
(00:25):
within the community and has done alot to advocate for the autistic community with
lots of resources. So I justwant to say, Daniel, welcome to
the show. How are you.Oh, thanks, man, it's good
to be here. Yeah, I'mall right. I'm just I'm very um.
I don't know what the word is. I'm very tired. I don't
know, burnt out, I don'tknow. I do a lot of things,
(00:47):
and I feel like this weather it'dreally kick in my butt a bit,
you know. So, yeah,this weather has not exactly been the
greatest, and I suppose that doescome of last seasonal change sometimes when the
weather just isn't great and then andand it therefore it uh basically changes how
your mood, guys. Really,yeah, I did a video on this
(01:08):
and it didn't do very well.I put a video seriously, like I
put videos on stupid stuff like goingto Spain and like goofing about and I
got loads of loads of loads ofviews. I did a video about like
how I need sunlight to maintain optimummental health, and nothing, nobody was
interested. I was like, huh, Like it didn't make any sense.
I was like, oh, yeah, weird and it's super affected me.
(01:30):
Yeah, yeah for sure. Andlet's talk a bit about your YouTube channel.
But first of all, I justwant to I just want to go
into you about you personally as aperson, and so what was it like
for you growing up, growing up, just growing up in general? Was
(01:51):
um, it was a bit ofa nightmare, a bit of a nightmare.
And the reason I say that itis because, like I, um,
you know, I grew up.I grew up in a house with
an older brother and an older sister. So my brother's a gay man,
very attention to seeking, kind oflike you know, typically over the top
gay man, great, great guy, very intellectual. My sister is in
a topic, so she has abunch of things wrong with us, so
(02:14):
she spent a lot of time inhospital. I spent loads of time in
hospitals my sister growing up. Soit was kind of weird. You know,
being the third child out of three, you know, you're the youngest.
Parents didn't have that much time foryou, I guess, And it
was it was, you know,like he had his challenge as like anything
else. But I think the biggestone was being misunderstood that my father was
always working, my mother was alwaysbusy with my sister. My brother was
(02:36):
zapping them of any other kind ofattention because he's just this flam point gay
man and so challenging man, youknow, especially being someone on the spectrum,
you know, going to school inthe late eighties, early nineties,
because I'm that old, it wasit was very it was very challenging,
you know what I mean. AndI think that like my parents seeing saying
things like, oh, Daniel wasn'tas you know, as happy as we
(02:58):
thought he would be, and it'skind of like, well, yeah,
it would have been if you wereyou know, if there was more attention
given to the issues. But look, let me tell you this about childhood
and growing up. Without the experiencesI had, I wouldn't be the guy
am today. And I was sothankful for every negative experience I had when
I was a kid, because thatreally built me to be in who I
(03:19):
am right now, that's a goodthing. Yeah, I can imagine.
And you touch you touched, youtouched upon quite a lot there as well.
And I suppose yeah, when youdid get the diagnosis, it finally
gave you a sense for you are. And I like the fact you touched
upon your sister being in hospital alot as well, because I grew up
one of three oldest, oldest sibling, you know, and my sister was
(03:42):
in hospital quite a lot. Shehad like various health conditions which caused her
to be away from home quite alot, and aryans those types of emotions
and yeah, and as well,Yeah, my sister sadly passed away and
a year ago, so yeah,it's fine, Um, but yeah it
was, but it was that wasreally hard thing to go for. And
(04:06):
yeah, yeah, I can kindof simplize with you in a way as
well, like symplies of anyone who'shad their relatives have to spend a long
period of time hospitals and having tothere and try and function and every day
society, especially if you're a kidas well, I could be really hard.
Yeah, because you don't be couldyou don't know, you know,
(04:26):
you just kind of like you youdepend on your parents for everything, and
then your parents are busy with youknow, your other sibling who's sick,
and so you kind of like wheredo I fit into this, you know
what I mean? And like Isaid, having having an older brother who
was like very demanding, and youknow, he was this guy he because
you know, being a being agay teen in the nineties was quite a
liberating thing to go out to youknow, you know, lamb up and
(04:48):
go to the clubs and be olderthan you were really, you know what
I mean. So so my brotherkind of really struck my parents attention a
lot of the time because I'm like, wall, you got a Manchester and
hanging out with blokes. It's likehow old are you? You know,
I mean, it's kind of like, oh man, So yeah, it
was, Yeah, I think thatlike family dynamic. And I rote about
this in my book. I've gota second book coming up in August,
(05:10):
and it's called Autism for Adults,which is a guy a practical guide to
living on spectrum. But I kindof go through parables of like, you
know, my experience growing up.I always say, it's like, you
know, family unit and figuring outyour place. It's difficult for any sibling
or parents or child or whatever.But when you're on the spectrum, it
like magnifies. I feel like autismmagnifies anything, problems and happiness, you
(05:32):
know, it magnifies those things.So your problems are ten times more problematic,
but also your happiness is ten timesmore exciting, you know what I
mean? Oh yeah, as well, Like with the staming part of it,
obviously, it's a child like itsstems are like very much apparent they're
saying. And then I think asyou grow up you have to mask those
stems and to then to the pointwhere you have a lot more subtle stems,
(05:56):
like for me, for example,why I don't know, kind of
like clap clapping, like sort ofclasping my hands together, or like feet
tapping, or you just don't liketapping my hands on my knees, that
kind of thing. Yes, yeah, that's very like subtle stims that I
normally do. I don't know aboutyou, but um, I think as
(06:16):
I sort of got older, I'velarned to sort of like mark mask those
stims that I previously used to have. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
like you know, I always usedto think about stimming is is I m
for me anyway, MAX means juststimming, and it has to be different
with other people, I guess.But is that it's always involuntary, Like
(06:36):
so if I'm really if I'm reallyhappy or excited, I get gets stimmy,
you know. But if I'm reallyyou know, low mood and I'm
anxious, I get steamy too.But I don't know I'm doing. It's
kind of like a way around.It's a way of expressing that emotion without
being able to actually regulate the emotion, you know what I mean. And
I feel like that's what stimming islike for me, that experience for me,
you know, and so um.But yeah, but with masking stimming,
(07:00):
I didn't mean I'm doing it,So I wouldn't be able to have
masket even if I wanted to.It's such an interesting one, it's I
do think. I do think it'sinteresting as well. I think so.
I think sometimes for example, whenyou talk about emotion in particular, let's
say, for example, it's likeyour birthday, or it's like a special
event, or you get present thatyou don't like, or you have to
(07:24):
try and sound grateful, sometimes Ido find it. Sometimes I do find
it hard to sort of express likethe you know, I'm happy about that
present, but sometimes it's hard forme to actually express how happy I am
about it, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it's it's like, oh, Iwas like, oh this present is
not wonderful. I'm not like shoutyscreaming about I'm like, oh wow,
(07:46):
thank you, like kind of thing. You know, I suppose, I
suppose my family. Over the years, I've just got used to it.
Yeah, yeah, rather than yeahbecause that's what it is. Because because
you know, it's even a giftor or any kind of news good or
bad, you have to react inan emotional way. But if you haven't
had time reacting, you know,or emotional regulation, then how are you
(08:09):
supposed to do that? You knowwhat I mean? It's like, well
how do you you know? Whatare you supposed to do? What's what
are the rules here? And againit's all about these social rules that people
on the spectrum kind of have adifficulty even knowing, rather than the kind
of learning and then reproducing those inyour own way to push out towards people
in a social situation, you know, I mean it's a bit of a
(08:30):
minefield. Yeah, I think.I think, like you say, it's
a bit of a mind field,and it comes down to social norms that
near atypicals have bestowed or throughout historyof you know, acting a certain way
and how society wants us to act. And I suppose society is wide in
a way that is not really inclusiveor beneficial for people like us. No,
(08:54):
because you know, it's we're expectedto make eye contact. I mean
eye contact for me feels like myeyes are on fire if I do.
It's like looking at somebody's soul,isn't it, and like they're tickling down
You're you're souling. You're like,yeah, that's that's basically what it's like.
I kind of have to look likeI kind of have to look at
the bridge of their nose or youknow, or look at something that isn't
(09:16):
their eyes, that kind of thing, because if I do that, well,
my eyes will literally just feel likethey're burning. And you know,
eye contact there's never really been astrong point for me, and I do
find if I'm looking away, I'mactually listening to what that person is saying.
Yeah, because it's a lot easierfor me to digest what they're saying
rather than actually, you know,looking at them, because then I can't
(09:37):
actually digress what they're saying to me. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, it's
funny because that gives you so muchconcentration. Yet people will think you're being
rude or you're not taking it inor whatever, and it's kind of like,
well, no, that's just howI'm dealing with them, so we
process it. Yeah, yeah,definitely. So I wanted to go into
(09:58):
a bit about you, what whatit's like for you to get your diagnosis.
So you were an adult actually whenyou got your diagnosis. I believe
you were the Asia of twenty six. Would you say that getting that diagnosis
was a relief for you? Andwould you say it made sense of you
know, finally knowing why you arethe way you are? Do you know
like it? It was? Itwas? It was really interesting. So
(10:22):
I got the diagnosis and I waslike, I was twenty I was twenty
six years old, so it wastwo thirteen or twenty sold and I was
like, you know, I knewnothing about autism, knew nothing about like
ADHD. You know. The onlything I'd kind of really heard about was
like, I don't know rain Man, but that's not even a thing,
and it was just kind of likeit was a bit of a shock really
(10:43):
because I didn't know what to expect, and so it was it was nice
and in one way, it wasnice to go, oh, I'm not
a total weirdo, you know whatI mean, there's a there's a there's
a reason for this. But atthe same breath, I was like,
Okay, what the hell do Ido now? Like where do I go?
You know, because it was basicallylike huge diagnosis for it is and
we're going to send you out tothe world and there's little to no support
for you as an adult unfortunately.And I was like, right, okay.
(11:05):
And there was like two things Iwas going. I was going to
meet with a guy, a specialist, so we could formulate some kind of
other bits and pieces. But Inever met with him. But now I'm
friends with him. He wants meto work with him, which is quite
ironic. And then um, andthen another guy was called David Oliver.
Now he was an ASD social workerand like a key worker support worker from
(11:26):
the government. I worked with himand straight away and that was actually good
because what happened. What happened isDavid introduced me into like a social club
for autism on the island where Ilive, in Anglicy in North Wales.
And what that data was that Iwas able to meet other people with the
same condition and the same kind oflike struggles as me, and I felt
less alienated. It was the firstone in my life where I felt kind
(11:48):
of like, um, I feltyou know, human, or I felt
part of society. Up until thatpoint, i'd been really ostragized from society
because that's how autism makes you feel, right, and so it was.
It was an interesting time. Itwas like and trying and then trying to
to rational with yourself. You're likeaheah, that's that's nah, man,
it's it's wrong. They're wrong.I'm fine, Like there's wrong me,
(12:11):
not like you know, I meanlike I feel like everybody else. There's
a bit weird, Like you kindof put a sposter syndrome about it,
because when you're an adult getting it, you've lived your whole life and people
saying that you're one way, andthen actually you get this condition diagnosed and
it's like, oh, there's awhole thing about it, and then like
so where does that put you?Mentally? You know, and and socially
and relationship wise, it's just abit of a it was it was interesting.
(12:35):
I had an interesting experience. Ijust put it like that. Yeah,
and you and like you said,I suppose again diagnosed as an adult
is like so eddy and showing OhI've you know, I've lift my whole
life about getting a label put ontome. Now all of a sudden,
I've got this label put onto me, and I have to, you know,
basically go into everyday society and tryand try to function and the best
(12:58):
way I can. It's like,oh, okay, that makes and you
kind of like you said earlier,Oh it makes sense why I'm totally not
a weirdo or I'm a weirdough becauseI think there's a lot of misconceptions around
autism and in and we're still tryingto break those negative connotations around it.
You know, I can say withRainman and stuff like that, because I
(13:18):
was the only real representation at thetime, and even then that was even
then you look at it now andthat was a stereotype because I'd tell you
what, I'm no good at maths, absolutely shocking at maths. But you're
absolutely right. You know. Thething about rain Man is that like it's
a fantastic movie. I don't knowyou've seen it. It's a fantastic movie.
I think, a fantastic job.It's great. But the thing about
(13:39):
it is that Rainman is on theopposite spectrum. But he's a savant.
So he's what you would call usedto be called classical autism or or high
support needs autism savant, which basicallymeant that he was very much ineptive communicating,
and that is who for a lotof autistic individuals on that level of
(14:01):
severity. But when you you know, I've got a friend who's non verbal,
you know Abby from there's a YouTubechannel called father and Autism and friends
of those guys an Abbey, they'rea daughter who who's autistic. Um,
she's you know, she's non verbal, but she can communicate, you know,
she had she had more communication thanDustin Hoffman does as Rainman, which
is based on a character called kimPeak, which is he's a savant,
(14:22):
right, so there's a lot ofkim Peaks has passed away a few years
ago. But like, but there'sa lot of kind of misconceptions because people
see rain Man and think, like, oh, every autoriperson must be savant.
But there are they're not, youknow. I mean, it's like
there's a huge there's a huge deficitthere between, like you said, the
intellectual intellectual disability and also the excessiveIQ for things like mathematics. Well,
(14:45):
you know, not everyone's a mathematicalgenius on the autism spectrum, but you
know, and I think that withthe the only media forward representation of autism,
it kind of kicked us in theknackers a bit. But I mean,
since then, there's been all kindsof things, but it's it's feeling
far between. Because back in theday, everyone would have watched dream Man
because it was a movie that cameout. Now you're get in six movies
(15:05):
a minute being released on Netflix.It's like, oh, where do we
go? You know what I mean. You don't have the same captive audience.
It's a fantastic time to be alive, but also with digesting content at
a rapid rate, which is hencethe reason why I do what I do
on YouTube. Yeah, and Ithink I think as well, there is
a lot more shows or documentaries nowshowing a more realistic representation of what living
(15:28):
with autisms like in the date andthe date to day life and the struggles
and the positives that come with that. And I think I think as well.
There's shows and that Felix I saida Typical being one of them,
I don't actually send that, andI think I think I worked on a
Typical. Yeah, there's another one. I think there's another one. I
(15:48):
can't think. I can't think ofthe name. There's there's a Love on
the Spectrum USA and Australia. There'sLove on the Spectrum UK coming soon.
I worked with them on that thatI worked on A Typical. I came
in with Netflix on before season onewas released. They filmed the whole thing
raw, and they came in andI did a consultation with them to kind
of you if you've watched it Typicalfrom series one to season four or whatever,
(16:10):
there's a difference between Salmon season oneand Salmon season't two, and so
you can see my input between seasonone and season two where I was like,
hey, you've got to strip itback. He's got to be more
natural into this. You know,he doesn't have every single trait going.
But that was really good. Ithink it Typical did a really good job.
But you've also got heartbreak high withChloe it's not an autistic kind of
forward show, but it has anautistic character. And my friend Chloe plays
(16:33):
plays Quinn's an autistic go and Ihaven't seen it yet, but everyone you
know, won awards and some havingre reviews, so there's so much more
going on. I was progressive,right, rather than digressive, like oh
yeah there is. There's even adocumentary recently and it's comasbit talking. Chris
Packham's done a six part I mean, it's a six part doctor venture about
(16:56):
what he's like for those living onthe spectrum. And one of the people
I know that was on there,um, you know, a good friend
of mine, he was, hewas on there thing episode two yeah,
yeah, yeah, the one withthat yeah, the one with the you
know, like long hair. Yeah, he was on there. And he
does like music and stuff. Yeah, he was on there, and you
(17:17):
know, and it's good to seelike the realism about it. It's really
good to see the realism. Ithink more like shows and documentaries needs to
be like that rather than just seetypical stereotypes. Yeah, because like that's
that that is the problem. Youget like stereotypes, but then you get
abysmal attempts like that um, theone see I did, did you see?
(17:40):
Yes? Yes, yes, lookingI mean and the thing looks like
I tell you something. I'm notagainst. I'm not against people trying to
include autism in mainstream media. I'mnot. I'm also not against people being,
um, not autistic, playing autisticcharacters. I get that sometimes that
has to happen, right, butbut just in the same way, I
(18:03):
know that autistic people can play nonautistic characters, you know, like Dana
Croyd plays non utistic characters all thetime, and he's on the spectrum,
right, Um, And I getit, you know, but but there
is there's a certain line that youdon't cross. And I think that Sears
movie was disrespectfully and tasteful and itwas like, oh my god, like
it was probably one of the worstthings I had ever scene, because we'd
(18:25):
seen this fully abled, glamorous dancergirl just then pretending to be and it
was just it was it was likemega cringe fest five thousand. So yeah,
I mean, see, that's whatwe got to battle against as well.
And she didn't even rectify anything.She didn't say, oh, you
know, I'm really sorry, maybeshould work them up, But she's like,
no, I'm owning this as amasterpiece. It's like, yeah,
you arrogant, you know. Itwas just it was horrible. Yeah,
(18:48):
yeah, it was. It wasan absolute, absolute car crash of a
movie. Yeah, car crash.It was absolutely car crash in the best
of words. And I think alot there was lot of outrage on line,
rightfully so, and I think andI think I think with that as
well, it was such a poorrepresentation of autism. Yeah, and I
(19:10):
get included an autisiminomasia made. Ithink it's absolutely brilliant because it brings light
to um, you know, autisticpeople and the day to day life and
the struggles and the positives and thepositives around it. But yeah, the
way see it did, it wasabsolute car crash. Ship was just warful.
Her attitude that the word part washer attitude. It's different if like
(19:33):
you come out and you'll be like, ah, you know, because like
look the movie m Power Rangers fromtwenty and eighteen, fantastic movie and the
Blue Ranger. Billy he's on thespectrum and in it, you know,
and the actor is not an autisticactor, but Billy's he he comes across
really well. And he says init. He's like, I'm sorry,
man, you could he fumbled anddid something. And he's like, sorry,
(19:53):
man, I'm on the spectrum,so you have to take it easier.
And they're yeah, okay, that'scool. And it was. It
was done. That was it,you know what I mean. And he
could play on such a character reallywell, just like the guy plays Sam
in a typical he's not an autisticperson, but it plays a really good
artistic character, like and we respectthat because he respected the role. I
feel like with See It and thisother girl, they just they just destroyed
it, you know, they ateit away. But I don't know,
(20:14):
I don't really I don't want totalk bad than anybody, but that was
that was really really bad. Yeah. I think there's another show that I
was to say I completely earlier.The Good Doctor is another one. Again
a good and a good portrayal oflike obviously, Um, he has savant
syndrome and he's trying to, youknow, basically achieve his dream of becoming
a surgeon. Urgeon. That's right, um. And I've watched the episodes
(20:37):
of it and it's and what it'sworth the ad two plays and it's a
really good portrayal. Um, it'sgot rave reviews. Yeah, that one,
Like people were just raving about it, like and I've never seen it,
so I should really, but Iknow all those people were just like
just super into it, and they'reall on the spectrum as well, like,
oh no, you could see thegood doc. It's crazy, the
guys amazing, blah blah blah.Yeah, I've never seen it. No,
(21:00):
it's yeah. I've only said afew a few episodes myself, or
a few clips here and there.But from what I've seen it, it's
it's a really good trial and representationbecause I think it's sort of start um,
they didn't really understand him, andthen they actually saw his capabilities as
a surgeon grow and grow and hewas a much more unified part of the
(21:22):
team. M hmm. I thinkI saw like I think it was like
the trailer for it, where likehe's what he's through an airport and so
he's like very dark to here,and then like he runs over and he
gives him like a truck eut ofme or something like right then and there,
and they're like, wow, let'sget his hands and he's like no,
there's there's like a fracture. Helooks like an extory or something.
He's like, there's a fracture there, and like, no, there isn't.
He's like, yes there is,and like he like proves them all
(21:44):
wrong and it's like kind of thishero story and it was really good.
I think it was very wholesome.Um And I don't know the actor.
I don't think the actors on thespectrum, but I think he didn't have
a good job. Oh yeah,he did a wonderful job. So going
on to your YouTube channel now thatthat you've created. So when you started
your YouTube channel and you created thiscontent, what was your first goals or
(22:08):
intentions behind creating the YouTube channel?And that was really funny, like nothing
to what it is now. Imean, like what my channel does now
was nothing compared to what like Ithought I was going to do when I
was diagnosed. The first thing Idid. It came home and I was
like, Jesus, what the Hell'saspects? Because that's that's what I was
diagnose, the aspects in I waslike, the Hell's aspects? So googled
(22:30):
in I'm dyslexix. So I waslike, I can't read this for buggery.
So I went on YouTube and Ilooked and it was very little videos.
It was a couple of videos ofguying who built like a Tesla coil
and he had like a lead vestthat his dad gave him to help with.
Like it was really bad. Imean, like the videos are quite
depressing. I was like, ohgod, it's not good. So I
was like, oh jeez, whatdo I do? And then I thought,
well, look, I've done twentysix years of being not even diagnosed,
(22:52):
but I've managed to survive just aboutmaybe I've got some value I could
add to somebody, you know,Maybe somebody would be like, hey,
you know this guy, you knowit has been twenty six years and diagnosed,
and I'm twenty six years and diagnosed. Maybe I can learn something from
him. Or he's in twenty sixyears and I've wanted done ten, maybe
I'll learn from him. So Idecided I would put out videos based on
(23:15):
just the ideas of help really andput videos out of a better quality.
And so so I did that,and they weren't. My first view was
terrible, and I had no aspirations. I didn't want to do it as
a job, Like I didn't wantto do the job. It was I
was never in my vocabulary. Ididn't even know you could do it as
a job. And then I kindof like I just wanted to put videos
out there to help people, whichis exactly still want to do today.
The idea behind readi channel is justto help as many people as possible.
(23:37):
It's like my main goal, helpas many people as possible in the short
space of time. And and itjust snowboard like people just started subscribing us
with more videos, and I waslike whoa. And it came to a
point until in seventeen where I waslike I have to do I either have
to go all in on YouTube ornot, you know, because because I
can't I could I couldn't find Icouldn't like try and find a job to
(24:00):
stain an income and do YouTube asa side hustle because I had just too
many things weighing on me and soum and my my partent was pregnant with
our with our first child, myson, so we were like, oh,
geez, you know, what dowe do? And I just was
like, well, I'm just goingto take the risk and I'm just going
to do it, you know,I'm just gonna go like, Okay,
that's me. I'm just going togo for it, and I did,
(24:21):
and it was a best decision tohaving made. But it's it's now become
like this monster archival library of everythingyou can think of, you know,
autism and the spectrum related everything.I mean, like, I have a
team of people who work with meand we do a lot of things.
I travel around the world and youknow, I got two bucks out and
I've got you know, just justcrazy amount things I've doing courses online courses
(24:42):
and membership groups and stuff like that, and coaching and it's like whoa,
you know, there's nothing like Ithought would ever be, but I do,
and I love every second of it. I'm really glad. I'm really
glad that it's sort of snowboard foryou to the point now where you can
sort of do it as a jobto help so many like artistic people and
you know, parents who have alltis, the children and adults. It's
(25:03):
it's it's wonderful to see how howmuch, um how much of a difference
you've made to you know, somany people online and to you know,
sort of give a positive but realisticlights to what autosome is. And I've
watched some of your content myself,and there's other obviously content creators out there
that I've come across that you know, that do really awesome videos on this.
(25:27):
So I want to talk to youa little bit now about autisome relationships
and yeah, and how and howyou got into relationship yourself, because I've
heard you've got a child now anda wife, so yeah, yeah,
it would you like to elaborate onthat place? Yeah, sure course.
So you know, I've never beenon a date in my life. I've
(25:48):
never had a Valentine's Day had inmy life. But I have dated three
women, um and obviously dated,I've courted three women, so you know,
okay, you know spent time withyou women. And I said it
was going out with three different womenand you know, in my time,
not altogether, and it was it'schallenging. The reason that the other relationships
(26:10):
didn't work was because they didn't understandand I was undiagnosed with those people.
But I was diagnosed whilst with mypartner home with now, so kind of
like it was a different ballgame.She she understood, she saw its coming
from and she she learned the diagnosisrather than just seeing me there's some kind
of like weird, narcissistic a whole. She realized that those those problems there,
and there's there's issues there. Sorelationships are so difficult in you know,
(26:36):
you work at relationships anyway, right, you know, with your wife
or your husband. You work atthose relationships because that's what it is.
Anything that's worth having should be hardwork. Nobody gets anything for nothing.
You don't go to the gym andjust wish yourself to be ripped. You
go to the gym and you workyour ass up, and it's hard work
and you come out with a sixpack at the end of it. You
know. I mean so like everythingthat you want in life is hard work
because it should be. But youenjoy that work. It's part of the
(26:56):
process. You know, you're ahuman, like deal with it. That's
what we do. Nothing is easy, and that's a good thing. It
trains us, It conditions us.And relationships are no different. The only
differences with autistic people is that youhave added steps of communication issues, and
I think how you overcome those isby being completely open, completely honest and
(27:18):
learning different things. Like I teacha lot about like relationship, Like you
know, what am I doing this? Situation, what are we doing in
that situation? And a lot ofit is to do with like saying,
okay, well you know my meand my wife had had a row.
You know what I do? Well, I first need to calm down and
go to different room and then comeback to the situation and assess it because
you can't because altatically, we can'ta motion and regulate themselves on the at
(27:41):
that minute. Because of something calledalexa tima. It takes a long time,
you know, minutes, hours maybefor an autistic person to really understand
the situation that they're in emotionally tothen be able to somehow relate that back
to the person that is in question. So it's learning those things that really
helps excel relationship. But it doeshave as challenges just like anything else.
But you know, like I said, you know my you know my thoughts
(28:03):
on those things. So it's it'syou know, I don't know, it's
not a it's not a it's notsomething that because a lot of people say
I'll never find love. I waslike, no, of course you will.
But like it's just how are yougoing to work out that? Are
you going to are you going toput that time and effort in um and
that's the difference. You know,the expectations on relationships have to be realistic.
(28:25):
Yeah, for sure. And we'vespoke we spoke about quite a bit
throughout this episode, which which iswhich has been absolutely fantastic. So a
for the people that perhaps don't knowwho you are, You've obviously you've obviously
got a book and you've got asecond boochery to come out. How could
people check you out online? SoI'm available on every single social media platform
(28:48):
that exists, like not seriously,So you can just type in the Aspy
World, which is the th hE s p I E w O r
L d um at the Aspy Worldon every single social media platform, find
me there looking about. I putvideos every single day on every single platform,
and I kid you not every singleplatform, and you'll find videos daily
from you actually YouTube sometimes two videosa day, Facebook two videos a day,
(29:11):
Instagram at least a video a day, Twitter video a day, everything
you can think of, a blogpost every single day. We also have
a podcast goes out every single day. So yeah, just you just type
in the asking world and you'll findme. And I actually talked to every
single person as welve. So ifyou guys got a question, if anybody
wants to ask me anything and learnmore about themselves, you can really reach
out. Why not. Yeah,just yeah, And I'll put those links
(29:34):
in the description when this episode comesout as well as people can see more
of the brilliant work that you do. So yeah, I just want to
say as well, Daniel, thankyou for taking the time to come on
a podcast today. It doesn't meana lot. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to connect.
And hey, maybe we could doit again and have a little bit more
(29:55):
fun again sometimes soon. Yeah,that'd be wonderful. Okay, and thank
you all for this. You guys, have a good one and goodbye.
Good Hello everyone, Welcome to yourbrand new episode of the podcast. Today,
I have the pleasure of inshooting DanielJones aka the asp World is well
renowned autistic content creator on YouTube.Over it to Roger of forty k subscribers
and forty k followers on Instagram.So he's so, he's very well known
(00:25):
within the community and has done alot to advocate for the autistic community with
lots of resources. So I justwant to say, Daniel, welcome to
the show. How are you.Oh, thanks, man, it's good
to be here. Yeah, I'mall right. I'm just I'm very um.
I don't know what the word is. I'm very tired. I don't
know, burnt out, I don'tknow. I do a lot of things,
(00:47):
and I feel like this weather it'dreally kick in my butt a bit,
you know. So, yeah,this weather has not exactly been the
greatest, and I suppose that doescome of last seasonal change sometimes when the
weather just isn't great and then andand it therefore it uh basically changes how
your mood, guys. Really,yeah, I did a video on this
(01:08):
and it didn't do very well.I put a video seriously, like I
put videos on stupid stuff like goingto Spain and like goofing about and I
got loads of loads of loads ofviews. I did a video about like
how I need sunlight to maintain optimummental health, and nothing, nobody was
interested. I was like, huh, Like it didn't make any sense.
I was like, oh, yeah, weird and it's super affected me.
(01:30):
Yeah, yeah for sure. Andlet's talk a bit about your YouTube channel.
But first of all, I justwant to I just want to go
into you about you personally as aperson, and so what was it like
for you growing up, growing up, just growing up in general? Was
(01:51):
um, it was a bit ofa nightmare, a bit of a nightmare.
And the reason I say that itis because, like I, um,
you know, I grew up.I grew up in a house with
an older brother and an older sister. So my brother's a gay man,
very attention to seeking, kind oflike you know, typically over the top
gay man, great, great guy, very intellectual. My sister is in
a topic, so she has abunch of things wrong with us, so
(02:14):
she spent a lot of time inhospital. I spent loads of time in
hospitals my sister growing up. Soit was kind of weird. You know,
being the third child out of three, you know, you're the youngest.
Parents didn't have that much time foryou, I guess, And it
was it was, you know,like he had his challenge as like anything
else. But I think the biggestone was being misunderstood that my father was
always working, my mother was alwaysbusy with my sister. My brother was
(02:36):
zapping them of any other kind ofattention because he's just this flam point gay
man and so challenging man, youknow, especially being someone on the spectrum,
you know, going to school inthe late eighties, early nineties,
because I'm that old, it wasit was very it was very challenging,
you know what I mean. AndI think that like my parents seeing saying
things like, oh, Daniel wasn'tas you know, as happy as we
(02:58):
thought he would be, and it'skind of like, well, yeah,
it would have been if you wereyou know, if there was more attention
given to the issues. But look, let me tell you this about childhood
and growing up. Without the experiencesI had, I wouldn't be the guy
am today. And I was sothankful for every negative experience I had when
I was a kid, because thatreally built me to be in who I
(03:19):
am right now, that's a goodthing. Yeah, I can imagine.
And you touch you touched, youtouched upon quite a lot there as well.
And I suppose yeah, when youdid get the diagnosis, it finally
gave you a sense for you are. And I like the fact you touched
upon your sister being in hospital alot as well, because I grew up
one of three oldest, oldest sibling, you know, and my sister was
(03:42):
in hospital quite a lot. Shehad like various health conditions which caused her
to be away from home quite alot, and aryans those types of emotions
and yeah, and as well,Yeah, my sister sadly passed away and
a year ago, so yeah,it's fine, Um, but yeah it
was, but it was that wasreally hard thing to go for. And
(04:06):
yeah, yeah, I can kindof simplize with you in a way as
well, like symplies of anyone who'shad their relatives have to spend a long
period of time hospitals and having tothere and try and function and every day
society, especially if you're a kidas well, I could be really hard.
Yeah, because you don't be couldyou don't know, you know,
(04:26):
you just kind of like you youdepend on your parents for everything, and
then your parents are busy with youknow, your other sibling who's sick,
and so you kind of like wheredo I fit into this, you know
what I mean? And like Isaid, having having an older brother who
was like very demanding, and youknow, he was this guy he because
you know, being a being agay teen in the nineties was quite a
liberating thing to go out to youknow, you know, lamb up and
(04:48):
go to the clubs and be olderthan you were really, you know what
I mean. So so my brotherkind of really struck my parents attention a
lot of the time because I'm like, wall, you got a Manchester and
hanging out with blokes. It's likehow old are you? You know,
I mean, it's kind of like, oh man, So yeah, it
was, Yeah, I think thatlike family dynamic. And I rote about
this in my book. I've gota second book coming up in August,
(05:10):
and it's called Autism for Adults,which is a guy a practical guide to
living on spectrum. But I kindof go through parables of like, you
know, my experience growing up.I always say, it's like, you
know, family unit and figuring outyour place. It's difficult for any sibling
or parents or child or whatever.But when you're on the spectrum, it
like magnifies. I feel like autismmagnifies anything, problems and happiness, you
(05:32):
know, it magnifies those things.So your problems are ten times more problematic,
but also your happiness is ten timesmore exciting, you know what I
mean? Oh yeah, as well, Like with the staming part of it,
obviously, it's a child like itsstems are like very much apparent they're
saying. And then I think asyou grow up you have to mask those
stems and to then to the pointwhere you have a lot more subtle stems,
(05:56):
like for me, for example,why I don't know, kind of
like clap clapping, like sort ofclasping my hands together, or like feet
tapping, or you just don't liketapping my hands on my knees, that
kind of thing. Yes, yeah, that's very like subtle stims that I
normally do. I don't know aboutyou, but um, I think as
(06:16):
I sort of got older, I'velarned to sort of like mark mask those
stims that I previously used to have. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
like you know, I always usedto think about stimming is is I m
for me anyway, MAX means juststimming, and it has to be different
with other people, I guess.But is that it's always involuntary, Like
(06:36):
so if I'm really if I'm reallyhappy or excited, I get gets stimmy,
you know. But if I'm reallyyou know, low mood and I'm
anxious, I get steamy too.But I don't know I'm doing. It's
kind of like a way around.It's a way of expressing that emotion without
being able to actually regulate the emotion, you know what I mean. And
I feel like that's what stimming islike for me, that experience for me,
you know, and so um.But yeah, but with masking stimming,
(07:00):
I didn't mean I'm doing it,So I wouldn't be able to have
masket even if I wanted to.It's such an interesting one, it's I
do think. I do think it'sinteresting as well. I think so.
I think sometimes for example, whenyou talk about emotion in particular, let's
say, for example, it's likeyour birthday, or it's like a special
event, or you get present thatyou don't like, or you have to
(07:24):
try and sound grateful, sometimes Ido find it. Sometimes I do find
it hard to sort of express likethe you know, I'm happy about that
present, but sometimes it's hard forme to actually express how happy I am
about it, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it's it's like, oh, Iwas like, oh this present is
not wonderful. I'm not like shoutyscreaming about I'm like, oh wow,
(07:46):
thank you, like kind of thing. You know, I suppose, I
suppose my family. Over the years, I've just got used to it.
Yeah, yeah, rather than yeahbecause that's what it is. Because because
you know, it's even a giftor or any kind of news good or
bad, you have to react inan emotional way. But if you haven't
had time reacting, you know,or emotional regulation, then how are you
(08:09):
supposed to do that? You knowwhat I mean? It's like, well
how do you you know? Whatare you supposed to do? What's what
are the rules here? And againit's all about these social rules that people
on the spectrum kind of have adifficulty even knowing, rather than the kind
of learning and then reproducing those inyour own way to push out towards people
in a social situation, you know, I mean it's a bit of a
(08:30):
minefield. Yeah, I think.I think, like you say, it's
a bit of a mind field,and it comes down to social norms that
near atypicals have bestowed or throughout historyof you know, acting a certain way
and how society wants us to act. And I suppose society is wide in
a way that is not really inclusiveor beneficial for people like us. No,
(08:54):
because you know, it's we're expectedto make eye contact. I mean
eye contact for me feels like myeyes are on fire if I do.
It's like looking at somebody's soul,isn't it, and like they're tickling down
You're you're souling. You're like,yeah, that's that's basically what it's like.
I kind of have to look likeI kind of have to look at
the bridge of their nose or youknow, or look at something that isn't
(09:16):
their eyes, that kind of thing, because if I do that, well,
my eyes will literally just feel likethey're burning. And you know,
eye contact there's never really been astrong point for me, and I do
find if I'm looking away, I'mactually listening to what that person is saying.
Yeah, because it's a lot easierfor me to digest what they're saying
rather than actually, you know,looking at them, because then I can't
(09:37):
actually digress what they're saying to me. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, it's
funny because that gives you so muchconcentration. Yet people will think you're being
rude or you're not taking it inor whatever, and it's kind of like,
well, no, that's just howI'm dealing with them, so we
process it. Yeah, yeah,definitely. So I wanted to go into
(09:58):
a bit about you, what whatit's like for you to get your diagnosis.
So you were an adult actually whenyou got your diagnosis. I believe
you were the Asia of twenty six. Would you say that getting that diagnosis
was a relief for you? Andwould you say it made sense of you
know, finally knowing why you arethe way you are? Do you know
like it? It was? Itwas? It was really interesting. So
(10:22):
I got the diagnosis and I waslike, I was twenty I was twenty
six years old, so it wastwo thirteen or twenty sold and I was
like, you know, I knewnothing about autism, knew nothing about like
ADHD. You know. The onlything I'd kind of really heard about was
like, I don't know rain Man, but that's not even a thing,
and it was just kind of likeit was a bit of a shock really
(10:43):
because I didn't know what to expect, and so it was it was nice
and in one way, it wasnice to go, oh, I'm not
a total weirdo, you know whatI mean, there's a there's a there's
a reason for this. But atthe same breath, I was like,
Okay, what the hell do Ido now? Like where do I go?
You know, because it was basicallylike huge diagnosis for it is and
we're going to send you out tothe world and there's little to no support
for you as an adult unfortunately.And I was like, right, okay.
(11:05):
And there was like two things Iwas going. I was going to
meet with a guy, a specialist, so we could formulate some kind of
other bits and pieces. But Inever met with him. But now I'm
friends with him. He wants meto work with him, which is quite
ironic. And then um, andthen another guy was called David Oliver.
Now he was an ASD social workerand like a key worker support worker from
(11:26):
the government. I worked with himand straight away and that was actually good
because what happened. What happened isDavid introduced me into like a social club
for autism on the island where Ilive, in Anglicy in North Wales.
And what that data was that Iwas able to meet other people with the
same condition and the same kind oflike struggles as me, and I felt
less alienated. It was the firstone in my life where I felt kind
(11:48):
of like, um, I feltyou know, human, or I felt
part of society. Up until thatpoint, i'd been really ostragized from society
because that's how autism makes you feel, right, and so it was.
It was an interesting time. Itwas like and trying and then trying to
to rational with yourself. You're likeaheah, that's that's nah, man,
it's it's wrong. They're wrong.I'm fine, Like there's wrong me,
(12:11):
not like you know, I meanlike I feel like everybody else. There's
a bit weird, Like you kindof put a sposter syndrome about it,
because when you're an adult getting it, you've lived your whole life and people
saying that you're one way, andthen actually you get this condition diagnosed and
it's like, oh, there's awhole thing about it, and then like
so where does that put you?Mentally? You know, and and socially
and relationship wise, it's just abit of a it was it was interesting.
(12:35):
I had an interesting experience. Ijust put it like that. Yeah,
and you and like you said,I suppose again diagnosed as an adult
is like so eddy and showing OhI've you know, I've lift my whole
life about getting a label put ontome. Now all of a sudden,
I've got this label put onto me, and I have to, you know,
basically go into everyday society and tryand try to function and the best
(12:58):
way I can. It's like,oh, okay, that makes and you
kind of like you said earlier,Oh it makes sense why I'm totally not
a weirdo or I'm a weirdough becauseI think there's a lot of misconceptions around
autism and in and we're still tryingto break those negative connotations around it.
You know, I can say withRainman and stuff like that, because I
(13:18):
was the only real representation at thetime, and even then that was even
then you look at it now andthat was a stereotype because I'd tell you
what, I'm no good at maths, absolutely shocking at maths. But you're
absolutely right. You know. Thething about rain Man is that like it's
a fantastic movie. I don't knowyou've seen it. It's a fantastic movie.
I think, a fantastic job.It's great. But the thing about
(13:39):
it is that Rainman is on theopposite spectrum. But he's a savant.
So he's what you would call usedto be called classical autism or or high
support needs autism savant, which basicallymeant that he was very much ineptive communicating,
and that is who for a lotof autistic individuals on that level of
(14:01):
severity. But when you you know, I've got a friend who's non verbal,
you know Abby from there's a YouTubechannel called father and Autism and friends
of those guys an Abbey, they'rea daughter who who's autistic. Um,
she's you know, she's non verbal, but she can communicate, you know,
she had she had more communication thanDustin Hoffman does as Rainman, which
is based on a character called kimPeak, which is he's a savant,
(14:22):
right, so there's a lot ofkim Peaks has passed away a few years
ago. But like, but there'sa lot of kind of misconceptions because people
see rain Man and think, like, oh, every autoriperson must be savant.
But there are they're not, youknow. I mean, it's like
there's a huge there's a huge deficitthere between, like you said, the
intellectual intellectual disability and also the excessiveIQ for things like mathematics. Well,
(14:45):
you know, not everyone's a mathematicalgenius on the autism spectrum, but you
know, and I think that withthe the only media forward representation of autism,
it kind of kicked us in theknackers a bit. But I mean,
since then, there's been all kindsof things, but it's it's feeling
far between. Because back in theday, everyone would have watched dream Man
because it was a movie that cameout. Now you're get in six movies
(15:05):
a minute being released on Netflix.It's like, oh, where do we
go? You know what I mean. You don't have the same captive audience.
It's a fantastic time to be alive, but also with digesting content at
a rapid rate, which is hencethe reason why I do what I do
on YouTube. Yeah, and Ithink I think as well, there is
a lot more shows or documentaries nowshowing a more realistic representation of what living
(15:28):
with autisms like in the date andthe date to day life and the struggles
and the positives that come with that. And I think I think as well.
There's shows and that Felix I saida Typical being one of them,
I don't actually send that, andI think I think I worked on a
Typical. Yeah, there's another one. I think there's another one. I
(15:48):
can't think. I can't think ofthe name. There's there's a Love on
the Spectrum USA and Australia. There'sLove on the Spectrum UK coming soon.
I worked with them on that thatI worked on A Typical. I came
in with Netflix on before season onewas released. They filmed the whole thing
raw, and they came in andI did a consultation with them to kind
of you if you've watched it Typicalfrom series one to season four or whatever,
(16:10):
there's a difference between Salmon season oneand Salmon season't two, and so
you can see my input between seasonone and season two where I was like,
hey, you've got to strip itback. He's got to be more
natural into this. You know,he doesn't have every single trait going.
But that was really good. Ithink it Typical did a really good job.
But you've also got heartbreak high withChloe it's not an autistic kind of
forward show, but it has anautistic character. And my friend Chloe plays
(16:33):
plays Quinn's an autistic go and Ihaven't seen it yet, but everyone you
know, won awards and some havingre reviews, so there's so much more
going on. I was progressive,right, rather than digressive, like oh
yeah there is. There's even adocumentary recently and it's comasbit talking. Chris
Packham's done a six part I mean, it's a six part doctor venture about
(16:56):
what he's like for those living onthe spectrum. And one of the people
I know that was on there,um, you know, a good friend
of mine, he was, hewas on there thing episode two yeah,
yeah, yeah, the one withthat yeah, the one with the you
know, like long hair. Yeah, he was on there. And he
does like music and stuff. Yeah, he was on there, and you
(17:17):
know, and it's good to seelike the realism about it. It's really
good to see the realism. Ithink more like shows and documentaries needs to
be like that rather than just seetypical stereotypes. Yeah, because like that's
that that is the problem. Youget like stereotypes, but then you get
abysmal attempts like that um, theone see I did, did you see?
(17:40):
Yes? Yes, yes, lookingI mean and the thing looks like
I tell you something. I'm notagainst. I'm not against people trying to
include autism in mainstream media. I'mnot. I'm also not against people being,
um, not autistic, playing autisticcharacters. I get that sometimes that
has to happen, right, butbut just in the same way, I
(18:03):
know that autistic people can play nonautistic characters, you know, like Dana
Croyd plays non utistic characters all thetime, and he's on the spectrum,
right, Um, And I getit, you know, but but there
is there's a certain line that youdon't cross. And I think that Sears
movie was disrespectfully and tasteful and itwas like, oh my god, like
it was probably one of the worstthings I had ever scene, because we'd
(18:25):
seen this fully abled, glamorous dancergirl just then pretending to be and it
was just it was it was likemega cringe fest five thousand. So yeah,
I mean, see, that's whatwe got to battle against as well.
And she didn't even rectify anything.She didn't say, oh, you
know, I'm really sorry, maybeshould work them up, But she's like,
no, I'm owning this as amasterpiece. It's like, yeah,
you arrogant, you know. Itwas just it was horrible. Yeah,
(18:48):
yeah, it was. It wasan absolute, absolute car crash of a
movie. Yeah, car crash.It was absolutely car crash in the best
of words. And I think alot there was lot of outrage on line,
rightfully so, and I think andI think I think with that as
well, it was such a poorrepresentation of autism. Yeah, and I
(19:10):
get included an autisiminomasia made. Ithink it's absolutely brilliant because it brings light
to um, you know, autisticpeople and the day to day life and
the struggles and the positives and thepositives around it. But yeah, the
way see it did, it wasabsolute car crash. Ship was just warful.
Her attitude that the word part washer attitude. It's different if like
(19:33):
you come out and you'll be like, ah, you know, because like
look the movie m Power Rangers fromtwenty and eighteen, fantastic movie and the
Blue Ranger. Billy he's on thespectrum and in it, you know,
and the actor is not an autisticactor, but Billy's he he comes across
really well. And he says init. He's like, I'm sorry,
man, you could he fumbled anddid something. And he's like, sorry,
(19:53):
man, I'm on the spectrum,so you have to take it easier.
And they're yeah, okay, that'scool. And it was. It
was done. That was it,you know what I mean. And he
could play on such a character reallywell, just like the guy plays Sam
in a typical he's not an autisticperson, but it plays a really good
artistic character, like and we respectthat because he respected the role. I
feel like with See It and thisother girl, they just they just destroyed
it, you know, they ateit away. But I don't know,
(20:14):
I don't really I don't want totalk bad than anybody, but that was
that was really really bad. Yeah. I think there's another show that I
was to say I completely earlier.The Good Doctor is another one. Again
a good and a good portrayal oflike obviously, Um, he has savant
syndrome and he's trying to, youknow, basically achieve his dream of becoming
a surgeon. Urgeon. That's right, um. And I've watched the episodes
(20:37):
of it and it's and what it'sworth the ad two plays and it's a
really good portrayal. Um, it'sgot rave reviews. Yeah, that one,
Like people were just raving about it, like and I've never seen it,
so I should really, but Iknow all those people were just like
just super into it, and they'reall on the spectrum as well, like,
oh no, you could see thegood doc. It's crazy, the
guys amazing, blah blah blah.Yeah, I've never seen it. No,
(21:00):
it's yeah. I've only said afew a few episodes myself, or
a few clips here and there.But from what I've seen it, it's
it's a really good trial and representationbecause I think it's sort of start um,
they didn't really understand him, andthen they actually saw his capabilities as
a surgeon grow and grow and hewas a much more unified part of the
(21:22):
team. M hmm. I thinkI saw like I think it was like
the trailer for it, where likehe's what he's through an airport and so
he's like very dark to here,and then like he runs over and he
gives him like a truck eut ofme or something like right then and there,
and they're like, wow, let'sget his hands and he's like no,
there's there's like a fracture. Helooks like an extory or something.
He's like, there's a fracture there, and like, no, there isn't.
He's like, yes there is,and like he like proves them all
(21:44):
wrong and it's like kind of thishero story and it was really good.
I think it was very wholesome.Um And I don't know the actor.
I don't think the actors on thespectrum, but I think he didn't have
a good job. Oh yeah,he did a wonderful job. So going
on to your YouTube channel now thatthat you've created. So when you started
your YouTube channel and you created thiscontent, what was your first goals or
(22:08):
intentions behind creating the YouTube channel?And that was really funny, like nothing
to what it is now. Imean, like what my channel does now
was nothing compared to what like Ithought I was going to do when I
was diagnosed. The first thing Idid. It came home and I was
like, Jesus, what the Hell'saspects? Because that's that's what I was
diagnose, the aspects in I waslike, the Hell's aspects? So googled
(22:30):
in I'm dyslexix. So I waslike, I can't read this for buggery.
So I went on YouTube and Ilooked and it was very little videos.
It was a couple of videos ofguying who built like a Tesla coil
and he had like a lead vestthat his dad gave him to help with.
Like it was really bad. Imean, like the videos are quite
depressing. I was like, ohgod, it's not good. So I
was like, oh jeez, whatdo I do? And then I thought,
well, look, I've done twentysix years of being not even diagnosed,
(22:52):
but I've managed to survive just aboutmaybe I've got some value I could
add to somebody, you know,Maybe somebody would be like, hey,
you know this guy, you knowit has been twenty six years and diagnosed,
and I'm twenty six years and diagnosed. Maybe I can learn something from
him. Or he's in twenty sixyears and I've wanted done ten, maybe
I'll learn from him. So Idecided I would put out videos based on
(23:15):
just the ideas of help really andput videos out of a better quality.
And so so I did that,and they weren't. My first view was
terrible, and I had no aspirations. I didn't want to do it as
a job, Like I didn't wantto do the job. It was I
was never in my vocabulary. Ididn't even know you could do it as
a job. And then I kindof like I just wanted to put videos
out there to help people, whichis exactly still want to do today.
The idea behind readi channel is justto help as many people as possible.
(23:37):
It's like my main goal, helpas many people as possible in the short
space of time. And and itjust snowboard like people just started subscribing us
with more videos, and I waslike whoa. And it came to a
point until in seventeen where I waslike I have to do I either have
to go all in on YouTube ornot, you know, because because I
can't I could I couldn't find Icouldn't like try and find a job to
(24:00):
stain an income and do YouTube asa side hustle because I had just too
many things weighing on me and soum and my my partent was pregnant with
our with our first child, myson, so we were like, oh,
geez, you know, what dowe do? And I just was
like, well, I'm just goingto take the risk and I'm just going
to do it, you know,I'm just gonna go like, Okay,
that's me. I'm just going togo for it, and I did,
(24:21):
and it was a best decision tohaving made. But it's it's now become
like this monster archival library of everythingyou can think of, you know,
autism and the spectrum related everything.I mean, like, I have a
team of people who work with meand we do a lot of things.
I travel around the world and youknow, I got two bucks out and
I've got you know, just justcrazy amount things I've doing courses online courses
(24:42):
and membership groups and stuff like that, and coaching and it's like whoa,
you know, there's nothing like Ithought would ever be, but I do,
and I love every second of it. I'm really glad. I'm really
glad that it's sort of snowboard foryou to the point now where you can
sort of do it as a jobto help so many like artistic people and
you know, parents who have alltis, the children and adults. It's
(25:03):
it's it's wonderful to see how howmuch, um how much of a difference
you've made to you know, somany people online and to you know,
sort of give a positive but realisticlights to what autosome is. And I've
watched some of your content myself,and there's other obviously content creators out there
that I've come across that you know, that do really awesome videos on this.
(25:27):
So I want to talk to youa little bit now about autisome relationships
and yeah, and how and howyou got into relationship yourself, because I've
heard you've got a child now anda wife, so yeah, yeah,
it would you like to elaborate onthat place? Yeah, sure course.
So you know, I've never beenon a date in my life. I've
(25:48):
never had a Valentine's Day had inmy life. But I have dated three
women, um and obviously dated,I've courted three women, so you know,
okay, you know spent time withyou women. And I said it
was going out with three different womenand you know, in my time,
not altogether, and it was it'schallenging. The reason that the other relationships
(26:10):
didn't work was because they didn't understandand I was undiagnosed with those people.
But I was diagnosed whilst with mypartner home with now, so kind of
like it was a different ballgame.She she understood, she saw its coming
from and she she learned the diagnosisrather than just seeing me there's some kind
of like weird, narcissistic a whole. She realized that those those problems there,
and there's there's issues there. Sorelationships are so difficult in you know,
(26:36):
you work at relationships anyway, right, you know, with your wife
or your husband. You work atthose relationships because that's what it is.
Anything that's worth having should be hardwork. Nobody gets anything for nothing.
You don't go to the gym andjust wish yourself to be ripped. You
go to the gym and you workyour ass up, and it's hard work
and you come out with a sixpack at the end of it. You
know. I mean so like everythingthat you want in life is hard work
because it should be. But youenjoy that work. It's part of the
(26:56):
process. You know, you're ahuman, like deal with it. That's
what we do. Nothing is easy, and that's a good thing. It
trains us, It conditions us.And relationships are no different. The only
differences with autistic people is that youhave added steps of communication issues, and
I think how you overcome those isby being completely open, completely honest and
(27:18):
learning different things. Like I teacha lot about like relationship, Like you
know, what am I doing this? Situation, what are we doing in
that situation? And a lot ofit is to do with like saying,
okay, well you know my meand my wife had had a row.
You know what I do? Well, I first need to calm down and
go to different room and then comeback to the situation and assess it because
you can't because altatically, we can'ta motion and regulate themselves on the at
(27:41):
that minute. Because of something calledalexa tima. It takes a long time,
you know, minutes, hours maybefor an autistic person to really understand
the situation that they're in emotionally tothen be able to somehow relate that back
to the person that is in question. So it's learning those things that really
helps excel relationship. But it doeshave as challenges just like anything else.
But you know, like I said, you know my you know my thoughts
(28:03):
on those things. So it's it'syou know, I don't know, it's
not a it's not a it's notsomething that because a lot of people say
I'll never find love. I waslike, no, of course you will.
But like it's just how are yougoing to work out that? Are
you going to are you going toput that time and effort in um and
that's the difference. You know,the expectations on relationships have to be realistic.
(28:25):
Yeah, for sure. And we'vespoke we spoke about quite a bit
throughout this episode, which which iswhich has been absolutely fantastic. So a
for the people that perhaps don't knowwho you are, You've obviously you've obviously
got a book and you've got asecond boochery to come out. How could
people check you out online? SoI'm available on every single social media platform
(28:48):
that exists, like not seriously,So you can just type in the Aspy
World, which is the th hE s p I E w O r
L d um at the Aspy Worldon every single social media platform, find
me there looking about. I putvideos every single day on every single platform,
and I kid you not every singleplatform, and you'll find videos daily
from you actually YouTube sometimes two videosa day, Facebook two videos a day,
(29:11):
Instagram at least a video a day, Twitter video a day, everything
you can think of, a blogpost every single day. We also have
a podcast goes out every single day. So yeah, just you just type
in the asking world and you'll findme. And I actually talked to every
single person as welve. So ifyou guys got a question, if anybody
wants to ask me anything and learnmore about themselves, you can really reach
out. Why not. Yeah,just yeah, And I'll put those links
(29:34):
in the description when this episode comesout as well as people can see more
of the brilliant work that you do. So yeah, I just want to
say as well, Daniel, thankyou for taking the time to come on
a podcast today. It doesn't meana lot. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to connect.
And hey, maybe we could doit again and have a little bit more
(29:55):
fun again sometimes soon. Yeah,that'd be wonderful. Okay, and thank
you all for this. You guys, have a good one and goodbye.
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