A Look into Autistic Minds: An Interview
Although mental health is becoming a more popular conversation topic, disabilities are still often overlooked and misunderstood. The general public is often unaware of what autism is actually like, so many believe common stereotypes. Wesley Greenfield and Tiffany Franklin are future and current Toccoa Falls College students who live with autism. The Talon got to speak with Greenfield and Franklin about their opinions on common stereotypes and individual, everyday experiences with an autistic mind.
Wesley Greenfield
Wesley Greenfield, 17, is a high school senior from southeastern Georgia, and he will be attending TFC in Fall 2023. Greenfield was diagnosed with autism and ADD (now considered ADHD with an emphasis on inattention) when he was five years old.
Talon: “What are your autism symptoms?”
Wesley Greenfield: “What [people with autism] do care about, we really have interest in. We spend a lot of time indulging ourselves in that topic or researching about it or just looking into it more. Some [obsessive interests] last for years, some last for a week. I don’t think I have too much of a sensory thing, but I have very sensitive hands. Like, every time I touch the dogs, the dog food, or even just touch dirt or something like that, I can feel the residue on my hands and it really, really bothers me. And so I wash them all the time.”
Talon: “How would you define autism?”
WG: “I would say [autism] is a label that identifies people who have an abstract way of thinking, and use that abstract way of thinking to introduce different special behaviors into their way of action. Generally, living with autism is just being someone who has a more abstract way of thinking, and that leads them to gain a certain level of anxiety about things. I understand everything perfectly. I just can’t put it into words.”
Talon: “What do you think about the phrase, ‘You don’t look autistic’?”
WG: “Autism doesn’t have a look. There are people who, when they think of autism, they think of the loudness, because there are loud autistic people and there are quiet autistic people. When they mean ‘you don’t look autistic,’ I think they mean really performing the outward movements or signs that they would expect from someone with autism.”
Talon: “What do you think about the phrase, ‘Autism is a spectrum and we’re all on it’?”
WG: “It’s like saying everyone is injured, but some people are more injured than others. It can invalidate people who have [autism].”
Tiffany Franklin
Tiffany Franklin, 19, is a sophomore at TFC. She is a business major with a marketing concentration. Franklin has “highly suspected” autism. She has gone undiagnosed her whole life. When Franklin was five years old, her mother noticed that she showed common adolescent autistic symptoms, such as a lack of speech. Her mother took her to get diagnosed, but the doctors and psychiatrists refused to even test her. When she recently asked her doctor about getting tested for autism, her doctor brushed it off, claiming that she did not need to get tested because she made good grades. Franklin believes that because she is a woman, she is more likely to mask her autism, and is less likely to be tested.
Talon: “What are your autism symptoms?”
Tiffany Franklin: “I have a very bad sensory issue as a whole, depending on the sound, depending on the feel, the texture, the smell of it. I’ve realized now that if I can’t live in silence then that’s an autistic trait. Definitely special interests or hyperfixations…mine either last forever or they last a really short amount of time. I will fixate on that one little thing, and just love it and consume that one little bit of content. Stimming, I don’t do that to a degree. I did it growing up but I rarely do it now because of suppressing it. I guess I wouldn’t call it stimming anymore. Now, I have just incorporated it into more socially acceptable ways.”
Talon: “How would you define autism?”
TF: “[Autism] is a different way of perceiving and processing the world, and using that perception to shape how we act. Because I’m a woman with autism, I was already conditioned to mask, so it’s harder to apply my abstract thinking. I try to cater to societal norms, but then I still misinterpret them.”
Talon: “What do you think about the phrase, ‘You don’t look autistic’?”
TF: “That makes me wonder: What do you think autism is? What would look like autism to you? Do I have to be spastic and insane and creepy and weird? Is that what you’re wanting? Because that’s insulting. It’s very derogatory.”
Talon: “What do you think about the phrase ‘Women can’t have autism’?”
TF: “Because women are conditioned differently than men, they’re gonna show autism differently. They can have [autism], and it can manifest similarly to a man, or differently. [Women] are trained to mask more. The only reason you don’t think women have autism is because they mask all the time, because that’s what they’re ‘supposed to do.’”
Talon: “What do you think about the phrase, ‘Autism is a spectrum and we’re all on it’?”
TF: “I do not think that everyone has a ‘little bit’ of autism. I think that a lot of people have [autism] and it just comes down to the misconception again of high-functioning and low-functioning and what qualifies as autism. That’s why people go undiagnosed. ‘We’re all on the spectrum…’ No, you do actually have autism and no one is letting you know that.”
Greenfield and Franklin are among many who are frustrated about generalizations and stereotypes surrounding autism. They live their lives being hyper-aware of and catering to societal norms, even though the autistic mind thinks and perceives the world differently than what society says is “correct” or “right.” A person with autism should not have to be condemned for living their life a little differently than what the social rulebook says. In this interview, Greenfield and Franklin have provided for us just a glimpse into the autistic mind.
Reflect: Do you know anyone who lives with autism? What misconceptions impact them? How can you speak life into people you may know with autism and advocate against these generalizations and stereotypes in your own heart and in others?