Overcoming Autism | Make Me Normal (Full Documentary) | Only Human

When he got in that bin and spoke about his mother, that was powerful.

As someone who has lived with autism her entire life I'd like to point out that when you watch documentaries like these it's important to keep in mind that everyone with autism is different and has different challenges.      There are many people with autism who feel the way those in this documentary do and there are also those who don't want to be made normal and are quite comfortable living in the autistic world; they don't want to be fixed in anyway.

It's a little unfair to film the kids having meltdowns and outbursts and stigmatize that with dramatic music or whatever. It's an emotional reaction, they clearly know it's wrong. And then cut to the professor saying "I'd be angry, if I'd had a hand like that"...idk, it just seems like it doesn't allow the students any dignity.

I have aspergers and it makes really hard for me to understand people’s feelings and I have trouble listening to people

44:58 is my favorite part. You can tell Roxanne really likes Liam and she's just desperate to not fuck things up. She's trying so hard to be a good friend.

People with autism are valuable and worthy! 🔥

You can tell that the principal truly cares about these children. They're all so precious!

I am Autistic as well, I constantly get made fun of and get shamed for my obsessions and interests. It's just hard living with it.. I get angry too much and say things that gets me in trouble. I never mean what I say, it just comes out on its own. Luckily now, I am doing fine and my friends and family are doing their best to support me.

Autism has made me a better mother, it has given me patience and made me militant at the same time. It has made me compassionate and a willing advocate for my little lady. I never felt led to medicate her, and she's fourteen now and doing very well. I raised three non autistic children to be great adults, yet all of my experience of motherhood meant nothing to raising my autistic child, she made something that I swore that I knew to be nothing at all. It was truly like nothing that I had ever experienced in motherhood. It whooped me, inspired me, made me cry,scream and even rejoice to every single one of her milestones. It truly made me into a better person. I consider myself blessed and I overlook the bad, I overlook the isolation from society because in my opinion, I'm already in the greatest of company!

these kids need a physical outlet for their frustration. they really should have a readily available gym for them to let off steam.

My son has moderate autism an he's 3 this will be a journey wit my lil man.🖤🏈dad luv you phatman⚾️🖤

My brother is possibly a person with asperger. My parents did not realize it. I was the only one in the family that realized he has something different about him. His extra sensitivity to noise, smell can result in outburst of anger. He acts like a child despite being in his late 30s. He refused to go to get assessed and broken down crying saying that he was normal.

i'm on the spectrum myself and had to deal with a lot of struggles throughout my whole life esp. childhood. when i watched this documentary yesterday night it made me think a lot about the past, my childhood and how i felt perceived by my fellow humans since ever. i was raised to never show anyone what my 'problem/ diagnose' is rather then to just fit in. when actually this was the most impossible task. anyways... when i got older (i'm over 40 now) i noticed more details about the differences between me and my 'normal' surroundings. and since i accepted that it's not all wrong with me and that my way of perceiving the world sometimes actually is an advantage i'm really ok. sure it's still hard as hell gathering enough energy and go out to interact with people on a daily basis. and i still can spend days on my own just thinking and processing what's going on around me. but i'm strong enough to live a self-determined life with a constant job and my own flat...just like the so-called normal people do. that's what i missed in this doc... that the school constantly focussed on the weaknesses and differences instead of working on the strong aspects of each character. at least that was my impression. imo these kids were taught to hold their diagnose like a shield and excuse for their bad behaviour. i grew up with a 5 siblings (2 of them are on the spectrum as well, plus my father was too)and there was absolutely no way anyone could have thrown a tantrum like displayed. you do that once, maybe twice but then you know your place an learn the importance of respecting other persons boundaries bcs with every tantrum there will be a backlash/ consequences. since the doc is from 2005 maybe the times changed and the therapists have new/ different approaches...idk. in my experience acting out aggressions can be managed very good with movement/ exercising...like hiking, running or swimming. it helps a lot to cope with the constant tension and it clears the head from to much thought-clutter. and as a kid i had a dog to care for. that was also very helpful bcs my dog always made me feel confident with others arround. things i missed in this school. were there any programms apart from singing and crafting? these kids got to me as each of them was/ is so unique as a person (like everyone is, i know) and it really made me cry watching them in their personal war with themselves. esp. roxanne and that little star-wars-fan (sorry, forgot you name).. i really hope these kids made their way and that they are good. my heart goes out to you. <3

"I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't autistic you know?" :( 💔

I can't even imagine what it would be like to have autism, to struggle so much to understand human relationships and interactions, but to WANT to so much. It hurts my heart.

The headmaster seems so empathetic and kind which I think you would need to be in that position to make a positive impact

A girl in our grade has Autism but we respect her and help her as best as we could ❤️

I feel like this video paints a very negative image of autism. I'm autistic, and I mean, I was bullied a lot as a kid, and had a difficult time while growing up, but there are positive aspects to being autistic too. I think people tend not to show the good side of autism in almost every video I watch. An example of autism being positive is that my autism eventually made me great at reading people because I spent so much time trying to understand them and why they act the way they do. There are plenty more but I'm not trying to write a novel here, I just think using terms like autism "infects" however many people, and things like that make people fear autism when it's not something to be feared. We're different, not less.

That little girl flipping off the camera man and then saying "Thats for you" with a smile gave me life.

My grandson is 14 and a little like the first young man except He's not oppositional. He's exceptionally intelligent and he's going to be a train engineer or roller coaster designer. It was easy when he was young but he just turned 14 and now, it's harder. He doesn't have a single friend. He was sick and in hospital and no one even said get well. It's heartbreaking to see how isolated his autism has made him but I told him he'd grow into himself someday and when he made friends, they'd be real friends. He's asked me if I could fix him 😢 I told him he's fine. It's the "normal" world that's messed up. I sometimes think we'd all be better off if we all had some autism. We'd darn sure be kinder