09/02/2025
I caused a small explosion in a child’s brain on Saturday (metaphorically speaking).
I was in Chippenham for a Rubik’s cube tournament, and a competitor I know came along his brother (8 years old and autistic) for the first time. His mum pointed me out, saying “this is Chris – he’s autistic too! He’s got the same kind of awesome brain that you have!”
The boy was immediately dismissive, saying “autism isn’t a good thing, it just means you think different to everyone. Why’s that good?”
He may have asked this rhetorically, but I gave a genuine answer. There was an opportunity here.
“Do you want to know why autism exists?” I asked.
“Why?”
I sat down to give my answer. (And a quick disclaimer- I didn’t come up with this on the spot. I speak professionally about neurodiversity using this analogy, and it works well.)
“Ok, imagine you have ten people on a desert island, they have one hour to build a shelter before a storm arrives, and all of them have exactly the same brain. They only have one set of ideas, one way of looking at the problem, and will probably only come up with one solution.
But now imagine you have ten different people on that island – one’s neurotypical, one’s autistic, one’s dyslexic, one has ADHD and so on.
THAT way, you have TEN different sets of ideas, and they’re ten times more likely to get that shelter built- as long as they listen to each other.”
He looked like he immediately understood. Then I finished by saying:
“THAT’s why autism exists. Because humans do so much better when they can think about problems in lots of different ways!”
And then BANG. The look on his face…
People talk all the time about seeing the instant someone has an “I get it!” moment, but in my experience they’re rarely as stark as that boy’s face – from the wide expanding of the eyes, to the looking away from me in a moment of “wow, I need to process this for a second”.
Best moment of the day, by far. (And this was a day when I solved a 7x7x7 cube in under seven minutes. Three times.)
One of my ‘catchphrases’ when speaking is “human progress relies on diversity of thought”. It’s a fact that our species relies on, which is all too easily forgotten when we're too busy pathologising difference, or treating autistic people as inferior (and when autistic people are busy obediently believing it).
Like I said, I don’t just use this analogy with children. I use it with companies when discussing why neurodiversity in the workplace isn’t just a piece of performative inclusion, but an active part in improving your company. I use it in school staff training. I use it in general conversation while geeking out about neurodiversity.
I won't be forgetting the look in that boy’s face for a long time. In a day packed with speedsolving Rubik’s cubes, that was by far the most important moment.
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