Thomas Henley is a 23-year-old Biomedical Sciences honors graduate from the University of Manchester, an autistic Commonwealth Gold Medalist in Taekwondo, and a self-taught online content creator on YouTube and Anchor.

In this documentary, Thomas explores the different views and experiences of people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and those involved with them. From the decorated Taekwondo instructor, to an experienced special needs expert, to the autistic charity co-founder of Salford autism. Thomas intends to identify the reasons for the outstanding statistics on mental health in autistics, and find some suitable answers that may help in combatting this problem in the future.

This film is a final year science communication project, created as part of a Biomedical Sciences degree from the University Of Manchester. All individuals in the video have either given signed consent to be apart of this film or have been blurred to protect their privacy. Those consenting individuals have also signed a video release form to allow the sharing of this film on YouTube and various other social media platforms.

Any complaints, inquiries or questions about the film should be directed towards the creator's email: aspergersgrowth@gmail.com

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In the past few decades, there have been many changes to the fabric of our society that would quite honestly blow the minds of our predecessors. Medicine, psychology, technology and social change, have all been seen to by the dramatic and revolutionary minds of our time.

Autism; once thought to be a terrible affliction of the mind, has branched off into many specific and very different classifications. Asperger's Syndrome, a so-called 'high functioning' diagnosis, has been refined and redefined over the years... but what do autistic people actually feel about the crossover between the medical textbooks and their real-life experiences?

We have a problem. The statistics around the mental health and quality of life experienced by individuals with autism are severely underappreciated. There is a wealth of information and statistical analyses out there that show just how tragic a diagnosis of autism can actually be... but don't be fooled, this is may not be the result of inherent differences in biology and neurocircuitry.

The word 'autism' comes with many prejudgements and expectations that are almost automatically retrieved from our brains when we hear it. Disabled, strange, vulnerable, the weird kid; these are all common things that many people would associate with the condition. Many people on the autistic spectrum do not believe they are disabled, many would never choose to be any other way. Autism is generally seen to be a list of sensory, behavioral and social difficulties, but it is also associated with a whole host of intellectual gifts, positive personality traits, and talents.

Bullying, alienation, severe mental health disorders, unemployment, lack of support, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and acts.
These may just be simple words on a page, but one only has to do a quick internet search to find evidence for just a few of these unpleasant realities. The terrible truth is that assuming autism is 'BAD' thing, may be hiding the very real issues that lie below the surface. These issues lay silently in the dark, afflicting thousands of individuals both young and old without any discrimination, but the label.

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♫ THOUGHTY AUTI PODCAST Get it on:
☼ Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thoughty-auti-the-autism-mental-health-podcast/id1470689079
☼ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6vjXgCB7Q3FwtQ2YqPjnEV
☼ Anchor - https://anchor.fm/thoughtyauti