Chris Packham, Asperger's and Me

This was such a moving + honest programme.

What a wonderful programme I was transfixed listening to him as he talked about his life with autism what an erudite gentleman

I agree, enlightening and sensitive.
Chris Packham is an inspiration to young people with Aspergers and to their parents who must worry about how their children will fare as adults.
I found myself really warming to him for his honesty and insight.
Lovely programme.

We met him a few years ago and he was lovely; very friendly and chatty.

Poor tadpole, though.

Totally agree, well and sensitively presented programme.
About a year ago The Times ran an article on GCHQ. 70% of their employees are on the auststic spectrum. They are able to focus entirely on a problem, mainly code-breaking, a rare talent few of us possess.
The other point that the reporter made was that unlike other work places that he'd experienced, there was no chatting or gossiping in shared areas .

It seems I should have carried on watching this but after the biting a tadpole in two and licking a beetle's bum reflections, I couldn't take any more.

Watch it on your tablet or catch up it’s well worth it Eloethan it really is I m not a great wildlife programme follower so although I knew Chris Packham I d never followewed his programmes I was truely moved and found his honesty beautiful to listen to, I was totally transfixed What a lovely man and how wonderful his relationship with both his partner (not easy for her) and his step daughter is

I was appalled by the US way or trying to eradicate autism by cruelly ‘retraining’ small children It’s like Iceland trying to completely remove downs by aborting babies we all need to accept differences and indeed enjoy them

My GD has Aspergers. It gave me great hope for her. What an inspiration Chris Packham is .

What an interesting man and program. Loved his house and its location and the devotion he shows to his little dog.

Something to watch on catch up today.

I could have cried for that little schoolboy and the teenager that was him.

I was aware that he has Asperger's, and found the programme very moving. This Radio Times article was interesting too.
www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-10-17/chris-packham-aspergers/

I agree with the above posts. It was a well presented and sensitive programme, very moving and at times disturbing - the way those poor children in America were being treated seemed to be like something from out of the ark. Do they not realise that for some people with autism, being touched generates pain? Yet these children were being man handled, and forced to sit down. Terrible. The other hospital in America where electrical pulses to the neurones in the brain were being used left me feeling very uncomfortable indeed.On the ther side of the coin, employers in silicone valley have a quite different approach into helping prospective employees with asbergers cope with interview procedures and many successfully acquire posts.

Aspergers not asbergers - sorry!

Just watched it [thanks to phoenix for recommending it; I probably would have avoided it]. Was in tears for most of it [still am]. As I said, we met Chris several years ago; he gave a talk at a local school and we then spoke to him afterwards. I had no idea that he had Aspergers [other than the fact that he had obsessively collected owl pellets throughout his life]. For some reason, since then I've been fiercely protective of him [there has been criticism of him on here at times, if my memory is correct]. I can so relate to things he does, such as eating the same food; wearing the same clothes; needing solitude etc. I saw a film many years ago about an American child with Aspergers [wish I could remember what it was called] and that there were places in Romania that offered conductive education for autistic children [in fact, my niece worked in that area for a while]. I've also long believed [and I'm so glad it was touched on in the programme] that if some people in society weren't on the spectrum the world would be a totally different place; would love to go back in time and find out how many great inventors had Aspergers [quite a few I would imagine. My ex is definitely on the spectrum; a brilliant engineer and a thoroughly decent person who has real problems dealing with anything emotional; it made for a very lonely marriage for both of us. Now worrying about Chris's dog . I'm sure no tadpoles were actually harmed in the making of the programme....

..I've always thought it was Asbergers with a 'b'....

Didn’t those scenes in America make you think of the most primitive efforts at mental health care? Bedlam or at least One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
And the electrodes on the brain made me shudder - Brave New World at its worst.

Yes; very disturbing. However the man in charge did say that many of the children treated there were not classed as having autism after the treatment. I wish they'd given more information/questioned that more.

Yes Mawboon that’s what I thought really worrying and the changes to the brain..... it’s the same with ADHD someone on here can correct me if I m wrong but I think they encourage kids to be on Ritalin or similar to even be in school in USA
Tegan I think that’s the worrying part saying they no longer have it have they been changed to such an extent they are no longer themselves ....how awful is that

What happened to, is it, Itchy or Scratchy? Only he definately had two at one time. The one left must be incredibly ancient.

He still had Scratchy in the programme so Itchy must have gone. I've often wondered why he has poodles and assumed he's allergic to dogs. Which makes sense of his naming of them.

Interesting as well how he said music was so important to him in his teens; something that does define us all when we reach a certain age.

Seeing how devastated CP was when his kestrel died, I think the loss of the second dog will be awful for him. He mentioned them being around in 2004 so there can't be too much time left.