TED演讲 | 自闭症是上天赐给我的礼物！
Alix Generous女士患有亚斯伯格症候群，这是一种高功能自闭症。她曾经自卑胆小，能走上TED讲台对她来说是一条艰难和漫长的路。这次她将和大家分享她的经历，同时告诉大家其实很多自闭症患者拥有天才般的想法和创意，但往往因为沟通障碍，这些优秀的思想经常没能被分享。自闭症患者常常被忽略，被欺负，她希望能改变这种状况，让世界看到他们的才能，也呼吁全社会给他们勇气来追逐自己的梦想。
演讲者：Alix Generous
演讲题目：How I learned to communicate my inner life with Asperger's
Today, I want to talk to you about dreams.
今天，我想跟大家谈谈「梦」。
I have been a lucid dreamer my whole life, and it's cooler than in the movies. (Laughter) Beyond flying, breathing fire, and making hot men spontaneously appear ... (Laughter) I can do things like read and write music. Fun fact is that I wrote my personal statement to college in a dream. And I did accepted. So, yeah.
我一生中都做着清醒的梦，它比电影还酷。飞到远处，呼出火焰，安排暖男自然优雅地出现... 在梦里我能做很多事情，比如阅读和创作音乐。有趣的是我在梦里给一个大学写过申请，并且真的被接收了。所以，是的。
I am a very visual thinker. I think in pictures, not words. To me, words are more like instincts and language.
我是个非常视觉化的思考者。我以图片的形式思考，而非文字。对我来说，文字更多是本能和语言。
There are many people like me; Nikola Tesla, for example, who could visualize, design, test, and troubleshoot everything -- all of his inventions -- in his mind, accurately.
有很多人是像我这样的：比如，尼古拉·特斯拉，他能形象化设计、测试、以及修理每件东西——所有他的发明——都在他的意识里，精准地进行着。
Language is kind of exclusive to our species, anyway. I am a bit more primitive, like a beta version of Google Translate. (Laughter)
不管怎样，我们这类人是比较排斥语言的。而我更原始一点，我就像谷歌翻译，还是测试版。
My brain has the ability to hyper-focus on things that interest me. For example, once I had an affair with calculus that lasted longer than some celebrity marriages. (Laughter)
我的大脑会高度集中于感兴趣的事物，比如，我曾经爱上微积分学，爱得比一些名人的婚姻还久一些。
There are some other unusual things about me. You may have noticed that I don't have much inflection in my voice. That's why people often confuse me with a GPS. (Laughter) This can make basic communication a challenge, unless you need directions. (Laughter) Thank you. (Applause)
还有一些关于我的不寻常的事情。大家可能注意到了，在我的声音里，没有多少音调变化。因此人们经常分不清我和GPS导航的声音。这会对基本的交流带来挑战，除非你只是想要导航语音。谢谢。
A few years ago, when I started doing presentations, I went to get head shots done for the first time. The photographer told me to look flirty. (Laughter) And I had no idea what she was talking about. (Laughter)
几年前，当我开始做公开演讲时，我第一次去拍头像写真，摄影师让我表现得妩媚。然而我不知道她说的是什么。
She said, "Do that thing, you know, with your eyes, when you're flirting with guys."
她说，“就那样，你懂的，用你的眼睛，像你在跟别人调情一样。”
"What thing?" I asked. "You know, squint."
“什么样？”我问。“比如…斜视。”
And so I tried, really. It looked something like this. (Laughter) I looked like I was searching for Waldo. (Laughter)
然后我试了，真的。看起来就像这样。我看起来就像在寻找沃尔多。（译注：一本书《Where's Waldo?》）
There's a reason for this, as there is a reason that Waldo is hiding. (Laughter)
这是有原因的，就如同沃尔多藏起来也是有原因的。
I have Asperger's, a high-functioning form of autism that impairs the basic social skills one is expected to display. It's made life difficult in many ways, and growing up, I struggled to fit in socially. My friends would tell jokes, but I didn't understand them. My personal heroes were George Carlin and Stephen Colbert -- and they taught me humor.
我有亚斯伯格症候群，一种高功能自闭症，会削弱一个人本该具有的基本社交能力。它使生活在很多方面变得困难，在成长的过程中，我很难适应社交活动。朋友们说笑时，我却无法理解。我心中的英雄，是乔治·卡尔林 和史蒂芬·科尔伯特——他们教我幽默。
My personality switched from being shy and awkward to being defiant and cursing out a storm. Needless to say, I did not have many friends. I was also hypersensitive to texture. The feel of water on my skin was like pins and needles, and so for years, I refused to shower. I can assure you that my hygiene routine is up to standards now, though. (Laughter)
我的性格，从害羞与笨拙，变得叛逆，满是怨恨和诅咒。不用说，我没有多少朋友。我对触觉也有过激反应。皮肤碰到水的感觉让我如坐针毡，所以在很多年里，我都拒绝淋浴。不过我现在能向你们保证我的日常卫生是合格的了。
I had to do a lot to get here, and my parents -- things kind of got out of control when I was sexually assaulted by a peer, and on top of everything, it made a difficult situation worse. And I had to travel 2,000 miles across the country to get treatment, but within days of them prescribing a new medication, my life turned into an episode of the Walking Dead.
我和我的父母，花了很大功夫才让我变成现在这样——在某次我遭到性别歧视之后，病情开始变得无法控制，原本就很困难的情况被搞得更加糟糕。我不得不穿越2000英里的国土去接受治疗。但是吃了他们给我开的新药没几天，我的生活就像是活在《行尸走肉》的某一集里。
I became paranoid, and began to hallucinate that rotting corpses were coming towards me. My family finally rescued me, but by that time, I had lost 19 pounds in those three weeks, as well as developing severe anemia, and was on the verge of suicide.
我变得偏执妄想，并开始出现幻觉：腐烂的尸体们不断向我涌来。我的家庭最终拯救了我，但在接受治疗的三周里，我整整瘦了19磅，患上了严重的贫血，并且处于自杀的边缘。
I transferred to a new treatment center that understood my aversions, my trauma, and my social anxiety, and they knew how to treat it, and I got the help I finally needed. And after 18 months of hard work, I went on to do incredible things.
我被转移到一个新的治疗中心，那是一个真正能理解我的厌恶、创伤、以及社交焦虑的地方，并且他们知道怎么治疗。我最终得到了所需的帮助。在18个月的努力之后，我的生活得以继续，可以去做美妙的事情。
One of the things with Asperger's is that oftentimes, these people have a very complex inner life, and I know for myself, I have a very colorful personality, rich ideas, and just a lot going on in my mind. But there's a gap between where that stands, and how I communicate it with the rest of the world. And this can make basic communication a challenge.
亚斯伯格症候群患者的一个特点是…这些人往往有着非常复杂的内心世界。并且，我知道就我来说，我有非常多彩的个性，丰富的想法，并且很多想法正存在于我的意识当中。但有个障碍，阻碍着我的意识与世界的联系。这就给基本的交流带来了挑战。
Not many places would hire me, due to my lack of social skills, which is why I applied to Waffle House. (Laughter) Waffle House is an exceptional 24-hour diner -- (Laughter) (Applause) thank you -- where you can order your hash browns the many ways that someone would dispose of a human corpse ... (Laughter) Sliced, diced, peppered, chunked, topped, capped, and covered. (Laughter) As social norms would have it, you should only go to Waffle House at an ungodly hour in the night. (Laughter)
由于我的社交能力缺陷，没有多少地方会雇佣我，所以我去申请「华夫之家」的工作。「华夫之家」是一家特别的24小时营业的餐厅——谢谢——在那里你能吃到各种马铃薯饼，它们展现了处理一具尸体的多种方式。切片，切丁，撒胡椒粉，切块，削尖，封顶，以及覆盖。因为有社会规范，你只有在夜里很晚的时候才会去华夫之家。
So one time, at 2 am, I was chatting with a waitress, and I asked her, "What's the most ridiculous thing that's happened to you on the job?" And she told me that one time, a man walked in completely naked. (Laughter) I said, "Great! Sign me up for the graveyard shift!" (Laughter) Needless to say, Waffle House did not hire me.
所以一次在凌晨2点，我与一个女服务员聊天，并问她，“上班时遇到过最荒谬的事情是什么？”她告诉我，一次有一个男人光溜溜地走进来。我说，“真棒！雇我做夜班吧！”不用说，「华夫之家」没有雇我。
So in terms of having Asperger's, it can be viewed as a disadvantage, and sometimes it is a real pain in the butt, but it's also the opposite. It's a gift, and it allows me to think innovatively. At 19, I won a research competition for my research on coral reefs, and I ended up speaking at the UN Convention of Biological Diversity, presenting this research.
所以，关于亚斯伯格症候群，它会被认为是不好的，并且有时它真的是令人极其讨厌的事，但是也有相反的一面。它是一个礼物，使我能创新地思考。19岁时，我的一项关于珊瑚礁的研究，赢得了一个研究竞赛，并且最终得以在联合国的生物多样性大会上发表演讲，公布这项研究。
Thank you. And at 22, I'm getting ready to graduate college, and I am a co-founder of a biotech company called AutismSees. Thank you.
谢谢。现在我22岁，正准备从大学毕业，同时我还是一家生物技术公司的联合创立人，叫「AutismSees」(「自闭症诊断」) 。谢谢。
But consider what I had to do to get here: 25 therapists, 11 misdiagnoses, and years of pain and trauma. I spent a lot of time thinking if there's a better way, and I think there is: autism-assistive technology. This technology could play an integral role in helping people with autistic spectrum disorder, or ASD.
但是请记住我走到今天这一步曾作出过的努力：25位治疗专家，11次误诊，和多年的痛苦与创伤。我花了大量时间思考是否有更好的办法。我想是有的：自闭症辅助技术。这个技术能起绝对重要的作用，帮助泛自闭症障碍患者，（autistic spectrum disorder）也就是ASD。
The app Podium, released by my company, AutismSees, has the ability to independently assess and help develop communication skills. In addition to this, it tracks eye contact through camera and simulates a public-speaking and job-interview experience. And so maybe one day, Waffle House will hire me, after practicing on it some more. (Laughter) And one of the great things is that I've used Podium to help me prepare for today, and it's been a great help.
这个应用软件「Podium」, 是我的公司AutismSees发布的，能够独立地评定、并帮助人们提高交流能力。此外，通过摄像头能追踪眼神接触，并模拟公开演讲和工作面试的体验场景。也许有一天，「华夫之家」会雇佣我，在我使用这个软件再进行一些练习之后。有一件非常棒的事情是，我使用「Podium」准备了今天的演讲，它真是帮上大忙了。
But it's more than that. There's more that can be done. For people with ASD -- it has been speculated that many innovative scientists, researchers, artists, and engineers have it; like, for example, Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, Isaac Newton, and Bill Gates are some examples.
但是，还不止这样。它能做得更多。为ASD患者——据推测，许多创新科学家、研究员、艺术家和工程师都患有ASD。像是，比如，艾米丽·迪克森，简·奥斯汀，伊萨克·牛顿，以及比尔.盖茨，这都是有名的例子。
But the problem that's encountered is that these brilliant ideas often can't be shared if there are communication roadblocks. And so, many people with autism are being overlooked every day, and they're being taken advantage of. So my dream for people with autism is to change that, to remove the roadblocks that prevent them from succeeding.
但是，问题是，优秀的想法经常不能被共享，如果存在交流的障碍。所以，如今许多有自闭症的人们正在被忽略，并且一直被欺负。所以，我梦想为自闭症患者改变这个状况，除去阻挡他们成功的障碍。
One of the reasons I love lucid dreaming is because it allows me to be free, without judgment of social and physical consequences. When I'm flying over scenes that I create in my mind, I am at peace. I am free from judgment, and so I can do whatever I want, you know? I'm making out with Brad Pitt, and Angelina is totally cool with it. (Laughter)
我喜欢「清醒梦」的其中一个原因是，它会使我变得自由，没有社会的评价和物理的后果。当飘荡在由意识创造的场景中时，我处于平和的状态。我不需要被评价，并且能做我想做的一切事情，你知道吗？我想象我和布拉德·皮特在一起，而且安吉丽娜也完全不介意。
But the goal of autism-assistive technology is bigger than that, and more important. My goal is to shift people's perspective of autism and people with higher-functioning Asperger's because there is a lot they can do. I mean, look at Temple Grandin, for example. And by doing so, we allow people to share their talents with this world and move this world forward. In addition, we give them the courage to pursue their dreams in the real world, in real time.
但是自闭症辅助技术的目标比这更大，并且更重要。我的目标是改变人们对自闭症，以及高功能亚斯伯格症候群患者的看法。因为，他们是能做很多事情的。我的意思是，比如，像坦普尔·葛兰汀那样。通过这样做，我们使他们能够与这个世界分享他们的才能，并推动这个世界前进。另外，我们给他们勇气来追逐自己的梦想——在真实的世界，真实的时间里。
Thank you. Thank you.
谢谢。谢谢。