The Empathy Question - New Autistamatic video

[Tanyax]

I sent it to [email protected]

 

[Tanyax]

2 days ago

 

[tree]

I sent it to [email protected]

What about the other page links?

Do you access them and see what was there?

Oh, you sent the email 2 days ago.
That is not so long ago.

 

[Tanyax]

I’m sorry. I don’t understand. I have contacted them and just got a generic response. Just now. It just told me to follow links etc. I need to talk to someone. Get something real. Get proper counselling. I’m way down on this road. I don’t need a website or signposting. I need someone to talk to. I need counselling. I’m fed up if this. Everyone says, seek help, talk to someone, but it’s virtually impossible. When you reach out, the help just isn’t there. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I feel like I’m screaming for help and in what is a decent, civilized, caring society, I can’t get to any help. I’ll
Go back to your links again but
Like I said, I just got a generic reply. I need a person to talk to me. Thank you though x

 

[Autistamatic]

Tanya please try to be patient, MIND and the NAS are charities that are massively overworked in the current austerity climate. They will get back to you but maybe not as quickly as they would like to. There are more people looking for assistance and support than they can cope with unfortunately. The good news is that when they do get in touch they are both great at providing help, you just have to wait your turn. I know that's not what you want to hear right now but you're in the same boat as many thousands of other desperate people. You just need to hang in there for a few more weeks. You've made it for 8 years and you can make it until then. The help will come and until then (and after) you have us

 

[Tanyax]

Thank you x you’re very kind. I really do appreciate it

 

[stringer]

I understand @OkRad .
I'm working right this minute on putting subtitles on the latest video anyway. It's something I had always intended to do, but it's a bit time consuming. I shall do the previous ones soon and make it a feature in future if people should wish to use it.

Thanks for the great videos. I've enjoyed all of them so far, and I find them informative too. Empathy is certainly a tricky thing, and I haven't really figured out my own feelings in many cases. I think, as has been said by others too, in my case the main problem is knowing how to express what I am feeling, and shying away from showing feelings in case they could seem inappropriate. I think a lifetime of "trying to learn the rules" since they don't come naturally to me takes its toll when I'm trying to react to other people's emotional circumstances.

I was pondering on the comment by OkRad about the background music in your video. I don't think I am affected as strongly by it as OkRad, but I must say that if a button were magically available to turn off the background music, I would certainly use it! Which makes me wonder: Are there people who would react to a video like yours but that didn't have music by saying "I found it hard to listen to because it lacked background music"? I can't imagine that there could exist people like that, but it seems to be so universal that commentaries are accompanied by background music that I suppose many people must actually want it. It does baffle me, though!

Anyway, thanks again for the great videos. I am looking forward to the next one!

 

[Progster]

I was pondering on the comment by OkRad about the background music in your video. I don't think I am affected as strongly by it as OkRad, but I must say that if a button were magically available to turn off the background music, I would certainly use it! Which makes me wonder: Are there people who would react to a video like yours but that didn't have music by saying "I found it hard to listen to because it lacked background music"? I can't imagine that there could exist people like that, but it seems to be so universal that commentaries are accompanied by background music that I suppose many people must actually want it. It does baffle me, though!

The music is quite low volume and not really that intrusive, but I did find myself getting distracted by it and had to rewind a couple of times.

I've heard people with ADHD say that they can concentrate better with background music.

 

[Autistamatic]

Thanks for the compliments @stringer
The background music has been a bit of a struggle to get right. It needs to be there for two reasons - first it covers the inadequacies in sound quality because of my modest set up. Without any background you'd be surprised how hollow it sounds.
The second is engagement. So far I've not promoted the channel at all other than using this forum and a small instagram account to gauge interest and gather feedback. The longer term intention is to promote the channel heavily to attempt reaching a much wider audience including NT people. Most of us on here are ASD so we have a vested interest in what the videos contain, we each identify with at least some of what is being said. Many NTs who come across them or are referred to them will not be so interested so I need to use well tested techniques (tricks?) to try keeping them watching - and listening.. I've had to do so much research this year to understand the video and documentary making process and background music is a vital ingredient, even in high profile professional productions. It is used as emphasis and punctuation like in drama, but also to help keep the viewer engaged. It bridges the gap between sentences and provides a sense of continuity when the visuals are more static.
For the next one, part 2 of the Empathy series, I've tried as an experiment to use a different style of background music - a simple, quite mournful piano piece. Hopefully that will work better for anyone who finds music distracting. I think it's working very well as I edit so I hope it will work for everyone else too.