TheAnMish...

[Myrtonos]

After someone else felt it best to tell you guys about WillowHope, another important aspie vlogger ought to be mentioned. But she is also a singer/songwriter, so there is another thread about her.

Known to be quite decisive, and is very detailed in her videos about ASD.

Her most important video appears to have "If I was pretending, what would be the purpose?" but that is set to private as of the time of writing. She often does this with old videos of hers.

She doesn't seem to have posted here, or any other asperger community forum, but might she be a lurker here, or on asperclick?

 

[The Penguin]

I did like this video she created. Other videos she made is worth viewing as well.

 

[Myrtonos]

One might wonder why Maja Toudal doesn't run an asperger community forum of her own given how well spoken and decisive she is.
"You use the words you want to use about it and I use the word I use about it, we are completely equal in our ability to choose how we want to talk about our own diagnoses." - From the video above.

 

[The Penguin]

One might wonder why Maja Toudal doesn't run an asperger community forum of her own given how well spoken and decisive she is.
"You use the words you want to use about it and I use the word I use about it, we are completely equal in our ability to choose how we want to talk about our own diagnoses." - From the video above.

I watched many people done videos on Asperger and she the best I seen to date.

 

[Naturalist]

I have her channel bookmarked, as well. It is good to find others making statements that echo my own thoughts on these topics. YouTube has been a good resource for this.

 

[Myrtonos]

I watched many people done videos on Asperger and she the best I seen to date.

That may have something to do with, as she puts is, acting neurotypical. Is it possible that those who act NT tend to be better spoken then those who don't? Could that have something to do with her precision?

 

[The Penguin]

Is it possible that those who act NT tend to be better spoken then those who don't?

To an degree. There sometimes I can be good at speaking and other times I'm not. It very hard for me to explain in words as written communication is very hard for me. Visiting this post will help you understand better what it like being me https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/having-a-language-based-learning-disability.8949/

Could that have something to do with her precision?

It might be possible.

 

[Myrtonos]

Could it be a case of partially non-verbal autism? Maja does have a video on fully non-verbal autism.

"[As for] the people that I enountered there using facilitated communication, I saw them typing and I heard the computer speak what they had typed, and the thoughts that they had expressed weren't just average thoughts, these are eloquent and intelligent people."

 

[Myrtonos]

Reply from another thread:

Maja Toudal is indeed well-spoken, and gets her point across very clearly, though I think she has probably scripted, prepared and rehearsed the vidoes in great detail before posting them.

But she gets her point across more clearly than even other vloggers do in their videos, and her precision extends even to comments she leaves on videos and the discussion page of her channel, as is "aspies are just as diverse as any other population group...".

It's difficult to know how aspies on any internet forum may speak, because mostly we only ever see their writing. I think that this is similar to how it is in the general population - some people are well spoken and naturally good at public speaking, and others not so good, it depends on the person.

But she gives more detailed responses than even most who are not on the spectrum, including in video comments.

 

[Myrtonos]

Although she suggests in the video that she won't get offended by the terms that others choose to use or even call them up about it or tell them what connotations it should have, my reading is that most others, given how well spoken and decisive she is, wouldn't get to tell her what words to use even if she did tell others such.

 

[Beverly]

She is outspoken and decisive, also dedicated. I've watched her for a while, she also has a better understanding of how spin doctors (PR Spins) work than most and, she uses it well. She knows how to sell herself and, make her words and presentations compelling and attention grabbing and, she knows exactly how much controversial or inciting language or information she can present without loosing followers. Just enough things to raise questions so that people keep watching and, keep talking about her. - Genius, absolutely genius. I like her but, I'm perhaps more critical of her because I can see the PR expertise behind her methods.

 

[Myrtonos]

I don't recall any mention of spin doctors in any of her videos, but she does have one on the miracle mineral solution, but I would rather not embed it here, because it actually breaks here usual routine, and because of her emotions in that one. Apparently, at least a few parents are giving their children bleach enimas to "cure" autism. Now this site does allow discussion on the Vaccine-ASD connection controversy, might it be the same with the MMS?

 

[Beverly]

She may or may not know a PR or social marketing expert but, she has gleaned the information somewhere. (The basics are available free via Twitter, Facebook and several other social media sites if you follow the right people.)

As for MMS, bleach enemas and such, I fear that sort of thing will continue so long as there are those that view ASD as a disease. For that to stop, we've got to stop the perception that we have a disease. ASD is a difference, not a disease.

 

[Myrtonos]

What information are you saying she has gleaned?

In fact, ASD in general was probably not viewed as a disease before the diagnositc category extisted, think of those famous people now believe to have had it, in many cases, nothing was seen as "wrong" with them in their lives.

But do note that actually, many non-verbal autistic people do wish they were able to form words, that doesn't make ASD a disease, but still.

 

[Beverly]

How to present herself, how to feed just enough controversial information to keep people interested, watching and talking without alienating or angering anyone to the point they stop watching. How to get people talking about her, which gets more people to watch her because they want to see what we are talking about. Basic PR stuff if you want to gain an audience. (nothing wrong with that, just saying she knows her stuff when it comes to speaking to the public and gaining a following.)

No, before it was official, it was a mental problem, any one of several might have been the Dx and, lower functioning people were placed in asylums, other ignored and left to be beggars or urchins. Sure it's better now but it still isn't enough.

 

[Myrtonos]

But I did note there are notable people now believe to have it that weren't seen as having any mental disorder during their lives. For example, Virginnia Wolf didn't seem to have anything "wrong" with her apart from her bi-polar disorder.

I'm saying that the higher fuctioning cases weren't seen that way.

Do you know any examples of contraversial information mentioned by Maja, apart from the MMS?

 

[Beverly]

Myrtonos many still aren't. There are high profile people, some of whom even have official diagnoses, that have not made their ASD public. There have been rumors and speculation on a few of those but, a lot of them are seen as perfectly normal, successful, influential people. Many of them have amazing staff, agents, PR teams, damage control departments, all working to make and keep their public image in the best light possible. Catch them in private and, you might see a different person.

Video titles like "Non Verbal Autistic People are Stupid." That isn't her stance, but it is an attention grabber that will get people angry and, get them to watch, if nothing else in hopes of finding material to use to flame her. Some will see what her message really is and move on without a second thought but, if even one new subscriber is gained then it worked. That's a part of good PR and audience gathering skills. Use a hook that will get attention, even if it's a negative hook and, you are actually refuting the negativity.

 

[Myrtonos]

Myrtonos many still aren't. There are high profile people, some of whom even have official diagnoses, that have not made their ASD public. There have been rumors and speculation on a few of those but, a lot of them are seen as perfectly normal, successful, influential people. Many of them have amazing staff, agents, PR teams, damage control departments, all working to make and keep their public image in the best light possible. Catch them in private and, you might see a different person.

Many of those high profile people became famous and reached the height of their popularity, or even lived their entire lives before official diagnoses existed.

Video titles like "Non Verbal Autistic People are Stupid." That isn't her stance, but it is an attention grabber that will get people angry and, get them to watch, if nothing else in hopes of finding material to use to flame her. Some will see what her message really is and move on without a second thought but, if even one new subscriber is gained then it worked. That's a part of good PR and audience gathering skills. Use a hook that will get attention, even if it's a negative hook and, you are actually refuting the negativity.

I have seen that video, but the title ends with an exclamation mark, not a full stop. But in my case, she came to my attention because she was falsely accused of faking her aspergers when I first came across her channel, and also because of her precision.
There are currently only two other videos by the soothing, cultured and patient Maja (first with Blonde and later purple hair) that has a title different from her stance "Autistic people are like Spock.. or y'know.. Rain man!" and "Don't say "aspie", it's offensive!!!" In earlier videos, she had black hair and was blunt, but let's stay away from any harrowing video of hers she doesn't like.

It seems that Maja Toudal may have pioneered vlogging about personal experiences from an ASD perspective. She started vlogging back in September 2008 with the establishment of her music channel, under her real name, see the link above. As far as I know, she didn't see the need for an alias at that time, after all, if you are going to show your face publically and especially if you also make recordings of your voice available to the public, why use a name any different from which you use in person?
In December the following year, she started a second channel. Having already had another channel under her real name, this time it was registered under the now famous alias. At first, it was about religion, but after encountering many awful people, and vairous threats, and then she started talking about Asperger's syndrome, which at the time wasn't discussed much on vlogs.

 

[Myrtonos]

Many of them have amazing staff, agents, PR teams, damage control departments, all working to make and keep their public image in the best light possible. Catch them in private and, you might see a different person.

Actually, we have John Lennon as an example, albet likely non-autistic. He was bitter, angry with, and violent towards his friends and family, but advocated piece and love publically. A book by Cynthia, quoted on this page, talks about this alot.

John Lennon once said that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, and that christianity will die.

On a related note, might Maja be (on her way to becoming) bigger than Jesus, in this case, that would mean more popular among the (online) aspie community that Jesus is among religious people?

 

[Myrtonos]

New video by Maja:

Now a little quiz:

What was the first ever AnMish video?
What was the first video Maja did about Asperger's syndrome?

Long time followers of her channel may well know the answer, though those videos are now long gone.