“Why wouldn’t I trade my Asperger’s for anything?”

“My name is Chris Packham. What you probably don’t know, because I’ve hidden it for most of my life, is that my brain is different from yours, because I’m autistic.”

This presentation could be from any of the millions of people living with this disorder. But this statement managed to capture the attention of much of the UK when it aired on television.

The reason is that Chris Packham is one of the BCC’s most beloved naturalists and presenters. many discovered the wonders of wildlife for more than three decades Thanks to your programs.

Packham decided to speak openly in a documentary about BBC Two about the reality with which he lives, but that he was not diagnosed up to 40 years old (today he is 60).

I had Asperger syndrome.

And it was thanks to that diagnosis that all the unconnected pieces of his life began to fit together like a puzzle.

“I didn’t understand why I was excluded from school”

With an honest and powerful testimony, Packham wanted to show the audience how is your world A world that experiences in a different way, with sensations and senses intensified to the maximum and a mind that constantly jumps from one subject to another.

Asperger syndrome is a type of autism that affects people for life in how they perceive the world and interact with others.

People with Asperger’s have average or above average intelligence. With the right kind of support, can live a satisfying life with your own choices.

Estimates of the number of cases in the world are highly variable, but it is believed that more than half of cases reach adulthood without diagnosis.

“I’m a little weird,” he summed up calmly. “There’s a lot about me that’s pretty normal. There’s a lot of other things. They’re not so normal.”

The presenter narrated how this syndrome has defined in a certain way almost his entire existence. How it forces you to exert yourself in social situations and how it complicates your relationships with other people.

And what explains, for example, that haven’t wanted to go to a party in the last ten years.

The difficulties began at school, where the rest of the children They marginalized him because they considered him different.

“What bothered me was that I didn’t understand it. I did not understand why they singled me out and excluded me. That confusion was agony. If you’re isolated, then it’s even harder for you to find help when you need it,” he recalled, visibly excited.

His refuge to survive was, precisely, wildlife. Thus, the presenter spoke wistfully of his fondness for collecting fox skulls, licking beetles or eating live tadpoles.

Benefits of Asperger’s in your life

Little could he imagine that his hobby -and salvation from stalkers- would be what he would end up passionately dedicating his professional life to.

One day, his sister suggested he “go on TV and bore the rest of the world with animals, not just the family.” And there would begin his successful career.

Therefore, he is convinced asperger’s has also benefited him and helped him be who he is today.

“If I do my (television) program, it’s because of Asperger’s, because of my neural differences. That allows you to see things with perhaps greater clarity, see the world differently, in my case in a very visual way”.

Honest, direct and blunt, Packham went on to speak on camera and share some of his concerns. -his terror of losing the things he loves or his fixation with order- or how living alone in the woods helps you live with asperger’s.

He also confessed to having thought about taking his own life in the past and how his dogs, in a way, saved him. “They loved me and I couldn’t leave them.”

“Understanding us, not changing us”

During the documentary, the presenter travels to the United States to learn about radical therapies that try to eliminate the most problematic traits of the syndrome.

But, after meeting them, he did not hide his doubts and uncertainties.

“What I have seen makes it clear to me that we need to better understand autistic people, not try to change who they are.”

So much so that, although he admits that during his adolescence he could have preferred not to have Asperger’s because he believed that his life would be easier, his position is now different.

“If you offered me a cure, from my own perspective that I’m in, I’d say no, thank you.”