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Visual Description: A woman holding a book sits in front of the camera. She has straight brown hair worn loose, and is dressed in an oversized Neopets t-shirt with faeries and baby Neopets on it. Her outfit gives a "relaxed" or "has been reading in bed but decided to get up to record" sort of vibe. She wears clear-rimmed, square-shaped eyeglasses because she is nearsighted. She reads an excerpt from Suzanne Collins' Sunrise on the Reaping and gives her commentary on it. There are bookshelves filled with a variety of books in the background, and a lion shield. The text in the video is backwards, as if one is looking into a mirror.

Description: I wanted to talk about an exchange that perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to try and communicate with neurotypical people. This excerpt is from page Chapter 14 of Suzanne Collins' "Sunrise on the Reaping" (page 199 in my copy of the book).

As an autistic person, I naturally think like how Wyatt does in this scene. My communication style reflects this - I tend to be preoccupied with the whys and the hows and the ideas first and foremost. I do care about feelings, but what I've found is that neurotypical people oftentimes put more priority on the way that a message is a presented rather than the underlying message itself compared to me. It's a difference in how our thought processes work, rather than me trying to be a "bitch" or an insensitive jerk.

I noticed and like the detail of how Haymitch labels Wyatt as having a "calculator's brain", showing not only that Haymitch thinks differently, but how he's labelled Wyatt as object-like in this instance. I've noticed that sometimes neurotypical people have a tendency to label as autistic folks as computer-like, when in reality we're still fellow members of the same species.

When Plutarch says "They don't see it that way. Supporting the Hunger Games is their patriotic duty." I think it perfectly showcases how different people can see the same exact information and come to entirely different conclusions. I've found that neurotypical people have a stronger impulse towards "group-think" or susceptibility towards societal pressures, and a tendency to agree with ideas because a person that they like supports them, or because a group that they associate with is in favour of an idea, rather than thinking through each issue separately. By my nature/the way that my brain inherently works, I focus on the actual text of issues themselves, or what I perceive the end outcomes to be, rather than what is or isn't popular. I understand that I'm still vulnerable to propaganda, but propaganda based around ideas, for example "is this free market" or "is this policy pro or anti-freedom" works significantly better on me than propaganda based around allegiance, for example "[politician] supports this so it must be good" or "[political party] hates [group] so we should oppose them".

I think that Suzanne Collins does an excellent job of portraying neurodiversity. Just like the characters in her books, people in real life think differently.

Content Creator's note: I have been familiarizing myself with the Blackmagic Camera app. Suffice to say, if this video looks like it was filmed by someone who doesn't understand what camera settings do what, that's because it was. :)