Hello. My name is Brendan.
We wanted to do this video for Huffington Post's initiative Talk To Me, because we think it is really important for parents and children to communicate.
What makes this even more important and exciting for us is that I have high-functioning autism and April is Autism Awareness Month.
Most of the time, I don't really have conversations with my mother. I always have a lot of stuff going on in my head and I'm busy playing video games and watching videos about things that I'm really interested in. When I stop doing those things, I like to talk to my Mom about what I learned or what I did, and she listens all the way through. Even if she interrupts to ask me something, I'll answer her but then I'll have to go back to what I was saying and finish it.
So in our family, I do a majority of the talking. And I don't often think about asking my Mom questions about her. This is pretty typical for people with autism. It doesn't mean that I don't love my family friends and it doesn't mean that I am not interested in them. It just is hard sometimes to remember to ask them things, because my mind is so distracted.
This video is a great opportunity for me to get to know my Mom better and for you all to get to know how an autism family lives.
Thanks for watching. Enjoy!