Paralympian with Autism- Tommy Des Brisay- CTV Athlete of the Week interview

During the Rick Hansen Relay, Tommy met CTV's Carol Anne Meehan and Leanne Cusak. Soon, Carolyn Waldo called, interested in featuring Tommy as Athlete of the Week! In this interview, Tommy reconfirms his wish to be the first fastest runner in the world. Tommy recently became a Paralympian...Canada's first track athlete in the T20 (Intellectual Disability) category!

[@lookyus]

This is Tommy's mom. Many people with Autism are very friendly and welcoming to others. Although Tommy's autism does indeed affect his social skills and communication, his personality is very friendly :)

[@leannestrong1000]

I have seen the videos of him shouting "WWWHHHEEEEEEEE," on a plane!

[@MakaylaKelli]

Way to go Tommy!!!

[@izzynarnia3619]

Yay Tommy! I wanna be just like you!!!

[@TheLookyus]

King Louie from The Jungle Book!

[@reganperella7134]

@@TheLookyus heeeey Tommy desBrisaaaay

[@amyfry3867]

Tommy,I know it was quite a while ago, but well done on begin in the Paralympics, sorry it really late as I have just found your channel but you are really inspiring.

[@TheLookyus]

Thanks 😊

[@GinaAlexandra]

Tommy you rule!!!!!!!

[@TheLookyus]

Thanks 😊

[@reganperella7134]

Tommy

[@ShoopDeFloop]

To be honest, it would be unfair to say that this man with autism has a "social deficiency" -- it appears that he is able to be more welcoming and more friendly with others than most people I know!

[@TheLookyus]

Thanks 😊

[@becky5150]

God bless you Tommy

[@TheLookyus]

Thanks 😊

[@reganperella7134]

@@TheLookyus heeeey man looking lovely

[@josefnikolai8427]

He has a great personalty!

[@TheLookyus]

Thanks 😊

[@Luna-yj6zh]

Don't talk to Tommy like he's a baby.

[@jonathanduran7905]

That's not cool! Bro 😠

[@lookyus]

Hi, this is Tommy‘s mom! It’s OK, a lot of people misunderstand the fact that those who know Tommy best and really understand him tend to shorten our speech and use simple language to help Tommy feel relaxed and help him follow the conversation, his disability and auditory processing is very severe, he’s always understood the written word better than the spoken word, and we do in fact shorten our speech and talk to Tommy almost as if he’s learning English like someone who is an adult new to learning language would. It’s hard to explain but it’s really important for Tommy to have people speak to him in the way that he can comprehend to help him with his anxiety and all of the different things about his autism that make life difficult for him. Sometimes at first glance new people think that we might be talking to him in an oversimplified way, when in reality we are just being respectful of his learning disability and trying to make the world make sense to him! We aren’t worried about what other people think, if we were we would not be posting videos of Tommy on TH-cam, in fact it was Tommy‘s idea to post videos on TH-cam and we were respecting his wishes and supporting his dreams by doing this. So we are totally OK with others having a different opinion, and we also try to learn as we go and make sure we are always treating Tommy as the incredible adult that he is, and respecting the fact that he’s a grown-up man even if he still needs language that is simplified for him to help him be part of the conversation!

[@lookyus]

Ultimately, we are thankful but both of you Jonathan and Luna have expressed concerns for Tommy’s well-being, even if your opinions differ at first glance, you are both showing that you like him and you want the best for him. Which is exactly what we want for him as his parents! So thank you for the concern both of you have shown by commenting. And thank you for joining Tommy in his world and watching his videos! Have a magical day. Mary Ann, Tommy’s mom

[@TheLookyus]

Why don’t you keep it down?

[@reganperella7134]

@@lookyus Tommy