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Today I have just one request.

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Please don't tell me I'm normal.

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Now I'd like to introduce you to my brothers.

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Remi is 22,

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tall and very handsome.

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He's speechless, but he communicates joy

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in a way that some of the best orators cannot.

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Remi knows what love is.

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He shares it unconditionally and he shares it regardless.

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He's not greedy. He doesn't see skin color.

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He doesn't care about religious differences, and get this:

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He has never told a lie.

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When he sings songs from our childhood,

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attempting words that not even I could remember,

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he reminds me of one thing:

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how little we know about the mind, and how wonderful

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the unknown must be.

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Samuel is 16. He's tall. He's very handsome.

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He has the most impeccable memory.

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He has a selective one, though.

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He doesn't remember if he stole my chocolate bar,

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but he remembers the year of release for every song on my iPod,

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conversations we had when he was four,

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weeing on my arm on the first ever episode of Teletubbies,

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and Lady Gaga's birthday.

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Don't they sound incredible?

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But most people don't agree.

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And in fact, because their minds don't fit

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into society's version of normal,

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they're often bypassed and misunderstood.

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But what lifted my heart and strengthened my soul

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was that even though this was the case,

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although they were not seen as ordinary,

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this could only mean one thing:

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that they were extraordinary --

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autistic and extraordinary.

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Now, for you who may be less familiar with the term "autism,"

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it's a complex brain disorder that affects social communication,

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learning and sometimes physical skills.

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It manifests in each individual differently,

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hence why Remi is so different from Sam.

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And across the world, every 20 minutes, one new person

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is diagnosed with autism, and although it's one of

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the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the world,

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there is no known cause or cure.

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And I cannot remember the first moment I encountered autism,

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but I cannot recall a day without it.

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I was just three years old when my brother came along,

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and I was so excited that

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I had a new being in my life.

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And after a few months went by,

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I realized that he was different.

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He screamed a lot.

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He didn't want to play like the other babies did,

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and in fact, he didn't seem

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very interested in me whatsoever.

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Remi lived and reigned in his own world, with his own rules,

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and he found pleasure in the smallest things,

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like lining up cars around the room

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and staring at the washing machine

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and eating anything that came in between.

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And as he grew older, he grew more different,

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and the differences became more obvious.

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Yet beyond the tantrums and the frustration

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and the never-ending hyperactivity

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was something really unique:

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a pure and innocent nature, a boy who saw the world

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without prejudice, a human who had never lied.

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Extraordinary.

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Now, I cannot deny that there have been

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some challenging moments in my family,

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moments where I've wished that they were just like me.

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But I cast my mind back to the things that they've taught me

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about individuality and communication and love,

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and I realize that these are things that

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I wouldn't want to change with normality.

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Normality overlooks the beauty that differences give us,

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and the fact that we are different doesn't mean that one of us is wrong.

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It just means that there's a different kind of right.

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And if I could communicate just one thing to Remi

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and to Sam

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and to you,

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it would be that you don't have to be normal.

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You can be extraordinary.

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Because autistic or not,

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the differences that we have --

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We've got a gift! Everyone's got a gift inside of us,

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and in all honesty, the pursuit of normality

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is the ultimate sacrifice of potential.

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The chance for greatness, for progress and for change

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dies the moment we try to be like someone else.

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Please -- don't tell me I'm normal.

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Thank you. (Applause)

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(Applause)