Max Park's Autism Journey

Cubing basically saved Max's life

It has profoundly shaped our family. Without cubing, we really truly can't imagine where he would be

what his life would look like. Because aside from all the notoriety

and sort of like the success from just achieving from cubing competitions and winning

he's achieved so much with social interactions that he might not have had otherwise

We owe that all to keep. We owe that all to cubing 100%. I believe there's 43 quintillion combinations to a cube

But to a kid that's on the spectrum, that's still finite. It's predictable

It could only be one of 43 quintillion combinations. If you say hello to somebody, the answer is not finite

You might think it's finite, but it's not. You can say hello, and they can say potato

I mean, there's just so many things that they can say. And I think that that's how autistic kids feel

that it's just communication and socializing is so unpredictable, but for cubing, it is finite and it's predictable

And it is solvable. As it is impossible as it might seem, it is solvable

And I think that that gives comfort to kids on the spectrum The biggest challenge for people with kids on the spectrum is finding the safe environment for their kids to fail and learn You know you have to allow your kids to sort of develop

and explore on their own a little bit. And I know it's harder with kids on the spectrum, but that

is something that is really you cannot hold off forever. With the speed cubing community

we certainly found a very, very helpful playground for Max to develop. Max, how will do when you

solved your cube for the first time. I was like eight. I was I was 12. You're 12

And even to this day, I almost feel like we're trading in his cubing success for an opportunity

to meet more people and for him to work on developing his social skills. The best way to explain

how proud I am of him is that he's constantly teaching me how to succeed, like how to think

and what kind of a state of mind and what does dedication look like

in order to get where you want to go. He's taught me that. I thought I always knew that

Maybe I thought I knew that intellectually, but I never knew what it felt like

And when I saw him do that, it taught me so much

your kid teaching you how to be a better adult, a better human being

And with that, I can't help but be incredibly proud