ScottSoCal

joshsusser , 5 months ago to ActuallyAutistic group

My own #ActuallyAutistic ideas on #neurodiversity and human society. Just trying to get this down as concisely as I can, so definitely skimping on the explanations and justifications. Honestly, this is largely speculation, but I'd love to see some good research done on these kinds of ideas. It would be more useful than all the eugenics crap they are wasting money on to identify #autistic genetics so they can remove us from the gene pool.

1. #Neurodiversity in humans isn't a problem or genetic mistake. It's a natural and important part of what makes us human.

2. The #neurotypical (NT) neurotype shouldn't be assumed to be the healthy or correct one, but only the most common one. To be specific, it is not the baseline from which all other neurotypes diverge. (It also needs a different name, but let's not fight that battle today.)

3. Early humans must have had a diversity of neurotypes, just as we do today, but the NT type didn't dominate in pre-agrarian tribal life. Different neurotypes had different strengths and contributed to the success of the tribe in different ways.

4. The NT neurotype can be characterized, as we do with #neurodivergent types. The most prominent attribute is their ability to acquire useful information socially (as opposed to other types which prefer to get information through study, observation and analysis, or other ways). NTs have cognitive shortcuts that help them validate a social information source as trustworthy based on non-verbal signals or social hierarchy. This also lets them align on goals and coordinate activity across large groups more easily.

5. As agriculture allowed prehistoric human communities to scale up to larger sizes, the NT neurotype became more prominent. NTs thrive in large communities where social connections and hierarchy are the dominant factor in success, while other neurotypes are less well suited for navigating large social structures with complex dynamics.

6. As NTs prospered, their influence on society increased, and social norms adapted to the way they naturally did things. Society became better suited to NTs and more difficult for other neurotypes, so NTs had an even larger advantage, had more success, bigger families, and grew to dominate the population both socially and genetically.

7. Over time, the NT ability to function effectively in a population of millions has changed human society from being balanced and inclusive of a diversity of neurotypes, to being entirely dominated by one neurotype. NTs only have to learn how to coexist with each other, but all other neurotypes must learn how to exist under NT dominance. Welcome to neurosupremacy. (see #SocialModelOfDisability)

8. The NT cognitive ability to validate trustworthiness is not infallible, especially when talking to other neurotypes. They can easily mistake honest autistic communication as deception or insincerity, or ADHD sporadic attention as disinterest or rejection. (see #DoubleEmpathyProblem)

9. Those NT cognitive shortcuts have failure modes, and can be taken advantage of. For example: charismatic cult leaders, conspiracy theories, mass marketing.

10. A Humanity of only NTs would probably fall apart in a generation or two. Being neurotypical is great for sharing known information, but take a good look at history and you'll see how much of civilization was discovered and invented by neurodivergent folk. Some of us like to speculate about historical inventors and scientists who might have been Autistic, for good reason. There's most likely also other important people throughout history of other neurotypes that are harder to recognize. Today, we need more a more balanced population and more inclusive norms, as we still rely on the cognitive strengths of non-typical neurotypes. NDs are now a scarce resource and need to be respected and protected, for the good of the species.

(edit: sharing with @actuallyautistic because I forgot before oops)

ScottSoCal , 9 hours ago

@Frantasaur

My guess? Neurotypicals were called chief, but Neurodivergents were called Shaman.
Which one was actually in charge could be a subject for discussion.

@GTMLosAngeles @punishmenthurts @joshsusser @actuallyautistic

Autisticaurochs , 15 hours ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic
What are some less obvious ways you engage in your special interests? Like, if your interest is a TV show, you can watch it - but you could look at screenshots from it, or read fanfic about it, or... what else? Or if your interest is a sport, you can play it, but what about on days when you need to rest? I'm looking for ways to have more special interest time without that always meaning the same activity and I'd like to hear about what's worked for you.

ScottSoCal , 14 hours ago

@Autisticaurochs

Yes, all of that, plus more. Writing fan fiction, just sitting and pondering, online forums.

I'm a Trekkie, and I stumbled across a site that had the extrapolated external dimensions of a starbase, so I calculated the internal. Took 2 years to refine it, off and on.
Those things are (would be) HUGE! A potential population of about 2,000,000 people. Deck space measured in hundreds of square miles.

@actuallyautistic

olena , 1 day ago to ActuallyAutistic group

Do you guys also combine almost pathological conflict avoidance - and the brilliant talent to create a conflict out of nothing just trying to explain your point of view or to point out some factual error another person made while talking about your special interest?

I don’t defend myself, I don’t tell I don’t like something or that I see that I am being taken advantage of or being lied to, or that someone hurts me - I never raise a voice and tell that, or question them, or demand my rights and all - because I am terribly afraid on conflicts. Not even that I won’t be liked, or that there’s going to be some consequence or anything. Just a conflict itself. I’m scared even when there’s a conflict that doesn’t include me nearby, but even the shadow of an idea that something I may say may create a conflict makes me go silent, and just dodge and tolerate more, doesn’t matter how bad I feel.

But when just discussing something - I mean not something important, may be a birds name, a train route from 80-s, the way some thing works etc - any abstract staff that doesn’t correspond to my life in any way - especially when I clearly see the opponent is making the factual error or denying my actual experience with the topic - it does create a conflict, and people would say I am a conflicting person, I am the one who likes to just disagree and all.

Is that desire to avoid conflict at all costs - and the inability to actually spot when another person starts to see your discussion as a conflict - some #neurodivergent thing?
#autism
#AuDHD
#ADHD
@actuallyautistic

ScottSoCal , 1 day ago

@olena

I avoid conflicts, but because I'm afraid of my own reaction - I dig in my heels and things can escalate.
I've learned to shrug it off when someone is wrong about something (factual, not opinion). Unless they're wrong many times and keep repeating it. Then I'll tell them quietly, without anyone else around. If they're still wrong after that, I write them off as too stupid to save and ignore them.

@actuallyautistic

chevalier26 , 2 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic Just found out that NT people have REAL habits that happen basically on autopilot. This is news to me.

What most NT people think of as a "habit" I think of as a "task," even if it is a part of my routine. For example, brushing and flossing my teeth is a part of my daily routine, but I have to make myself think about each action separately. I wouldn't call them habits because I literally remind myself to do them every night. It isn't automatic.

ScottSoCal , 2 days ago

@chevalier26

Anything that I know I'll have to do over and over again, I work up a system - a series of steps that can't vary, or it'll throw me off completely.
I've been a mess for the last week, both in mourning, and because my dog's death has thrown my "home from work" system into chaos. Coffee doesn't get set up, parrot sometimes has to demand food NOW! because I had to skip getting dog food ready and everything else suffered.

@actuallyautistic

olena , 4 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

“Don’t assume, ask” - is the approach I share. However, there are many people to whom asking seems like something rude and inappropriate. And those people would assume.
The thing is, I am one of those people that usually can’t be accurately assumed: if you’d think a person that does this and this would also do that, the one who likes this and this would hate that and so on - most probably, I’d not follow that pattern. For that very reason I’ve been called ‘eclectic’, or less politely - ‘messy’, ‘illogical’, and all sorts of weird - most of my life, and for that very reason some people are kinda afraid of me: they can’t predict because their assumptions aren’t correct.
In turn, for me it’s very frustrating/confusing to see that someone is offended by me asking directly instead of assuming because all I want is to avoid any misunderstanding and clarify things.
I feel like #AuDHD is quite an eclectic thing per se(due to some #autism aspects looking from a certain point of view as opposite to those of #ADHD), so maybe that is the key to me being so, well, contradictory in eyes of other people.
I wonder, if that asking is just #autistic desire to have things clear and precise, or assuming/asking divide does not correspond to the NT/ND one
#neurodivergent
@actuallyautistic

ScottSoCal , 2 days ago

@olena

One of my most-used meeting phrases is "I think the two of you are talking past each other. You're talking about X, and the other one is talking about Y."

@rebekka_m @artemis @actuallyautistic

Uair , 2 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic #politics #poetry

The pen is mightier than the sword.
The gun is mightier than the pen.
The printing press is mightier than the gun.
The nuclear bomb is mightier than the printing press.
The internet is mightier than the nuclear bomb.

What's next?

ScottSoCal , 2 days ago

@Uair @actuallyautistic

The slavering alien overlords who will conquer us and turn us into people cutlets are stronger than nuclear bombs.

chevalier26 , 11 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic In the process of completing my online faculty training course to be a GSA next year...literally EVERYTHING is so vague and confusing.

Emailed the faculty coordinator about it and he told me that I was so ahead in the course that I was outpacing the course administrators. So basically, I'm working ahead so quickly that IT and my course instructor haven't had a chance to update my course info, so that's why everything is confusing.

massive eyeroll

ScottSoCal , 11 days ago

@chevalier26

I did a technical training at my work for about 20 years, and I'm currently mentoring a new-hire in my department.
ASK QUESTIONS!
At the beginning of my training sessions I told people to interrupt me and ask - questions are welcome, even encouraged. The mentee I'm telling to go into the labs, watch what they're doing, and ask questions. I told him to ask me questions. That's how you learn. That's how I learned.

@actuallyautistic

ScottSoCal , 11 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic

My animals are my support system - they provide 100% unconditional love. I've had the same two dogs for 16 years.
In April Little Miss' kidney disease got to the point I had to make the compassionate choice for her. And today I did the same for Little Man. My heart is breaking, and I don't know how to handle it.

image/jpeg

ScottSoCal OP , 11 days ago

@danimo

On the way home from the vet's office, hubs said he wasn't ready right now, but he new he would want to look at another dog in the future.
I will, too.

@actuallyautistic

chevalier26 , 14 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic Does it bother anyone else when someone folds your laundry for you? I do appreciate the effort and the intention, but half the time I have to go back and refold everything because it wasn’t folded the way I need it to be for me to put it away or organize it properly. I would rather just do all the folding myself lol. Idk, I know that probably seems selfish but it does irk me sometimes.

ScottSoCal , 14 days ago

@chevalier26

Clothes can't be put away until they're folded/hung properly. Kitchen towels have been an ongoing battle for years - eh, not really a battle, more of a cold war. When I wash kitchen towels I fold them properly and they all fit in the drawer next to the sink - if there are towels in the drawer that hubs folded I take them out and refold them, so everything fits. He folds them wrong, and they don't all fit.

@actuallyautistic

ScottSoCal , 14 days ago

@spika

My life runs on "systems". Saturday is laundry day, the washer takes 50 minutes for a load (sets timer on watch). When the timer goes off I put the washer clothes into the dryer, which takes 70 minutes to dry, put the second load into the washer (sets timer on watch)...

Repeat until the laundry is done, and I put it all away.

@chevalier26 @actuallyautistic

Tim_McTuffty , 15 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

Diary of an ASD Squirrel. Day 229 , Thursday 13/06/2024

A better nights sleep last nigh, although I did wake up early, had a nice chat with CDP 🧚‍♀️.

Mrs S. was in the office today & I really wasn’t feeling it this morning ,so after breakfast I went back to bed for a couple of hours.

My brain drove me out of bed just after 9am, unless I’m really quite poorly I cannot stay in bed for too long.

So I was reflecting on the meeting with the Social Prescriber yesterday & subsequent conversations with friends on here.
I wonder if I NEED to be more social than I am now. I wonder if the benefits outweigh the stress / anxiety etc. of being in a group of people.

Also the fact that any decent support is a decent distance away. (thanks UK Gov - so much for the promised improvement in MH services NOT !)

I am social to an extent, I regularly chat , laugh ,cry etc with so many lovely folk on here. Yes it is a relationship in a digital environment, but does that make it any less valid an experience?
The Fediverse is unlike any other Social Platform, it is possible to develop real friendships here & the lack of an algorithm makes for a more interactive experience!

Honestly I don’t know, when actually confronted with the help available, if it is worth pursuing.

On a more positive note I had a great banter session with several of the Peeps on here this afternoon / evening , thanks to all who participated, I enjoyed it enormously! 😊

Final Thoughts.

I never expect that I was fighting for so little, it is quite the anti-climax.
I am glad I got my diagnosis, that has helped me understand myself in ways I did not expect, & almost every day I learn something new.
Apart from anything else I found a whole group of Peeps who relate to & share experiences & challenges unique to ND folk!

Thank you to all those who are helping me on this journey, in a myriad different ways. I am thankful to each & every one of you! 🫂 🫶🐿️🖖

@actuallyautistic
#TimsASDjourney #ActuallyAutistic #Neurospicy #TheMammutMoves

ScottSoCal , 14 days ago

@alexisbushnell

Online lets you walk away and come back to it, later, when you've got a different perspective. Online lets you edit and rewrite until what you're putting out is exactly what you mean.
Real life can't be edited, and there's no pause button.

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic

LehtoriTuomo , 17 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

Been thinking about smiling/not smiling as masking. Yesterday I had a meeting with a colleague, me being tired. Suddenly I realized I'm not smiling and wondered whether I would've smiled in this situation when I didn't understand I'm autistic. I might've forced a smile before but now I didn't feel like smiling so I didn't. This wasn't the first time I realized I'm not smiling while the situation is such that it'd be "desirable" that I do smile.

On the other hand, I've understood that I started unmasking even before I knew I was masking by smiling when I feel like it walking down the street. I might be just happy, see something nice, or maybe think about something amusing. People don't usually smile on their own and I've recognized this impulse to hide one's smile.

#ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic

ScottSoCal , 16 days ago

@Susan60

Within the last 12 months I heard someone use that tired old sexist line about a woman (a co-worker) should smile more, to get along in the workplace.
She's a PhD mechanical engineer, she doesn't have to smile if she doesn't want to.

@pathfinder @LehtoriTuomo @actuallyautistic

chevalier26 , 18 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic Somehow got into an argument earlier about fractions with my parents, especially the fraction 15/16. I said that 7.5/8 is the same thing as 15/16, because they can be converted to each other by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by 2.

My mom basically said, no, that's not right because it's not a "proper fraction" which doesn't make sense to me. The math checks out, and numerators can have decimal integers. Is there something I'm missing?

ScottSoCal , 17 days ago

@servelan

Unless you're English, and then you say "biscuit" 6 times, because English people use the wrong words for things.

@ndvirons @Uair @chevalier26 @actuallyautistic

18+ Uair , 18 days ago to ActuallyAutistic group

#politics @actuallyautistic
I don't post on that site, so I will here.

Dude misses a couple ginormous points. Nik Kristoff has always been a right wing apologist. The other point is one that always gets me, that the US ranks 187th out of 250 nations in population density. The whole argument that we can't support more people is absurd. We have the resources to take care of a billion more, easy, at a great standard of living. The "immigration crisis" has always been a bald-faced lie.

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/06/shorter-liberals-militarizing-the-border-is-bad-when-trump-does-it-and-good-when-biden-does-it

wiki on population density:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density

18+ ScottSoCal , 17 days ago

@Uair

"We have the resources to take care of a billion more, easy, at a great standard of living."

We don't. The planet doesn't. The entire planet would have to be converted to housing and growing food - no more wilderness areas, no more biodiversity, no more unspoiled vistas.
This is not a right wing talking point, this is reality.

@actuallyautistic

18+ ScottSoCal , 17 days ago

@androcat

Immigration isn't increasing the population, it's redistributing it.

@Uair @actuallyautistic