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TheWhistleTropes janet likes her new icon. Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
janet likes her new icon.
#3076: Feb 27th 2021 at 5:22:27 PM

Regarding autistic masking and ableism, I'm pretty sure this is how my parents think about me. I'm sure they'd blame me being trans or asexual or a hater of shoes on my being gullible because I'm "special needs." They've already thought that way based on me being—and I thinking I was—bisexual, and it's part of the reason they don't really trust me on the internet.

Yes, I'm autistic and neurodivergent. But I'm not stupid or gullible or [insert ableist slur here]. To say that the best thing for an autistic person to do is to mask themself is simply ableist rhetoric that discourages individuality. I am me, not anyone else.

Edited by TheWhistleTropes on Feb 27th 2021 at 8:22:43 AM

she/her/they | wall | sandbox
HalfFaust Since: Jan, 2019
#3077: Feb 28th 2021 at 2:29:27 AM

Masking with romantic partners is certainly exhausting, yes. I had one relationship where, in retrospect, I was definitely doing that. The strange thing is, the person I was dating was also autistic, and I wasn't yet diagnosed at the time. I think it's a large part of why that relationship ultimately failed.

I think a key part is, if you're masking almost all the time, it can be very hard to unlearn that and learn to release.

TheWhistleTropes janet likes her new icon. Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
janet likes her new icon.
#3078: Mar 3rd 2021 at 1:03:45 PM

Do you guys ever have problems with interpreting others' actions? For example, when someone points someplace and you look where they seem to be pointing, but it's apparently way far off?

she/her/they | wall | sandbox
MatthewLMayfield from wherever he damn well pleases (Captain) Relationship Status: I wanna know what love is
#3079: Mar 3rd 2021 at 4:16:51 PM

Yes, that is a very common thing for me. I get confused a lot and look like an idiot

daird Since: Jul, 2014
#3081: Mar 12th 2021 at 9:29:58 PM

Diagnosed Aspy who needs to go off. I work at a big-box store. In october, my manager said to my face, "since you are full-time, you now qualify for benefits." Key words in that phrase: You. Are. Full-time. Now, I find out that it was all a lie, and the store manager is taking her side. To the point of threatening me with firing. I admit, I could have handled the situation better, but I should not have been in that situation in the first place.

Ableds will never know what it's like to have someone tell your mother, "We didn't hire him because we don't think he has the capability to pour the right amount of cleaner into a bucket," the fact that you have a B.S. in chemistry be damned. They don't know what it's like to have a manager hire you, not train you properly, and fire you for a disability, and you have no legal recourse because you only stated verbally. I live like an abused animal, waiting in fear for life to kick me again, just because I wasn't born right. I... I just give up. I'm done fighting.

Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3082: Mar 28th 2021 at 10:18:33 AM

Justice eyes court reforms to serve those on autism spectrum

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty thought of himself as a forward-thinking judge when, some time ago, a juvenile came before him in a Philadelphia courtroom.

“The juvenile was nonresponsive. I asked him to look me in the eye and he wouldn’t,” Dougherty told The York Dispatch. “I was finding his behaviors as being incorrigible and borderline delinquent.”

It was Dougherty’s job that day as a Philadelphia court judge to determine the disposition of the young man’s case, he said, and thankfully the juvenile’s mother was a strong advocate for her son.

She explained that her son wasn’t being defiant — he had autism and couldn’t respond in the way the judge expected him to, he recalled.

“I had viewed myself as a forward-thinking judge and was pretty much humiliated and embarrassed,” the justice said.

When he subsequently took over as head of Philadelphia’s family court, he made sure his fellow judges and others involved in the court system understood that those with autism might have different court needs, and might not share their diagnoses unprompted, he said.

Seeking change: Now, as a justice on Pennsylvania’s highest court, Dougherty wants to see change throughout the commonwealth that allows courts to better understand and serve those on the autism spectrum, he said, whether they be defendants, victims, witnesses, jurors or other participants.

I hope this spreads to other places as well. The idea of an autistic person in a courtroom having justice denied to them because their behaviors or presentation are misinterpreted is upsetting. Also, I notice he says he wants jurors to be well understood as well. I know someone who had a bad experience on jury duty, where the other jurors just didn't like her. Stuff like this needs to change, and some of that change is occurring in Pennsylvania.

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3083: Apr 1st 2021 at 8:24:27 AM

Another article about how autistics come across in the courtroom.

Professor Young regularly consults with the legal system to educate judges and juries about ASD so that an autistic person's presentation will not be misinterpreted by people who do not understand their condition. "We have now extracted recent statistics suggesting that sentences of autistic people are on average higher than their non-autistic peers who have committed similar offences," she says.

"If you ask most people how they determine if someone is not telling the truth, they will often refer to lack of eye contact or fidgety behavior," says lead author Dr Alliyza Lim.

It's good to see more attention being drawn towards this. Individually, issues affecting us seem to be addressed one by one.

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3084: Apr 2nd 2021 at 9:44:08 PM

When Eye Contact Hurts. Finding eye contact uncomfortable is a mega common autism trait.

People think I’m not paying attention to a conversation unless I make eye contact. In reality, most of the time, my eye contact and my attention are completely independent from each other. My brain frequently doesn’t even really register what my eyes are seeing during a conversation.

From my experience, that is so true.

The phrase "You can learn to make eye contact, just practice" is not super-helpful.

No, of course not. You can't force people to go totally against their continued instincts.

How a lack of eye contact almost ruined my academic career

Years ago, I was interviewed by a committee for a prestigious program in neuroscience at my university. I had explicitly been asked to apply for the program since I was one of the top students in my year. Job interviews are a nightmare for most people, and even more so for autistic people. This interview definitely felt like a nightmare to me! I couldn’t make eye contact at all and felt horrible throughout it. Afterwards I beat myself up for doing such a poor job. A short while later I found out that one of the professors in the committee was hesitant to accept me into the program because I had come across as socially immature and therefore wouldn’t be a great “poster boy” for the program. I only made it into the program because my mentor convinced the committee to let me give a presentation about the research project I had been doing in his lab. This happened in 2005, but it still hurts that that professor initially judged me for my social skills rather than my academic ones.

Anyway, just a few highlights from this blog post.

Edited by BonsaiForest on Apr 2nd 2021 at 12:51:07 PM

MagmaTeaMerry My Head Is On Fire from A forest somewhere Since: Sep, 2020
My Head Is On Fire
#3085: Apr 3rd 2021 at 1:51:32 PM

[up] As I've mentioned previously, I'm not diagnosed, but I do recognize finding eye contact extremely uncomfortable. I've never liked looking people in the eye, not even family members, and I don't know if it's merely a personality quirk of mine (Could be) or indicative of some undiagnosed disorder.

My AO3 profile. Let sleeping cats lie and be cute and calming.
Delibirda from Splatsville Since: Sep, 2020 Relationship Status: I wanna be your dog
#3086: Apr 16th 2021 at 2:48:21 AM

I ain't the only one with ADHD who wanders way too much, right?

"Listen up, Marina, because this is SUPER important. Whatever you do, don't eat th“ “DON'T EAT WHAT?! Your text box ran out of space!”
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3087: Apr 19th 2021 at 3:18:49 PM

Autistic Self-Advocacy and the Neurodiversity Movement: Implications for Autism Early Intervention Research and Practice

A paper on how autism self advocates are influencing the conversation about autism. There is a lot here!

Moreover, there is increasing evidence that different developmental routes can lead to the same outcome, whereby atypical developmental processes are actually beneficial to that individual's intrinsic developmental trajectory; examples are echolalia and hyperlexia as alternative routes into functional spoken language. Focusing on reduction of the behaviors that define the autism diagnosis fails to consider that these behaviors are the outcome of different underlying neurology and interfering with them may undermine a child's natural coping strategies and development. Early interventions should therefore work with (not against) the child's developmental trajectory, as well as with their natural way of learning.

Predictable access to preferred activities not only decreases expressions of negative emotions (sometimes manifest as “challenging behavior”) but also can provide opportunities for expertise and genuine social bonding. The adoption of a positive psychology and strengths-based stance refocuses intervention efforts away from reducing deficits and toward enhancing those activities or skills that naturally lead to learning, social connection, and well-being. Intervention efforts should leave alone unconventional characteristics that cause no harm to self or other, such as a monotone voice or preference for solitude.

One argument put forward against involving autistic adults in child-focused research is that articulate and intelligent autistic adults cannot speak for the experience of children with significant intellectual or language disability. We need to be much more invested and creative in exploring ways to garner and document the views of children and adults who have severe communication impairments and this is an important focus for future research. We also need to recognize that autistic adults often bring valuable expertise to child-focused research. Autistic people can speak to what a good autistic life is like and what might have helped them. Many autistic self-advocates are parents of non-speaking children or were such children themselves. Some autistic people are well-connected with others and can draw on a wide range of experiences.

A ton of promotion of the idea that autism self-advocates should play a major role in things such as autism intervention for children (including non-speaking children), and autism research.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3088: Apr 26th 2021 at 12:46:58 AM

My fixations get weirdly specific lately. I end up rewatching the same compilations every night of stuff I never really cared about before. Like the Michigan J. Frog bumpers for The WB or Press Your Luck Whammy compilations. It's not full blown enough to be a special interest (and they're both pretty barebones in terms of, like, lore to care about) so it's just annoying.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 26th 2021 at 3:47:12 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3089: May 13th 2021 at 3:11:34 PM

Musk is, undeniably, an incredibly privileged autistic person. He was born in apartheid South Africa, to white parents who owned an emerald mine. As a rich white man who fits the “techie” stereotype, autistic people like Musk are among the most privileged autistic people. This in and of itself would not be as much of a problem if Musk used his fame and position to extend solidarity to other autistic people. Alas, that is not the case.

Highly visible autistic people carry certain responsibilities. Fairly or not, many non-autistic people often start comparing the rest of us to them. I have been informed more than once about the existence of Temple Grandin, as though her success is supposed to make me feel better. Or something.

I wonder if I and other autistic people will now told that we can be like Elon Musk. To which I say: no thanks!

My message to Elon is this: If you want to be enthusiastically welcomed into the autistic community, act like a member of our community. Stop using the “Asperger’s” language. Familiarize yourself with the issues facing less privileged members of our community, and pass the mic over to them. And, for goodness’ sake, stop promoting sci-fi solutions to our problems.

From an article on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism.

Edited by BonsaiForest on May 13th 2021 at 6:12:16 AM

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3090: Jun 22nd 2021 at 5:12:12 PM

A movie review of "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" which implies that the main characters have autism, and it's portrayed positively and even used as the reason they are able to save the world.

I'll quote.

As the film progresses, these unique, all-consuming interests allow the Mitchells to successfully overcome the difficulties they encounter. Rick’s interest in survival skills and self-sufficiency means every member of the family has at one time or another been gifted a screwdriver—the exact screwdriver needed to break free from the tiny green cell each human is imprisoned in. Katie is adept at understanding the workings of all types of technology; she mentions that she taught herself Photoshop and tells herself that this autodidacticism will help her quickly understand the robots’ function in order to use their own technology against them. Even Aaron’s seemingly irrelevant knowledge of dinosaurs, specifically pterodactyls who are known for their terrific eyesight, comes in handy as he chooses the perfect viewing spot to safely guide Katie as she drives through wreckage and robots in order to reach Pal Lab’s headquarters.

The film doesn’t completely avoid the difficulties of their neurodivergence either. Katie is noticeably lonely, which fuels her excitement to attend film school and hopefully find “her people.” The potential for intense interests is often a privilege that provides a space of safety and excitement, but it can be both frustrating and disheartening when those interests alienate you or make it difficult to connect because of a lack of common interest. When Katie is unable to interest her father in her video work, she becomes visibly upset, and Aaron is seen phoning every number in the local phone book one by one in the hopes that someone will want to talk about dinosaurs. These desperate attempts to share in mutual enjoyment of a beloved subject are a desire for community, which can be a struggle when you find yourself on the fringes of wider society, a common experience for disabled people.

Eden, one of the creators behind The Autisticats, a group that seeks to spread awareness about autism and other forms of neurodivergence, shares the belief that The Mitchells vs. The Machines, in particular, offers a vision of neurodivergence that values our differences, tweeting “What ends up saving the family, and ultimately humanity as a whole, is the fact that the Mitchells “don’t think like normal people.”’ Eden highlights one pivotal moment in the film that involves the two robots, Eric and Deborahbot 5000, that seem to be in some way defective and ignore their orders to capture all humans, instead using their inside knowledge to offer aid to the Mitchells. Reflecting on why they have survived when every other Pal Max has broken down, one of the robots says, “Our malfunction appears to have saved us.” Eden tweets, “The message in that line can easily be extended to the rest of the film: the Mitchells are a “malfunction” and they ended up saving humanity.”

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3091: Jun 22nd 2021 at 5:16:34 PM

I had very similar thoughts. Everybody clocked Katie as gay very quickly into the movie, but I also clocked her as autistic within the first four minutes.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3092: Jun 22nd 2021 at 5:27:46 PM

I wish movies and shows would do more than "autismbait." They need to actually say the word, and explain the traits. Educate the audience a little, while telling the story.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3093: Jun 22nd 2021 at 5:54:08 PM

Or just have an autistic character without going on a big Author Tract about how autism works. Autistic people can exist without it being our whole thing. The only time I've ever actually liked a lesson about autism was the "alien planet" metaphor in Arthur.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3094: Jun 22nd 2021 at 6:23:00 PM

Doesn't necessarily have to be an Author Tract, but little things said here or there. I realize that if done wrong, it can be very annoying, but I do think the public needs to be educated somehow. The tricky part is finding the right balance. Maybe show the traits, have the characters say "I've always been like this" or "this is just how I think" or such, then at the end say they have autism. Something like that.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3095: Jun 22nd 2021 at 6:34:36 PM

I'd like a good balance of shows having a Very Special Episode about autism and shows that just have autistic characters passively mention being autistic, with their character being informed by autism but otherwise having standard plots.

I want representation, but I don't want it to be entirely in the context of teaching allistic people to treat us like human being, you know? I want characters who are openly autistic but also just, like, characters.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 22nd 2021 at 9:34:48 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
HalfFaust Since: Jan, 2019
#3096: Jun 23rd 2021 at 1:14:42 AM

I definitely got autism vibes from The Mitchells vs the Machines, yeah.

I agree I'd like more shows where characters are explicitly autistic but they don't make a huge deal out of it.

I think a good way of explaining things is just to have the autistic character explain it to an allistic character. That way things can be pretty explicit but it can still be pretty brief.

nickeljorn from EAGLELAND Since: Mar, 2019
#3097: Jun 27th 2021 at 3:54:49 AM

I tend to prefer characters who aren't canonically autistic or even "neuroatypical/autistic coded" but have traits associated with autism by coincidence and are headcanoned as autistic (Like Jotaro), because the people who started the headcanons are generally autistic themselves (and many of them have posts on websites like Tumblr going into detail on the character's autistic traits), I'd say something like Jojo is more mainstream than the average show with a canonical autistic character who is seen as good representation by the majority of autistic people so it's easier to explain autism to someone who isn't familiar with using someone like Jotaro than someone like Entrapta, and in a case like Jotaro it's very unlikely the author was intending for the character to have autistic traits so those characters are less likely to fall into stereotypes. Even autistic characters by autistic writers can have cliches, especially those from 5-10 years ago because there were so few good representations of autism that the bad representations got into the public consciousness. I have about five autistic OCs and all but one of them were intended to be autistic very early on in their creation. One of them happened to have some autistic traits and I was like "Why not?" and now they're my favorite of the five.

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#3098: Jul 7th 2021 at 4:43:51 PM

I found a study about camouflaging in autistic people. 17 autistic adults in the UK were asked to have a 10-minute conversation with an allistic on camera, and then watch the footage and point out the forms of social mimicry/camouflaging they engaged in to try to appear "normal."

And what were found, was 38 distinct categories of social mimicry.

I'll link directly to the chart itself if you'd like to read it, but here are some that stuck out to me:

Gestures - altering communicative gestures so these appear more like neurotypical gestures or increasing the use of conventional gestures

Facial expressions - altering facial expressions so these appear more similar to neurotypical facial expressions

Speech intonation - changing the tone of one's voice or the emphasis placed on words to sound more conventional or typical

Scripts - use an established repertoire of phrases, comments, questions or anecdotes that are pre-planned or practiced, or have previously been well received by others

HOLY SHIT! I mean, yeah, I get that mimicry is basically survival - it helps you keep jobs, friendships (albeit friendships with people who like the fake person you're pretending to be rather than the genuine autistic that you actually are), and avoid being bullied or mistreated. But copying facial expressions and relying on scripts sounds like hell.

And indeed, autistic people have reported this uses a lot of mental energy, and it's harder to do these things under stress. The study is about that as well.

Anyway, check out the full study if you want to read more.

AustinHinton Since: Aug, 2015 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#3099: Jul 26th 2021 at 8:51:00 PM

Aspie Troper here, Sup.

The platypus is my spirit animal.
Lymantria Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph from Toronto Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Historians will say we were good friends.
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
#3100: Jul 30th 2021 at 7:15:43 PM

[up][up] I’m autistic, and I wonder how I would do in that study.

Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!

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