sal

poloniousmonk , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

@actuallyautistic @autisticadvocacy @autistic[email protected]

What is this "mask", what do y'all mean by "masking"?

Like, what's the difference between a mask and a public persona?

Both my parents are pretty autistic and in total denial about it. Lacking siblings, cousins, a culture, or human contact, I really have no frame of reference for this stuff.

Thanks.

sal , 8 months ago

@wilbr @poloniousmonk @Dianora @sentient_water @punishmenthurts @actuallyautistic @autisticadvocacy @[email protected] It's a theory that he wrote a long antisemitic article about.

mepurfield , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

I guess NTs that mimic #auctuallyautistic traits like stimming also go to #blacklivesmatter events in blackface. 🤔

@actuallyautistic

sal , 8 months ago

@mepurfield @actuallyautistic ? do you mean, like, mocking autistic people's stims?

sal , 8 months ago

@mepurfield @actuallyautistic oh ok, that seems like misguided thinking if that's what they think. there are lots of repetitive self-stimulatory things that many non-autistic and autistic people alike do just for their own sake.

haui , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

Good morning @actuallyautistic

I started watching #theaword yesterday on #DisneyPlus and it seems nice. It’s a series about an #autistic boy and his family.

I haven’t checked if the actor is #actuallyautistic and obviously warning for #pathologizing so beware.

Please #nospoilers but feel free to lmk if you watched it and if you liked it or not and why.

That said I‘m incredibly happy that content about us gets out there because peeps still think we cant talk of something.

sal , 8 months ago

@haui @actuallyautistic lots of people can't talk and they're great

arcana , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

@actuallyautistic i'm trying to do some research into the basic neurology of neurodiversity and... idk, a combination of not really knowing how to research, not finding more than very biased and very flawed studies (because of course) and just not really knowing what i'm looking for...

i'm just curious whether anyone has any leads or cool resources? most of my knowledge about autism is about behavior and experiences, and as far as i know you can't currently look at someone's brain and be like "ah, yes, there you can see the autism."

i've had this hypothesis i guess that autism and allism aren't as cut and dry as they are sometimes discussed, but the information backing that hypothesis is all experiential, anecdotal, and philosophical. so i'm curious to see some actual data, and i can't find it.

sal , 8 months ago

@arcana @actuallyautistic Eli Claire's "Brilliant Imperfection" is good but more focused on the societal side
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29771370-brilliant-imperfection

Take yr pick of things by Oliver Sacks, more biological focus
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/843200.Oliver_Sacks

theautisticcoach , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

If you're on the Left and your worldview AND praxis don't involve the liberation of disabled people, you aren't on the Left.

You're performative.

Gross.

@actuallyautistic @communism

sal , 8 months ago

@axnxcamr @quietmarc @Dremmwel @theautisticcoach @CStamp @actuallyautistic @communism Calling a comment 'asinine' is different than calling a person stupid.

sal , 8 months ago

@Dremmwel @theautisticcoach @axnxcamr @quietmarc @CStamp @actuallyautistic @communism There is no language that everyone can understand. 👍

KitMuse , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

I'm going to throw this out there and it may sound a bit controversial, but keep in mind I have nearly 20 years's experience as an entrepreneur. Is there ANYONE who works with #neurodivergent business owners or #ActuallyAutistic business owners who don't just regurgitate the same allistic/neurotypical "marketing advice" that's sold all over the groups and "free offers"? Because I'm not seeing anyone doing anything different from the NTs. @actuallyautistic @actuallyautistics

sal , 8 months ago

@KitMuse @actuallyautistic @actuallyautistics advertising is what you are looking for, or something else?

bike , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

@actuallyautistic

Grumpy about the medical system, complainy

After an ongoing saga in which my medical records were deleted from the online database never to return, and in which I contacted my clinic to ask for these records multiple times per month in various ways, and in full violation of #HIPAA , I finally got a paper copy of my medical records in the mail.

So I'm reviewing this paper copy of my medical records that I finally got a little while back. And it is much more detailed than the information I had access to through the online portal.

It is riddled with errors. I say one thing. They expect to hear another. They write it down. It's now in my permanent record and I have to just live with records that are wrong or spend hours and lots of emotions trying to get it fixed.

Is angry the emotion I'm having? I don't know. I don't know what emotion it is, but every time I try to think about interfacing with the health clinic, it's just awful. I think I don't need a health clinic, I need like a personal professionally trained health nerd.

Most people: hi doc, I've got symptoms A, B, C.
Doctor: let's test your thyroid. (test) Great! Here, take this pill for the rest of your life.
Most people: ok, doc! Thanks! All better now!

Me: hey doc, can you test my thyroid?
doctor: whyyy?
me: I was reading about it and I think it might be off
doctor: sure ok (test) great! take this pill for the rest of your life!
me: wtf no don't you need to do more tests? make sure there isn't a root cause? I read a book for health professionals on nutrition and thyroid
doctor: (test). how about now? now will you take the pill for the rest of your life? we'll start you on a low dose, we promise.
me: how about I try to fix those nutrition results that were off
doctor: sure, we'll retest in a few months
doctor: crickets
me: hey you forgot about me
doctor: (test) ok look if you don't want to take the pill don't take the pill
me: i am fine with taking the pill if that's the thing that makes the most sense
also me: don't you need to make sure that pill isn't going to cause trouble for me per the instructions in its packaging?
doctor: this is not my expertise, go talk to the homeopathic doctor (test) (abandon patient)

sal , 8 months ago

@bike @actuallyautistic Oh no :(
Why would he tell you to talk to a homeopath?

theautisticcoach , 8 months ago to actuallyautistic

Do you use the word "Neurodivergent"?

Why or why not?

Do you think it's ableist?

If you don't use it, what word do you use?

#ActuallyAutistic #AskingAutistics @actuallyautistic

sal , 8 months ago

@theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic Not ableist.

I have never had any neurological testing done on myself, and if I did I would have to compare my results against the results of a rigorous, large-sample-size study of a 'default' population for contrast, before I'd decide to use the term for myself.

There are many neurological divergences that people can experience including MS, traumatic brain injuries, phenotypical expressions of Down syndrome, and so on.

sal , 8 months ago

@eo @theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic And if you meet one autistic person you know ONE autistic person ;)

sal , 8 months ago

@melindrea @theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic Well the thing is that many of those are themselves loose, subjective umbrella-descriptors for experiences that can't be assumed to be neurological-in-case -- and in this situation, it's especially important to realize that because psychiatrists will often (wrongly) tell people that their depression or voice-hearing or non-conformist ideas are DEFINITELY symptoms of a "neurotransmitter issue" or "chemical imbalance" when that simply isn't true.

(This, then, opens the door for said psychiatrists to rationalize forcing their will on patients, because it's easy for them to claim that any patient disagreement with the psychiatrist is itself just a "symptom.")

So I avoid using "neurological condition" to mean "anything that currently gets considered a mental 'illness'", because psychiatry is Not neurology, and because I don't want to gloss over or cut-off deeper inquiry into "what ways of thinking and feeling get pathologized by these formal legal/medical institutions, and why?"

(Some examples: It's ridiculously easy for adults to get psychiatrists to do punitive interventions against children who disagree with them - to try to "cure" them of that - and people of color are often pushed to go on antipsychotics if they tell their doctors about being racially profiled / surveilled in stores. Locating these things as "neurological issues" within the individual does them a great disservice.)

sal , 8 months ago

@Vincarsi @Dremmwel @theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic That guy spent like three days trying to dismiss and mansplain-away my explanations of how doctors can and do use diagnosis in a violent and controlling way, both to justify withholding treatment and to justify forced interventions, so I don't think he's really interested in deconstructing the medical model :\

sal , 8 months ago

@marytzu @Selena @theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic I get that some people use the term to include people with other DSM labels - but, like other psych diagnoses, "personality disorders" aren't diagnosed based on neurological tests of any kind but upon a psychiatrist's subjective opinion about a person's behavior.

(And they often do this as a form of violence and control. They will give people different diagnoses based on disliking the patient*, or based on the patient having a disagreement with them. Then, having solidarity amongst themselves as professional-class gatekeepers, other doctors will demonize the patient based on the diagnosis on their charts - not based on anything the patient has actually done. They will use it to justify denying the patient the care they want and need, AND to justify violently forcing unwanted interventions on the patient.)

Is it all of our responsibility to be in solidarity with those labeled with PDs?

YES, OBVIOUSLY! Only an intellectually-lazy person with a horrible misunderstanding of social dynamics could think otherwise.

*'Patient' here is an oversimplification, sometimes the people in question are better described as inmates.

sal , 8 months ago

@mike805 @KaCi @theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic How did they make the fire without those spark-making rocks, or complete the hunt without those sharpened rocks?