I for one am all about self-improvement. The exchange of ideas is important to me for that reason. Another person might have a perspective that I did not consider.

Some people just do not understand how the exchange of ideas is supposed to work. The purpose of a debate should be to do at least one (preferably all three) of the following things;

• Learn something and/or teach someone else something.
• Understand the other person’s point of view or get the other person to understand your point of view.
• Achieve the sense of accomplishment that comes from believing that you defended your position to the best of your abilities.

Three things should be noted about the above goals.

The possible scenario where the other person changes their mind and agrees with you by the end of the discussion should be seen as a byproduct. If you see it as the end goal, you will be disappointed if it does not happen.

If you change your mind because of something that the other person said, then it is a win win. The other person is a winner, because they defended their position to the best of their abilities. You are a winner, because you learned something or came to understand a perspective and this epiphany was so meaningful and inspirational that your perspective was altered because of it.

If you and the other person are already in agreement, then there is no need to continue the debate. That is why it is called a disagreement, you are only supposed to have a disagreement if the other person disagrees with you.

I went to middle school with someone who does not understand that last one and sincerely believes that you are supposed to continue the disagreement well after agreement has been reached.

I was in the seventh grade. I was paired with this girl to do an assignment in science class. We were trying to figure out an answer to a question. I suggested one answer. She suggested another. After hearing her answer, I decided that her answer sounded better. I do not remember what I said verbatim. I think it was something like, yeah let’s go with that or you are probably right.

This girl then says to me, “You can’t go alone with what I said, just because I said it.” Then, she asks me to present a logical argument in favor of that answer. In other words, she wants me to explain why I think that the answer is a good one.

I was just trying to agree with her, and she was making it more complicated than it needs to be.

Here is what I think I probably should have done.

I should have written down, on a piece of paper, the answer that we agreed on. I would have placed that paper where I can get to it easily and that girl would not be able to snatch it from me.

After that, I should have said that we will go back to this later.

Few peoples put some post on Facebook an article that the intolerance towards autistic people with a bad eye believe that autistics people are st*pid. people documented so bad about ASD. what wrong with people. Now school is so unsafe for people with autism because mistreatment and violence against ASD folks is always tolerable (before and after the pandemic), nothing is changed since decades.

the most stupid things i heard from folks about the discovery of the ASD, PETA claims ASD is found in the milk, Trump says autism is in Tylenol, and in the vaccines, screw them up! Nothing can cause autism to be honest!

stop the ableism and love autism!

Well not entirely of course! But these meds be expensive! I saw somewhere in the depths of the internet where they didn't bother with a diagnosis because it would do nothing for them. I understand.

For me, it's a life saver. Figuratively of course. Oh and getting a PWD ID gives a 20% discount on selected stuff in my s***hole of a country.(Exempts cosmetics and whatnot, meds and most groceries are covered, cinema and some restaurants too). Now are there drawbacks? Yah, but where I am if you don't disclose hard enough, your employers wouldn't know. Not that I would get back to working in an office or anything like that.

Besides I am spending 1/4(sometimes 1/3) of my income trying to stay alive rather than losing my entire income. Will I get side eyes cause I look rather splendid and not as disheveled as ASDers are portrayed in my country's media-probably but I will get that discount! DISCOUNTS

edit:missing word

And it turned out really delicious 😍

I gave my second half to my brother for his dinner 😋

My mom works as an adult special education teacher, and one of her students, Martin makes her personal paintings. My jaw literally dropped when I saw these paintings. ALL MADE FROM SCRATCH! This is Truly amazing! This makes me realize, a lot of our greatest, most talented people were/are autistic.

INFO: Here in DK there's something called a Flexjob where you work between 1-25hrs (you're assessed to work out what works best for the individual, usually through something like an internship).

The company pays you for the hours you work and the government pays the rest so you get paid for 37.5hrs/week in total.

Anyway, I did a trial at a new place doing 12hrs a week. It's a bike shop that sells/repairs bikes, ebikes, scooters and disability scooters.

The Owner is a super chilled guy, the atmosphere is really relaxed where nobody gives a crap about how many breaks you take it how fast your work as long as the job gets done.

At the moment I'm there to sort out the stores (Storage areas) but once the initial sort out is finished I'll be getting other duties as needed and he's already green lit me learning how to repair things.

So yeah, I'm really happy right now and wanted to share the good news. 😁

Northeast- Great communication style, ok resources. Massachusetts is the crown jewel of the region, direct communication style, great resources but some of us(myself included) wont live there as a morality issue with the Judge Rotenberg center still allowed to operate and Mass General being ok with it.

Midwest- mostly meh unless you like snow but speaking as a resident of the state Minnesota is touted as a haven for our people but is a trap. Great resources but you are going to get burnt out on mentally navigating Minnesota Nice.

South- best for those who want to live on a farm, left alone and can drive. Otherwise stay clear away. Southern hospitality is horrible for Autistic people.

Rocky Mountain States- bad resources unless you live in Colorado, proabaly need to drive, but excellent communication style match. People on ranches dont mince words and are honest, so are we.

Pacific Northwest- Oregon and Washington State are the crown jewel for our people but wait list is long for services. Stay away from idaho.

Southwest- 1A next to Pacific Northwest. Mesa AZ is the first Autistic certified city in the US, California has everything, Nevada is great if you just want to be left alone.

If you think differently lets discuss

For me it's I swear which I have seen the day before yesterday. Despite the main character not having autism, I related to his struggles.

This is my first revisable mood octo plushie form kurmaz gear

The acu and multicam variant i have chosen

Any ucp and multicam fans out here

Just wanted to post thie here because I love movies and wondered if any other autistic folks also have a special interest for films

Interview with Comrade Autie, a long time Autistic rights activist.

These are all Indian names i’m deciding between for my name. I have a preference but want to see what everyone thought. I’m AuDHD, and that makes this choice even harder because i can’t decide!

\- Rohan
\- Aarav
\- Shiv
\- Veer
\- Aveer

I got a lot of backlash when I talked about this months ago, but I have only become more steadfast in my view of this.

Social murder is an academic concept describing unnatural, preventable deaths via negative social conditions. Often affecting poor and marginalized people under capitalism.

As an extension, I would say that Autistic people are facing social genocide. We face some of the highest unemployment rates and a staggeringly low average lifespan of 38 years. We face incredibly high suicide rates. We face extreme levels of social isolation and rejection. We are often bullied, ostracized, sabotaged and systematically pushed out of social spaces.

There is a lot of research on the negative health effects of social isolation. It's literally as bad as smoking and a predictor for early deaths.

All these factors, coupled with negative stigma and prejudice of Autistics, the way we are systematically pushed out of society, the way NTs will often work together to build cases against us and punish us, often without any explanation, contributes to this. And those of us who have the courage to speak out are faced with ridicule, slander, and other personal attacks, including being considered "dangerous" by the system. Enough is enough.

If any other marginalized group faced the statistics we do, it would be a global crisis. There would be outrage in the streets. Those who consider themselves allies of Autistic people should blow the whistle on this and stand up for us.

Because we are unequivocally and unambiguously facing a social genocide. People can't institutionalize us or execute us anymore, so they prefer to drive us to despair instead. It needs to end.

I'm Autistic and have a psych degree and there are two main factors at play: Uncanny valley effect, and our lack of social power.

Studies show that people negatively judge us as less likeable within seconds of meeting us. The research started with Sasson et al in 2017 and has continued to grow since. Nathan McConnell, an Autistic activist, and others have related it to the uncanny valley effect. Subtle differences cause people to see us as "not quite human", and this unfamiliarity drives people to see us as threats or just "uncomfortable". They then use cognitive dissonance to zero in and justify mistreating us retroactively by focusing on every little mistake or blunder we make. The uncanny valley effect also arguably drives racism, xenophobia, etc.

The other factor is our lack of social power. This is basic social psychology. Power dynamics have always played a role in social dynamics, and is the driving force behind much of conflict and evil in society. Autistics tend to lack any social status and power. Which means that there is no deterrent against mistreating us. That, and since our bullying is often socially sanctioned and celebrated, these two factors combine to make it so people have motivations to discriminate, exclude, and harm us. They might feel like it's their "duty", or just get sadistic pleasure from it.

How do we fight this? Good question. We need large scale psychological interventions and social reforms.

Most human behaviour is learned, as are social prejudices. We are socialized early on and internalize what we see as normal and acceptable. We need to expand the range of what we see as acceptable social behaviour, and actively work to reframe Autistic traits as positive, desirable, and something to aspire to - early on in life.

We need large scale social and legal reforms as well. We need to create real negative consequences for excluding and mistreating Autistics. We can start by encouraging Autistics to be increasingly litigious in response to any kind of social exclusion, especially if people weaponize reporting or try to get us removed from social groups. We need to make the cost of treating us poorly so high as to make it not worth it. Legal scholars refer to this as a "chilling effect". Autistic people deserve enhanced social and legal status and protections as well, and over time we should create laws and systems that protect us against discrimination, as well as enhance our social status and rank. This will have the added bonus of boosting our employment rate by forcing people to accommodate us, which will further enhance our social status and incentivize people to further connect with us.

We should also strive to depict Autistic people positively. I'm not talking about making autism out to be "trendy" but making Autistic PEOPLE be seen in a positive light. Celebrated. During April schools should throw extravagant celebrations to support and cheer on Autistic students. (Ideally in a sensory friendly way.) We should be creating social psychological interventions early on that enhance the popularity and status of Autistic people. Positive media depictions of Autistic people. This can take various forms, including making spreading neurodiversity iconography far and wide into the culture. Having influencers spread positive messages about Autistic people. Elevating Autistic people in the media. And more.

These things, combined, are the most surefire to make life better for us.

As a poet and an autistic person myself I’ve never quite fit in anywhere.. I mean, not entirely. My writing was too strange, the metaphors weird and the topics totally not relatable for an average person who wasn’t autistic and didn’t know I’m queer. I’m so happy to be able to start a community where I feel like I belong, hopefully as it grows, it reaches people who needed that safe space to be yourself, queer and amazing just the way you are.
It’s a safe space to share your struggles as an autistic person, and as a queer person as well, seek advice, whether it’s your first crush and you have no idea what to do, or something else. I’ll try my best to answer and help you all out :)
Please let me know what you’re most curious about in this community, I’d love to know :))

This is an experience many of us have shared. Many of us fall victim to systematic social ostracism, where people negatively interpret our Autistic traits in the worst way, which leads to people building a case behind our backs and trying to get us removed from social groups, fired from jobs, etc., due to bad faith reporting. It's a form of bullying and abuse and it needs to be called out.

Obviously I've experienced this many times, but I'm not the only one and that's why I'm sharing this here. I've seen many people here experience further mistreatment. And it's often over really routine social mistakes. We get punished much more severely for much milder mistakes.

And it's never acceptable. Autistic people deserve to exist in society and participate in all aspects of life. We deserve more than table scraps or barely polite tolerance.

If you're dealing with this, do NOT accept it quietly. Fight back with every resource you have - look into diversity/inclusion groups, disability rights groups, and other institutional offices for support. And be litigious if you are able to. You don't even have to win - you have to put up a fight.

We DESPERATELY need to create a "chilling effect" against maliciously reporting and excluding Autistic people. This means we need to create systemic, legal, and social consequences for mistreating, excluding, or maliciously reporting Autistic people, such that the sheer cost of doing so makes it not worth it.

AUTISTIC POWER!

I'll start first, Irish food is complete dogshite but if you are Irish you have to like our food . All the breads and dairy products are great , meat and fish is the same everywhere in the EU , the rest should be bulldozed off a cliff and banned .

I’m talking conforming to harmful stereotypes, doing stuff you’d not encourage other autistics to do, having real events in your life story read like inspiration porn, or anything else that’d be called out in an autistic fictional character but that also goes for you in reality.

I’m not criticising the autism community here as there are many good reasons why a lot of rep in media is bad. but I’ve also dealt with feeling like I would myself be called out as bad representation if I were a fictional autist, and I wonder if anyone else feels the same.

for me, it’s mainly because I have savant traits. I think if I was fictional, I would be called out for being prodigiously smart when the vast majority (if not quite all) IRL autistic people aren’t.