Feels like a good day to focus on some concrete knowledge. I like this essay by Nick Walker / @DrNicky on the definition and usage of "neurodiversity", "neurodivergent", and some related terms. It's nice to see it all laid out with full, clear explanations. And I accept all these definitions as correct, with no need to quibble or qualify.
I still think we need some better words for these concepts, as I don't like the framing that defines NDs in relation to the special class of NTs. But as long as we're stuck with these words, we should know what they mean and how to use them.
Terms defined in this post:
https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/
[#]neurodivergent, #neurodiverse, #neurodiversity, #autistic, #adhd, #audhd
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My "oh gosh I wish I'd never thought of that" idea that I can't get out of my head now is how if everyone gets their info from googling and all the search engines use LLMs to "summarize" and rewrite everything, and likewise at newspapers, and then Facebook and Xitter add a feature that LLM rewrites everything you post yourself, and so on, that's basically giving "them" Orwellian control of language. The shadowlords who control AI tech will control language in a way Orwell never dreamed of. They can remove words from common usage nearly overnight, redefine meanings, change insults into honorifics, whatever they want. And that's not even considering what happens when all our phones and computers have AI in them that rewrites everything. There will no longer be a durable record of history, or reliable information on anything. I hate it.
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"You won't be disturbed when the delivery is made" is fuckyouspeak for "We can't be bothered to ring your bell to let you know we left your package on the sidewalk where anyone could take it"
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That #autistic feeling when you're the one who always initiates something with someone and you think you might be bothering them with too much of that, so you back off and wait for them to initiate something the next time but they never do.
[#]ActuallyAutistic
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It's only January, but I'm already dreading April and Autism Bewareness Month (AKA #AutismAwarenessMonth AKA #AutismAcceptanceMonth). I think it's gonna be pretty bad this year, since the USA is now taking a hard turn toward ableism and enforced conformity. Usually I have no idea what to focus on for April, and it's just me trying to not get upset at all the inspiration porn and pro-ABA bullshit. But this year I have a specific goal, and it needs some help.
Last year, YouTube's #HankGreen (of vlogbrothers, SciShow, and so many other things that he's nearly unavoidable) appeared in a SciShow video titled "What is the Autism Spectrum?" He did not write the script for the video, but he did present it so he's still responsible for what he said. The video got some positive reaction because it was better than most other autism videos, and many people don't have enough context about autism to see how inaccurate much of the information was. But many of us autistic folk thought it was a bad video that pushed the medical model of disability, included some eugenics, and promoted ABA as "the only effective evidence-based intervention for someone on the [autism] spectrum". Even if the video contains some good information, I think the amount of harmful information in it means it should be taken down.
I tried to contact Hank to express my concerns and disappointment, and to ask for a retraction and apology for the video. I said that it was like he'd done a video that promoted gay conversion therapy, because ABA is in fact the same thing as conversion therapy, created by the same person (Ole Lovass), and with the same issues. I saw others reach out publicly, and know others that did privately as well. But Hank never responded, and never acknowledged there was even any feedback, let alone address it. So I just can't watch anything with him in it anymore, and that turns out to be pretty difficult on YouTube, because he's involved in so many things. That's made watching YouTube nearly a daily upset, and I hate it. I also miss out on the useful stuff he says, and he does still say useful things. But I just can't bring myself to watch someone who promotes the torture of autistic children.
I know I'm not going to be able to get Hank's attention all on my own, and even if I did I doubt he'd be receptive to little old me complaining he was a meany. But I'm wondering if we could get a big enough group to make enough of a stir to get his attention. I really want him to understand he presented harmful information, apologize, retract the video, and make a replacement video co-hosted by an autistic youtuber who knows what they're talking about. Nothing about us without us! I have no idea how hard it would be to make it happen, but it would be great to get him to make a correction video to release in April this year.
Is this just a pipe dream? Is this a dumb idea that could never work, or is there a chance of success? I doubt I have the spoons to lead a social media campaign for it myself, but I really would love to help make it happen. I wish we autistic activists were better organized for this kind of thing. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I think this response video by "Autism From The Inside" is good and does a much better job than I on critiquing Hank's video. If you want to watch Hank's original video, search on YouTube for "SciShow autism". https://youtu.be/_bYPdc2cT-E
[#]ActuallyAutistic
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In case it's not clear, when a sociopath explains away bad behavior by saying it was "just a joke", they don't mean they were making a joke to be funny. These so-called jokes are a test to see who is in-group and who isn't. If you think it's a good joke, you're part of their group. If you don't think it's a good joke, you're their enemy.
This is why their humor sucks. They're not making jokes to be funny, but to weed out the people who don't think they're funny.
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Meelo says #Caturday is the best for snuggling with your bestie
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I really do wish I didn't live alone in isolation (thanks covid!), but there are some upsides. One is that living solo has let me reclaim my #autistic #stimming. I spent over five decades suppressing my stims, and I'm only starting to appreciate what that cost me. Most of my life I struggled to keep my body in check so I wouldn't get abuse for being weird, pretty much anytime I was around anyone. And I internalized that so much I suppressed my stims even when all by myself.
But living alone gave me a chance to let my hair down and free my stims, and sometimes I feel like a different person inside my skin. I shake off tension, physically toss bad thoughts away, dance my way around the flat, make dramatic gestures, drum on just about anything handy, sit in odd positions, stand on one leg like a stork, walk backwards, make faces, and bounce my leg while sitting a lot. Sometimes I realize when I'm stimming, but it now feels natural enough that much of the time I don't even notice I'm doing it, though I can in retrospect if I think about it. I guess that's what it's like for NTs when they stim, like drumming fingers or flipping their hair - the stims nobody thinks are stims because NTs do them.
But it's not just random tics or flailing about. It's part of how I process feelings, and it's so much better than forcing myself to sit still and stew on something. A small gesture can release a bad feeling in a moment, instead of hanging onto that stress and forcing my body to behave.
I think this is a big part of why I don't like being out in public now. I don't want to wear a stim straitjacket anymore, but I don't feel safe stimming in public either. And since I stopped suppressing myself at home, I worry I've lost my ability to mask and suppress stims when I go out. Sigh.
[#]ActuallyAutistic
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This #autistic #alexithymia is so hard to deal with sometimes, especially when I'm under a lot of stress. For me, it can take a while for an emotion to register as a physical feeling, and then it's also hard to understand the connection between the physical sensation of feeling an emotion and the emotion itself. Much of the time I feel sensations that make no sense and appear to have no cause.
A lot of what I go through these days is that I see something upsetting, but I don't immediately feel it in my body. Then some random amount of time later – minutes, hours, days even – I suddenly feel sick to my stomach, or I get the chills, or something equally mysterious. And I have no idea what it's about, so I worry if I'm getting sick, or if something else is wrong. I'm just starting to be able to notice when this happens, and understand that this upset stomach might be about something that upset me a while ago.
I know this is just another confounding part of autistic sensory and emotional processing. But it's confusing and exhausting and I wish it wasn't like this all the time. No wonder I stim so much these days - I have a lot of shit to process and my body needs some relief from that.
[#]ActuallyAutistic
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The most basic protip for using the internet:
Do not write a big chunk of text in a browser input field.
Compose your writing in another app where you can save your progress and have better editing tools. And then when you click the Submit button and there's an error and you lose the text in the form, you still have what you wrote in the other app.
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As much as I value most of the work of the ACLU, I wish they would get off their high horse about why they think it's important to defend the speech rights of Nazis. Some misguided fools seem to think that there is no line that can be drawn for what speech must protected and what should not. Well, nothing Nazis say is in good faith or should be protected. Nazis can eat shit and die, and nobody needs to hear a single thing they want to say.
And even though I respect most of what the ACLU does, the Nazi Dinner Rule[1] still applies. Until these fools stop fighting to defend the rights of Nazis to parade down Main Street in full uniform, they're just another kind of enabler, and I want nothing to do with them.
This is part of how we have to fight fascism. Nobody gets a pass for enabling fascists. Nobody's work is so important that they need to accept fascism to advance their goals.
[1] Nazi Dinner Rule says that if you're at a dinner party and one of the guests is a Nazi and you don't kick them out, then it's a Nazi dinner party. Nobody puts up with Nazis except other Nazis.
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@allstartrek
We have a #HangTrek winner! #HangTrekSolved
Congrats to @HippieScubaSteve for correctly guessing VENDORIAN MORALITY TEST
Next round to you, HippieScubaSteve.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Morality_test
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@allstartrek
The winner of the previous #HangTrek poll was O with 38%, and there are two Os.
Looking for a 3-word noun phrase with 9, 8, and 4 letters.
This is poll 6. No wrong guesses yet. And so many twofers! Freebie: There are no Qs.
_ E N _ O R I _ N _ O R _ _ I _ _ _ E _ _
This poll will run 12 hours.
All are welcome to vote and guess at any time. Others may appreciate a CW when you guess. Winner gets to host the next round, or nominate someone else to host it.
Rules for HangTrek: https://mastodon.social/@chrysomeles/112461799676962075
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@allstartrek
The winner of the previous #HangTrek poll was I with 39%, and there are two Is.
Looking for a 3-word noun phrase with 9, 8, and 4 letters.
This is poll 5. No wrong guesses yet. You all are so smart! Freebie: There are no Qs.
_ E N _ _ R I _ N _ _ R _ _ I _ _ _ E _ _
This poll will run 12 hours.
All are welcome to vote and guess at any time. Others may appreciate a CW when you guess. Winner gets to host the next round, or nominate someone else to host it.
Rules for HangTrek: https://mastodon.social/@chrysomeles/112461799676962075
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@allstartrek
The winner of the previous #HangTrek poll was R with 41%, and there are two Rs.
Looking for a 3-word noun phrase with 9, 8, and 4 letters.
This is poll 4. No wrong guesses yet. Freebie: There are no Qs.
_ E N _ _ R _ _ N _ _ R _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _
This poll will run 12 hours.
All are welcome to vote and guess at any time. Others may appreciate a CW when you guess. Winner gets to host the next round, or nominate someone else to host it.
Rules for HangTrek: https://mastodon.social/@chrysomeles/112461799676962075
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Is it an #ADHD thing that I'm focused on cooking breakfast so my brain is fighting against washing the pan I need because I'm supposed to be cooking not cleaning? Stupid brain.
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@allstartrek
The winner of the previous #HangTrek poll was N with 45%, and there are two Ns.
Looking for a 3-word noun phrase with 9, 8, and 4 letters.
This is poll 3. No wrong guesses yet. Freebie: There are no Qs.
_ E N _ _ _ _ _ N _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _
This poll will run 12 hours.
All are welcome to vote and guess at any time. Others may appreciate a CW when you guess. Winner gets to host the next round, or nominate someone else to host it.
Rules for HangTrek: https://mastodon.social/@chrysomeles/112461799676962075
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@allstartrek
The winner of the previous #HangTrek poll was E with 50%, and there are two Es.
Looking for a 3-word noun phrase with 9, 8, and 4 letters.
This is poll 2. No wrong guesses. Freebie: There are no Qs.
_ E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _
This poll will run 12 hours.
All are welcome to vote and guess at any time. Others may appreciate a CW when you guess. Winner gets to host the next round, or nominate someone else to host it.
Rules for HangTrek: https://mastodon.social/@chrysomeles/112461799676962075
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@allstartrek Grab your tricorder and buckle on your life-support belt, it's time for another round of #HangTrek!
Looking for a 3-word noun phrase with 9, 8, and 4 letters.
This is poll 1. No wrong guesses. Freebie: There are no Qs.
This poll will run 12 hours.
All are welcome to vote and guess at any time. Others may appreciate a CW when you guess. Winner gets to host the next round, or nominate someone else to host it.
Rules for HangTrek: https://mastodon.social/@chrysomeles/112461799676962075
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A young relative is starting to get into reading #SciFi and asked me to recommend my favorite books. It's been a while since I slapped together one of these lists, so I figured I should share it here for public consumption. I have omitted most of my favorites from before I turned 20 because there was a lot of stuff that doesn't hold up anymore - Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, etc.
(Note: This is not a request for your recommendations. Happy to talk about why stuff is on this list, why I like the authors, how other books compare, etc., but I don't want a megathread of everyone's recs, tyvm.)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- Life, the Universe and Everything
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
- Mostly Harmless
- Eon
- Eternity
- Legacy
- Sundiver
- Startide Rising
- The Uplift War
- Brightness Reef
- Infinity's Shore
- Heaven's Reach
- Neuromancer (made cyberpunk a genre)
- Count Zero
- Mona Lisa Overdrive
- The Reality Dysfunction
- The Neutronium Alchemist
- The Naked God
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Known_Space#Stories_in_Known_Space
- Ringworld (the one everyone knows)
- The Mote in God's Eye
- Lucifer's Hammer
- Hyperion
- The Fall of Hyperion
- Endymion
- The Rise of Endymion
- The Persistence of Vision (anthology)
- The Barbie Murders (anthology)
- The Ophiuchi Hotline
- Titan
- Wizard
- Demon
- The Peace War
- "The Ungoverned" (short story, not required to read MiR)
- Marooned in Realtime
- "The Blabber" (short story prequel)
- A Fire Upon the Deep
- A Deepness in the Sky
- Children of the Sky (for completeness, but I haven't read it yet)
- The Shadow of the Torturer
- The Claw of the Conciliator
- The Sword of the Lictor
- The Citadel of the Autarch
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