A good article about understanding yourself a little better than you did the day before. Also a reminder that autistic people were always there, it's just that many of us - including many autistic folks - didn't have a vocabulary or medical knowledge to describe it. observer.co.uk/news/first-p... - ThreadSky

scalzi.com • 24 days ago

A good article about understanding yourself a little better than you did the day before. Also a reminder that autistic people were always there, it's just that many of us - including many autistic folks - didn't have a vocabulary or medical knowledge to describe it.

https://observer.co.uk/news/first-person/article/laurie-penny-autism

Comments

quellingly.bsky.social•23 days ago

I don’t understand how anyone could get through a day in their life without having it right up in their faces that people are different from each other and think differently from each other.

Sorry to be cranky about it, but bad times seem to make people forget in unkind ways.

mirar.bsky.social•24 days ago

This kind of made me a little bit angry...

vem-osca.bsky.social•23 days ago

Probably on the spectrum but no interest in getting diagnosed: I *know* I am weird. I have learned enough to get by. I don't want accommodation. I want the world to get comfier with the fact that difference in the human experience is a thing & to treat outliers who aren't harming anyone w/ respect.

rubikm.bsky.social•23 days ago

I won't get diagnosed, then I'd have to declare it to employers. Recently I applied for a CSIRO job and tried not masking for the interview because they seemed really inclusive. It didn't go well. To be fair I was completely missing one non-core skill they wanted.

mcahalane.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yes!

annie-lee.bsky.social•23 days ago

I kind of feel like we had a whole lot more acceptance for the normal range of behaviour. Now normal is just a tiny box that we try to fit every one into. If you don’t fit, then we have to label you with something and try to fix you. We don’t allow different in normal anymore.

mirar.bsky.social•23 days ago

This is a good point. You can't be a "little bit strange" anymore.

annie-lee.bsky.social•23 days ago

Instead of expanding the disorders, we should be expanding on our idea of normal.

mirar.bsky.social•23 days ago

We should maybe limit was a disorder is.

You can have pain in a knee without it being a disorder.

Just because you can't run properly doesn't mean you can't handle a job, school, family.

kaeriani.bsky.social•23 days ago

I disagree. People have always hated and feared "different" people. There has always been masking, whether it's of whom you love, what race you are (passing), what religion you believe in, or your inability to think like others do. Nowadays it may be "pathologized" and attempted to be "fixed" but...

kaeriani.bsky.social•23 days ago

.... it's always been problematic to be different.

annie-lee.bsky.social•23 days ago

We are broadening the scope of different and closing the scope of what is normal. I have seen the changes in raising my own special needs children, and it continues. People introduce themselves by their disorders, or the disorders of their kids. I think we should expand normal.

302czar.bsky.social•24 days ago

Hey it's @pennyred.bsky.social !!

mcahalane.bsky.social•23 days ago

Very good.

And sad. Why are we humans so ready to attack differences?

steveeditor.bsky.social•24 days ago

'There weren't any autistic/trans/Lgbtq [delete as applicable] people when I was in school.' - Every pub bore everywhere.

'No - because they got on the first fucking train from Aberdare and never came back.'

Choosing to be invisible is a wonderful gift to a fascist.

emptymind.bsky.social•23 days ago

Also: GODDAMNIT.
That article just hit me right in the everywhere. Especially the part where I’ve disclosed to some folks close to me, and they were all “Well Duh!”.
And the conflict and worry that comes with deciding who to disclose to.

Thank you for sharing that sir.

emptymind.bsky.social•23 days ago

Oh. You’re one of us too?
That makes sense. I will never mock your burritos again (especially since I just ate a whole container of wintergreen tictacs because flavor. )

kimkelly.bsky.social•24 days ago

I love their writing so much

mrs-e-m.bsky.social•24 days ago

This is a great article. I grew up in the era where diagnosis was something that was avoided if you are high functioning.

I changed that when I had my son diagnosed. He is an amazing person. I just wish everyone gave him time by listening. It takes him longer to get out what he says.

rivercavy.bsky.social•23 days ago

I love this bit “For as long as records have been kept, a small percentage of the species has been meaningfully different to other people and meaningfully similar to each other.”

shotscarecrow.bsky.social•24 days ago

I'm not sure this does much to shift the stereotype of privileged middle class people looking to autism as the explanation for why they're not as effortlessly cool and popular as they think they should be. I can trust their account, but it leaves plenty of room for that interpretation.

shotscarecrow.bsky.social•24 days ago

To expand on that, I guess I take issue with accounts of neurotypical people 'resonating on the same frequency' and the embedded assumption that everyone who appears to be managing their life differently -- muddling along, so to speak -- is doing so without any particular cognitive effort.

kwstzhaderbonch.bsky.social•24 days ago

I guess I don't really care if privileged people benefit from better understanding and diagnosis of autism? And that's also counter to the point of the article, which is that developments have led to a more nuanced and accessible understanding that benefits a wider range of autists.

shotscarecrow.bsky.social•23 days ago

I don't care if privileged people benefit from a better understanding either. I don't think this piece propagates a better understanding -- it sticks to the whole 'neurotypicals are people who find it easy to socialise' angle.

akirak.bsky.social•24 days ago

I failed so many different tests for autism, until I talked with my therapist and they showed me some info and we dug into things together to confirm that yep, I'm autistic.

Everyone around me: how in hell did you not know? We pegged you when you walked through the door. 😅

kxd.dev•23 days ago

Getting diagnosed with ADHD was incredibly helpful because I could put a name to what I felt and see what others did to improve their lives. (I also feel I’m somewhere on the spectrum but have nothing official)

free2b.bsky.social•24 days ago

Am I the only one who thinks it's sad that people refer to acknowledging autism publicly as "coming out?" Or is that a vestige of growing up Boomer? Serious question

ebattermann.bsky.social•24 days ago

Forgive me if I'm just being clueless, but I'd like to hear more. Why do you think that?

free2b.bsky.social•24 days ago

If that's the question, I guess it's because when I was growing up, "coming out" meant having to overcome feelings of shame and embarrassment. I hate thinking people with autism, or any not-well-understood condition, really, would have those feelings. It hurts my soul for them.

ebattermann.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yes, that was my question. Thank you for explaining, & for your kindness.

free2b.bsky.social•23 days ago

Of course. Thank you for wanting to know.

free2b.bsky.social•24 days ago

Why do I think it's sad?

rjnerddad.bsky.social•24 days ago

So honest and relatable. Thanks for posting this.

joqatana.bsky.social•24 days ago

We’re changelings.

rhinestonebrowboy.bsky.social•24 days ago

I like Laurie Penny. Her Unspeakable Things changed my mind on a few things and I always remember a mind-changer fondly. Saw her speak once.

dundonaldpatrick.bsky.social•24 days ago

Everyone is good at something and when it’s an autistic person, are usually amongst the top in their field.

obsidianfeenix.bsky.social•23 days ago

*is autistic and fails at literally everything*
Hmm....🤔

dundonaldpatrick.bsky.social•23 days ago

You just have to find your forte.

trevbreaker.bsky.social•24 days ago

“Medical knowledge”.

So what is the “medical” basis of autism?

bernicecb.bsky.social•24 days ago

📌

raincouver.bsky.social•24 days ago

Excuse the self referential post (so cringe) but didn’t feel like rehashing it…I give you the many reasons my mom has been given for why she had an autistic child since the 1980s. Yes she has kept a list.

https://bsky.app/profile/raincouver.bsky.social/post/3lnokltkgnk22

rivercavy.bsky.social•23 days ago

Slept near a radio?

LMAO.

Put socks on his feet.

Wore a hat on a Wednesday.

Accidentally put a cardigan on inside out.

secretlentil.bsky.social•24 days ago

"Illegible" got me right in the chest.

newsknot.bsky.social•22 days ago

@kneedeepvolga.bsky.social

electricspacegirl.bsky.social•24 days ago

My cousin is almost 60 and he was just diagnosed with autism for the first time. Growing up everyone knew he was autistic but his parents never helped him with it. He's had a hard time keeping a job because of it. Hopefully this diagnosis can help him going forward.

swisscake.bsky.social•24 days ago

100%! School was painful because teachers reacted to bullying not by confronting the bullies but by asking me to reflect on what I might be doing to deserve it. “Is everything okay at home?” Yes, it’s the only place I can be myself. It’s you lot who are constantly telling me I should be ashamed.

pennyred.bsky.social•23 days ago

Thank you xx

scalzi.com•23 days ago

You're fabulous, Laurie, and don't you forget it!

pyrholidon.bsky.social•24 days ago

There were basically no real resources on the topic in the 80s and most of the 90s.

month-of-august.bsky.social•24 days ago

I'll scream if I don't laugh at the life long collection of bad coping mechanisms and masking skills.

lauralipsoff.bsky.social•23 days ago

I explained to my son that when he hears me explain that he’s autistic, it’s to help people understand that he thinks differently. Not better, not worse - just different. And this world right now doesn’t really like different without a reason. I tell people so they give him the grace to be himself

pattyshea.bsky.social•24 days ago

“When an autistic woman does not read as autistic, she rarely reads as ordinary. She reads as insane or perhaps evil. “ this sentence brought up a lot of emotion. Thanks for sharing this

rainsong.cloud•23 days ago

I've written a few times about how the only framework the very religious people closest to me--including my own family--had to make sense of me, or guide me to understanding myself, was "unworthy."

That kind of thing sucks so much.

vidca.bsky.social•24 days ago

this is making me consider reconnecting with women I have had problems with in the past that I may have (subconsciously if not consciously) have attributed to some level of insanity or evil

pattyshea.bsky.social•23 days ago

But I think that is very honorable of you and if it is necessary and you follow through I have nodoubt it would be recieved with a lot of gratitude

pattyshea.bsky.social•23 days ago

And my perspective was “I wish my three older sisters would read this” 😉

heptaglemious.bsky.social•24 days ago

The average age of diagnosis for celiac is mid-forties. It is a genetic condition, you are born with it. I was celiac from birth, not just from the age of 45, when I was diagnosed.

I was ASD and ADHD from birth, too. Took 60 years to find out. As with celiac, everything suddenly makes sense.

leak.bsky.social•23 days ago

Random note: you can pop up with Celiac later, like my friend who had it triggered by pregnancy. Autoimmune diseases are weird. Bodies, man.

(Autism, not so much.)

heptaglemious.bsky.social•23 days ago

I don’t know, in my case with hindsight it was obvious from the start, but it became acute after a near-fatal bike crash. One of the effects of gluten, in me, is migraines. Had virtually none since changing my diet!

rgarfinklesff.bsky.social•23 days ago

Just the concept of neurodiversity was profoundly liberating for me. Even if none of the particular forms of ND that I've heard full fit me, just the awareness that I shouldn't try to measure my own ways of thinking relative to a social construct of what mental health means has vastly helped.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply