This is only to gauge people's opinions and discuss the pros, cons, and possible solutions.
This is only to gauge people's opinions and discuss the pros, cons, and possible solutions.
This is a forum for autistic people. I am unsure what this thread is about - is it about separating those who are parents of autistic children, or partners of autistic people? Can you elaborate please?
It occurs to me that a lot of the forum discussions are neurotypical people seeking advice, etc. It may be beneficial to have a section that is only Neurodiverse individuals discussing neurodiverse issues.
I have no idea what the implications would be if it is even possible from multiple perspectives. And since, as a group, the neurodiverse community don't pick up on some things, etc. The proposition of a section that added a little refuge may be a solution.
Hence, I started a debate. I hope that helps.
Thank you. I would have understood it was a debate if you had added a second sentence with “Discuss”, but then one of my challenges is that I can take things literally.
I think that as it is a charity for autistic people, their families and anyone who has an interest in autism or who might be caring for autistic people, the forum should remain as it is.
Some autistic people may have other neurodiversities, and some people may be neurodivergent yet not be autistic, but the focus should remain primarily on autism, with the forum running itself as a peer support group and a place where autistic people can chat about most things.
A separate section could be added for non autistic people to ask advice and so on, but I don’t think it’s needed as people can easily choose who to interact with or ignore. Anyway, autistic people often don’t like decisions being made about them, without them, so it might not be helpful to distinguish between non autistic people and autistic people. Moreover, as autism is a spectrum, we all have varying amounts of different strengths and challenges, which means that some posts by autistic people may be indecipherable to other autistic people, and vice versa.
It's an autistic trait to take things literally; all of us on here who are autistic have it on some level. What do you think made me irritable? All joking aside, I am always happy to find alternatives for how to explain things; all people have to do is ask.
I think the idea that a room for intellectual discussion being divisive is one where we're being expected to dumb down and stick to the lowest common denominator.
We could simpy ignore those who are bemoaning that they are not smart enough to contribute to the conversations and continue with the discussion anyway.
It can be a bit like having a group of friends together when you have cats in the house - the cats will often try to get in on the conversation by jumping on someones lap and making a fuss in the hope of getting some attention (probably food) so the best approach it to largely ignore them and continue with the friends.
If there is a conversation you don't understand then there is no need to prevent it being there - just sit quietly while the others enjoy the discourse.
There is nothing to be gained from dumbing down the subjects for the lowest common denomentator as this has never been a rule or stated objective of the forum.
Instead lets allow us to be the grown ups and talk about what we want and leave the cats to get bored and go back to licking their bottoms.
I'm still researching and struggling through brain fog thanks.
I woudn't know how to start a forum either. I think the idea that a room for intellectual discussion being divisive is one where we're being expected to dumb down and stick to the lowest common denominator. There are lots of topics where people are very knowlegable and a whole load of others where they're total ignoramouses, myself included, my understanding of maths is primary school level for example, but I can do history at university level. I think in Britain we're afraid of intelligence and people being clever and we do ourselves a massive disservice both personally and nationally.
I'm sure people would feel left out if there was a block button, you could have two levels of block one where you can't see them and another where you can't see them or they you. I prefer the latter to the former. If someone annoys me to the point I don't wnat to look at them then I don't want to be seen either. There are all sorts of reasons for wanting to block someone, from simply finding them boring to theie attitudes causing you distress, this distress dosn't have to be any of the things that are already banned by the site, but more personal things, I think it allows people to manage what they view and thier own triggers more easily.
I don’t understand some posts either. It used to worry me when I first joined here but there are usually enough comprehensible posts to focus on.
I don’t know if the NAS would ever consider a block function, but if they did, I think it would be too divisive and might upset people who might want to be included. I imagine people would still see your posts but not be able to reply, or if they were new people, they might interact with you for a while before you might block them. I think it could be easy to set up a block on notifications, but at the minute, notifications don’t allow many personal choices.
I would like a space where we could be a bit more intellectual and not having to worry about not being understood
I would be concerned that it wouldn’t be in line with the ethos of the NAS, but I would like somewhere to make that sort of thing work. I’m not convinced that this is the best place for it - so if not here, where?
We could start our own forum for “Aspiring Academic Autists” or something like that. The only problem is that I don’t know how to do that!
If the NAS made a separate category for say “Academic Discussion”, “Ancient History”, “Current Affairs” or “Politics”, it would still appear on the Home menu, so it would be just like starting a thread on a topic of interest as we have done in the past.
How is your book coming along?
The problem is that we only know as much as somone choses to tell us, yes I know there will always be this problem, but without a block option we have less choice over who we interact with than I'm comfortable with.
It's because ASC is a spectrum that I think we need different rooms, being a mostly high functioning person, I would like a space where we could be a bit more intellectual and not having to worry about not being understood, I do think we sometimes dumb ourselves down. Although talking of not being understood, I often feel like that anyway, I don't know what the hell a lot of the posts are about and I often feel that I'm misunderstood too. Especially when everyone seems so happy with tech and I'm a total alien with it..
The problem is that we only know as much as somone choses to tell us, yes I know there will always be this problem, but without a block option we have less choice over who we interact with than I'm comfortable with.
It's because ASC is a spectrum that I think we need different rooms, being a mostly high functioning person, I would like a space where we could be a bit more intellectual and not having to worry about not being understood, I do think we sometimes dumb ourselves down. Although talking of not being understood, I often feel like that anyway, I don't know what the hell a lot of the posts are about and I often feel that I'm misunderstood too. Especially when everyone seems so happy with tech and I'm a total alien with it..
I think the idea that a room for intellectual discussion being divisive is one where we're being expected to dumb down and stick to the lowest common denominator.
We could simpy ignore those who are bemoaning that they are not smart enough to contribute to the conversations and continue with the discussion anyway.
It can be a bit like having a group of friends together when you have cats in the house - the cats will often try to get in on the conversation by jumping on someones lap and making a fuss in the hope of getting some attention (probably food) so the best approach it to largely ignore them and continue with the friends.
If there is a conversation you don't understand then there is no need to prevent it being there - just sit quietly while the others enjoy the discourse.
There is nothing to be gained from dumbing down the subjects for the lowest common denomentator as this has never been a rule or stated objective of the forum.
Instead lets allow us to be the grown ups and talk about what we want and leave the cats to get bored and go back to licking their bottoms.
I'm still researching and struggling through brain fog thanks.
I woudn't know how to start a forum either. I think the idea that a room for intellectual discussion being divisive is one where we're being expected to dumb down and stick to the lowest common denominator. There are lots of topics where people are very knowlegable and a whole load of others where they're total ignoramouses, myself included, my understanding of maths is primary school level for example, but I can do history at university level. I think in Britain we're afraid of intelligence and people being clever and we do ourselves a massive disservice both personally and nationally.
I'm sure people would feel left out if there was a block button, you could have two levels of block one where you can't see them and another where you can't see them or they you. I prefer the latter to the former. If someone annoys me to the point I don't wnat to look at them then I don't want to be seen either. There are all sorts of reasons for wanting to block someone, from simply finding them boring to theie attitudes causing you distress, this distress dosn't have to be any of the things that are already banned by the site, but more personal things, I think it allows people to manage what they view and thier own triggers more easily.
I don’t understand some posts either. It used to worry me when I first joined here but there are usually enough comprehensible posts to focus on.
I don’t know if the NAS would ever consider a block function, but if they did, I think it would be too divisive and might upset people who might want to be included. I imagine people would still see your posts but not be able to reply, or if they were new people, they might interact with you for a while before you might block them. I think it could be easy to set up a block on notifications, but at the minute, notifications don’t allow many personal choices.
I would like a space where we could be a bit more intellectual and not having to worry about not being understood
I would be concerned that it wouldn’t be in line with the ethos of the NAS, but I would like somewhere to make that sort of thing work. I’m not convinced that this is the best place for it - so if not here, where?
We could start our own forum for “Aspiring Academic Autists” or something like that. The only problem is that I don’t know how to do that!
If the NAS made a separate category for say “Academic Discussion”, “Ancient History”, “Current Affairs” or “Politics”, it would still appear on the Home menu, so it would be just like starting a thread on a topic of interest as we have done in the past.
How is your book coming along?