Published on 12, July, 2020
I am struggling to understand why autistic people should hide their faces on this site. To me this sounds like neurodivergent prejudice? And incredibly outdated!
That's what this place is all about Captain.
Wow! Cool info.
Grasshopper have a wide field of vision and are generally considered to have excellent eyesight due to their unusual compound eye structure and ability to see in ultraviolet and infrared light. They can use one of their ommatidia to focus on an object or isolated point independently within their field of vision and then the two layers of cells in that lens can very sensitively distinguish light from dark at that spot. Rather than look closer, they sometimes have to turn their head slightly to the side.
The problem isn't ND prejudice. There are a few issues:
Client/Patient Confidentiality
Matters of Affording Dignity (such as when someone is having a medical issue and has suffered rejection or abuse for their human messiness)
Legal consequences for Countries which don't understand Autism and WILL use what you say against you to either prohibit medical help, prohibit freedom of movement or remove human rights
All of these are valid reasons for maintaining these silly facades. In a perfect world we wouldn't need them. But where do we draw the line between being someone safe to confide in and betraying trust? Not everyone has the rules and understating about the weight and responsibility which comes with another being vulnerable an intimate in their connexion and communication. While one of the best features about being Autistic is our loyalty and honesty, we might not be reliable to keep information shared from leaking- for the sake of the Truth. We might not know how or why it matters, but information shared can be a gift and an investment.
All Truth has a Context. And if we take a truth out of context it can quickly become a lie. Such as telling someone how ugly they are even when we claim to deeply care about them. If we care about them, we'll find out if they're interested in us sharing our opinion and we'll think of a way to help them be a little more presentable IF AND WHEN they'd like our help. But to just volunteer raw, thoughtless and possibly careless information because it's in my head is not Autistic and Truthful. It's immature and selfish.
Matters of Dignity are important. Betraying information can ruin someone in this world. There is time and place for authenticity :)
Look closer grasshopper
I was never even here.
Now that's proper neurodivergent.....and incredibly outdated...and wise ?
I can't really see the "prejudice" ?
Posting something anonymously is not helping the cause for Autism it is damaging. It will only fuel prejudices, stand up and be counted and transparent, that’s just my personal opinion!
We're not really hiding from the world though, are we? Anybody can read what we say in these forums, and to me, that's far more important than whether people can see what we look like. However, that's just my personal opinion.
Secret societies go against all my instincts. It we are to seek understanding for Autism and neurodiversity we should not hide ourselves from the world. As a minimum it should be freedom of choice like most/all other platforms , surely. It makes me very reluctant to help with donations and funding/fundraising
Is Autism linked with paranoia?
Perhaps our handlers could comment?
I've now got the theme tune to The Twilight Zone in my head.
I was just about to type the same thing.
Spooky
I am personally quite happy to keep my face hidden, especially as this site is public and can be viewed by anyone with access to the internet. However, I do believe the decision should be left to the individual. If there are members who would prefer to use a photo of themselves as their profile pic, then they should be allowed to do so.
I think in an ideal world it's really nice to use your own pic online but unfortunately the online world is used and abused by many who use it and they use people's pics to find them in real life. So I'm glad the community mods are protecting us from that :)
It is a shame though they have to do it x
Hi The Commander , thank you for posting on the online community. The reason people can't use photos of theirselves on their profile is to keep everyone safe. This is expressed in our community rule 2:
'This Community forum is public, so do not post personal or identifying details. This includes, but is not limited to, full names, addresses, contact details, social media, or photographs of yourself. (updated February 2020)'
The full list of rules can be found here: https://community.autism.org.uk/p/rules.
Best wishes,
Anna Mod