A thought I had this morning about neurodivergence and the modern world - opinions appreciated!

I think about his kind of thing a lot. I don’t feel a lot of things are designed with me\people like me in mind.

The modern world is largely designed without inclusion in mind. In someways it makes for more attractive architecture and objects if they are defined and have one use. Particularly through a populist lens. We also have to buy more and take more actions in order to get things done. The problem is inherent, it’s in how we move and communicate and wear clothes. It needs to be undone and rethought. There are many other ways to do something this knowledge has been perpetually limited as humans evolved and became more ‘civilised’. 

I absolutely believe this. if workplaces were not designed for and ruled by ‘normal’ extroverts with exaggerated self confidence then it would be a more fair and balanced place. It’s unlikely an all inclusive model would be largely adopted.if you think about high achieving work and capitalism they depend on there also being failure and those who do not make money to continue to exist. I think this truth is depressing and shows what an unfair playing field it is those of us who are not average. I used to believe there was a design bias in public municipal and office workplace, now I think it’s less introvert extrovert as diverse and normal. 

Do you think buildings etc were designed to be inclusive in the past? I don't, doors not wide enough to fit a wheelchair or pram through, stairs everywhere. Attitudes towards anyone even a bit different were terrible.

I'm not sure about the quality of life in small agricultural villages either, you might have known what you were going to do that day and every day, but what if you couldn't do hard manual labour?

It might seem a strange thing for an historian to say, but I wouldn't want to live in the past, there's so many things the modern world gives us, health care, anti-biotics is a good example, if you look in old church yards at the grave stones, you see people dying of things that a course of antibiotics would cure now. We don't have to fear getting a cut when we're out doing the garden, like they would pre WW2. Public health, like drains, flushing tiolets and and hot running water, clean drinking water just didn't exist for the many. We have so many diferent types of food availble to us, we can travel to other countries, we can make so many more choices about how and where we live and who we live with.

Having lived in a couple of small villages I can tell you they become really stiffling after a time, everybody know's everybodies business, theres no such thing as privacy, how would you feel about people feeling free to walk into your house without knocking? If you locked your doors it would be because you have something to hide.

How would you all cope without phones, computers, games consoles etc, I'm probably the least techy person here and even I would miss the internet for all its problems.

TheCatWoman said:

I'm not sure about the quality of life in small agricultural villages either, you might have known what you were going to do that day and every day, but what if you couldn't do hard manual labour?

Say around 1900, you would still have plenty of trades, butcher, baker, post office, pharmacist, cartwright, blacksmith, greengrocer, publican, ironmonger, and maybe some sort of clothing outlet. Plus maybe the railway.

Plenty would be employed on large estates in service, maid, cook, butler, housekeeper, groom for the horse and carts, maybe somone to look after the hounds, etc.

So there were plenty of non manual labour jobs. Not every one worked down pit (mine), or on a farm, construction or in a factory.

1900 might work for you, but it wouldn't for everybody, if you were in service your life would be very controlled, for women especially young women you'd have to have your underwear inspected by the housekeeper to make sure you were menstruating and not pregnant which would see you home and jobless. 

Womens lives were hard, the amount of housework was staggering, plus childcare, being more or less perpetually pregnant or breastfeeding and often doing some paid work too, such as taking in washing and mending.

I don't like Brutalist architecture, these building were designed by people trying to impse how they thought people ougth to live rather than how they did/do live. It's the same with all the ticky tacky boxes made by most big builders, they're tiny, many so small you can't get a double bed and a wardrobe in the same bedroom, if you can then it's called an "executive house". I watch quite a lot of property programes and many of them are about reconfiguring houses to suit how we live today.

I'd like to see much more diversity in our buildings especially houses and many more self build plots, where the council instal services and maybe a concrete pad for the building to sit on but you do the rest. You can design a house that totally suits you and you could have anything from a straw bale house you construct youself to a kit house that comes on the back of a lorry and is up within a week and meets passive house energy standards. 

1900 might work for you, but it wouldn't for everybody, if you were in service your life would be very controlled, for women especially young women you'd have to have your underwear inspected by the housekeeper to make sure you were menstruating and not pregnant which would see you home and jobless. 

Womens lives were hard, the amount of housework was staggering, plus childcare, being more or less perpetually pregnant or breastfeeding and often doing some paid work too, such as taking in washing and mending.

I don't like Brutalist architecture, these building were designed by people trying to impse how they thought people ougth to live rather than how they did/do live. It's the same with all the ticky tacky boxes made by most big builders, they're tiny, many so small you can't get a double bed and a wardrobe in the same bedroom, if you can then it's called an "executive house". I watch quite a lot of property programes and many of them are about reconfiguring houses to suit how we live today.

I'd like to see much more diversity in our buildings especially houses and many more self build plots, where the council instal services and maybe a concrete pad for the building to sit on but you do the rest. You can design a house that totally suits you and you could have anything from a straw bale house you construct youself to a kit house that comes on the back of a lorry and is up within a week and meets passive house energy standards.