STAY WOKE

A lot of what you say has been my experience too.

Like many people, I wrestled in my mind with the ‘what could have beens’. I strive to keep focussed on the present but the thoughts return and I think many of those past events have led to my treatment resistant depression and anxiety.

pietro_21 said:

My main concern now is that Ii don't want to become desensitised to what I have learned, with diagnosis as awareness. People struggling at school or in the workplace, who may not know why

That is a concern as desensitisation to all sorts of things, including world atrocities is part of the human condition. Government policies on autism related issues change often, partly because ministers tend not to stay long in the job any more. The only thing I can do is to speak out (in writing) about the injustices autistic people go through. I support campaigns by autism charities and write to MPs about autism related issues policies and issues. It helps turn things round for myself and maybe my efforts will contribute to raising public awareness and potentially help others.

I don’t like the word ‘woke’ because it’s not always clear what people mean, although the intent seems always to be derogatory. 

The word means basically the same as "right-on". Sadly it's been co-opted by bad actors and can't really be used in its original sense any more.

Some history and context about "Woke", just for info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ("NAACP") - Reclaiming the Word “Woke” as Part of African American Culture

I like the word, woke.  I think it sounds cool.

Good I think that world view should be challenged, I don't even think it's a majority view either, I think its the views of a self serving clique weilding undue influence over both individuals and governments. They all seem to set the tone of any discussion and come up with a load of jargon that means little and is inaccessable to the uninitiatedand then when we don't fall in with them we need correcting and regulating. If something accidently lands on my foot, then me swearing, hopping about and crying isn't a sign of being emotionally disregulated, not do I need my language or behavior correcting as it's appropriate to the situation.

I think the NT world needs disruptors and the NT's who run ND services especially so.

I don't believe they (school/governments) are knowingly so, to be wilfully ignorant of the fact would make them so, and they are not. Its just that neurodiversity is seen as a marginalised issue to the extent that it is virtually ignored.So played down to the extent that those affected do feel victimised. The issue is much bigger and addressing it would also mean significantly altering many people's comfortable world view.

I think its just a verbal shorthand for saying 'I woke up to the fact that our government/police/schools are institutionally racist, sexist, ablist. Obviously you add the institution of your choice and the effect it has on you and those around you. It's amazing how many people have somethig happen to them or someone they know and the whole world looks different, they wake up to the fact that the world isn't always a nice place.

I don't think a lot of NT's along with some ND's have the courage to admit that putting people in boxes dosen't work, there are not enough pigeon holes to adaquately describe everyone and everything and why should there be? Why can't we just accept who and what we are and inhabit it fully?

I don't particularly like it as a general expression, for what it is associated with. Its the clearest way for me to express and I meant the term to be interchangeable - as per the definition. In abstract terms. Also I feel like there is a constant sliding away from addressing the key points relating to ASD, even when they are identified - they quickly get hijacked or overlooked. Almost as if they are being avoided by greater powers. 

+It was in no way a criticism of NAS, who do great work, more a message to the newly and recently diagnosed and self aware to keep those points pertinent.

I do not like the word "Woke" - for a start, it's grammatically incorrect; woke is a verb, not an adjective. You can be aware, you can't be woke. It also feels like a group of people suddenly decided that they were more aware of the diversity and needs of others than most and that they were therefore better than most other people, and they gave themselves a label as an identifier. I don't like cliques - most of us just try to be kind and not abuse others, we don't need a label to do that.

However, this is not a criticism of your thoughts - I understand that you are discussing awareness of the needs of autistic people. I do not think you necessarily need a diagnosis to be aware of this though - I don't have one - and the poor treatment by employers and others is often down to lack of knowledge.So promoting awareness  and knowledge of autism is what is required, which is what we and the NAS try to do here.

And you have these answers because you have lived a thousand lives and you’ve tried every possible job?

There is a whole world out there.

Not every workplace is “built on social-interactions” as you put it. Why do you think that some of the smartest thinkers in our history have been ND? Because they couldn’t navigate their way around working at the local Tesco helping poor little old Dorothy to find her prune-juice?

No. It’s because unlike you, they recognised their own value in a world that clearly was not built to inhabit them. So, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get outside, enjoy the air, enjoy many many things that you have been fortunate enough to use and see every single day, because there are an unlimited amount of ideas to think of and activities to do.

Not everyone is as lucky as you to be in a comfortable-enough position to be able to say that they are self-employed, and still have the audacity to complain about how awful their own life is. You’re not the centre-of-the-universe. You are a small thing, in a small universe, which is part of something a lot bigger. And even that is tiny. Never let your ego tell you otherwise.

I'm Pro-Life

The problem is that Love and Tolerance was mandated, reverse-psychology, to promote hate and intolerance.

I'm not sure NT are as empathetic or open-minded to the opposite type, or even how that could ever be proven in a scientific way. Acceptance takes a very long time (drip-dripping) into peoples general collective conscious. In no way am I saying everyone is like this, but its a lot to do with the messaging that is out there. This (big messaging) doesn't go nearly far enough to bridging how people perceive each other. Perhaps because the media has been so all or nothing for so long, this will reveal huge gaps and inequalities in understanding. 

I'm definitely no shy about telling people what I think. I'm just saying that in reality the workplace is so off centre. My awareness of this was before a diagnosis.

NT types have a social advantage, that the work place is build around social interactions.  This means in some cases they don't even have to do their job well. People promote more people like them, sad fact of life.

There are so many frictions for ND people just going for a walk, although I am old/wise enough to know that there are people who are utterly self-centred and don;t share my values for treating others with respect. I often defend people when its not always my place to - this stems from my deep seated sense of injustice.  I'm kind of Christian in my values, but no way do I believe in a god, just treating people like they are people. 

which area

I'm woke in most areas except for one.  Having said that, I'm more multicultural than woke.  

You look at it in a very negative way. If you don’t speak up for yourself, then you lose before you even start.

No one will do it for you. You have to stop playing the victim and be proud of who you are. You can’t expect people to understand what you do/don’t like if you don’t state it directly.

People can’t guess what you are thinking, and under this post someone commented something which already stated that. “You can’t pick-apart the micro-aggressions”. Everyone is far too busy with their own problems and their own struggles to care about you and/or your feelings. So do the right, and difficult thing and look at your problem head-on so that you can figure out a solution.

Giving people the impression that you are the only one who struggles doesn’t help and only makes you appear weak. You’ll never be able to connect with someone if you immediately put this enormous amount of emotional-dependability on their shoulders, it’s not fair on others and it’s unrealistic.

Go outside, have a walk, change your diet. Play some sport. Do something big for someone small. Life is what you make it. You aren’t the victim. There are people who struggle the same amount that you do.

There should be balance. Awareness should come from both sides. The right need to learn that being a decent human being and accepting people for who they are isn't a crime, but the left also need to stop trying to force their ideologies on people who aren't willing to learn either. Somebody who doesn't want to change will not change and trying to force them to change will only cause them to double down!

You can't just pick apart what somebody says for every single possible micoraggression you can find because half the time they don't really mean anything by it, but at the same time, you can't be a bigot either. It's really not that hard! So why do people have such a hard time following that? Just be a decent human being and be kind to people that deserve kindness regardless of their race, gender or sexuality and use common sense! That's all that matters!

I don't know how to be anything other than woke, it's just part of who I am.

People may struggle with diagnosis, but often they're swapping one struggle with another, for instance if you struggle to be understood, then an autism diagnosis will tell you why its a struggle, but won't stop the struggle.

Sometimes it helps to think about life experiences as compost, they're past things, all the old potato peelings of life, they will rot down and help to create the life you have now and in the future. All those composted potato peelings will inform life now and in the future, but they're essentially gone in the shape they were in before, this sort of mental composting acknowleges that past and that you can't do anything to change it, they're no longer potato peelings but something new and transformed, your experiences can transform how you view the future, whilst still being authentically you.