So, I have autism and also very bad social anxiety, so I don't have a massive amount of social interactions, so it is easy for me to remember pretty much all of them. This also means that I spend way too much time obsessing over any significant interactions I have, particularly negative ones, which then just make me feel more upset and anxious than I was at the time and sometimes leads to a breakdown. I am also completely unable to deal with conflict
For whatever reason this website, unlike the original subreddit is way more invested in dunking on each other imo. This site has a very hostile atmosphere where it feels like everyone is constantly at each others throats and it makes me just not want to come here at all.
I also want to take exception to some of the recent posts by @TransComrade69 about the Beyond Pink or Blue book, particularly the part in the original post about it only being like 170 pages, so you could read it in like 3 days, so if you don't, it is reactionary. No, one of the symptoms of autism is executive function issues, which I suffer from quite significantly. I could read that book, but it would require me using a lot of energy and necessetitate me neglecting other parts of my life. I struggle hard enough to read books necessary for classes, if I were to try and read that book, it would take months, if not over a year for me to complete it. So, while I understand why @TransComrade69 wants people to read the book and is pushing it, as I am sure there is lots of valuable information within it, I do not at all appreciate the tone that was taken in parts of the original post.
Anyway, I've deleted this account twice already, and I'm doing it for the 3rd and probably final time after this. Social media in general is bad for a lot of these things, but this site kind of takes it to another level.
All of this stinks of bad faith.
Imagine seeing the TC69 callout and not immediately smelling bullshit. Jesus Christ, how often do we bombastically badger people about reading theory (or you're a :LIB:!) but the outspoken trans admin does it and suddenly it's ableism.
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"I have autism and that makes reading through this book an issue, so I don't like being told that I'm a POS for not doing something that is easy for neurotypicals, but not for me"
"Fuck you, transphobe. You're just trying to come up with excuses"
Gee, I wonder how I got the sense that this place is hostile to ND people
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Well, you are responding to someone that was complaining about the "TC69 callout" and said that you are tired of "defensive cisgender people whining." Literally how else is that supposed to be read other than labelling me as a whiny defensive cisgender.
Jesus Christ, this is literally the most blatantly ableist comment I've ever seen on this site, at least from non-outright trolls. "Its not that bad, you can just get over it, other people have issues too." That is literally you right now. Go fuck yourself. For real. If I don't know what other people are going through, than it is blatantly clear and obvious that you HAVE literally ZERO idea about what autism is and how it affects people. It's incredible how you just completely dismiss the concerns of ND people. Executive function issues are a real thing tied to both Autism and ADHD and are not as simply overcome as you seem to think.
No wonder I feel unwelcome on this site with reactionaries like you.
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My issue was never the admin asking people to read the book, that is fine and I support that action. The issue was that she framed it as " If you don't read this book, you are a POS liberal and there are literally no excuses." Some other comments in this thread indicate that this is supposed to be taken somewhat tongue in cheek, but combination of autism and internet being bad for reading sarcasm in general, means I completely missed that and felt hurt and insulted because I can not read the book.
Ok, this comment indicates that you still do not understand what executive function actually means and why reading short forum posts might be different to a longer form of literature. This is a short YouTube video that briefly explains what it is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CYi2EzPkErs
Note the first and third points about working memory and self-control, particularly the third one. Reading and reading comprehension itself is not really the issue, I have never had any issues with reading or writing ability, in fact I actually got very high marks in school for those things. The issue is largely being able to focus in on one topic and one task outside of my special interest for any extended period of time. So, on a forum like this or reddit, I can read through the comments in one thread, and then when I am done, I can leave and find a thread about a completely different topic and that keeps my brain stimulated. Being stuck on any topic that I am not deeply interested in becomes very difficult the longer I need to do it. That is the self-control aspect.
The working memory ties into it because it means that when reading about an unfamiliar topic which uses new language to me (such as most political theory) means that I need to spend a lot more effort when working through a passage to actually understand it. When reading books for classes, I am regularly finding myself having to stop myself and go back because I realise I actually have no idea what was just said at all. But in a forum, the language is familiar and the topics and concepts generally aren't anything new to me, so it is much easier for me to follow.
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I mean, I could but this is like a 160 page book being divided up into like 4 or 5 page chunks to be read once a day. As I said in the OP, this will take months, if not over a year depending on my motivation levels. The issue with it taking this long is that by the time I finish it, I will probably have forgotten what was at the start and would need to re-read parts of it again anyway.
Also, though I'm sure they work for some people, putting reminders and deadlines does not work for me and in fact often makes the situation worse. Because I don't meet the deadline or listen to the reminder due to the executive function problems, and then I feel guilty for not having done it and begin to beat myself up over not having done it. So, then I do something like playing video games to try and relax myself and calm myself so I am capable of doing it, but that just makes me feel more guilty for doing that instead of doing the task I should be doing, all of which makes me very mentally exhausted and generally means the task doesn't get done, or gets done but well overdue and after significant mental anguish if it is an important task. Different strategies for completing tasks work for different people, but I am yet to find the one that works for me.
*This is just a side-note, but I am worried it may come across as me complaining that trans issues aren't interesting enough for me to read the book. No, it is kind of the same way with almost everything, even things that I do enjoy a lot. There is literally only one topic I can sustain an interest in for that extended period of time, which is Rugby League. This is not intended as a value judgement on trans issues vs. other political issues vs. anything else. I guess you could say it is a value judgement vs. Rugby League, but literally every other thing will lose out to that too.
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Please stop telling people in c/neurodiverse what they ought to be able to do. Concentrating long enough to read a book, even a short one, can be very difficult for some people. This is c/neurodiverse, and that kind of shaming is not welcome here.
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Thanks comrade
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Ok, I really wish everything was as simple to fix as you seem to believe it is, as that would make so many things in my life apart from this way way easier, but you really don't seem to be getting the fact that this isn't just laziness or something, my brain is just really not wired to do that. 4 months is still too long imo, but it is only 4 months if you assume a constant static progression. More accurately, I might read 30 pages in 4 days and then about 10 in the next 2 and a half months.
This is another example of you just absolutely not getting it. The "reaction" was the OP which was not particularly aggressive or defensive or intended as a callout post against anyone. Maybe you read it that way, but that was not my intention. I literally only brought it up because it was the first example of a recent post that made me feel uncomfortable that I could think of. The "opposition" to you is that you seem completely unable to understand that although some executive function issues can be mitigated, they can't really be eliminated entirely and that doing so is exhaustive.
I also disagree that the stakes are so low, as you say. If you take the posts by TC69 at face value, as I initially did, then it's literally just calling me a reactionary transphobic POS for something that is out of my control, even if that was never the intention. Instead of thinking about as If I'm lazy, like you clearly do, perhaps a better comparison would be to if there was a text that was only available in a second or third language in which you are only self-confident in. Sure, you can read the words and sentences and they make sense, but it is slow and takes a lot more effort for you to do than for native speakers. At that point, you can either try to slog through it with great difficulty and possibly neglect other things due to time constraints, or you can decide it isn't for you and move on. Would you then appreciate it if native speakers began attacking you for not having read this text?
I don't post read theory stuff and generic read theory posts are generally significantly less hostile and aggressive in tone than the ones that were posted about Beyond Pink or Blue.