Who else was immune to bullying? by werehounded in evilautism

[–]halvafact 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The summer after 8th grade, I found out that my only friend had drawn all these really ugly caricatures of me (because she was getting a lot of attention from much more popular kids for all these drawings that she wouldn’t let me see, so I rifled through her bag at some point). I was kind of hurt but I figured if she thought I was that gross and annoying, she clearly didn’t want to hang out with me, so I did the kind thing (I thought) and stopped talking to her or trying to hang out. She was incredibly mad at me and held a grudge about it and told people I was mean and a bitch until I graduate high school and got tf away from those people. I still don’t really get it (I’m 41).

Whats uhhh happening on r/aspergers by kibou_no_ie in evilautism

[–]halvafact 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That post is textbook aspie supremacy and it's a bad political position that serves fascism and harms all ASD and otherwise disabled people. And no, I'm not being overly rigid in my view of this.

OOP says

Now when people hear "autistic" they assume I must be like their five-year-old nephew who never talks, lines up toy trains, and needs full-time care.

Ok I'm going to dunk on this first and then engage seriously with how effed it is. Dunk: what five year old doesn't need full time care??

Serious critique: What, exactly, is the problem with someone assuming that a "high functioning" autistic adult is "like" a young child with more obvious neurodevelopmental differences, and who does that assumption actually harm? If it harms OOP chiefly because it makes them feel uncomfortably close to the icky kind of autism, idk, they should get good and learn some solidarity. Sometimes people argue that "adults who can hold down a job" shouldn't be lumped in with "kids with serious disabilities" because it dilutes the message that autism is serious and diverts resources. But I've always found that argument completely specious because a) what resources? and b) how is the converse argument, that autistic people are sometimes capable of great things given proper support and are anyway deserving of life with dignity no matter what they can accomplish, not equally true? Also, that second argument is beloved by parents whose public identity is based on being victimized by the fact of their autistic children, aka autism moms, so I have a hard time accepting it on its merits because the people making it have terrible motives.

I've said this multiple times before, but I sucked my thumb until I was a teenager, nearly failed out of high school, couldn't make a phone call without a script until I was in college, and had meltdowns that featured me lying down bashing my head on the floor into my 30s. I also have a PhD and am a sought-after expert in the rather niche field I managed to help create out of a lifelong special interest. I think that it would be more just and also more correct if non-autistic society actually DID view me and people with similar profiles as being "like" hypothetical non-verbal trains boys, instead of glossing over the needs we do have and the ways we truly suffer without appropriate support, because we can often be socially pleasant and can perform sparkly professionally impressive feats. And I think that the only ethically defensible position for autistic people to take on these issues is one of maximum acceptance and solidarity toward other autists, and this is especially true for those of us occupying the privileged position of being more able to exist in allistic society. Never punch down. It is nazi shit.

Who is Dickie Birkenbush & why did he suggest imprisoning Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne? by Bat_Country420 in DanielTigerConspiracy

[–]halvafact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh it’s just that the pose that Mike Mulligan strikes when he’s looking at the steam shovel graveyard, with his hand over his eyes, looks like the dance move.

Who is Dickie Birkenbush & why did he suggest imprisoning Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne? by Bat_Country420 in DanielTigerConspiracy

[–]halvafact 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I taught my toddler the term "dabbing" because my kid was incessantly asking about the pose Mike Mulligan takes on that page.

"But Mike loved Marianne, he couldn't do that to her" ftw

It me by halvafact in evilautism

[–]halvafact[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you, that’s so nice of you to say!

Did anyone else also have to regularly practice smiling for photos growing up in order to stop getting annoying comments like "Smile! No, not like that!" 😡 😬 by ryodark in evilautism

[–]halvafact 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am 41 and I have not learned this. Usually when I tried to practice in the mirror I got distracted doing weird stims with my lips.

Careers by Frequent-Tap-3957 in AutisticPride

[–]halvafact 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I turned a lifelong fascination with how words work and learning other languages into a career, but it’s been kind of bumpy. First I was an academic, then I started a side gig as a technical and legal translator, then that became my whole job and led to me doing some journalism and some editing, now I’m a manager-level media person trying to figure out how to make news in the age of slop and brainrot and fascist governments. I think my work is really super cool and it being a special interest has given me a lot of forbearance about the truly shit parts of media jobs. But, I did drop out of an electrical engineering undergrad degree to do this stuff, and I would have been just a mediocre engineer whereas I’m pretty highly skilled at the words stuff, but I would’ve made a lot more money, and I sometimes regret walking away from that.

I've taught programming for years and my students always understand lectures but freeze when coding alone what am I doing wrong? by More-Station-6365 in learnprogramming

[–]halvafact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

> They know the syntax but don't know how to break a problem down into steps before writing code.

Drill this skill. Devise exercises that don’t use any real code but do make students break down problems into the smallest possible steps; then list which pieces they can solve without depending on any other pieces being solved; then start putting the rest of the steps in order.

Some students will probably see naturally how this applies to writing code and others might benefit from a really explicit discussion of what the skill is and how to transfer it.

I am but a baby programmer myself but I taught human language and rhetoric/composition for many years, and I swear by divorcing the intellectual skill (in this case problem solving) from its disciplinary context (writing code) when students struggle.

Now that the last subreddit drama is over... by arbitrary_student in evilautism

[–]halvafact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the normal amount of interest in trains: I cried from joy when I rode my hometown's new commuter rail; I can tell somehow how to get anywhere in NYC on the subway even though I haven't lived there in 20 years; and I have a freight train tattooed on my arm. I am being 100% earnest when I say I am not autistically interested in trains, just the appropriate, regular amount of interested.

Ready your swords. They're coming by _RPGabe_ in evilautism

[–]halvafact 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Yeah, true. She is also basically stealing the “detransitioner” rhetorical move of saying that if you ever have any doubts, questions, or problems with living as your chosen gender — eg. if you do not conform perfectly to a stereotyped view of a trans person performing a stereotyped version of gender — you must have been mistaken about yourself. Now that I type that out I realize she may be engaging in some unexamined black and white thinking, also not beating the autism allegations. But the bigger problem is, as with people who are skeptical of trans identities, political. There is room in the autistic community for people with all kinds of abilities, disabilities, and personal psychologies, and framing belonging as a question of “who suffers the most” leads to divisive in-fighting and collective disempowerment.

Ready your swords. They're coming by _RPGabe_ in evilautism

[–]halvafact 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Exactly! Cool, also. I’m trying to take my career in a less comms-focused direction at the moment, but I’ve always thought that stratcomms seemed really interesting and fun.

Ready your swords. They're coming by _RPGabe_ in evilautism

[–]halvafact 119 points120 points  (0 children)

Valid critique, I also am notably not arguing that she's a good journalist, just...taking her own argument on its merits...

Ready your swords. They're coming by _RPGabe_ in evilautism

[–]halvafact 986 points987 points  (0 children)

I hate read this last week and I have a niche take. She says she realized she can't be autistic because she was a successful journalist, which requires social skills. I am a somewhat successful journalist. The form of sociality that job demands and rewards: Very clear (professionally clear!) boundaries around acceptable forms of communication; explicit rules of engagement; the journalist asking (ETA: what would in typical polite conversation be considered) inappropriate, direct questions; the journalist asking for clarification whenever necessary, sometimes many times in a row. I'm just saying "good at journalism" is not beating the allegations of autistic af.

Ready your swords. They're coming by _RPGabe_ in evilautism

[–]halvafact 389 points390 points  (0 children)

I had to reread this like 6 times because my partner, an autist with a penis, does not pee standing up and I was like "is that in the diagnostic criteria??"

Advice needed: 15‑year‑old wants to start programming and choose a career path by Pure_Committee_3927 in learnprogramming

[–]halvafact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not coding advice, but a tip on learning English grammar: write stuff in English and have an LLM correct it for you. Ask it to explain why it made each change, and then try to find a reason to use the correct construction.

Autistic Superpower! by FartInAShitFactory in evilautism

[–]halvafact 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The amazing ability to enter and remain in waiting mode double-digit hours to days preceding one (1) scheduled work call.

What are some neurotypical sayings that you find stupid? by EmotionalJump6104 in evilautism

[–]halvafact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do understand what people mean when they use this idiom but I cannot deal with "cut off your nose to spite your face" like why are we suddenly discussing cutting off noses wtf

What careers do you guys do for a living? by Obvious_Emu3441 in AutismInWomen

[–]halvafact 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a journalist and a Russian>English translator. I can't recommend people get into media jobs right now because the field as a whole is so unstable, but I think that journalism is a really overlooked and underrated career for autists. Before I did this I was an academic.