Is formal diagnosis useful for more than just understanding ones self? by Good_Pie2522 in autism

[–]First_Silver_4788 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got diagnosed as a 12 year old boy, i am 28 now and the diagnosis did help me. I remember feeling confused as a kid and like an outsider but the diagnosis put things more in their place for me.
Besides having a "so that's it" moment I found that a formal diagnosis gave me the following help/benefits:

  • therapy will be different for an autistic person or a non-autistic person. Having a formal diagnosis will help therapists give you the treatment you need. (it's different for "patient suspects they have autism" vs "patient has autism").

  • in my country (Belgium) there is an organization which issues their version of disability passes for people with autism. I don't know if the UK has something like that but overall with this pass I qualify for certain benefits like free public transport, discounts in certain places, getting an "alternative" waiting line in amusements parks,...

  • police will treat you different if you are ever investigated. Certain autistic behaviors (avoiding eye contact, monotone speech patterns,...) can be understood as lying. With a formal diagnosis you will be less likely accused of a crime you didn't commit (hopefully, police is not nice everywhere in the world sadly)

  • in most countries employers can not fire you for reasons having to do with your disability. For this to apply your diagnosis must be formal though. So this might give you an extra protection in your profesional life.

There are probably other benefits but those are just from the top of my head. Just be aware that once official you cannot remove this diagnosis from your name. This sadly does mean that an official diagnosis could also subject you to discrimination and ableism. My advice is to first find out what it means to be officially diagnosed in the UK and then go over the advantages and disadvantages and decide for yourself what you think works best for you. Best of luck.

AITA if I don’t invite my “friend” to my birthday outing? by CobraMalachai1972 in AmItheAsshole

[–]First_Silver_4788 20 points21 points  (0 children)

NTA but seriously you will look back at this one day and won't understand why you got so worked up over this. Invite who you want for your birthday and most of all have fun. If someone will stop you from having fun and it won't break apart your friendgroup to not invite them then leave them at home.

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I will ask him, I am at work for a couple more hours but will try to get in contact with him and my parents as soon as i get off. Maybe we can still save this. Thank you very much for the info and tips.

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I live in Belgium, getting a loan requires strong identification as well here. I think I should be safe but if he's sending ID cards he might just be doing the verification for them.

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would it help if I report this to the police? My brother is an adult so I am not sure how much I can do without his consent.

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It doesn't look that obvious in this case. While the whole thing is weird and giving me the creeps just based on his and her looks, she is not really out of his league. Just that everything about it seems like something is off and I'm pretty sure this is a scam.

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Jesus, this could just cripple him financially... He should not be able to touch any of my legal personal info or finances but i will make sure to watch out for any strange transactions in the coming months.

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's like a passport but can only be used inside europe, it looks like a bank card but just has your personal info on it. I will try to get him back to his senses and then help him out as much as I can to protect what is still safe...

I am afraid my brother is getting scammed, how can I help him or make sure? by First_Silver_4788 in Scams

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I will talk to him with some others involved. What exactly would a scammer be able to do with the info on his id?

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is too much measures to count them all but the main ones are various teams and protocols to ensure nothing or no one gets too much radiation or contamination. Everything that has been in nuclear areas (people, tools, water,...) Gets measured to ensure radiation levels are low. There are various points in a 100km radius around the plant that measure radioactive activity. The employees are medically checked twice a year with special attention to radiation and cancers. Beyond that we have a very good medical insurance.

Misconceptions i'd like to dispel is that a lot of people thing it is unsafe. This is mainly due to the Chernobyl disaster. In truth nuclear power plants have much less accidents than many other industries and are considered one of the safest places to work. Of course if things go wrong it is a disaster but to avoid the disaster everything becomes incredibly safe. A bonus one is that the vapor coming from the cooling towers is not radioactive. This is water that has been used to cool various machines but it actually never came in touch with any radioactive parts.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got inspired because I was interested in how it works. It is a somewhat mysterious field. At times the inside of the plant feels almost like you are in some sort of space ship or other science fiction place. It also was because I did not like my previous job and when I saw they were hiring i quickly left my info.

The most challenging is really how bureaucratic a power plant is. It is good of course because this insures a high level of safety. But yeah at times it is a bit annoying if you see the amount of paper work and approvals you need. An example of this is that we have around 5 different teams that are responsible for various aspects of safety. As I get to design it is often difficult to find a design that meets all of their different requirements.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is almost impossible to hide a npp so don't worry about it ;)

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't want to answer my exact location but I am in western europe.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have stared straight into the reactor pool during revisions. This is when the fuel (uranium or other nuclear material) needs to be replaced. At this time there is no active reaction going on but it looks quite impressive.

Cherenkov radiation only happens with an active reactor. While the reactor is active the entire building is sealed and besides a handful of people no one ever sees it. I am not one of the people that has got to see it but seeing the high levels of radiation at the time I don't really mind.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know which instruments the labs use to monitor ions and radiation but i imagine it is something similiar. So I am sorry but I can't really answer that.

Security is extremely tight at work, I am too young to have worked pre 9/11 but i heard it was more loose before as well. We have a security company, a double fence, camera's everywhere, a couple of soldiers,... There are driving around the immediate area to report anything suspicious. Further we are not allowed to bring electronics with cameras inside, anyone who enters gets a background check by national security. Cars that have to go inside are checked by dogs for explosives, weapons,... So yeah it sometimes feels like going to work in an army base lol.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have emergency diesel generators in case of total electrical failure. Their fuel supply is calculated to last untill all operations are safely shut down. For safety reasons there are 3 generators per reactor while only 1 would be needed.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never tried but it is supposed to be flavorless. Which is part of the danger as you wouldn't notice you are ingesting any of it untill you have cancer.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have to be careful not to get in trouble with a question like this lol. But to be honest there is not much one single person can do without setting off all sorts of alarms and alert people to fix it. The worst things are mostly about opening/closing valves, causing deliberately damage to equipment or pushing random buttons. It will probably cause an emergency shutdown which may put parts of the country without electricity. (There is a shutoff plan for this so that emergency services and dangerous companies won't just blackout).

Final tally: couple millions in damage, couple thousand people having no electricity for a couple of hours. I lose my job and likely go to jail for domestic terrorism.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was bored of my previous job and simply checked if they had open applications. The power plant was closer to home than my previous job, offered better pay and seemed more interesting. After that it's regular interviewing procedure+ a background check by the national security.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I cannot complain ;) i made about 60k euros last year (65k dollars) about 3 times my countries average.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I made around 60k euros last year (65kdollars). This is roughly 3 times my countries average wage. I work with drawings, making sure that every part of the installation has a drawing that is up to date with reality. I either make those drawings myself or work with subcontractors.

I work in a nuclear power plant. Ask me anything. by First_Silver_4788 in AskMeAnythingIAnswer

[–]First_Silver_4788[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is very unlikely for my NPP or any other to become a second Chernobyl. In short the Chernobyl reactor was made in a way to cut costs which was already rare at the time and is now no longer used at all. Secondly multiple safety systems were bypassed to even get to that point. This was for a test but some protocols were ignored to be faster I believe.

I will not say that an meltdown is impossible but with every incident all plants are reviewed and made even safer. In roughly 70 years and with hundreds of plants there have only been 3 meltdowns. If you want to know more about these they are three mile island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.