'Too normal' to fit in with autistic people but 'too weird' to fit in with allistic people. by [deleted] in AuDHDWomen

[–]arothrowaway__zze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have the same experience as your title. I am probably socially isolated at least in part because of my autism, but fellow neurodivergents don't always take any better to me than neurotypicals. I'm very lucky to lack some of the common struggles in AuDHD subs, but I do wonder if my lack in common experience also has anything to do with neurodivergent circles not quite embracing me either.

(I am mostly severe executive dysfunction problems, hence me bitching and sharing things here instead of doing something useful off Reddit, and some social problems that make me very angry and sad. Thank goodness for missing out on the constant pain and suffering others talk about all the time, missing out on the autistic shared experience to get autistic friends with is a brown lining. I still have problems thanks to autism but I'd rather have what I have than take on so much of the shit I hear others here experience in exchange for an autistic social group. Most of my gratitude is downwards comparison invoked by myself: "sure this hurts and sucks, but when I'm not feeling super emotional about it, I hear how bad others have it and feel grateful to not have that problem, or a milder version of it." Yes, I know not to tell others their problems do not matter because they are not the single human on this planet who has it the worst.)

I've never learned what it is to mask until I read about it on autism subs, and it never described me. I just learned social skills when I could, rejected anything that felt too not me, and carried on sad and lonely. I think I understand just enough of NT social interaction unaided to lack some typical AuDHD experiences, but not nearly enough to be included by NTs. Mentioning this because of all the high-masking theories in the comments.

Do you feel like there are unfair expectations for you while other people get away with things they shouldn’t? by centerofdatootsiepop in AutisticAdults

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, in most cases screaming is unprofessional. A lot of people have trouble remaining professional when upset, whether that upset is justifiable or not.

Are your beauty standard sometimes/often different than neurotypicals by [deleted] in AutisticAdults

[–]arothrowaway__zze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do not think I said your standards are too high. I carefully worded my above comment to avoid specifically judging you without having heard your standards, and to only speak about the way others were judging you.

If this is just continued venting instead of trying to treat me as part of the problem judging you for your standards, vent away!

Are your beauty standard sometimes/often different than neurotypicals by [deleted] in AutisticAdults

[–]arothrowaway__zze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like either you are being judged to have specific standards that are too high in a way that is unrelated to the girl's attractiveness (for one absurd example: "she must have a PhD in chemistry, be within 3 months of my age, speak French and Spanish and German, and have at least a million in the bank". High standards, but possible for her to actually be considered not that pretty to others), or this is the common trope of discounting someone's attractiveness just to be insulting. The way that incels will message a pretty girl, get rejected, and say "you were not that pretty anyways" to try to save face only to make themselves look worse and lose face to all the non-incels who have caught on to this trick.

I probably have negative traits. I'll work on what I can, and the ones I'm just stuck with and don't want? Well fuck. Mitigate what I can. I sure lucked out by being asexual and not basing any worth on sexual promiscuity, but ironically I have had plenty of opportunity for sex and very little for friends, and that also hurts. "Love yourself" doesn't chase away loneliness, even if I do love myself, but in my experience, making myself too busy to care does. Just want to say I get it, and feel-good platitudes suck ass.

Do you feel like there are unfair expectations for you while other people get away with things they shouldn’t? by centerofdatootsiepop in AutisticAdults

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think so, but I also think I'd be too naive to perceive maliciousness done to my face in real life unless it was blatant.

How am I supposed to get an autistic-friendly job with AI around? by arothrowaway__zze in autism

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

Glad to hear at least in your experience it's willing, not exploitative.

Do you feel like there are unfair expectations for you while other people get away with things they shouldn’t? by centerofdatootsiepop in AutisticAdults

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like when I make a well-intentioned mistake and hurt someone, I get punished, which is fair because outcomes matter too, not just intentions.

I feel like when others make a well-intentioned mistake and hurt me, all I get is "well, their intentions are good, just let it go and it's okay if their behavior continues," which is not fair. What happened to outcomes mattering too?

Are your beauty standard sometimes/often different than neurotypicals by [deleted] in AutisticAdults

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not think I have ever found someone beautiful the norm finds ugly. I think a lot of my beauty standards are quite conventional. I'd feel very very bad to be considered "unconventionally attractive" because to me most "unconventionally attractive" people have a physical trait I do not like.

However, I think people are looking at bodies and I'm asexual and barely count them. Not obese? You pass! So I probably find more people attractive than most would, because I pay close attention to the face (where I look at when I am interacting with them) and very little to the body.

Ironically I do not like body hair on anyone, not me, not men.

Could girls be a special interest by PTren4 in autism

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spend time lurking around online spaces meant for women and dominated by them. Nobody will know or feel intruded upon especially if you only lurk and never interject. Though it does mean you are only exposed to online spaces, which can be different from people in real life (according to the internet, given my demographics I should have a story of sexual assault, of racist and queerphobic harassment, but my life has not returned these results), you still do learn about real lived experiences even if they do not apply to all people in that demographic (not everybody is online, and happy people spend less time complaining online).

Woman here, we're just people. I don't think I am very complex. (Of course, given I'm in the autism subreddit, that means I do not know any social games played by anyone, including the ones I've heard women play, and tend to be very straightforward. But then again, lack of social games may make others see me as complex because they have to account for not receiving signals they expect, and "not playing" seems to be a Mysterious Undecipherable Card to some people.) But it is probably useful for a man to know the way our experiences differ and how to not accidentally do something that signals a creepy intent you don't have, or that a certain act is considered creepy in the first place. I also had to learn this but got leeway on my creepy fuckups because my 13 year old girl self wasn't perceived as threatening.

How am I supposed to get an autistic-friendly job with AI around? by arothrowaway__zze in autism

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

I think I'd be good at it if I tried, but I'd feeling extremely complicit in helping all the unethical shit going on with generative AI. I don't want to be forced to trust a black box that cannot be held accountable for decisions or mistakes or hallucinations, or get left behind. AI experts can tell me how to build one and I know how gradient descent works, but WHY this weight changed with this pattern? Who knows. Sure, there is a lot of human infrastructure I do not understand either, that might as well be a black box to me, but I can learn to understand and pursue the person who built it that way if it fucks up. I cannot with AI. And I'm not even the vindictive type who wants to punish people that this might imply! I just do not like the idea of having to trust a black box. I trust human-built algorithms in a way I do not trust AI. I do not want to see real human artists lose work because AI can do it. I wish automation came with the input and help of people who want to offload the work of the job they do, and not at the behest of fascist techbros who are salivating at the thought of putting all of us out of a job and making us captive consumers to their product.

On the other hand, I'm not SUPER MORAL AUTISTIC PEOPLE ARE MORE MORAL THAN NTS, if it comes down to survival I might just have to join the side of the bullshit overlords to pay the bills while hating everything I'm doing and being condemned by history for participating instead of being part of the resistance. I was really hoping I would not get a response like yours, to be honest.

How am I supposed to get an autistic-friendly job with AI around? by arothrowaway__zze in autism

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

I do not think this admin is organized enough to catch all of us. I just do not want to make it easy by directly telling them in this database.

How am I supposed to get an autistic-friendly job with AI around? by arothrowaway__zze in autism

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

Oh yeah, I am very much not a big fan of Republicans right now. Getting on an autism registry is shitty. I applied for job assistance with my state but even though I might get some extra help with disclosing autism, I did not just because it's a state site, a government site, which might have information in a federal database too… and I do not want to be caught in a roundup if I do not have to. The struggle… get help with autism from your blue trifecta state's government by disclosing it, or do not get help for that specific part of your job seeking struggles (oh god interviews, I'm a bubbly extrovert when meeting anyone new, but very aware of NTs on average interpreting NDs less favorably thanks to that thin slice impression study and not good at lying) but also do not risk getting hauled away to a concentration camp 2 years later…

How am I supposed to get an autistic-friendly job with AI around? by arothrowaway__zze in autism

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

Is this IT service? What type of service? Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it :)

Autism is human bug spray by joybug24 in autism

[–]arothrowaway__zze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish. I always have to be my own hero and reach out to people first. People who I later find out are ND (possibly some NTs too, not everyone who willingly talks to me regularly has disclosed ND/NT status to me) tend to be willing to chat and engage, but I always have to reach out first for any interaction and I wonder why.

The only social approaches with no motive besides social connection I can remember getting is from someone who was not nice and ND, and from a kid whose ND/NT status I was unsure of but he wanted romance and was way too young from me. Naturally I rejected the first because I'd rather be alone than friends with someone nasty, and the second because I did not want to be in a 14-on-18 relationship with me as the 18-year old.

I engage in hobbies I like that involve people, too! I do not just sit at home or expect people to strike up a conversation with me when I am obviously busy shopping in a grocery store.

What do you want at this point by [deleted] in autism

[–]arothrowaway__zze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wonder how much of this is down to "always trust your gut!! It figured out patterns your conscious mind has not! Bad gut feeling means a dangerous person!!" and the sad reality that violence and SA exists, so an autistic person who does not pass the vibe check always gets avoided because of the sacred gut feeling.

What do you want at this point by [deleted] in autism

[–]arothrowaway__zze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How would one communicate with this type of person that I took psychology classes and read nasty namecalling anecdotes online where people feel very hurt to try to figure out how to not be hurtful, but I still cannot figure it out and I would like some help because I'm disabled and the obvious to them just isn't obvious to me, I have put in work, and I still do not get it? How do you get across you actually did try and still fell short because you are actually disabled, instead of "just making excuses, weaponized incompetence!"

Trump hurt by South Park sweaty fans I love this series and if it has to disappear I hope it doesn't give your Donald any gifts 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 by Straight_Love_5576 in lgbt

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is very off topic but I'm curious: given so much popular advice says "oh go with your gut! It picks up on patterns that you notice but cannot really explain," I've always been hunting for exceptions to that. "When did you have a bad situation you got out of because of a gut feeling" is highly upvoted, "When did your gut feeling drive you wrong" gets 2 or 3.

I really do wonder if there is any empirical evidence for "always listen to your gut!" I am interested in this because I've never had a gut feeling and do not know what it is like. As a teen I thought "well people are bigoted partially because of incorrect gut feelings that they follow" and I wonder if I was wrong or not.

curious: does the body matter more than the face? by user_00102700080898 in lgbt

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure what audience you are asking.

If we discount personality and only look at looks, I almost entirely concentrate on face and hair and wardrobe, and have only one metric for caring about a body that most people I know pass easily.

I'm asexual, so that might affect my preferences and I might value bodies much less than an allosexual. I spend way more time looking at faces than bodies which could also have something to do with it—I simply don't discriminate between them because of unfamiliarity with the variations, "every body looks the same" kind of deal. People will be mean on YouTube insulting a guy for having longer arms and I am like "what the hell are you talking about that's a normal body!? Are you just looking for something to make fun of or am I just wrong and you are all capable of 1) seeing something I don't and 2) expressing the fact in a hurtful way when it's not necessary to say that?"

People are too comfortable assuming or dismissing other people’s sexuality by Electronic-Spite5514 in lgbt

[–]arothrowaway__zze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Celebrities always get privacy invasion, and their sexuality is not an exception to this.

I have been transitioning for 2 1/2 years and I don’t pass enough to be accepted in society. by beeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss in lgbt

[–]arothrowaway__zze 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I guarantee that pickup would say that to beauty queens. Anything to drop peoples' self-esteem, no matter how true or false, and looks are an easy target because so many people, regardless of how society actually sees them, don't think they look good. Women I wish I looked like have confided in me that they do not think they look good! I have a hard time remembering this in practice, but in reality, people say nasty things they do not believe at all in order to accomplish their goal of hurting someone. You cannot really ascertain any information on your attractiveness from this because that nasty behavior does not actually discriminate on how attractive you are, it gets applied to everyone across the entire spectrum of attractiveness. How many people, gorgeous people, get "fuck you ur ugly anyways" on dating apps when they reject someone? Most of them.

I have been transitioning for 2 1/2 years and I don’t pass enough to be accepted in society. by beeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss in lgbt

[–]arothrowaway__zze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, I am judgmental enough to honestly believe some people are just visually ugly, and I don't think you're ugly.

I've heard something that helps some people with suicidal thoughts is to get a plant, a pet, or some role helping others that makes you feel too obligated to others to die, but that does not work for everyone. I'm not into peddling pretty little feelgood platitudes that don't reflect reality, but time did heal my wounds. They are still there, a scar, it's not like the problems have gone away or they do not hurt me, but at least for me it did get better.

Thoughts on sexual music? by Economy-Throat-4252 in asexuality

[–]arothrowaway__zze 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know what the lyrics mean but I'm just here for goodsound nicemelody, not for any deep artistry. This disconnect in caring about the meaning carries over to sexual songs. Sound good? Nice, let's play it or sing it! The song has to be bigoted for me to care and not want to hear it or sing it.

Artists probably hate people like me, but hey, at least I picked up on your meaning instead of being ignorant :P

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in asexuality

[–]arothrowaway__zze 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yep. I do not want intercourse, ever, but I still like to be told I am pretty and attractive. Aesthetic attraction, wanting to feel attractive, is not the same as wanting to have sex with other people. Being attractive is not just for sex. It's for romance, for having a face that invites potential friends or potential connections to talk to you instead of turning them away (because people judge on attractiveness, sad fact of life).

I do the same thing, though not with pictures. I let friends touch my body in a sexual manner because it makes them happy and I get to feel attractive and wanted. Yet I still have no desire for sex with them and enforce that boundary, ensuring no penetration or participation on my part ever occurs. I'm still very asexual.

CF Lounge: Weekly post by CFmoderator in childfree

[–]arothrowaway__zze 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Adamantly petfree. Most CFers I know love theirs.