Lyss

💜 23 she/her 💜

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

So this blog seems to be turning into a (uk) politics blog

Which shouldn't surprise me

(But it may change if my hyperfocus/special interest disappears)

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

Anti-bullying schemes never worked in my experience because they never tackled the root causes of why certain kids are bullied

You cannot separate bullying from bigotry. If the anti-bullying media and literature you teach kids with isn't uncomfortable to watch then it's not working.

Maybe other people had better experiences with these schemes/lessons but for me they always presented someone being bullied for no reason. Like there was nothing that made them stand out from everyone else. But every instance of bullying I have experienced was because I was a bit weird (autistic/adhd) or it was homophobic bullying.

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Tl;dr

If you want to fight against bullying you've got to fight against bigotry

[starlightshadowsworld]

Today on the UK government is trying to screw us all over they have created an unholy alliance between the Ministry of Defence and our Universities (tik tok is from lilla_flicka)

Stop the militarisation of UK Universities - Petition

[articulated-nd]

Talking with some same-aged relations about how neuro-spicy much of our family is and who's showing signs of ADHD v Autism (the kids are getting diagnoses, the adults are having epiphanies).

Me, soft-balling because I'm conflicted about talking about my SAME DAY acceptance and self-identification that I'm also Autistic: "It's funny how I thought I might have Asperger's when I was a teen, but I dismissed it because I was too emotional - even though every other thing seemed to fit."

Family member: "Hah yeah no you don't have Asperger's - I've worked with children with Aspergers and they have very specific tells. I can clock them right away."

Me: (Plus one point to me for almost keeping my mouth completely shut on that one. Also this is hilarious because that person is also describing soft signs of Autism they had as a kid, including some serious hyperlexia. But they are not showing any indication they think they have Autism themselves.)

Me: (yeah, I'm not comfortable sharing any further - this conversation is largely in line with what I thought would happen)

Me: *talks a bit about overlapping traits and the conversation moves on*

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

It can be difficult growing up in a family of undiagnosed autistics/adhd-ers they assume their experiences are neurotypical.

Then they project those assumptions onto your shared traits. So part of accepting that you are autistic would require them to accept that they are autistic. Which is very hard for anyone to do.

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

It's really interesting how the similar discriminatory practices towards different identities in society can produce relatable experiences across different groups

I was listening to a trans guy talking about his experience of being outed in the work place and it so viscerally took me back to when I was a child being outed as gay to my school.

Like two different identies at very different life points but the story felt incredibly familiar to my life.

All this to say, we got to have solidarity with each other. All of the different bigotries feed into each other so you can't kill only one and let the others live because it will just regrow

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General disclaimer: that yes you should be against bigotry even if you don't have a comparitive experience to reference but this is also just food for thought

[tarisbackyard]

Some things that have always fucking annoyed me about various ADHD and Autism topics:

"Neurodivergent" being used to exclusively refer to people with ADHD and/or autism. Neurodivergency does in fact also include the ones you don't like! Like narcissistic personality disorder! Down syndrome! Clinical depression! Etc!

When fellow autism creatures act like their autism makes them smarter than everyone else.

When DOCTORS act like having ADHD and/or autism is a super power??? Like, I understand the sentiment, but holy fuck.

People forgetting the spectrum part of Autism Spectrum Disorder. You know. The part that clarifies that in fact autistic people are all very different from each other.

Accommodations being aggressively "one size fits all."

The idea that having autism makes you morally correct. I know some autistic people who are deeply bigoted in part because of their autism. (Where taught bigoted beliefs at an early age > have the kind of autism that makes it difficult to change your beliefs > stay bigoted all their life).

"Hurr durr neurotypical people are soooo stupid and none of their rules make logical sense and everything they do is arbitrary." Shut uuuupppp.

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

Original poster disabled comments but i wanna boost this (understandable as peopke have spicy opinions)

There's a tendency for the adhd/autism-excellency rhetoric to be boosted and memefied and it doesn't really help anyone

(Slight ramble):

(The opposite of this isn't denigrating autism/adhd or saying it is always and constantly a debilitating disability it's actually just being neutral and normal about it - like they are disabilities, they present in different ways, and those different presentations can cause people to adapt certain skills to accommodate it or to be unable/struggle to learn/adapt certain skills/abilities just like any other disability)

[dasloddl]

op disabled reblogs but I think the point still stands

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

Something I found quite ironic was listening to some right winger (can't remember who and don't really care) lamenting the crisis of uk degrees and how they don't make you use your brain and you learn and regurgitate facts etc. etc.

But my experience of doing a creative degree was pretty much the opposite.

Wasn't learning a bunch of facts and was barely given specific instructions. Spent so much time trying to figure out how to do a project, my opinions on a topic, how to translate ideas into visuals etc.

Basically a hell of a lot of experimenting and thinking and problem solving and never just learning and regurgitating

Yet my degree would likely be called a 'mickey mouse' degree by these right winger muppets despite teaching the skills they claim to value

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

So I hate ai and I'm an artist- I'll just put that as context so you know the direction I'm gonna talk in

And we can talk all day about the ethics of ai as a form of creative theft (my stance to be clear is that it is theft)

But something really important is that art as a thing you do, as a process, as an activity is incredibly important.

The act of making art is just as if not more important and valuable to humans as the finished outcome.

Making stuff with your hands, drawing, sculpting, painting etc. is really good for the brain

Making decisions and problem solving around your art is really good for your brain

Putting effort into something that isn't easy and having a finished outcome is good for your brain.

Making art can (not always disability exists and everyone is different) help with dexterity and co-ordination

If we prioritise ai art, and if we let young people and children believe that there is no value in actually making art then we are losing something that helps us live better, healthier and happier lives

Tl;dr

Making stuff, in this context art, is good for the brain. That healthy activity is not present in the generating of ai art.

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General disclaimer:

I am aware that disabilities can make art less accessible. Probably in ways that I can't even predict as disabilitiy is a varied thing. But in the context of this specific argument I genuinely believe that the solution is to make art more accessible rather than substiuting in ai which holds none of the benefits I mentioned.

[xaeyrnofnbe]

very fond of the sassy bitterness between giles and spike due to the fact that they are literally exactly who each other used to be. like. you meet a guy who acts identical to the man you're trying to distance yourself from being, like, as much as possible, and hes feeling the exact same things. the DRAMA of it all. no wonder they hated each other

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

I love tumblr fandom spaces bc in amongst all of the different takes (to varying degrees of believability) you'll find an analysis that feels so correct and obvious that you never even considered and it just snipes you in your blindspot

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

You ever suddenly have your feed shift to a consistent new and random topic? And then learn there's a niche debate in a corner of the internet that is incredibly intense. And you would have never fathomed this random thing would be such a point of contention for people?

yeah

(not necessarily in an - oh my god it's not that deep - way but in a - there are so many things in this world that people feel incredibly passionate about that I wouldn't even know exist and that's kinda trippy - way)

[partywithponies]

My woke take, as someone who has worked in both a public library and a school library, is that we desperately need both more books that are at a higher reading level but a less mature subject matter, and more books that are at a lower reading level but a more mature subject matter, because 8 year olds who are advanced readers are still 8 year olds and don't want to read about graphic violence and torture, and teens and adults who have learning difficulties or who are just later readers for whatever reason are still teens and adults and don't want to read about Billy the Bunny going to school or whatever the hell.

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

So true, like why do I have to be traumatised (joke) just because I can read higher than my age?

(I hadn't actually considered how boring it must be to not have anything interesting to read if the only books accessible/available to you are aimed at people younger than you.

I don't know if this would be helpful but maybe look at books for people learning your native language as a second language as their often less advanced but they can be aimed at older readers/learners so their plots may be more interesting but language easier to digest)

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

When I'm scrolling through social media and I see shitty comments usually I just keep scrolling (because why give the bastards' arguments any oxygen) but sometimes I glance at their accounts and I'm often blown away by how normal they seem on the surface.

Like wild to me that someone can both post photos of wild animals and flowers but at the same time write racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist hate comments on peoples posts

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

(This isn't me bashing diversity schemes - I think they should exist and are a positive step)

but I was just thinking about how every time there is even an insinuation that someone is hired for diversity reasons it creates such uproar and screams from media about the need for the return of meritocracy.

Something that never occurs when nepotism happens - which is an actual antithesis to meritocracy.

So, there can never be any actual systemic change made through diversity schemes because any evidence of them moving the scale away from the norm (white, cis, able-bodied, male) is used as a reason they are a negative.

(so essentially diversity schemes = good, but cannot do enough to create change in the hostile environment they function in so the hostile environment needs to change)

[autisticwriter]

EXTRA: Response to Uta Frith

Hello, and welcome back to The Autistic Writer. Uta Frith, Autism and Epistemic Injustice Many readers will be aware of the recent controversy following media comments attributed to Uta Frith. Her remarks have caused considerable consternation within the autistic community, and I believe it is necessary to put forward my position on this issue. Uta Frith (1941–) is a German-British…

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[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

(I have no real education in anything scientific (beyond maths a level) so take what I say with a pinch of salt but,)

I've been reading through Uta Frith's new article on autism and looking at the studies that she has referenced - and I'm just wondering if she has read them or just cherry picked the information she likes - because I would say they disagree with her in their conclusions or warn not to make generalisations from them

[minikker02]

If the Jason Arday news is making you uncomfortable, that's okay and normal. It definitely came from a place of extreme racism and has not been reported in good faith. But that doesn't change the fact that he's very clearly a pathological liar. Some of the things he's claimed are so deeply unlikely that they should probably be considered impossible (e.g. being completely unable to understand all language until the age of 18, but somehow passing his gcse's anyway; claiming financial issues while hiring Carter Ruck lawyers; getting amnesia from a brain tumour and successfully defending his thesis despite claiming to remember none of it; running 600 miles in 6 days; being a professional snooker hustler as a pre-teen and teenager; and more).

Like he's clearly just the James Somerton of academia, including plagarising a lot of work from women. Standards aren't standards if they have exceptions, and plagiarism and academic misconduct is bad. As is lying a lot for money. Which is what he's done. I understand the impulse to dismiss it all (I felt that at first too), but he's an incredibly obvious liar and scam artist. Obviously racism against him is inexcusable and anyone doing it is worse than him and will not see the light of heaven (to quote hbomb), but we really shouldn't be excusing blatent lying and grifting imo.

[minikker02]

I also don't think this would have been investigated at all if he were white, and the degree of attention it's getting is undeniably because he's BaME. This is a big deal in public discourse because of racism. He's very interpersonally charming from what I've heard, and it's extremely disappointing that he's a plagarist and a liar. (it's also making me deeply uncomfortable that I have heard people defending him on a radio call in show arguing that plagiarism is okay because he's autistic. That's revoltingly ableist). In an ideal world, all plagarists would receive a similar degree of scrutiny

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

If the people in positions of power and wealth were covered by the news with this level of specificity and fervour then our democracy would be a lot healthier

But no the media must instead focus all of their energy and attention on 1 professor from cambridge

[persistentlyperplexingmoth]

Our response to Professor Dame Uta Friths new paper

Our response to Professor Dame Uta Friths new paper

This is a refreshing read after reading or listening to uta frith or any of the main media outlets covering the story