IRL, yes, I got bullied for my stutter by a fellow autistic just last week. Online, I feel like those are often the sort of autistics who are too ashamed to admit they have autism unless it can score them a quick dunk. As a result, I rarely run into them in autism-focused communities - it's usually just places like reddit.
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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neurodiverse
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What is Neurodivergence?
It's ADHD, Autism, OCD, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, bi-polar, aspd, etc etc etc etc
“neurologically atypical patterns of thought or behavior”
So, it’s very broad, if you feel like it describes you then it does as far as we're concerned
Rules
1.) ableist language=post or comment will probably get removed (enforced case by case, some comments will be removed and restored due to complex situations). repeated use of ableist language=banned from comm and possibly site depending on severity. properly tagged posts with CW can use them for the purposes of discussing them
2.) always assume good faith when dealing with a fellow nd comrade especially due to lack of social awareness being a common symptom of neurodivergence
2.5) right to disengage is rigidly enforced. violations will get you purged from the comm. see rule 3 for explanation on appeals
3.) no talking over nd comrades about things you haven't personally experienced as a neurotypical chapo, you will be purged. If you're ND it is absolutely fine to give your own perspective if it conflicts with another's, but do so with empathy and the intention to learn about each other, not prove who's experience is valid. Appeal process is like appealing in user union but you dm the nd comrade you talked over with your appeal (so make it a good one) and then dm the mods with screenshot proof that you resolved it. fake screenies will get you banned from the site, we will confirm with the comrade you dm'd.
3.5) everyone has their own lived experiences, and to invalidate them is to post cringe. comments will be removed on a case by case basis depending on determined level of awareness and faith
4.) Interest Policing will not be tolerated in any form. Support your comrades in their joy!
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At least for people online, I sometimes wonder how many of those shitty autistic people are actually autistic people and not just misanthropic NTs with poor social skills because no one wants to deal with their misanthropic ass. White people raceplay all the time online, and I see absolutely no reason why NTs won't do the same. Just look at how autism is portrayed in pop culture. It's always some smug shithead who's good at math or something and who acts like a rude asshole because he (and it's always a man) "tells it like it is" because he "doesn't understand social cues."
For all its reputation, 4chan and similar communities do not strike me as a place where the rate of autism is noticeably higher than the rest of the Internet. Being a socially awkward misanthropic shithead doesn't make you autistic. It just makes you an NT who's also a socially awkward misanthropic shithead. In contrast, furry communities strike me as extremely autistic:
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There has been studies shown that autistic children are more quickly attached to plushies and it's common wisdom that this love for plushies extends to adulthood among many autistic adults. It shouldn't be surprising that a group of ND people who are very attached to animal plushies would be part of a subculture involving animal personas.
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Furries are socially awkward, but not in some shithead misanthropic chip-on-their-shoulder way like a channer. The fursonas and fursuits and so on are a means of getting around that social awkwardness. There's overall a cheerful desire to emotionally connect with people despite the social awkwardness. In this light, I see their social awkwardness as something that they genuinely see as an obstacle but lack the tools to truly overcome, which points more to them being ND than NT who hasn't practiced their social skills because they got bullied too much at school.
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Just having a rich imaginative world strikes me as something ND. NT are far more likely to reject and be more judgmental about rich imaginative worlds by calling it maladaptive daydreaming or something. Not that maladaptive daydreaming isn't something that affects people or that NTs don't know how to roleplay, but frankly, I don't see NTs valuing a rich imagination for its own sake.
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The real smoking gun is that furry communities are intensely queer. Honestly, nothing more needs to be said at this point.
I guess my point is that there's far more to autism than social awkwardness (which I don't think is even true since social skills are a constellation of skills and it's extremely unlikely that someone with autism would suck at every single one of those skills, but this post is getting too long). And as for the person who got banned for using slurs, they're just another "autism is when no social filters" shithead who's probably not even autistic.