This page from Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price is a great example of why I can't stand Price's writing. Validating autistic existence (and complaining about how autistic behavior gets pathologized) is eminently possible without lying/swinging hard into the opposite absolutes.
Not only does he say "completely harmless" about behaviors that have readily identified harms, he labels common autistic behaviors (which should absolutely be understood, & contextualized as part of human experience) as "healthy", which at its most innocuous is saying that these behaviors are present in otherwise unremarkable autistic people but which I interpret to mean he believes these are *necessarily euadaptive* behaviors. The absolutism of "complete[ness]" and necessity has no place in serious writing about psychology.
Anyway that's the point I wanted to make, but here are some specifics about how these normal and understandable behaviors (many of which I exhibit) aren't harmless:
1) Not noticing surroundings can be super dangerous! Not noticing that people are trying to talk to you is mildly inconvenient (which is a harm)!
2) *Needing* to know what to expect implies that being thrust into an unfamiliar situation w/o information causes distress irrespective of the actual contents of the situation. That's a harm (despite merely being an extreme version of a universal part of human experience)!
3) The more rigid a structure is, the more catastrophically and frequently it breaks. Rejecting deviations often means rejecting necessary activities like eating, or like leaving a dangerous situation.
4) Taking a long time to fully respond to a question is fine. Giving no sign that you're considering — or have even heard — the question is distressing to yr conversational partner. I highly recommend going "hmm" or cocking yr head to the side when you think about things, if this is true of you.
5) Taking information into consideration is a healthy behavior. It is physically impossible to know literally all information about a decision. Depending on your definition of "all", this behavior may lead to spinning your mental wheels while never making an actual decision, which mad sucks to experience and to cooperate with.
6) Alexithymia (i.e. not knowing how you feel) also sucks to experience! Just because you can't name or even identify the existence of a feeling doesn't mean you don't have it! Like the other behaviors I've mentioned, alexithymia has no inherent moral weight.
Anyway! I love being autistic, and wouldn't choose otherwise even if I could, but some parts of it are maladaptive even when the only other people you interact with are also autistic, and I wish Dr Price would acknowledge that.
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currently having a jakedown
want him to focus on fucking me as much as he focuses on playing the guitar
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Words can't explain how this thumbnail makes me feel.
On one hand, I already know the story from Unsolved Mysteries so I'm excited to see their take on it.
But on the other hand Ryan doing the fucking disaster girl look made me do such a double take that I'm a bit afraid to watch it now.
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Just watched the Weekend Warm-Up and learned some insane fucking stats about Fernando.
He's going to have participated in 1/3 of all F1 races ever held??????? 365 races is insane in general(a race for every day!), but when you consider that it's 365/1,086 races...AND THAT'S 33% OF RACES!!
So....he'll have participated in 33% of races held, he's literally in garage and pit box #33 this weekend, and he's at his home race which was his last race he won 10 years ago...PLEASE THE STARS ARE LITERALLY ALIGNING
Guys I'm feeling delusional.
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I need Phaya and Tharn to stop dancing around each other and actually talk about things ASAP. Like forget about them fucking I need them to TALK
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I absolutely feel like 80% of my problems or lack of gumption could be solved if an old guy in a fez was bossing me around, promising to ravish me if I did what I was told 👉👈
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