Neurodiversity
**[What I said last time:](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5353661)** ---- >Calling all Autistic comrades! > >And calling all neurodivergent comrades! > >We will be going through *Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism* by Robert Chapman. You can purchase the book through this hyperlink [here](https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745348667/empire-of-normality/) or [here](https://www.akpress.org/empire-of-normality.html) or even [here](https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Normality-Neurodiversity-Robert-Chapman/dp/0745348661) (but preferably through the first two links as I want to support the publisher). > >The first two chapters are: > >Chapter 1. Rise of the machines > >and > >Chapter 2. The invention of normality > >There's also the Preface and Introduction. > >Every week, we'll go through two chapters, at least, every week, but if you want, we can go through it bi-weekly (as in, every two weeks, to be precise). I don't think it deserves to be monthly as it's a rather short book. It's about 165 pages of actual text and the rest of the book is supplementary pages, such as References and Works Cited. Otherwise, give your general thoughts down below. > >My thoughts: > >I'm near the end of the book. I like that Robert Chapman takes issue with Judy Singer and some of her comments later on. But also, regarding the first two chapters, I felt that they were really compelling and helped set up the general interest in the matter at hand. I felt that it does well in terms of getting the reader to understand why normativity is a negative feature of capitalism, even if it may have been preferable to the pseudo-science of the feudal era. The feudal era's views on mind and body are interesting, though, and more in line with reality, where there is no obsession with a "normative slate" (my words) and instead, everyone is literally different, more or less, from each other. Not sure how to explain it in my own words, but I think as children, we all kinda thought this before we had concepts of what was "right and normal" and what was "wrong and harmful." The relation to *Das Kapital* and Marx in the second chapter are also pretty interesting as well. ---- **What I say this time:** The next two chapters are: Chapter 3. Galton's paradigm and Chapter 4. The eugenics movement The info about Francis Galton was interesting and it's no surprise that he helped found psychiatry, looking back on it all. Emil Kraepelin (a name that I didn't exactly recognize) was also fond of Francis Galton and probably carried the eugenicist approach with him. In sum, Kraepelin wanted to "winnow" people out so they wouldn't "mix" with the other races and wanted to expand on Galton's "scientific" study of intelligence and encompass every aspect of the human mind in his research. Also, the leading power of psychiatry was Germany which, well, certainly became more important later. And according to the first page of chapter 4, Winston Churchill was a big proponent of eugenicist psychiatry. The word normalcy also started to appear with Warren G. Harding's Presidential run in 1920. My overall thoughts are that this book excels in bringing people up to speed on the history of psychology, psychiatry, and neurodiversity and capitalism from a Marxist point-of-view. Definitely well-worth the read. I highly recommend it. **Here are some questions to help guide you when giving your thoughts down below:** What, and how much, did you learn from the last two chapters? and What did you find most interesting from them and what would you like to be elaborated on more? So same questions as last time, but they work here, in this case. Join me in this book club that I've set up and I'll tag you all as needed. Anywho, fire away! (Make sure to invite others!)
Calling all Autistic comrades! And calling all neurodivergent comrades! We will be going through *Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism* by Robert Chapman. You can purchase the book through this hyperlink [here](https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745348667/empire-of-normality/) or [here](https://www.akpress.org/empire-of-normality.html) or even [here](https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Normality-Neurodiversity-Robert-Chapman/dp/0745348661) (but preferably through the first two links as I want to support the publisher). The first two chapters are: Chapter 1. Rise of the machines and Chapter 2. The invention of normality There's also the Preface and Introduction. Every week, we'll go through two chapters, at least, every week, but if you want, we can go through it bi-weekly (as in, every two weeks, to be precise). I don't think it deserves to be monthly as it's a rather short book. It's about 165 pages of actual text and the rest of the book is supplementary pages, such as References and Works Cited. Otherwise, give your general thoughts down below. My thoughts: I'm near the end of the book. I like that Robert Chapman takes issue with Judy Singer and some of her comments later on. But also, regarding the first two chapters, I felt that they were really compelling and helped set up the general interest in the matter at hand. I felt that it does well in terms of getting the reader to understand why normativity is a negative feature of capitalism, even if it may have been preferable to the pseudo-science of the feudal era. The feudal era's views on mind and body are interesting, though, and more in line with reality, where there is no obsession with a "normative slate" (my words) and instead, everyone is literally different, more or less, from each other. Not sure how to explain it in my own words, but I think as children, we all kinda thought this before we had concepts of what was "right and normal" and what was "wrong and harmful." The relation to *Das Kapital* and Marx in the second chapter are also pretty interesting as well. Here are some questions to help guide you when giving your thoughts down below: What, and how much, did you learn from the first two chapters (Preface and Introduction included)? and What did you find most interesting from them and what would you like to be elaborated on more? Join me in this impromptu book club that I've set up and I'll tag you all. Anyway, shoot!
I would suggest watching some of the previous episodes. My favorite episode is [this](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ntDm4LbX1FlNAsdimPxfW). (Yes, George Lucas is definitely Autistic.) The hosts are kinda liberal, vaguely DemSoc, but I love 'em all the same.
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2680566 > As an AuDHD person, the college dropout story is relatable to me, except for the YouTube career success. I grew up in a madhouse during my traumatic childhood, and going to college free from my backwards, overprotective, overly strict parents was essentially like falling off a cliff. I was already burnt out during my last year of high school, and I was too excited with the freedom and ended up wasting time playing video games and skipping classes regularly because I had little energy to function as an adult. I still struggle with burnout to this day due to being an overworked IT contractor for years.
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4651235 > *Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism* by Robert Chapman is what I'll be exploring. > > Anyone want to read along with me?
I'm watching this rn. Very good stuff. I suggest subscribing to his channel for tech stuff.
I believe the detail-oriented point is not entirely true for all autistic people as I have seen various autists have polar opposite strengths/weaknesses, which include being dominantly big-picture-oriented. It is true for me, though. As a programmer/Gentoo user, abstraction in code is frustrating to me, thus I tend to go into rabbit holes attempting to understand every single function that is obscured from me, which has led me to wasting a lot of time tinkering and debugging to accomplish very simple tasks all because I wanted to use a very specific toolset or feature. It's difficult for me to accept the big picture idea if I cannot explain some vague anomaly that isn't documented and only discoverable in the source code of the program or one of its dependencies. I am really happy to see Tristram Oaten (NoBoilerplate) not negating the importance of collective action in this video even though the video is more self-help focused. I also enjoy his narrator voice, and I love his Lost Terminal podcast and his educational programming content.
With so many disorder Tiktoks around I can't help but fail to spot the difference between having actual ADHD vs just having poor focus habits. I myself have trouble focusing on tasks but I doubt I actually have ADHD given the recent surge of disorder Tiktoks - tho I do have autism - and that my focus is typically normal on tasks I devote to like gaming.
I want to get more involved with organising, but fear that due to my autism I will just be a burden. I'm bad in social interactions and get overstimulated quickly. It's also hard to make connections as well as an autistic person and when I go to socialist meetings I always gravitate towards the people I already know and when they aren't there I feel somewhat left out.
For my autistic comrades out there. I'm going through autistic burnout myself.
mentalhellth.xyz
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/626872 > Let me know if you can read the article in full.
Content Warning: food disorders and non-vegan food. Also a bunch of anecdotal pseudoscience on my part. Prefacing this by saying that besides being autistic, I also have ADHD and mild lactose intolerance. There's this common saying that food affects mental health, but I feel that most people don't actually delve into how that affects hypersensitive people. It's not just some ethereal gut-to-brain communication, in my experience the simple physical feeling of being too full or a bit hungry, or having slow digestion due to fatty food can be very distracting and even impact my mood. This is even part of my crackpot theory that autistic people aren't actually that much more susceptible to lactose intolerance, only that it's more noticeable as all my lactose intolerant NT acquaintances only notice that something is wrong when getting severely sick. And on the other hand, it's a [well known fact](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-are-certain-foods-so-addictive/) that fatty foods, sweets and milk derivatives can be very addictive. Couple that with their mass production and marketing, as well as being shaped, textured and flavoured in a way that seems intent on catching as many autistic people, and you get yourself a brand new addiction. Now in the case of my country, it turns out that those aren't actually the cheapest food, unlike the USA. Fruits, vegetables, and their derivatives are actually much cheaper. That means that, when buying something from McDonald's, I harm both my physical and mental health as well as my wallet. There is no benefit to it except for the short-lived pleasure of bland paste-like burgers and fake cheddar cream. Technically I enjoy bland pasty food, but I already make my own soylent-like paste meal which is much cheaper and healthier. Then why do I keep buying it, specially in stressful times? The answer is clearly addiction. Obviously I'm not the first one to point out that industrial fast food is addictive (just google "McDonald's Addictive"), but I want to make a broader point here. It is not only addictive, but socially normalised to the point where it is 1)legal, 2)heavily marketed and 3)enforced on children. There is no stigma to eating industrial fast food, in fact it's treated as some reward or place for celebration for families with children. And now with giant delivery app corporations, every time one tries to get some normal meal, the big M (or their siblings such as Subway or KFC) is there with yet another sale (that isn't even that cheap) enticing you to let opium burgers into your home. It is exploitative to the factory workers, the kitchen staff, the deliverypeople, but also to every person with poor impulse control, which I suspect is a large portion of their clients. In fact, before I uninstalled the app iFood (our version of Uber Eats), it seemed to know exactly at which days of the week and time I'd be the most stressed, and therefore susceptible to their marketing. What began as a cool way to get cheap meals became a money and health sink. This is so obviously predatory, and yet I can't even think of how to express it to people aren't already autistic commies like me, and how that clown Ronald should definitely get the wall. I hyperbolically propose that the "junk food" addiction epidemic is comparable to the alcohol or other drug epidemics of the past, but still gets a pass because NT people are often completely unaware of how their brains (or ours) can easily be exploited by this shit. I've walked towards a chain while being fully convinced that I was only harming myself, but eaten there anyways, and I'm pretty sure this is a telltale addiction sign. Quitting coffee was much easier than this. Food is one of the most basic human necessities. We should not, as the most developed animal society in the world, be fighting against our own sources of food to maintain our survival. And that is not even getting into how this food is intentionally put into a situation of fake scarcity to keep profits high despite all the hunger and food insecurity. I'm trying to gather all energy so that I can to drop literally every industrial food and live off of only grains, beans, rices, tubers and a fuckton of fruit (and maybe some eggs if the vegan police doesn't nab me). That is what peak performance looks like, as every creator divinity intended us to be. Except they didn't consider you can make it pasty (and therefore superior) with a pressure cooker. TL;DR: Every fast food CEO and stockholder should be locked in a prison where the only thing they have to eat is deep-fried hamburgers, while surrounded by multiple colourful photoshopped pictures of those same burgers. Let's see how they enjoy it then. Feel free to add your own perspectives, specially if they contradict mine (and even more so if you're also neurodiverse) so I can get a bigger picture.
Title. I'm an Autist and an activist within my region, and have seen regularly that when I try to bring up the struggles of Autistic and Neurodiverse groups, that they are dismissed softly. Usually the same expression as you can see them holding back on saying something, and quietly dismissing what you're talking about, and often quietly putting down our requests for events like what is done to elevate the issues and concerns of racialized groups, gender oppressed groups, and so on. I've so consistently encountered it that I'm writing stuff to confront this, and I wanna hear other folks' experiences with this, what factors they've seen, approaches they've taken, etc.
I'm interested in psychology.
Don't let me be the only one *autistic
I watched [this video](https://yewtu.be/watch?v=TMBIe-W6XJI) that comrade YouTube algorithm recommended me and it resonated a lot with me, especially when the person said that "others may withdraw completely, hiding from social situations [...] so that nothing can be seen therefore nothing can be criticized." Lately I've been watching videos about ADHD and ASD and finally having explanations for my everyday struggles feels like a huge boulder has been lifted from my shoulders.
yewtu.be
I've only watched a few videos so far, but it has explained a lot of my struggles. I thought maybe other people will find this useful.
en.wikipedia.org
Two decades before Asperger and Kanner, Sukhareva was researching autism in children. Her contributions were likely not acknowledged because of her Jewish heritage.
I just feel useless. I don't think there's any value in me. When the revolution comes that'll become even more apparent.
how do i make it stop. people say anything out of the social norms is autistic
autism sucks it is a disease that should be rid with eugenics is what i think sometimes. i suck at being social(i fear social rejection) this makes me depressed which makes suicidal which makes me order a rope. unfortunately i have told people about this in the past and they take away my means to kill. this them causes me to cut myself to distract myself from the pain of loosing friends due to "school rules" cutting hurts a lot how do i stop this cycle the worse bit about his is that i never get a chance to kill myself i have no one to reach out to btw i don't have access to a phone and there are people in house who will judge and hurt me for calling a suicide hotline
every day of my life is pain i suck at being social i will say one thing and mean another. i made some friends only to have them taken away from me due the rule saying all teachers are monsters my parents drugged i thought i could trust them i am still living with them when will this pain will only end when i kill myself. then i will be in blissful non-existence i also spend my of most days depressed because of all this
i have autism. no one in my life lets me know whats happening in my life. in 2018 a psychiatrist said it was okay if my family secretly drugged me they put Risperidone in my drinks. what i am trying to say is no one treats me like a human being with there own goals and dreams. this cause's me to want to kill myself for being a failure to everyone around me how do i escape this
annsautism.blogspot.com
I found this useful.
I'm not that romantic image of an autistic person the media paints. I'm not a walking-talking mental calculator who can recite π to a 1000 places. I'm not "walking Wikipedia" as a classmate called me. I might have a way with learning unnecessary things, but y'all know what? The NTs don't care. A proper well-adjusted neurotypical adult is gonna win with me most of the time. Because while they can easily study the topic, I can't exactly easily study being "normal". Autism is not that quirky thing like "Oh, I too might have autism because I like trains and hate people". It's an everyday struggle. A black pill I'm swallowing near every day, seeing how the deck was stacked against me from the start. Another job I feel stressed out at and on the verge of losing it. Sometimes I just can't. Sometimes I wonder whether it'd be easier for me if I just did not have a diagnosis and just thought there is something wrong with my behavior and my parents...
neurocosmopolitanism.com
First "real" post for this channel. Enjoy!
Felt we needed one for future reference.