When you're feeling vaguely curious and somewhat bored and sliiiiiightly masochistic (this is mild trauma from YEARS ago, so really it was just morbid curiosity), so you look up some of your old "co stars" from your community musical theatre era…

And the Golden Barbie Girl is now an ABA "behavior technician." Suddenly her condescending attitude towards me makes a lot more sense all these years later. If that was her mindset / approach to autism all along (even though I hadn't even suspected it in myself yet)…

Welcome to another episode of The Enshitiffication Show. Today, we're talking about clothing.

For some years now, I've bought CQR cargo pants. I'm autistic. My wardrobe is not super varied. I tend to stick to the brands that I like, and purchase the same item, in various colors.

What to wear is a problem. If I've solved it once, why make my life complicated? I just use the solution I've found.

I used to like CQR cargo pants.

Alas...

This is no longer the case. The last pair I bought has shallow pockets. Most likely, some idiot figured that they'd be saving money by having shallow pockets.

The first clue I got was when I took a nap with my pants on. Stuff was falling out of the pockets.  I eventually took my tape measure, and proved to myself that the pockets are indeed shallower. In the pictures below, you'll find:

* An old pair of CQR pants.
* The new pair.
* A pair of Wranglers with pockets more like the old CQR.

I tend to be loyal to brands. Eh. If it works, it works. However, when brands enshittify their products... well... I ain't no fool. If I'm paying a high price for shitty stuff, I might as well switch to another product, which may be as shitty (but maybe in different ways), but will cost me half the price.

I cannot tell yet how the Wranglers will hold up to use. Maybe, I'll have to replace them in one year, but even if this happens, I'm ahead of the game relative to paying for CQR's enshittified pants.

Oh, I've taken naps with the Wranglers on. No problem with stuff falling out of the pockets. 👍

#autisic #autism #enshittification #CargoPants #clothing #pockets #BrandLoyalty

I think we'd all be a lot happier if people stopped considering #Autism and #ADHD etc as "disorders" and instead as valid neurotypes.

I'm not a broken Neurotypical. I'm a perfectly well formed #Autisic male. I have my strengths and my weaknesses.

Superman isn't a broken Kryptonian because he's weak to Kryptonite. Just as my personal Kryptonite is loud noises, bright lights and crowds.

I may not have laser vision but I do have laser focus! When I'm engaged in a subject no force in the 'verse can sway me.

I may not have super strength but My math game is STRONK. I can analyse data and debug code faster than a speeding bullet. I can jump over complex equations in a single bound :)

Likewise, I was never formally diagnosed as Aro/Ace. I didn't even realise I was Aro/Ace until much later on in life.

I even doubted I WAS Aro/Ace initially because i didn't realise it was a spectrum.I tend more to the DemiAce/GreyAro side.

I had people tell me I couldn't be aro/ace because I was married.

See the parallel here?

The only difference between my Aro/Ace and my Autistic/ADHD identities is that people seem to insist one is diagnosed and the other is "personal self awareness"

I'm no less Aro/Ace because some professional hasn't sat down with loads of questionnaires and questions and told me I was. It's just how I'm wired. It's my config in my operating system.

My #Autism is just how I'm wired. It too is a config in my operating system.

I'm not broken. I'm just built differently.

My daughter asks me to pretend to do an activity and I'm on top of it. When she asks me to pretend to be a character I simply hate it and will not do it. I think I just realized why. It feels too much like masking and masking is something I absolutely cannot do at home in my safe space.

#autism #autisic #nospoons

Reads up on the concept of a 'Hyperfocus Crash'

Aha !
Fuck.

#ADHD #autisic #Hyperfocus #MentalHeath

An unusually well developed ability to see patterns plus motivation to learn the basics then wade through & absorb heaps of information - for free, in our own time, for fun, in a good cause - yes please.

It’s wonderful to see these typically #Autisic characteristics celebrated.

Covid hunters: the amateur sleuths tracking the virus and its variants https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/27/covid-hunters-amateur-sleuths-tracking-virus-variants-coronavirus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I had no intention of writing today, then this poured out of my fingertips. I'm both #gay and #autisic, and I am so saddened to see two librarians fired over an #austism-awareness display that a volunteer mistook for an #LGBTQ #Pride display. Seriously!?

https://medium.com/prismnpen/two-librarians-fired-over-autism-awareness-display-because-rainbow-c8b3fbd2c916?sk=bb8857c75499fb195d8d74e1f899a80b