Sophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023
🧵 Ok so I’m just starting a thread of autism research/thoughts so that it can be muted if you want/need that:
Show threadSophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023

“Many autistic people report not being able to enjoy humour if it’s at somebody else’s expense.”

This is the kind of thing that makes me worried about people as a whole, I always figured this was true for everyone and the only reason people laughed at “punching down” jokes was because they didn’t properly understand what the joke was about. I don’t know how to feel about a world where people really do understand and just, find it funny anyway…

Show threadSophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023
As an example, when I was little my dad got me some books of anti-Irish jokes and at the time I loved them. I could read them out and everyone laughed, but then I grew up and realised wow, Irish people are actually people! That kind of thing just isn’t funny to me at all anymore. So I always assume laughing at someone’s expense is a result of immaturity or being ill informed? Can people learn and then still be assholes? This can’t be right, right?
Show threadSophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023

Part of what I’m doing is listening to a lot of autistic people to hear about their internal experiences and see what resonates, and in the process I’m finding people I wish I knew about on YouTube much sooner. Eg, this is a great video worth watching outside the context of this thread

https://youtu.be/Nnd74yyf4nQ

You're Wrong About Autistic Emotions

YouTube
Show threadSophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023
Okay, yeah, I’m autistic.
Show threadMike Kasprzak 🦖Apr 20, 2023
@Sophie That's something I've often wondered about myself, as I try to better understand symptoms I will occasionally exhibit beyond hyperactive ADHD. Clinically I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but there are many things I find very relatable.
Show threadSophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023
@mike yeah there’s a lot of overlap between the two and they are often comorbid. I’ve thought I probably had adhd for a while now but for some reason felt like it wouldn’t be acceptable to self-diagnose? Maybe because my focus can vary so much and I can’t focus on my focus very well, if that makes any sense at all lol.
Show threadMike Kasprzak 🦖
@Sophie Yes that makes sense. It sounds like executive function (I.e. ADHD). I know for me, there were a lot of moments where "doing what I should be doing" was almost painful (certainly way less desirable). It might sound extreme, but fear is one of my biggest motivators. Fear of letting others down or losing my job often pushes me through my roadblocks, but it hurts because that often means crunch. I'm in my 40's, and my body can't handle crunch anymore, which is why I started meds.
Apr 20, 2023 at 8:38pmWeb
Show threadSophie 🎲🏳️‍⚧️Apr 20, 2023
@mike yeah that sounds VERY adhd.
to me. I don’t usually benefit from fear/deadlines myself, I think it’s probably deman avoidance - I’m way more likely to just shut down and nuke the whole thing and maybe see if I can get it done later.
Show threadMike Kasprzak 🦖Apr 20, 2023
@Sophie My wife is similar (also ADHD). She'll just "nope" and do something else, where I might get sucked into the stupid meaningless thing for way too many hours. 😅
Show threadMike Kasprzak 🦖Apr 20, 2023
@Sophie That's not to say meds solved my ADHD. Instead they simply made it easier to get out of crippling situations (laying in bed or on the couch) where I can't use fear or other methods to motivate myself. I can focus on nearly anything now, but I need to be extremely careful about choosing the right thing, else I might get sucked into something wasteful. 😅