Sam (formerly Barisan Hantu) 🇸🇬🍉

I think it's quite sensible! It's quite a new paper so I'm not sure it's translated to practice but it sounds like a step in the right direction to me

Just read about the concept of kind extinction under ABA.

It horrifies me a little that ABA generally prescribes following through with every instruction but the introduction of kind extinction signifies very important progress imo

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people argue that "support needs don't vary because those with high support needs always have high support needs" - those with high support needs remain at high support needs but their support needs can vary at that level!

Too autistic to be mean to anyone (except when I unintentionally hurt people's feelings by misreading a situation)

What do you wanna know? Although I can't speak for the context of where you're at

As an autistic teacher who has taught both mainstream and SPED, one of the most challenging things for me is how euphemistic SPED teacher are (to speak kindly of autistic students)

Realising that when folks get to know me a bit better and I unmask then they get confused bc my unmasked self is so much less friendly lol

Autistic person: I want to help!

*proceeds to correct everyone on how things should be done*

Dear reader, not a single person thought they were helping

More the second! And recently I've found it helpful to remind myself to do the small human things for other people that I'm liable to forget are part of human connection lmao

It's very funny to me that as an autistic person I am somewhat triggered when people are too pedantic.

Like, if you're incorrect I will correct you and I'll be like, I'm not being pedantic but if someone else is 0.00001% more pedantic than I am I get so mad

A real AuDHD need: making people a part of your to do list

One way I've learnt to navigate workplace politics is unfortunately hypothesis testing. I can't tell what someone's motivations or inclinations are, so I have to test things like whether they are willing to take credit for my work. Once I know, then I know.

Because most people navigate the world through the social dimension and they get ahead in various ways by playing the social game

Starting to think that you're autistic and struggle with social cues etc then you're just doomed to suffer an endless string of injustices

Wheelchair accessibility might be my latest hyperfixation. Please send me all your wheelchair related info

Looking at the world through softer eyes is kind of important when you're autistic

It's too many things to list which is why it's hard for autistic people cos we want to break it down and take it step by step.

It's more like an energy/attitude where you are curious, patient and gentle even when you are right/factual.

For example, managing tone and asking questions are helpful

One of the major issues I face is that whenever I try to push for something that I think is good of the organisation/its people/my students, folks tend to think it's a personal agenda of chasing visibility or power

I have the same problem in my head! But I've been studying how people speak etc and there are people really good at this

Most (good) leadership is trained or capable of speaking this way

Look I actually want to learn how to speak professionally and with empathy but I obviously cannot but the allistics won't explicitly teach me how so

If you're autistic, it's kind of impossible to care less. The only way I can think about it is to manage the intensity of caring

In Singapore for sure. I kind of feel that I don't want to do any advocacy unless my reputation is a bit more umblemished though bc I don't want autism to be an excuse for any of my flaws haha

I need help from other autistic folk to figure out how I can actually make advocacy happen

A useful perspective to find calm haha

Autistic leadership and advocacy:

Speak loudly. Cause ripples. Get overwhelmed. Hide.

Feel inspired or strongly about something. Rinse and repeat.

Realising that I'm not a bad person, just an inexperienced autistic manager, is incredibly liberating

In personal relationships I'm direct and fix the relationship by problem solving together but the older I've gotten the less possible this is, especially in a professional context

I would like to do less things wrong socially but it's also worth saying that getting too stuck in analysis and problem solving is counter productive to actually repairing relationships. Turns out the way to repair relationships is to try to "fake" being nice until it feels safe again for everyone

There's a special kind of hell in being autistic, knowing I'm doing something wrong socially because I perfectly understand people's reactions, analsying every single thing I did or said for clues and still not knowing what I did wrong

A lesson I have learnt many times but can't seem to remember: I *literally* cannot get things done without my meds

Instead of spiraling when I'm stuck, I just have to take my meds!!!