I see this on Imgur and Bluesky as well. Here's a great example, and the one that prompted me to finally ask. My daughter has autism and ADHD. She takes speed to slow down. Best friend is ADHD, same deal. But they're basically "normal" people. I'm truly sorry is this comes off as insensitive.
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It's normal to be aware of how people perceive us. We are apes. Need I elaborate?
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We ALL mess up more when someone is watching. Forget the word, but it's a well-known psychological tic.
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Yes, we all conform and hide parts of ourselves in public, doesn't mean you can't "be yourself". Want to see someone who doesn't mask at all? Trump.
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If you're not aware of threats, Darwin would like a word. And yes, many things we perceive as threats are dumb monkey perceptions. We're all silly in this way.
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Uh, I double check my door locks. Not paranoid, but my situation in America makes that a simple, smart move. Some people live around lots of strangers, checking your private space is a normal thing.
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We all hate being stared at. That's a monkey threat. We evolved that way.
The "suspicious sounds" thing is the only part I'd pick out as a bit strange. But who hasn't jumped when the ice maker kicks in? I've often thought someone crawled in the dog door. (A bear did one time, a hybrid wolf another, so let me slide on that one.)
I can go on /c/autism and pick 100 other memes for examples. Almost every single thing I see there, "Yeah, we all go though that/feel that way/do that thing." Here's one:
https://piefed.cdn.blahaj.zone/posts/6k/Lb/6kLbDigyQuftk4k.jpg
Doesn't everyone do that now and again?! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
Serious questions:
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Does lemmy have an above normal number of autistic/ADHD people?
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Is this perception a way for young people to feel special and different?
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Maybe young people don't realize just how fucking weird growing up is and think they have a problem?
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Do people not realize that even after adulthood, we all have weird foibles?
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Are people so socially isolated that they think their weird thoughts are uncommon?
Just want to start the discussion. Help me understand.
I think there is a lack of understanding here and it's the same lack of understanding I see in the late diagnosed parts of the community. For some people it is a lot more disabling than others. There are many that can't actually function fully independently. Arguably no one with a formal diagnosis should really function fully independently without some kind of support system or therapy or medication in place.
You also can't cater to everyone in mainstream education. There is a very good reason why special education exists. This is one of those takes that suggests dismantling a system just because you haven't experienced the reasons for its existence.
That's a valid point.
What I'm addressing is that after the EU mandated schools to include everyone in the same classes, things just don't work.
It used to be one class with "normal" students and one class with *special " students, each with their own teachers. This was highly ostracizing to a lot of pupils who had a mild ADD diagnosis, and that number keeps increasing as parents become more accepting and take their kids for diagnosis.
The current strategy is include everyone in one class and then use supplemental teachers where it's necessary. Big unsurprising shock is that it's necessary to have a speciel teacher attached to every single class and they can't find neither funding or qualified teachers. Surprised Pikachu!
It would be easy to say that we should go back to the old system, but that is also wrong. What they need is to educate every teacher to be able to include the "special" students.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be a "special" class, but it should be reserved for the pupils who are further out on the spectrum.
When I was a kid myself, the special class was for kids with Downs. That hardly exists anymore, because of the option to abort after the chromosome test, and because these kids are funneled into special institutions to begin with. Kids with ADHD or autism would be in normal classes and failing because nobody recognized it as a handicap. They do now, but prior to the EU decision it was the opposite problem. The special classes were full of kids with mild diagnoses. The EU decision addressed this issue, but it wasn't the right way, because there was no money given to update the qualifications of the teachers.
What I am suggesting is that we accept the inclusion, but also that we to ensure that all teachers are capable of handling it. We shouldn't ostracize kids with mild diagnoses by putting then in special class or having special teachers. If we want to include them, which we should, we need to go all in on making the mainstream education include them.
While giving teachers more education on special needs is always nice to have, it's not going to solve the need for additional staff. Pretty much all teachers already receive some baseline instructions and training related to handling students with disabilities. There are already classrooms with additional needs kids that only have a single member of staff. For more mild disabilities that's the standard here in the UK. There are also loads of students like me who going through school needed dedicated staff even if it was in a normal mainstream classroom environment. There are sort of three levels of intervention here: exam arrangements only, additional support in class, and dedicated classrooms. All three are used for good reasons. In some cases you can have different levels of intervention for the same student in different classes depending on how much they struggle in a given academic area, that's what I had towards the end of my schooling career.