#oh !!

[michaelmyersfutacock]

I realized the other day that the reason I didn't watch much TV as a teenager (and why I'm only now catching up on late aughts/early teens media that I missed), is because I literally didn't understand how to use our TV. My parents got a new system, and it had three remotes with a Venn diagram of functions. If someone left the TV on an unfamiliar mode, I didn't know how to get back to where I wanted to be, so I just stopped watching TV on my own altogether.

I explained all this to my therapist, because I didn't know if this was more related to my then-unnoticed autism, or to my relationship with my parents at the time (we had issues less/unrelated to neurodivergency). She told me something interesting.

In children's autism assessments, a common test is to give them a straightforward task that they cannot reasonably perform, like opening an overtight jar. The "real" test is to see, when they realize that they cannot do it on their own, if they approach a caregiver for help. Children that do not seek help are more likely to be autistic than those that do.

This aligns with the compulsory independence I've noticed to be common in autistic adults, particularly articulated by those with lower support needs and/or who were evaluated later in life. It just genuinely does not occur to us to ask for help, to the point that we abandon many tasks that we could easily perform with minor assistance. I had assumed it was due to a shared common social trauma (ie bad experiences with asking for help in the past), but the fact that this trait is a childhood test metric hints at something deeper.

My therapist told me that the extremely pathologizing main theory is that this has something to do with theory of mind, that is doesn't occur to us that other people may have skills that we do not. I can'

I realized the other day that the reason I didn't watch much TV as a teenager (and why I'm only now catching up on late aughts/early teens media that I missed), is because I literally didn't understand how to use our TV. My parents got a new system, and it had three remotes with a Venn diagram of functions. If someone left the TV on an unfamiliar mode, I didn't know how to get back to where I wanted to be, so I just stopped watching TV on my own altogether.

I explained all this to my therapist, because I didn't know if this was more related to my then-unnoticed autism, or to my relationship with my parents at the time (we had issues less/unrelated to neurodivergency). She told me something interesting.

In children's autism assessments, a common test is to give them a straightforward task that they cannot reasonably perform, like opening an overtight jar. The "real" test is to see, when they realize that they cannot do it on their own, if they approach a caregiver for help. Children that do not seek help are more likely to be autistic than those that do.

This aligns with the compulsory independence I've noticed to be common in autistic adults, particularly articulated by those with lower support needs and/or who were evaluated later in life. It just genuinely does not occur to us to ask for help, to the point that we abandon many tasks that we could easily perform with minor assistance. I had assumed it was due to a shared common social trauma (ie bad experiences with asking for help in the past), but the fact that this trait is a childhood test metric hints at something deeper.

My therapist told me that the extremely pathologizing main theory is that this has something to do with theory of mind, that is doesn't occur to us that other people may have skills that we do not. I can't speak for my early childhood self, or for all autistic people, but I don't buy this. Even if I'm aware that someone else has knowledge that I do not (as with my parents understanding of our TV), asking for help still doesn't present itself as an option. Why?

My best guess, using only myself as a model, is due to the static wall of a communication barrier. I struggle a lot to make myself understood, to articulate the thing in my brain well enough that it will appear identically (or at least close enough) in somebody else's brain. I need to be actively aware of myself and my audience. I need to know the correct words, the correct sentence structure, and a close-enough tone, cadence, and body language. I need draft scripts to react to possible responses, because if I get caught too off guard, I may need several minutes to construct an appropriate response. In simple day-to-day interactions, I can get by okay. In a few very specific situations, I can excel. When given the opportunity, I can write more clearly than I am ever capable of speaking.

When I'm in a situation where I need help, I don't have many of my components of communication. I don't always know what my audience knows. I don't have sufficient vocabulary to explain what I need. I don't know what information is relevant to convey, and the order in which I should convey it. I don't often understand the degree of help I need, so I can come across inappropriately urgent or overly relaxed. I have no ability to preplan scripts because I don't even know the basic plot of the situation.

I can stumble though with one or two deficiencies, but if I'm missing too much, me and the potential helper become mutually unintelligible. I have learned the limits of what I can expect from myself, and it is conceptualized as a real and physical barrier. I am not a runner, so running a 5k tomorrow does not present itself as an option to me. In the same way, if I have subconscious knowledge that an interaction is beyond my capability, it does not present itself as an option to me. It's the minimum communication requirements that prevent me from asking for help, not anything to do with the concept of help itself.

Maybe. This is the theory of one person. I'm curious if anyone else vibes with this at all.

[thepromiscuousfinger]

[thejavavoid]

i'd ALSO like to add the fact that there are animals that NEED human assistance at times (yes, usually they're bred to need us, but the point still stands). domesticated bees overproduce honey expecting humans to take some of it. if we didn't, the bees could potentially drown their own larvae and kill off their hive. cows, goats, and other dairy animals are bred to produce a lot of milk and need to be milked, otherwise the milk can curdle inside the udders and cause harm. domestic sheep need to be sheared to prevent overheating, matting, and parasites.

of course, the natural counterparts to these animals have different ways to survive. wild bees and cows don't produce as much honey or milk, wild sheep shed their wool, etc. but if you released a domesticated cow or sheep, it will die off rather quickly because it isn't bred to survive in the wild.

the human world and the wild coexist, but are vastly different. it makes no sense to compare domesticated animals to wild ones, and just like you can't keep a wild animal as a pet, you can't let a domestic animal run loose.

I just think that 'animals are living intelligent creatures that have feelings and deserve to be respected' and 'when done properly farming is beneficial to both people and animals and there's nothing wrong with raising and killing animals for food, clothing, and other products' are concepts that very much can and should coexist

[ag3nsh4d]

Poor quality fishe/Hj

[valelanz]

5

[joomju]

#I am become love #protector of worlds (tags from @bossuary)

— roach-works

[thunderon]

working an office job now is so funny because when i was 16 i worked a shitty minimum wage job where my manager was an ex-felon bodybuilder with knuckles tats who spent time in prison for attempted murder… so guess what, phil? your fancy title and lame white-collar intimidation tactics aren’t going to work on me, actually. i watched my old boss pull a knife on someone. you really think im going to fall to my knees when you make passive aggressive commentary? please get real

[catfindr]

[monophobix]

oh the jayce caitlyn parallels need to be STUDIED.

jayce, who was initially as ignorant and unknowing as all topsiders being manipulated into creating the downfall of the undercity, only to learn and realise that zaunites deserve to live just as much as topsiders do.

caitlyn, who was initially as ignorant and unknowing as all topsiders being shown the beauty of the undercity and thinking zaunites deserve to live just as topsiders do only to be manipulated and used to create the downfall of the undercity.

ooooh how their arcs are so similar and cursed.

[swiftiesbuddie]

[malcontentonline]

[weltenwellen]

Ruth Awad, from “Reasons To Live”

[taughtdefense]

@taughtpain

Jackie Taylor (+ Shauna) | miscellaneous character study

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flappers and Philosophers

Carol Rifka Brunt, Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Leanna Firestone, Two Week Notice

Black Wing, Twinkling

Madison Beer, Good In Goodbye

a.j., vulnerability

Rainer Maria Rilke, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Caroline Polachek, Pang

Pablo Neruda, Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines)

Taylor Swift, Fifteen

[dandey-lion]

Dpxdc prompt.

Imagine there are tinier ancients, ancients of planets. But instead of every ancient having one planet, they would be the ancient of a group of planets that are similar and possess similar qualities.

For simplicity, I will refer to these ancients as the ancient of [insert planet of our solar system that falls under their domain] ex: Ancient of Jupiter

For years, the Ancient of Mars has harbored resentment against the people of Earth for throwing their little machines all over her precious planet. They take parts of it back- for study, they say! Why, There’s even rumors of those little pests moving there! How dare they!

And they just keep coming.

She complains to the Ancient of Earth, but again and again they disturb her perfect planet.

One day she snaps.

She descends upon Earth.

The Justice League is scrambling- they had no time to prepare for such a large threat. Unless they stop her, she will transform Earth into an unrecognizable planet- a planet like Mars, which cannot sustain all of Earth’s life.

Unless they stop her, it will be a massacre that they may not recover from.

So they have to stop her.

They go to fight.

They have gotten ready the best they can. They have found where she is. They go forth to fight for their home and everything in it-

She’s thrown in front of them, battered and bruised, shaking and trembling. They ready themselves as she tries to get up, but a flash of green obscures their vision.

The light clears, they dare to look up.

Bright, green glow. White, floating hair. Shimmering black and white clothes that hold the stars.

And his eyes.

Wild and angry, so full of raw emotion it exudes from him in waves.

This man, too ethereal to be real, glowing, holds the Ancient of Mars by her throat.

[jm-chrome]

small and angryy