tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794893825407092443.post1727636032093248770..comments2023-12-29T04:36:07.964-04:00Comments on Square 8: Tokenize Me?Bevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06766614739853100172noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794893825407092443.post-45758392126483025992008-02-12T19:01:00.000-04:002008-02-12T19:01:00.000-04:00i'm so glad you wrote about this and are thinking ...i'm so glad you wrote about this and are thinking about it. i know that you'll do what's best, even though it's hard to go through this maze..cripchickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01921991456026214435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794893825407092443.post-85830916660253683072008-02-08T21:43:00.000-04:002008-02-08T21:43:00.000-04:00I can imagine it would be a tough choice. I like ...I can imagine it would be a tough choice. I like to think of you sharing your opinions though. Someone has to! But, it does have to be something you are comftorable with. I kinda agree with Patrick's comment. Good luck making the decision!Marla https://www.blogger.com/profile/03926898159751613267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794893825407092443.post-66630148655177784912008-02-08T19:21:00.000-04:002008-02-08T19:21:00.000-04:00I believed a LOT of crap about autism a few years,...I believed a LOT of crap about autism a few years, even a few months ago. It seems the second organization is TRYING to learn, TRYING to listen. Just not succeeding very well yet. Maybe they're not trying enough, but if you sit around waiting for perfect people who always give 100% before you give them advice on how to make autistic life easier, you may have a very long wait. I used to have this really arrogant attitude "My disability is good because it gives me more abilities than impairments. Yours isn't because your impairments are bigger than your disabilities." Looking back I'm pretty disgusted with myself for thinking that.I'm not making excuses, but it WAS hard to see that the value of a particular abilityis not something set in stone - speech and language are only valuable because the majority of people like and use them, the ability to drive would not matter so much if there were more public transit, etc. It took me even longer to realise that even if certain abilities are more "valuable", people can be equal without having equal abilities. People matter because of what they are, not because of what they can or can't do. That took me forever to work out and I needed it explained to me many different times (with different words, and with forms of communication other than words) and shown to me many times by people who lived these ideals in practice (or tried really hard to live them, anyway.)This wasn't because it was a particularly difficult concept, otr because it was poorly explained. It was because it was totally alien to what I was always taught to think. It's easy to question authority when someone in authority makes an explicit proposition. It's hard to question authority when you are being taught by example rather than words, because you may not actually realise that you're being "taught" anything. Because I was always taught by the example of others that it was important to be talented that talented people are somehow speaicl. I was able to see that I could never even be average in certain areas (largely physical ones, so I taught myself that those talents weren't important and the talents I did have very important (this assumption was arrogant and selfish and based on a non-sequitur - I know I am not inferior, so the things I can do must be more valuable than the things I can't. Therefore, everyone else is inferior. Maybe in a million years the world will evolve so we're all like me.) As I began to make friends with autistics, with people with other disabilites (and gifts), and even *gasp* "normal" people I began to think that everyone has a certain amount of skill allotted to them, and that peole have skills in different areas, I convinced myself that everyone had equal abilities, so everyone was equal. But as time got by and I got to know certain people better, I realised this didn't work. I have an autistic friend who is great at Maths, but I also have NT friends with similar Mathematical skills. Her mathematical ability wasn't the reason her autism was beautiful - autism is not a prerequisite for mathematical ability and mathematical ability is not a prerequisite for autism. She is beautiful because of who she is - in a sense, there's not such thing as "her autism" - there's just her, a person who is autistically beautiful. And the nuerotypical Mathematicians are nuerotypically beautiful. Talents are valuable not just because they are useful/interesting, but because they make people who they are. And the same goes for impairments. That took so long to dawn on me and I'm glad people were patietn and didn't despair of me immediately. If they had, I might never have realised what now seems an obvious truth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794893825407092443.post-56979661308400162822008-02-07T18:48:00.000-04:002008-02-07T18:48:00.000-04:00You are really brave to even consider putting your...You are really brave to even consider putting yourself out there after so many organizations have destroyed the trust in the autism community. Maybe in a small way, it is starting anew?<BR/><BR/>karen in caAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5794893825407092443.post-64484106635069801552008-02-07T15:17:00.000-04:002008-02-07T15:17:00.000-04:00I say, if you've got the time to do it, and they a...I say, if you've got the time to do it, and they aren't asking for any rash membership fees, give them a spin, what the hey?<BR/><BR/>I also reserve the right to say, Only you can truly answer this one.<BR/><BR/>If it turns out to be a bust, I'll be happy to hear that you figured it out, if they seem to be worthwile I'm sure we shall hear more about the endeavor here!Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04747506313119140677noreply@blogger.com