let me start by saying i recently learned of my autism late in life, so i’ve had no awareness of some of my behaviors as autistic until recently.

it’s often said that people with autism have a strong personal sense of right and wrong. neurotypicals may label it as stubborn but i see it as principled. obviously, nts can have an equal sense of right and wrong, but it does appear to be uniquely within autism that it can present as a detriment. for example, i will often sabotage myself if it means i’ll be forced to do something i find reprehensible or objectionable, like i’d rather risk homelessness than take a job in health insurance if i was unemployed.

how has this affected you throughout your life?

for me it has been both a benefit and a massive hindrance. over time i have learned ways to recontextualize certain situations and circumstances, but there are areas i am simply unwilling to compromise on.

  • Hellfire103@lemmy.caEnglish
    8·
    2 days ago

    Well, it’s made it difficult to find an industrial placement at uni. While many of my peers are going to be working for BlackRock, Leonardo, Boeing, or some AI-related company during third year, I’m probably going to be attending lectures. It’s also made my workflow tricky, as I have a thousand (hyperbole) reasons why I won’t use certain software or operating systems, which in turn means I have to reverse-engineer and self-teach slightly more of my degree than other students.

    Also, I’m not sure if this is the strong sense of justice, increased empathy, a subconscious inability to detect sarcasm, or a combination thereof, but I also can’t make jokes at people’s expense when they don’t deserve it (even if I know it would be okay). For example, I am a member of three student societies, one of which is a Formula Student team. There is wall-to-wall banter each time I go in and I always have a good laugh, but I feel as though I am physically incapable of making any jokes myself. I wouldn’t even have to worry about going too far: most of the society is also autistic to some degree (and therefore able to understand), and any particularly edgy humour is always perpetuated by the members it’s about (if that makes sense).

    However, I also believe I have benefited somewhat from my sense of justice. I refuse to use AI in any capacity (even when we would be allowed for our work), due to the environmental and social consequences. I would say that having to actually understand what I’m doing is far better than the alternative – meanwhile, most people I know are using Gemini to write their shellscripts.