oh thaaat's why I have a fundamental need to explain the reasons why when detailing a process to someone

Just fucking teach your children why, if you can't explain the reason, maybe you shouldn't be doing it

Exactly. Put the fucking shopping carts where they belong! But also don't get onto me for riding it into the coral like a bobsled led by imaginary bears.

Guess I'm not neurodivergent then anymore?

Try to figure out why you would have that be a rule if you don't get it though. There are some rules that you will never get explained why, but if you think from their perspective it can actually become clear of, yes this might be a kind of arbitrary rule in some cases, but it shows that you are capable of figuring out and following arbitrary rules.

Like how, I forget which band it is, puts in their contract that all the brown or green or whatever M&Ms have to be put into a separate bowl, because one time the people did not read or follow the setup instructions and people almost fucking died. They can walk into the dressing room and immediately see if the instructions have been followed based on a bowl of M&Ms

How do the bears exit the cart corral?

Ghost bears

Same way they got in.

IMHO most people are not curious enough to have thought about why a rule exists.

I always want to know why a rule exists. I respect people enough to explain why a rule exists too.

This does lead to awkward situations where the reason why the rule exists is bullshit or worse.

Which is also known as "common sense"

If it's any comfort, a lot of posts here are just a quirky, autism-flavored horoscope. With a neurodevelopmental disorder that both affects tons of areas of cognition/social development and is situated on a pretty broad spectrum, you're probably going to find ways of understanding rules in people with autism are generally different than in neutotypical people.

I don't know of any good studies that explore rule learning in autistic children/people generally, but I can imagine – even as someone autistic who vaguely relates to the post – that the experience is much more diverse than these "autistic people be like"-type Tumblr posts.

Also, this post is clearly substituting "neurodiversity" for "the neurodiversity I specifically have", given "neurodivergent" is extremely wide-ranging to include things like dyslexia and Tourette's

wouldn't they have to climb over the cart you rode in?

i mean, i'm sure it's not a problem. bears are agile climbers.

By bribing the herder

In my messenger bag, which is cave-like and bigger on the inside.

The ghost bears are only here for support.

Alas, they cannot interact with physical objects.

Right on, good answer. AWAHOoOoO

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

passes ayahuasca cup & obligatory puke bucket

No, they turn around first, shake off the harness and push the cart into the next cart (while chuckling about how it's like sexxx)

One does not herd bears. One asks bears.

Think of cats as opposed to dogs.

I genuinely thought that was everyone. Who just follows bullshit roles that lack substance or explanation - oh, right.

Even easier: they're imaginary bears, just imagine then outside the corral.

Ah, I see the problem: I'm imagining real bears. I need to imagine imaginary bears.

Let that be a lesson to you.

Fair, by bribing the butler then?

Posts like this make me think I'm autistic but I think I'm too old to get tested. I don't really care anyway. I'm probably "high functioning" enough.

I cannot relate to the first part. I love rules. I'm never like, that's a stupid rule. I'm like, yay a rule, I will absorb this and follow it forever, so I don't do the wrong thing.

I have a self described neurodivergent coworker who has recently started leaving work around 30 mins early when it’s our job description to shut the place down. He reasons that if he skips lunch (because of his heroic dose of adderal) he earns the right to leave early. 🙃

"Bribing The Butler" sounds like a sitcom.

No, it's all about mutual respect. Affinity, in some situations.

If you don't have an imagination within your own imaginations or the imaginations of others, it's time to expand the realm of endless possibilities within your very own imagination!!!!!

Bit thanks for doing that, I tend to ignore rules completely when there's no reason given (or I think the reason is bs).

And I do this through the power of imagination presumably?

With the power of imagination, anything is possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡!!!!¡!!!!!¡!!!

! !
! !
! !
! !
?

     ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

I said coral, though. It's a reef because they are reefer bears.

Politely offer them a marijuana joint in exchange for not swimming through the delicate ecosystem.

Hahahaha. That's not "autism". That's just "normal". Right?

And I've found that most people do not care, they just want marching orders. Like, I'm not here to give you orders. This is what the goal is, this is how it's currently done, this is why we do it that way. They want to commit "how it's currently done" to rote memory.

And then the first (and second, and third, etc) time something does not go as planned, they're stopped in their tracks. Context was rejected, preventing understanding, leaving little framework for the unexpected.

So they ask me to tell him how to fix it. Well, I don't know how to fix it. This hasn't happened before. I do not have a step by step committed to memory. But I can probably figure it out if you give me a few minutes. There, should be good now.

"Jeez, I didn't want you to do it for me, why can't you just tell me how to do it?"

Shit I thought this was ADHD but maybe its more autism. Literally since I was 5 I recall thinking to myself that unless I know the exact reasoning behind a task I will not do it. I'm still this way at work. If its an easy but meaningless task I'll take a whole day to do it. Difficult but meaningful task? I'm done in an hour.

…Right?

Is riding carts autism or just being a kid for life? I still do this and DOS was my first OS...

I have a hard time believing its not everyone because it makes zero sense to me why you wouldnt think through something critically.

Are you me or am I you?

Edit: did you ever play with paint on Win 98 like it was a battlefield? And if so, what are your feelings on Worldbox?

I do this to my son as I am a person who wants to know why things are as they are. At least when he doesn't listen. Does not help really but I feel better explaining at least.

I am not capable of following arbitrary rules that I know are arbitrary, because they are arbitrary and I’m not a robot. That’s stupid as fuck.

Edit: I really don’t understand the downvotes. Do most people honestly agree with this dog shit sentiment of just shut up and do as you’re told? That’s fucking gross.

Edit: Do you guys not know what arbitrary means?

Mhm

.....right?

I think this is the great pandemic. I don’t know if I have a skewed world view, but so many people are in survival mode all the time that they don’t have the time to think about these things where those with autism don’t have the option not to.

I don’t think that these people want to live like ostriches, but I they’re so preoccupied with our current state of things that the energy and time simply aren’t available.

Having some time to sit quietly and consider your situation is a luxury few can afford.

The middle ground is having the rule be properly explained, but it contradicts logic so badly that the rule must not be followed, because its fucking stupid and only an idiot would follow that rule.

If you don't have a good damned reason, then fuck your rule. Do you have any idea how many rules exist simply because it favoured one group or person over others? And now we're stuck living with it? Question all the rules. Many of them are selfish bullshit. Like this new everyone has to use AI, or OSs needing photo ID to function, or why rich people get to avoid prison for their numerous rule breaking crimes, even become president FFS.

Rules need to be wise or they shouldn't be followed and I'm not trusting most ppls opinions of whether they are wise or not.

Same! Over the course of my life I've frequently alienated managers at work because I always ask them to explain the rules they talk about and they interpret that as "talking back" and think of me as a rebel with an attitude problem. It's annoying.

These days I ask them to explain a rule because it will help me REMEMBER the rule, which is technically true and doesn't offend them as much.

More people have some levels of both, that those who only have one

upvote for DOS family!

Relevant story:

I worked in a pharmacy during COVID. Once vaccine supply balanced out to the point we could take walk-ins, we were told by corporate that even if someone was walking in without an appointment, we were to go into the system and make them an appointment for the current date and time. To clarify, this is a separate system than what bills insurance, notifies doctors, documents the vaccine etc. It's just an appointment system.

Dumb rule. Stupid. Did not follow it for weeks because we were busy, y'know, administering vaccines and dispensing medications.

Until I found out why we were supposed to do it...

This was the vaccine that you got one dose of, then a follow up dose ~6 weeks later. When you book an appointment, it automatically schedules the followup appointment and notifies the patient when it's coming up, helping us not get slammed with walk-in appointments and the patient not forget their second dose.

From that point on, I was adamant that appointments be made for every vaccine with multiple doses.