Thread: I will occasionally talk about how being #ActuallyAutistic helps me be better at working in human rights, and understandably, mainly due to certain stereotypes, this confuses people. So thought I would put a little explainer together. 1/
First off, and I cannot stress this enough, this is only my personal experience. I don't, and can't speak for all autistic individuals. I can only talk about my own experiences. Everyone is different. So, that's the obligatory disclaimer out of the way. On with the show. 2/
You have possibly read, heard, or experienced how autistic individuals can have trouble with communication. I know I do. I tend to take things literally, and if you ask me a question I just hope that you actually wanted an answer. There's a flip side to this though. 3/
When you've gone through life having to parse and overthink every statement to make sure it is, shall we say, "socially acceptable", it gives you a fairly unique insight into the use of language. This comes in handy when you are formulating messages on controversial topics. 4/
When you talk about human rights, particularly in my personal experience with regards to refugees and migrants, you have to be incredibly careful about what you say and how you say it, for so many different reasons and with so many possible ramifications if you get it wrong. 5/
Instinctively running through everything you say and checking yourself tends to be quite a benefit, for once, when you are communicating what can be complicated and controversial points which you know ahead of time people are looking to rip apart. 6/
The next benefit is seeing patterns and draw links which may not always be apparent to other people. Human rights, as the name kind of gives away, revolves around humans, and humans are messy and complicated. All manner of things tie in, some more obvious than others. 7/
Seeing how x can lead to z, with y being the missing factor comes in handy not just with planning immediate and long-term impacts, but also looking at workable solutions and ways to communicate that. 8/
On a very personal note, one of my, what are termed as at times, "hyperfixations" is human rights and in particular refugees and migrants rights, my wife wishes it was something more like lego but there you go. We don't exactly get to pick these things. 9/
That drives me to follow everything I can on the subject and look at it from every angle. Yeah, I'm a fun at a party. Now throw in that wonderful, and pretty common, autistic trait of having a sense of innate justice and you can see why this is the area I work in. 10/
It's all to easy at times for people to think that because autistic individuals think in a different way that they can't work in certain professions, and media stereotypes don't help with that. The truth is though that it helps. It really does. It's the perfect silver lining. 11/
Also hasten to add, this wasn't meant as a "blow my own trumpet" thread. Trust me that trumpet is pretty dinged up and there's not a lot to make a noise about. It was meant more as a way to show that the stereotypes we see of autistic individuals don't always match reality. 12/
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