When I meet someone new, unless I know they're also neurodivergent or neurospicy-friendly, or we're meeting in a space that explicitly is, I'm very self-conscious about how much eye contact I'm making. Worrying that it might be insufficient or excessive, alienating this new person before they have a chance to get to know me.

It amplifies any social anxiety I'm already feeling, and distracts me from the conversation. Which I also notice and worry about.

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Passionate educators have done their best over the last few decades to graft more student-centric approaches onto the schools and education admin systems they work in. But it's at best an uphill struggle, at worst a Boulder of Sisyphus.

I don't think traditional European schooling is great for anyone, based as it is in conditioning people for the army, factory or office (see Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society). But it's kryptonite for the neurodivergent.

#education #neurodivergence

"Many autistic people feel more deeply, sort of without filters - a constant raw download of environmental stimuli. I'm hyper empathic. Not that you can tell by looking at some of us with our extraordinary poker face masking at play. The reality is in opposition to what was thought for years, that autistic people were cold and emotionally incapable. Unfortunately that myth persists."

#AnissaLjanta, Wild of Brain, 2024

https://www.wildofbrain.com/

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