The Spam Thread!

[Stella Grapes]

Ehhhhh, I don't really feel like explaining what happened yet. Mainly because nothing has happened yet. I can't get a straight answer.

[RAMChYLD]

Fell asleep early...

[cpd2009]

Ehhhhh, I don't really feel like explaining what happened yet. Mainly because nothing has happened yet. I can't get a straight answer.

I hope it isn't anything too serious or bad.

[Stella Grapes]

Ehhhhh, I don't really feel like explaining what happened yet. Mainly because nothing has happened yet. I can't get a straight answer.

I hope it isn't anything too serious or bad.

Ehhhhh... I wouldn't be a person affected if what I think is happening is what is happening. But my heart breaks over it. This appears to be yet another case of people discriminating against me. I guess I'll go ahead and explain what I am speaking of.

Where I currently am, there are organizations specifically for autistic children. Not the lone segregated classroom, actual organizations. They vary in agenda and what is available, and they seem to think autistic people stop existing after they grow up, in terms of what is offered... However, most have been surprisingly receptive of me. This was a huge shock. I am more used to be pushed away. Not when it comes to generally working with kids, not when it comes to working with generally disabled adults, but when it comes to working with children of my own kind - I can be oddly unwanted.

And there is a business devoted to autism that does not want to have anything to do with me. If I did not have witnesses, they could be pretending I never spoke to them. I strongly, strongly suspect that this is because they believe in recovery. But how can one recover from the way one was to begin with? Brains cannot be rearranged like that, nor should they be!

(I don't suspect they believe in recovery. I know they do. They talk about it incessantly. I suspect this is their reason for discriminating against me.)

People can be so astoundingly ignorant. Autistic children are often raised in ways that no one would think of raising typical children. An example: One of the features associated with autism is having a strong interest in something particular, and people often react by telling autistic children that, well, no cares about what they like and they shouldn't talk about what they like and other people can have strong interests and they can't because other people can do what they want but they can't because they're showing a symptom of something bad...

That is so emotionally stunting, and a very harmful double standard. And then people wonder why the rates of unemployment are so high for autistic people. Gee, couldn't have anything to do with being discouraged from interests that could lead to careers, could it? Couldn't have anything to do with discrimination as whole, could it?

Returning to what I was saying, I strongly suspect that the business that wishes I'd bugger off forever is wishing so because I am autistic myself. Not recovered. Or basically, not saying I've recovered. There are a few adults who say they are recovered who obviously have not.

Now complicating this further, I am the wife of a CEO - well, he's working his way to being CEO within the next few years - of a company that doesn't have anything to do with this directly, but is actually a little bigger than the discriminating company and is equally affected by some of the same medical insurance fun times. And by fun times, I actually mean ridiculous nationwide transition times.

In other words, I am not a nobody. The company that doesn't like me wishes I were a nobody. But they have met my husband and I together, and they know they cannot just push me away.

All I want to do is be an optional volunteer for helping children. Someone on the emergency hotlines, someone to visit kids and bring my own kids and let kids know they aren't alone, someone to help brainstorm ideas on plans for success. I am perfectly qualified, other places think I'm fantastic, and I'm being barred because I, uh, understand the business' patients on a neurological level? That's counterproductive to say the least.

When I go to autism events at other organizations, I really worry that I won't be allowed back. When it comes to autism specifically, events are always child-centric. (This is a whole other problem.) Because events are always child-centric, I am expected to be non-autistic by default and... I don't pass for typical. I just don't. Ben passes better than I do, in most respects, not that he'd come to such things. Except for that one time Dee had him come to something similar because she was volunteering and Ben just sat around in annoyance doing nothing, but that's another story. Anyway, I don't pass. And that's enough reason to throw me out, according to certain mindsets.

So I can't say I am recovered, because I can't pretend to be. I move too much like the kids, and this includes everything from clumsiness to awkward postures. I think too much like them. The naked eye wouldn't notice any of this, but trained parents and professionals certainly would.

What bothers me is the unfortunate implication at hand. The discriminating company does not want to give children and their parents hope for a future beyond a mythical recovery. That is why they do not want their clients to know I and other potential helpmeets like me exist.

I don't think autism is bad or good. It's neutral and what we choose to do with it is bad or good. Telling children they've no future unless they do the impossible, which will psychologically mess them up for life, that is bad.

IN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NEWS: MY HUSBAND'S BIRTHDAY IS THIS WEEKEND AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO GET HIM, AS USUAL!

[cpd2009]

About this company that is discriminating against you...is it related to Autism Speaks in any way? Autism Speaks has the same mindset that autism can be "fixed".

If this company is discriminating against you, try to file a complaint somehow. I don't know how complaints work with businesses that are supposed to help with autism or other issues, but if you have proof that the employees there discriminated against you, then you have the legal right to file a complaint to the Attorney General or whoever handles such claims.



Funny you mentioned the segregated autism classrooms at the beginning. I was part of one such room from middle school onwards through high school. Though it helped I had nice and understanding teachers and the fact that I was shielded from all the horrific bullying that went on...most of the time.

[cpd2009]

Take a look at Metro, the newfangled Start screen in Windows 8 below (ripped from Wikipedia hehe)


Then take a look at these pictures from the 1971 underrated Christmas Classic, "Santa and the Three Bears"...during a winter/Christmasy song...








The design looks REALLY familiar, doesn't it?

Okay, there is no way that anyone back in 1970 could have predicted the Metro UI. I guess they were going with the stylings of the 70s? A way to keep people entertained during this special?

Still...to me...the resemblance of these elements compared to Metro is...striking.

I know I said I wouldn't use Windows 8...but this could be a game changer at least on one of my computers. I am testing the Release Preview on Lilly, and the desktop portion is rather good. It's just Metro that I am forced to click through.

[RAMChYLD]

MS is just stealing ideas again.



It's modern, alright. By 1920's standards

[cpd2009]

MS is just stealing ideas again

Modern by 1920s standards
Does this look familiar to you?

Microsoft steals from EVERYBODY!!

Erm...maybe not everybody...

[huckleberrypie]

Well, most of MS's products were acquisitions from other companies that they took over.

[cpd2009]

Well, most of MS's products were acquisitions from other companies that they took over.

True.

Or they base their ideas off other products, such as Apple and Linux. Like Windows Aero. It was obviously a response to the visual effects that were present in Mac OSX and Linux while Windows XP was around.

Though Aero is getting shunned for a flatter type of effect in Windows 8. The window animations are like Aero, but the windows and buttons are more square, the glass texture is gone, and Flip3D (Win+Tab) has been replaced with a Metro-style app switcher.

Oh, and you can't turn off Aero either. (unless if you run an application that doesn't work with DWM, but I haven't tried such application yet)

Well, I think there is a way to turn the desktop effects off in Win8, but it probably involves third party hacks or registry stuff...but then, how would the Start Screen work if there if DWM is disabled>