So fwiw, I happened to try out your chinchilla's name on my cat Malcolm because I call him the names of different cool individuals all the time to switch things up, and also because he has a glorious dump truck ass not unlike that of a/your chinchilla, and he looked over and winked at me and put his butt in the air to stretch.
Anyway, here is my question: I figured out I'm autistic a few years ago and have been in the process of unmasking as a 30 year old undergraduate student. I want to go to grad school for a combo of my special interests, because I absolutely love what I study and feel consistently exhilarated while learning and doing research, but I'm ambivalent about going because it's been such a shitshow trying to navigate the social aspects of my undergrad degree, especially networking with many of my professors, classmates, and constantly having to unsuccessfully advocate for myself with the with my campus's Center for Students w/Disabilities and my profs in order to access adequate support for my sensory processing issues. Having recently finished reading your book about laziness not existing and then starting your new book, I've been unpacking a lot of things about my life and values as a proud-yet-struggling autistic person, but find it challenging to apply some of these new frameworks of thinking to the idea of my life in academia...I'm scared that if I try to exist with my worth not being predicated by my productivity, like I'm learning we all need to do to thrive, then I won't be able to keep up in college, because I feel like the only way I've been able to progress in my degree and thus be able to access the education I desire is by ironically devaluing myself, disregarding my basic needs, and balancing the cognitive dissonance of bettering and worsening myself simultaneously.
With all that being said, what I would like to ask you is: -------How might you have approached going to college, and especially grad school, if you could have done so armed with the knowledge about laziness and autism/neurodivergence? --------
It's confusing that what I'm striving for seems designed to burn me, and now that I'm learning to not regard that burn as a badge of honor anymore, I'm not sure what to do instead. Maybe it's because I've relying on the laziness lie as a script for my autistic ass to live by for so long, but by continuing to unmask maybe I could develop the artfulness and adroitness needed to navigate the difficult places without getting burned as much. I guess I should go finish your book lol.
Thank you for your work, and also for creating a space to talk about this stuff!
Imaginary-Sky55832 karma
Hi Devon,
So fwiw, I happened to try out your chinchilla's name on my cat Malcolm because I call him the names of different cool individuals all the time to switch things up, and also because he has a glorious dump truck ass not unlike that of a/your chinchilla, and he looked over and winked at me and put his butt in the air to stretch.
Anyway, here is my question: I figured out I'm autistic a few years ago and have been in the process of unmasking as a 30 year old undergraduate student. I want to go to grad school for a combo of my special interests, because I absolutely love what I study and feel consistently exhilarated while learning and doing research, but I'm ambivalent about going because it's been such a shitshow trying to navigate the social aspects of my undergrad degree, especially networking with many of my professors, classmates, and constantly having to unsuccessfully advocate for myself with the with my campus's Center for Students w/Disabilities and my profs in order to access adequate support for my sensory processing issues. Having recently finished reading your book about laziness not existing and then starting your new book, I've been unpacking a lot of things about my life and values as a proud-yet-struggling autistic person, but find it challenging to apply some of these new frameworks of thinking to the idea of my life in academia...I'm scared that if I try to exist with my worth not being predicated by my productivity, like I'm learning we all need to do to thrive, then I won't be able to keep up in college, because I feel like the only way I've been able to progress in my degree and thus be able to access the education I desire is by ironically devaluing myself, disregarding my basic needs, and balancing the cognitive dissonance of bettering and worsening myself simultaneously.
With all that being said, what I would like to ask you is: -------How might you have approached going to college, and especially grad school, if you could have done so armed with the knowledge about laziness and autism/neurodivergence? -------- It's confusing that what I'm striving for seems designed to burn me, and now that I'm learning to not regard that burn as a badge of honor anymore, I'm not sure what to do instead. Maybe it's because I've relying on the laziness lie as a script for my autistic ass to live by for so long, but by continuing to unmask maybe I could develop the artfulness and adroitness needed to navigate the difficult places without getting burned as much. I guess I should go finish your book lol.
Thank you for your work, and also for creating a space to talk about this stuff!
-Whitney (they/she)
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