Dogs can’t look up

I was popular in primary school. Then, in High School I hung out with friends who were into Dr Who and nerdy stuff, because I knew and liked them and could never play the social status game by just cutting them off to be cool.

Four years in, when i was about 15, one of the jocks decided that we were gay (which was social death in the early 90s in rural Scotland), so my status plummeted even further.

That summer, at 16, I got drunk and had sex with a girl, which was something we both regretted. The rumour got out and that seemd to elevate me, socially. By this point me and my friends were big into Nirvana and had formed our own little clique of stoners so the jocks left us alone.

I look back on it all with some regret. I wish I’d been more confident. I would have liked to have been involved in team sports and activities that I was drawn to, but my friends derided.

My understanding is that these days kids are less socially segregated and you’ll find nerds doing physical stuff and jocks trying to be academic. Dunno if that’s true, but it sounds like progress.

It was really university that changed me. I left the small town and found people outside that tiny place to be friendlier, and I grew in confidence.

Looking back, I think the socially harder times in school made me who I am. I’m fairly resilient and find it easier than my colleagues to communicate with others and find common ground. It was a baptism of fire and I was miserable through my teens, but now life is pretty manageable.

I think there are many thousands of folk in fields beyond IT that use it all the time. It’s by no means perfect, but for many of us managing teams or doing boring AF admin, working with procurement, writing user documentation or trying to navigate basic system configs then it’s immensely useful.

There was something about it I found obnoxious. It was just kind of lazy and, although the cast did a decent job, the writing was meh.

I get the need to be left alone. That said, when moving to a new city, I found work was actually a good place to meet people and some (but far, far from all) of my former co-workers remain life-long friends.

It may sound twee, but I feel that so many people not being neuro-typical is the spice in the mix of humanity. The best artists, creators, inventors, musicians, comedians, writers, poets, engineers, philosophers… are mostly neuro-divergent to some extent (on a spectrum, if you will).

I’m in my late 40s and I’ve only recently learned about ‘masking’. I assumed everyone had multiple personalities they wore for different people. Apparently not. I assumed everyone could clearly visualise things in their mind. I assumed everyone had a song playing in their head most of the time, as well as an internal monologue. Apparently not.

I get by pretty well. I’m undiagnosed with some sort of ‘ism’ I guess, but who knows. If there’s no treatment as such then there’s no rush for diagnosis in my case.

Some of these things are not like the others :-)

I fully agree. At this point I’d take my TARDIS back to Berlin in the summer of 1940 if I could get a free, all expenses trip.

I’ll see your Brighton and raise you Blackpool.

15 years, married for 13.

I think it’s a bit of a cunty outlook. I have some sympathy for the childfree brigade, as I understand society can make you feel bad (if you let it) for not having kids. But then again, I wasn’t a dad until I was 38 and never experienced any negativity for that decision. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Essentially I dislike any mindset that judges others for their procreative choices.

My wife still uses reddit now and then, but I can’t because I’m banned :-/