@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

EmilyMoranBarwick

@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social

In elementary school, my teacher sent a note home saying "Emily asks too many questions.” I’ve yet to correct that behavior. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

#artist #writer #educator #activist #climber #multipotentialite would-be #coder (learnin!) #neurodivergent #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD (#Autistic with an #ADHD booster pack 🚀) 🌱 #searchable

Despite witnessing some of the worst humanity has to offer, I still have inexplicable faith in the good of people.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

EmilyMoranBarwick, to Luddite
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

"If anything, we should stop using as a facile insult, and use it to invoke a cautionary tale of what can happen when the specter of automation stokes fears of mass joblessness in an uneasy public—a phenomenon already taking root today."

– from @brianmerchant almost 10 years ago. Hits even harder in the "today of today"

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ae379k/luddites-definition-wrong-labor-technophobe

EmilyMoranBarwick, to random
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

"when trying to make some change, we’re apt to notice and calculate all of the risks associated with making that change. We’re much less apt to notice all of the risks of NOT making that change—of persisting on the current path."

A much-needed reminder from @aworkinglibrary that sticking with the "status quo" is also a risk: https://everythingchanges.us/blog/whose-risks-whose-benefits/

EmilyMoranBarwick, to ADHD
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

When people find out I’m & (well-meaning but problematically) say something like “Don’t worry, you can’t tell!”

I think to myself “You’ve obviously never seen me zoned out at the grocery store w/my over-ear headphones, making clicking noises in my throat & doing god-knows-what kind of hand movements that feel good in the moment”

Y’know…just in my groove 🎶

Fly your flag high wherever you please, my friends⛳️

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

To be clear: I wasn’t always comfortable being “ in public”

Like many kids (who didn’t know they were neurodivergent) I quickly learned that the self-regulatory behaviors I naturally did were “not socially acceptable”

So I up like a champ for a good 3+ decades

I “passed” so well I even fooled myself. But the cost of masking takes it’s toll

Now I’m learning to let all the parts of me I’d locked away have their day again :)

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@Susan60 Absolutely. The way that “not being able to tell” you’re is a “positive”.

Masking and passing are really double-edged swords. Sometimes useful and necessary. Even safer. But always at a cost.

This is from an article on spectrum news on the cost of masking. May resonate: https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/costs-camouflaging-autism/

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@Susan60

It’s heartbreaking that not only is it not always emotionally safe to unmask, but has been (and still can be) truly unsafe

It makes sense to have caution with whom you trust. I very much hope you can find those safe moments and safe people

@actuallyautistic

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Oh Honey...

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@RickiTarr

Dat intro 😂

EmilyMoranBarwick, to climate
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

As a primarily online-based educational focused on areas of , etc, I fear I often sound "whiny" when trying to explain the utter demoralization of digital platforms / social media giants /

After all, isn't the cause more important?

This passage from @pluralistic 's lecture on finally put into words what I've been grappling with.

And validates how very vital the fight for an open internet is.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/

DJDarren, (edited ) to ADHD
@DJDarren@mendeddrum.org avatar

Fellow folks who have a formal diagnosis:

When you received your diagnosis, was it a massive anticlimax?

I ask, because my kid got his yesterday and told me that it felt underwhelming, and I distinctly remember feeling the same way when receiving my own, four years ago.

There wasn’t this great moment of relief, just a calm, almost bored psychiatrist saying “Yes, it sounds like ADHD. Let’s try you on this medication and see how you get on”

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@DJDarren For me, I was diagnosed as & at the same time (in my early 30s by my prompting).

The diagnosis was validating/revolutionary & I spent the next few years better understanding myself through an lens

TBH I kinda ignored the till recently. Like many people, I didn’t understand it.

Now that I’m finally learning about my I realize I’ve been neglecting an entire part of myself.

@actuallyadhd

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@DJDarren
Learning I’m & has also been a double edged sword

It helped me validate myself. But it hasn’t made the world more navigable

In some ways, it’s made it harder. Before, I just & white-knuckled my way through

Now w/the validation of my , it’s like my entire being refuses to go back to such a destructive way of living. But I’ve yet to find a way that works for me

@actuallyadhd
@actuallyautistic

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

The wonderful thing about my writing is that the pro AI crowd call me a Luddite and the anti AI crowd call me a traitor etc etc.

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@Daojoan I'd take it as a (good) sign that you're committing the carnal internet sin of nuance.

EmilyMoranBarwick, to mastodon
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

Maybe a stupid question...

How do you verbally (& quickly) explain how to find your account on to the "uninitiated"?

For centralized social media, you just tell people "I'm @EmilyMoranBarwick on ____"

I know there's @yourhandle but that's a mouthful. And people unfamiliar with Mastodon won't know what to do with that.

Do you just say the direct URL?

(I did try DuckDuckGo-ing this before broadcasting my shameful lack of savvy here)

EmilyMoranBarwick, to Help
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

Would love : I find I'm fixating on the way my brain locks onto all /

Like "when is the best time to post?!"🙄

I only ever used social media as an educational content creator & the ever-shifting (& more) REALLY messed me up (hardly alone in that!)

I came to Mastodon to have a space that's NOT my nonprofit—that's ME

I want , not clicks

But it's creeping in nonetheless...

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

I have to say, what feels good on is replying to & engaging with OTHER people's posts.

As a semi-recovering "content " (who anymore feels I’m screaming into a void when I spend months researching//filming/producing work only to birth it into the black hole of ///), engaging directly w/other humans feeds my algorithmically-drained soul

My reply-to-post ratio is quite skewed to replies...& I like it that way

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@rohad
I have found engaging with people rewarding. It's when I think about posting myself that it triggers all the "social media brain f@*k" of the last decade.

I used social media for my educational nonprofit to make information accessible to people. Noble intention. Was effective (for a chunk of years).

But came at a BIG COST to my sanity. And has REALLY hindered my ability to engage in digital spaces in a healthy way.

Appreciate you taking the time to reply :)

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@rohad Thanks :)

I don't think I'd have EVER gotten on social media if it wasn't for my educational work.

It grew despite my knowing NOTHING about YouTube/SEO...

But that was also when authenticity went further than algorithms somehow.

The more I learned about "best practices" & the more the platforms shifted & warped...it feels like you're left having to compromise integrity for reach, & even then, reach becomes virtually impossible.

Add in a brain and 🤯

@actuallyautistic

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@dricibone Truly appreciate this :)

So far I feel I have maintained my core integrity with my nonprofit's work...but anymore it feels like just USING the platforms is a compromise of integrity!

Feels like nothing worth talking about can possibly be distilled into a YouTube title/thumbnail w/out being overly reductive.

@rohad @actuallyautistic

the_etrain, to random
@the_etrain@beige.party avatar

Not enough songs telling us to jump anymore. Must have been a lot of lawsuits over sprained ankles or something.

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

When OutKast’s “Hey Ya!“ said to “shake it like a Polaroid picture” my friends and I would freeze on the dance floor.

…because Polaroid was clear in their instructions that you should NOT, in fact, shake them…it could damage the image.

…as you can probably guess, we were the cool kids.

@the_etrain

EmilyMoranBarwick, to workersrights
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

I'm reading the book "ADHD 2.0" and they have this list of what to look for in your environment (for it to be friendly).

Whelp...as someone who works for and by myself...I guess I AM the problematic workplace ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Would love to hear from / peeps:

How do you create a friendly workplace for yourself?


@actuallyadhd @actuallyautistics @actuallyaudhd

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

I think this really highlights on of my major challenges. In order for me to establish healthy expectations and boundaries for other people, I have to first establish those for myself.

So far in my life, I seem to set FAR more unrealistic expectations of myself and flagrantly violate FAR more healthy boundaries for myself than anyone else does!

I’m my own abusive boss…

@actuallyadhd @actuallyautistics @JessTheUnstill @actuallyaudhd

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@actuallyautistic

Hi friends. I messed up the group tag in this post asking for your input, so it didn't go out to this group. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Hope it's okay to tag you all correctly this time via a comment on my main post. (can you find it that way?)

...one day I shall be tech-savvy...today is not that day ¯_(ツ)_/¯

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@sysop408 Love this approach.

I do find it helpful sometimes to shift about. Other times I'll just zone in and forget to move.

Took me a few years & even more neck issues to commit to ergonomics. :)

I do find sometimes that working from home, I am easily distracted by being home and seeing (for example) unfinished chores or whatever else.

So sometimes I’ll go set up at a café (also to have "proximal human non-contact contact") :)

@actuallyadhd @actuallyaudhd @actuallyautistic

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera 🖤

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@Daojoan Hardest question! Especially the "a" of it...just A book.

Reading Ishmael by Daniel Quinn at age 8 was quite impactful.

As was Gorillas in the Mist.

Kid me was also into anything from Charles Darwin, Kurt Vonnegut, Kafka or William Faulkner (weird list).

And Infinite Jest, Star Girl, No Bad Parts...etc

I guess technically anything I read changes my life in some way. It impacts me one way or another.

pixelbud, to Autism

Starting to learn about autistic burnout. Anyone else experience this, have advice, or just want to commiserate?

I also have arthritis learned recently that pain tolerance can lower while in burnout. Doesn’t that make arthritis a cycle of burnout? Or I mean cyclical.

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@pixelbud Experience with burnout you ask? Let me regale you with the last 3 decades of my life 🙃

In all seriousness, I went through VERY severe burnout for 6 years. I'm still working to come out of that.

Before I knew I was I just forced myself through burnout.

Now I'm trying to listen better to my brain/body "cues" of things being "too much". BUT that doesn't mean "the world" obliges!

Maybe others from @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd will have tips!

seanpatrickphd, to poetry
@seanpatrickphd@mastodon.social avatar

So it turns out that post about having a blog was enough impetus for me to create a blog. You can find it here: https://seanpatrick.phd/

I'll probably use this platform to host longer posts like sonnets moving forward.

First posts include some I haven't shared here before, including one in dactylic hexameter just for the hell of it.

EmilyMoranBarwick,
@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social avatar

@seanpatrickphd you've blown my mind... I've been "working on" creating my personal website for ages...but stuck in the forever-deciding-tech-stack-and-approach-and-design dance.

Then here you are busting out a site within hours of pondering it. :)

Congrats on creating your little corner of the net!

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