this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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Neurodivergence

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Not enough people talk about the biggest privilege neurotypicals have in academia; the ability to network with their classmates easily so they can stay on top of all important details that are so easy (disabled.social)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by autisticflapper@disabled.social to c/neurodivergence@beehaw.org
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Not enough people talk about the biggest privilege neurotypicals have in academia; the ability to network with their classmates easily so they can stay on top of all important details that are so easy to miss in lectures. #actuallyautistic @autismsupsoc @autisticbookclub @neurodivergence @neurodiverso

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[–] Lemvi@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

That's an advantage, not a privilege. Being good at something isn't the same as having special rights. For any given skill there will always be people who are good at it and others who aren't.

There are also fields where people with an ASD seem to have an advantage over neurotypicals. For example, the STEM major rate for young adults with an ASD is significantly higher than that of the general population, as this paper found: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-012-1700-z

[–] autisticflapper@disabled.social 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

@Lemvi Only some autistic people have a gift in STEM. ALL autistic people struggle connecting with neurotypical peers. My point is that large universities are set up to almost REQUIRE students to have these skills, while those who do not are left to sink. Some autistics can still perform well despite this, but not all of them have that superpower. I barely passed my classes and never felt more discouraged in my life. I deserved a better experience.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Privilege is an advantage that is intrinsic to an identity in a given context (e.g. a white male in America), so I think that perhaps calling this a privilege somewhat belies the extreme difficulty that many neurotypical people also experience with personal communication and networking.

I think that this is possibly just our society's favoring of extroversion. Anecdotally, my extroverted best friend, who had ADHD, was much better at networking (and got much better grades) than I ever could be/do.

[–] autisticflapper@disabled.social 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

@t3rmit3 there definitely is favoritism towards extroverts, but being autistic still takes off lots of points no matter how sociable they are. Neurotypical introverts don't typically experience the same level of rejection that autistics do. ADHDers are more accepted than autistics; it is so common that it is not always seen as a real disability.

I'm not even that introverted. I just won't mask. For many young people unfortunately, that is a reason they won't even give me a chance.

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