Treatment of High Functioning Vs Lower Functioning on W.P

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I have intuition, it exists, and you cannot dispute that. You probably will but it doesn't matter. I have excellent social skills and a high emotional intelligence. I sometimes make mistakes as do you.

Is it coincidental that a thread that is crying out to rectify an imbalance of power and find solutions to validate the less articulate and vulnerable members is being highjacked into an unpleasant combative debate?

Reminding you that the purpose of this thread is to suggest ways to soften the approach here and ensure the protection of the vulnerable. Not every statement has to be disproved and dissected, soft skills are an asset and best applied on any support forum if it is not going to deteriorate into a toxic environment.
This thread is not an intellectual wrestling arena, sensitivity, empathy or just plain caring about other members is the only requirement. I am allowed to say how I perceive my own communication skills without being put in the dock and being cross -examined. Any more suggestions as to how we can safeguard an equal platform for all????

Last edited by Teach51 on 30 Sep 2020, 2:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

ummm teach I offered two options which you ignored

option 1 - use the haven as a safe space for those intimidated by the more forums
option 2 - create a sticky thread for people in your "category" but come up with a name?

still waiting

Wow you are super NT

I don't get to decide but I would campaign for the entire forum to be a safe and protected place for all levels and functionalities and I would make a restricted sticky thread for those members who need to spread their peacock tail feathers and enjoy an intellectual free for all and keep them isolated and contained there.

The general problem of protecting the vulnerable is that very often we need to protect the vulnerable from other vulnerable.
What makes it even harder, our tribal nature often makes us overlook it and protect some by bashing others
One of the attempts to adress it is The Haven rule that threads belong to their respective OPs - so two vulnerable enemies can start The Haven threads and both should be equally protected in their respective spaces.

I don't believe in "and they lived happily ever after" endings. It's all a lot of hard work from everyone to keep things running relatively well and I know it will never be perfect.

It has been said, I must admit

I somehow am more comfortable when two vulnerable members disagree, even fight, it is inevitable and expected.
When a " WP super power"
decides to swoop in for the kill, and attack someone way out of their league, which they are fully aware of, that is not acceptable. Let's be honest, it happens alot.

Well, I can't claim the "WP superpower" are always perfect or even right with their actions I wish I could but I too much believe in honesty.
We're trying to learn from our own mistakes.

I think you don't fully comprehend how powerful and dirty the fights between vulnerable members can be.
I've been raised in a household of CPTSD. The fights there... when mental health issues take control, normal morality or concepts of civility no longer matter. They precisely attacked each other triggers, to make each other suffer, lose control and then to triumph over a "crazy" relative. I grew up witnessing it on daily basis and I do witness it on WP Other members and moderators are often sucked into such fights, too, and sometimes we need time and discussion between us to realize what's going on.

Preventing such things from erupting is a round-the-clock watch and I don't claim the WP moderation team is always doing it right, though please, believe me, we're working on improving it.

hmmm hang on ok you don't get to decide but you asked for ideas

I like your elaboration (you do have a way with words) so I think getting a sticky thread isn't difficult but how to define it is the question

Actually my mother was a social worker who worked with intellectually disabled kids. I used spend time during school holidays with the "special kids" and they were very very gentle and sweet. Mum used to leave me to play sport with the older clients who were in their 20s as she trusted them. We used to have great conversations.

I really do get it, and I also was raised in a violent, narcissistic household which is why I have zero, but zero tolerance for bullying, be it carefully camouflaged or not. we will not be perfect, nothing ever is, but my dream is that WP will be a safe refuge for all the autistic people whether low or high functioning. The dominant, argumentative members who are dismissive of others less fortunate and come here primarily for intellectual exercise, should be made accountable if they stray into a serious thread just for the sport of it and throw around ineffectual advice inferring victimhood, laziness, weakness, attention seeking etc.

The emphasis on WP must shift to one of available support engines and information archives, embracing the weak and vulnerable and using our strengths to support rather than deflate others.

If I want debate I go to Quora or Reddit, or a thousand other hate spewing sites where I can strut about and flaunt my superior IQ.( not me personally, my IQ is not that great to be honest)

WP should be a haven, for angels with dirty faces who offend each other inadvertently and reactively because they are, after all, autistic and require a monitored, protected environment in order to safely be themselves. There is a difference between an autistic rage (My dear friend is suffering greatly in hospital and she has been destroying me with her vicious words for this entire week) a meltdown, whatever, that passes and the love between us remains, that is part of being autistic it seems, and between deliberately hunting and baiting members for sport here and victimizing the ones who have no efficient defense mechanisms, eventually driving them out, leaving a strong highly functional elite in domination. Sorry this is what I feel I have witnessed since I joined.
Clear rules will ensure justice and fairness and the defense of the vulnerable, who, together with their defenders are leaving in droves, or being banned resulting from the actions of those who sometimes deliberately set a calculated trap to enmesh the naive in a virtual maize of pre-calculated and provoked violations. Those here who enjoy the sport of hurting others.
I suggest taking a look at AF or other forums, how amenable the atmosphere is, how supportive, and examine how it is sustained, how the weak and the strong maintain homeostasis, and live side by side.
it takes strong-handed moderation and carefully designed rules with no accommodating the circumvention and manipulation of the rules. It can be done, it is being achieved elsewhere.

The "Here you may strut and boast, pontificate, butt heads, quote statistics, argue and puff out your chest" thread?

"Vulnerable" ≠ "intelectually disabled".
"Severily autistic" ≠ "intelectually disabled".
In particular, some severily autistic people here have high verbal and/or non-verbal IQ.
Some people with mental health issues, both from WP and real life, have very high IQ.
Some "high functioning" people have deep, strong, potentially very damaging triggers.

Can we have a flirting thread, also?
Please! please! please!?

I don't think that's a very good idea. Autism varies a lot but generally if you can access the Internet then you're high functioning enough to be objective enough to cope with all manners of opinions. I really don't like safe spaces and many of you know.