02 May, 2018

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids

"Businesses naturally require hard decisions, and having your career damaged by someone who you admire can really be soul-destroying." The Right Opinion channel's take on Mike Michaud and Channel Awesome.

And apparently the channel isn't changing, even though they've lost thousands of subscribers and nearly every content producer on the site. So...they're just that clueless? Or no one in management cares, and I have to toss Doug Walker into that callous, uncaring sector, because he hasn't seen fit to make any sort of response.

In the meanwhile...
[15:33] pxxxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx): does this group havea favcebook if soo can u pass me the link ?
So, it doesn't matter what group this was posted in--according to chatter after in the group, she posted this exact line, typos and all, in several groups. What is important is why ask this question at all? Maybe it's just me, because I don't have Facebook (and never will), but why is this important at all? I don't get the reason for the question.

And maybe it's also just me--not having Facebook--but I don't understand why said copy-pasting person stuck in the wilds of Typonesia can't just go to the main store and check. You know? Like, I never think of checking social media sources in any way in group chat, unless a link's posted from Flickr, Tumblr, or the like, but if the logos of those same social media sites are found in the store, I notice. So again, why didn't she just port to the main store and check there? Why didn't she port to all the stores she pasted this one terrible line in and check? Just too lazy to bother?

Lastly, I got a letter from someone with an autism interest, with a bunch of links, and I admit, I dismissed it. I get a lot of 'cause' letters, and they're all pretty much the same. "Hi, I noticed this great entry on [thing] you had on your blog, I was wondering if you wanted to link to my blog/have me write a blog entry for your blog/buy [X] product/join our network." Generally I dismiss and delete, I won't lie. They're rarely relevant, in the end.

Case in point, this is the opening paragraph of the first letter she sent:
"Hi there,

I just love all of the helpful information you've shared on your site in support of individuals and families with autism. (This page is especially wonderful.) As an educator, I’ve worked with people of all ages who have autism, and I’ve found a lot of resources to help my students along the way."
And this is the opening paragraph of the second letter:
"Hi,

"I'm following up on an email I sent you last month, which included some fantastic information that is helpful to individuals and families living with autism. I initially reached out because I saw this page on your site and thought you may want to update it with some more info, and I’m reaching out once more in case you missed my last email."
Since normally it's a one and done thing, and she actually wrote a second time, I thought I'd check the links out, but this isn't--and has never been--an autism blog. The sole entry under the 'autism' tag she linked both times--this entry will make all of two with the tag--only mentioned autism in regard to the charity for that year's Lovecraft Festival.

The first link is obviously written more for educators than parents, but it does lay out good behavior strategies for dealing with children on the autistic spectrum, without making it sound like autism is an inherently "bad" thing to have.

The second link isn't targeted to autism, being a general primer on how to create a (relatively) safe space for children with disabilities, with many opportunities for general sensory play.

The third link is a .PDF file, and is also written for educators, with emphasis on the importance of structure and routine. Pretty basic, but it has some useful tips.

The fourth link is designed for parents of teenagers with Asperger's syndrome, or with high-functioning autism. It does seem to weigh heavily on the "Asperger's teens are just regular, normal kids who are just socially devolved", which...is not the best message, but it may be useful for some.

And the last link is geared towards autistic adults, or caregivers of same, who own their own homes. Most of the tips critically fail when applied to apartments, but in case they might be helpful to some, I'm offering them here.

{Note from the Editrix: In 2020, I was sent this link by someone unknown. I'm not crazy about the domain it's on, but I read through it and it doesn't seem to be actively malicious, so I'm including it. It's a basic text on how to set up a playroom, or, including space concerns, a 'sensory space' in one corner of a larger room, for the autistic child. There you go.}

If anyone needed these at all; as I said, I'm not an autism blog and it's not my main focus. But there you go.

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hide away, they say, 'cos we don't want your broken parts

Yeah, so...remember that thing I was recovering from? You know, last year ? Yeah. I did it again. So this is Em Faw Down Go Boom part ...