Aidanthedumm wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

hydrofungus wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

A forum post is needed as autistic people might face harrasement. ]

Oh my goodness gracious
We need a post for every country, religion, disabilities, fandoms, genders, orientations, etc. because they might face harassment!!!11!!1!!

I’m not autistic (i don’t know i haven’t and will probably never get a diagnosis) so this may be based a bit ☠️
If they receive harassment, the report button exists, and the community will beat up that guy. Trust me
And doesn’t it fall under a line in the CGs like upper posts mentioned?

But many autistic people do face harrasement. And according to cheddargirl's post, groups that face harrasement deserve a forum post.

I am a Chinese person (racially/ ethnically, but I am from Malaysia) who faced multiple instances of racism or borderline racism on Scratch.
Where is my forum post then.

You haven't suggested a forum post nobody has…. I am not saying you don't deserve a forum post, I am saying this topic is about an autism forum post. But don't hijack this topic to get a forum post, make a new topic instead.

undeterminstic wrote:

Aidanthedumm wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

hydrofungus wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

A forum post is needed as autistic people might face harrasement. ]

Oh my goodness gracious
We need a post for every country, religion, disabilities, fandoms, genders, orientations, etc. because they might face harassment!!!11!!1!!

I’m not autistic (i don’t know i haven’t and will probably never get a diagnosis) so this may be based a bit ☠️
If they receive harassment, the report button exists, and the community will beat up that guy. Trust me
And doesn’t it fall under a line in the CGs like upper posts mentioned?

But many autistic people do face harrasement. And according to cheddargirl's post, groups that face harrasement deserve a forum post.

I am a Chinese person (racially/ ethnically, but I am from Malaysia) who faced multiple instances of racism or borderline racism on Scratch.
Where is my forum post then.

You haven't suggested a forum post nobody has…. I am not saying you don't deserve a forum post, I am saying this topic is about an autism forum post. But don't hijack this topic to get a forum post, make a new topic instead.

He’s not hijacking the forum post. He’s saying that the more forum posts are created, the more mad people are gonna be that they get left out

Gamer_Logan819 wrote:

undeterminstic wrote:

Aidanthedumm wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

hydrofungus wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

A forum post is needed as autistic people might face harrasement. ]

Oh my goodness gracious
We need a post for every country, religion, disabilities, fandoms, genders, orientations, etc. because they might face harassment!!!11!!1!!

I’m not autistic (i don’t know i haven’t and will probably never get a diagnosis) so this may be based a bit ☠️
If they receive harassment, the report button exists, and the community will beat up that guy. Trust me
And doesn’t it fall under a line in the CGs like upper posts mentioned?

But many autistic people do face harrasement. And according to cheddargirl's post, groups that face harrasement deserve a forum post.

I am a Chinese person (racially/ ethnically, but I am from Malaysia) who faced multiple instances of racism or borderline racism on Scratch.
Where is my forum post then.

You haven't suggested a forum post nobody has…. I am not saying you don't deserve a forum post, I am saying this topic is about an autism forum post. But don't hijack this topic to get a forum post, make a new topic instead.

He’s not hijacking the forum post. He’s saying that the more forum posts are created, the more mad people are gonna be that they get left out

Ok well then we can make more forum posts.

Elijah999999 wrote:

(I hardly know anything about autism so please correct me if I make a mistake.)

My opinion is that, if somebody really is enough of a troll to harass people because their mind works differently, (and these trolls exist, sadly,) then there is more wrong with them that a simple forum post would fix.

Do not attribute to mental health what could be attributed to malice

BringUpYourPost wrote:

A forum post is needed as autistic people do face harrasement.

cheddargirl wrote:

Cat-out-of-the-bag: We sometimes use threads for certain holidays/events after finding that users with less than ideal values were harassing projects and studios we feature for that holiday/event. Using a thread promoting project/studio creation around that topic deflects that harassment. Not all threads are for this purpose, but overall, a forum post shouldn't be thought of as more superior than a project/studio feature. It isn't, especially for a creative community where there is greater value is presenting stuff made by others.

are you asking for a forum post in place of a featured studio/project? or are you asking for both/either?

hydrofungus wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

A forum post is needed as autistic people might face harrasement. ]

Oh my goodness gracious
We need a post for every country, religion, disabilities, fandoms, genders, orientations, etc. because they might face harassment!!!11!!1!!

I’m not autistic (i don’t know i haven’t and will probably never get a diagnosis) so this may be based a bit ☠️
If they receive harassment, the report button exists, and the community will beat up that guy. Trust me
And doesn’t it fall under a line in the CGs like upper posts mentioned?

I am an autistic person, last year I was manager of a studio for Autism Awareness / Acceptance Month that got featured during April.
there was a lot of harassment, and most, of if not all of, the managers of this studio had ableist trolls come directly to our profiles and harass us. we were all very active in the studio for the entire time it was featured, and reported things immediately after seeing them. but using the report button does not get rid of the fact it happened, and it is hard to cope with regardless of how it is dealt with after seeing it.
(I have also faced ableist trolling and harassment just for inviting people to my own neurodiversity-related studios, which were never featured.)

however, this doesn't mean I wouldn't want a studio to be featured again for this year.
I absolutely loved being part of last year's studio and have memories of overwhelming excitement, joy and pure happiness from it. the trolling and disrespectful comments are much less significant to me than the happiness I felt and the impact I was able to see we made (so many supportive comments and projects), because my reality as an autistic person is I have to face that same disrespect no matter what I do in life, and making a difference feels so worth it, especially in a place where I already know I am safe and included like Scratch.
I think a featured studio/project is the best way to raise awareness and acceptance as it is more engaging than a forum post and raises the voices & perspectives of autistic members of the Scratch community rather than just being left to the Scratch Team. maybe there are ways we could be supported with this without the Scratch team taking charge of hosting an event completely?

Za-Chary wrote:

Nevertheless, in an effort to take this suggestion at face value and move it forward, I encourage anybody who supports this suggestion to come up with drafts/examples of what the Scratch Team's forum post could look like. What should it say? What are helpful links to include? When should it be posted?

Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month is April, so any time during April would be best. Autism Acceptance Day is the 2nd April, that has passed now but that would be the best day to celebrate.

-Squiggle wrote:

however, this doesn't mean I wouldn't want a studio to be featured again for this year.
I absolutely loved being part of last year's studio and have memories of overwhelming excitement, joy and pure happiness from it. the trolling and disrespectful comments are much less significant to me than the happiness I felt and the impact I was able to see we made (so many supportive comments and projects), because my reality as an autistic person is I have to face that same disrespect no matter what I do in life, and making a difference feels so worth it, especially in a place where I already know I am safe and included like Scratch.
I think a featured studio/project is the best way to raise awareness and acceptance as it is more engaging than a forum post and raises the voices & perspectives of autistic members of the Scratch community rather than just being left to the Scratch Team. maybe there are ways we could be supported with this without the Scratch team taking charge of hosting an event completely?

I want to add I also really like the collaboration aspect of having a studio (last year's studio description was planned and written by 5 different autistic people, and we each gave and got feedback on eachother's writing).

BringUpYourPost wrote:

(#65)

Elijah999999 wrote:

(I hardly know anything about autism so please correct me if I make a mistake.)

My opinion is that, if somebody really is enough of a troll to harass people because their mind works differently, (and these trolls exist, sadly,) then there is more wrong with them that a simple forum post would fix.

Do not attribute to mental health what could be attributed to malice

sorry to burst your bubble but no one ever mentioned mental health xx

Banana

Barney_at_Bonels83 wrote:

Support as an Autistic myself.
But ther is already an Autism Acceptence Studio but isn't made by the Scratch Team themselves, but you can still chat on there

(fixed link https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/31013192/ )
the fact this is a studio run by a Scratcher with no other promotion from the Scratch Team (besides a few ST members following it) means it's the studio host's responsibility to keep that studio active themselves. in order to raise awareness of that studio, @PinksMonkey finds and invites random users manually, which takes hours of repetitive work (I know from experience) and isn't always received well when someone didn't want an invite. the activity in that studio is great, and I love how it is helping to educate people, but some support from the Scratch Team might also be appreciated, and the easy boost in attention is something I loved about the Autism Awareness / Acceptance Month studio being featured last year.
as I wrote in one of my recent projects, I would love if learning about neurodiversity was a bit more mainstream in the Scratch community in the way that LGBTQ+ pride and other events for marginalised groups are. featuring a studio, sharing an announcement (in the forums or as a project), featuring a project, sharing neurodiversity-related resources, or even just sharing about it on Scratch's other social media profiles are a number of ways this could be done, off the top of my head.

DangerPuppy10 wrote:

If we have a flock of people who have disabilities disabled people (mentally) in the forums, more hate will come toward them.

Doing studios or projects would be even WORSE! Because then all of the people (for some reason) that do not like disabled people would also create an ARMY bots or other haters to the studio, and…womp womp. You can't go on the featured project or studio without seeing hatred everywhere.

I understand you can report these people, but there will be too many. Other than making it worse, it's best just to report the problem.

king o' page

this happened last year with a featured studio I helped manage and there was a significant amount of hate but the majority of comments and interactions were not hateful. there were no bot armies.
I loved being part of the studio regardless of the hate, because it was a meaningful experience for me and it showed how many people did care. I will admit it was very overwhelming though. it was difficult to find any peace while the studio was featured (as is the experience for most autistic advocates during autism acceptance month, despite it being a month meant to support us. there is unfortunately a lot of misinformation and hate out there directed at us, which further shows why more people (especially kids) need to learn about autism acceptance and why actual autistic people need to be listened to and have our voices raised, not diminished out of fear of hate).

GlitchedThrough wrote:

undeterministic wrote:

I will write a basic outline for the announcement.



Happy Autism Acceptance Month!



What is autism

The importance of this month

Celebrating it on scratch

Conclusion

(…)
Autism is typically described as a spectrum. This is mostly right. This spectrum has to do with how their symptoms shine through, as one might say. On the higher functioning end, they might have some issues with social interactions and sensory issues slightly worse than what one without this disorder may have. On the other hand, they might need a lot of help with some activities that you and I might not. Like any disorder or scenario, it’s best to treat both sides, as it is everyone, with respect and patience!)
(…)

the idea of a linear autism spectrum is outdated, and functioning labels are disliked by a lot of autistic people as they don't give an accurate depiction of autism, so I'd suggest this paragraph describes what the autism spectrum might really look like instead, based on a more modern understanding of autism. this paragraph also seems to highlight more things autistic people have “issues” with, rather than giving a balanced view of our strengths and challenges. I would change this to encourage Scratchers to recognise our strengths, and add an explanation of why including autistic people and listening to our perspectives is meaningful, even when we struggle with things (especially when we struggle with things).

if there was to be an announcement about autism acceptance month, I would want it to be collaborated on (or at least given feedback on) by autistic people, and modeled along the same lines of the descriptions of these two studios: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/34752812/ https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/33079952/ ideally using the same language and terms used in these. these studios were both planned and collaborated on by a variety of different autistic people, and the language etc. was agreed between us as well as being based on research showing the majority of autistic people's preferences on certain things, and also based on the Scratch community's responses when we asked around in autism studios.

hot655 wrote:

I’d argue that there shouldn’t be a forum post for autism acceptance, after thinking it through. Rather, I think there should be a forum post for acceptance of neurodiversity in general. This is basically a compass of everything neurodivergent, eg. Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc etc

I agree there should be some celebration of neurodiversity in general, but autism acceptance month itself deserves its own recognition. if there was a post on neurodiversity acceptance, I think it should be during an event like Neurodiversity Celebration Week (https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/). that way it wouldn't risk clouding understanding of autism acceptance (I find sometimes when neurodiversity is only mentioned in the context of autism awareness, instead of autism, people don't realise that neurodivergent means a different thing from autistic, so it's good to educate about these individually or at least define them individually).

bobbie77 wrote:

scratch shouldn't educate people about autism, that should be on the parents

why? I am autistic and I have learned more about autism than my parents have. they tend to come to me for advice and materials, not the other way round. my passion is neurodiversity and disability advocacy, but theirs isn't. everything I know about autism is stuff I chose to research myself, because I only began feeling accepted and not weird/broken once I began to understand autism. why shouldn't other people be taught how to understand me better too?
if I wasn't autistic, my parents would know even less about autism. it also isn't taught in schools currently, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be. why shouldn't Scratch educate people about autism acceptance and encourage kindness towards autistic people?

medians wrote:

Can you explain what neurodiversity means?? People keep stating it a lot (not just here) but I have no idea LOL
Neurotypical??

neurodiversity: natural variety of the human brain and cognitive functioning, the idea that everyone thinks/learns differently.
neurotypical: to have a brain that functions similarly to what's considered typical. most people are neurotypical, while about 30-40% of people are thought to be neurodivergent (an umbrella term covering autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.)
more detail https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/710336682

TheUltimateHoodie wrote:

“Neurodiversity” may be a confusing word for 7 year olds. I think there could be a simpler word without calling out persons with a specific condition. Or maybe the forum post should be made specifically calling out people of different conditions and telling people to be nice to them?

I don't think “neurodiversity” would be confusing for 7 year olds if it was explained correctly. at least, I don't think it would be more confusing than terms like LGBTQIA+. it's just an umbrella term, it's just “neuro” (brain) and “diversity” joined together. “lots of different brains”.
listing different conditions would basically be long-form neurodiversity acceptance, so you might as well call it neurodiversity acceptance. I don't think it needs changing, and replacing it with another word might create unnecessary confusion, but if you think another word would be better, what would you suggest is used instead?

With that being said, support, as long as:
-It's not just autistic people that have a forum post for acceptance (to a certain extent, not like @hydrofungus's example)
-It is called “Autism Awareness, not ”Autism Acceptance" (read this post)
-Scratch Team monitors the topic and is ready to close it when things get heated

do you mean “acceptance” not “awareness”? that post explains why acceptance should be used instead of awareness.

-Scratch Team monitors the topic and is ready to close it when things get heated

could this apply to other forms of celebration aside from a forum post? eg. rather than a forum announcement, if the Scratch Team created an announcement project, or featured a studio to celebrate autism month, could they more closely monitor the comments there and close comments when things get heated? wouldn't this solve some of the problems mentioned earlier with having a project/studio, making that a potentially better option than a forum announcement?

-Squiggle wrote:

GlitchedThrough wrote:

undeterministic wrote:

I will write a basic outline for the announcement.



Happy Autism Acceptance Month!



What is autism

The importance of this month

Celebrating it on scratch

Conclusion

(…)
Autism is typically described as a spectrum. This is mostly right. This spectrum has to do with how their symptoms shine through, as one might say. On the higher functioning end, they might have some issues with social interactions and sensory issues slightly worse than what one without this disorder may have. On the other hand, they might need a lot of help with some activities that you and I might not. Like any disorder or scenario, it’s best to treat both sides, as it is everyone, with respect and patience!)
(…)

the idea of a linear autism spectrum is outdated, and functioning labels are disliked by a lot of autistic people as they don't give an accurate depiction of autism, so I'd suggest this paragraph describes what the autism spectrum might really look like instead, based on a more modern understanding of autism. this paragraph also seems to highlight more things autistic people have “issues” with, rather than giving a balanced view of our strengths and challenges. I would change this to encourage Scratchers to recognise our strengths, and add an explanation of why including autistic people and listening to our perspectives is meaningful, even when we struggle with things (especially when we struggle with things).

Mrow meow.(It’s designed as an idea of what could be posted rather than a final draft. However, the reason I leaned more into challenges is because I have a tough time writing about the positives. It’s easier for a neurotypical individual looking into the community to see both sides then it is for a part of the community to view, as to an autistic person, said behaviors is more typical, or normal. That is to say, for the positives, someone without autism would be a much candidate to write it.)

-Squiggle wrote:

if there was to be an announcement about autism acceptance month, I would want it to be collaborated on (or at least given feedback on) by autistic people, and modeled along the same lines of the descriptions of these two studios: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/34752812/ https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/33079952/ ideally using the same language and terms used in these. these studios were both planned and collaborated on by a variety of different autistic people, and the language etc. was agreed between us as well as being based on research showing the majority of autistic people's preferences on certain things, and also based on the Scratch community's responses when we asked around in autism studios.

mrow meow.(And i hope that I am assuming wrong on this, although in saying autistic people should work on it, I do have autism, which I did directly mention within the last paragraph. Of course, one person with it is incapable of totally expressing the whole spectrum, or graph. That said, though, a group should toss it around if the goal is to have more than a proof of concept. Of course, as anything complex, a number of individuals who experience it, as well as a number of individuals who do not, should work on it.)
Mrow meow.(Also note, neuro relates to nerves and the nervous system, not just the brain.)

BringUpYourPost wrote:

Elijah999999 wrote:

(I hardly know anything about autism so please correct me if I make a mistake.)

My opinion is that, if somebody really is enough of a troll to harass people because their mind works differently, (and these trolls exist, sadly,) then there is more wrong with them that a simple forum post would fix.

Do not attribute to mental health what could be attributed to malice

Well, even though we are all sinful by nature I still feel like it takes some serious issues to be that malicious.

Elijah999999 wrote:

BringUpYourPost wrote:

Elijah999999 wrote:

(I hardly know anything about autism so please correct me if I make a mistake.)

My opinion is that, if somebody really is enough of a troll to harass people because their mind works differently, (and these trolls exist, sadly,) then there is more wrong with them that a simple forum post would fix.

Do not attribute to mental health what could be attributed to malice

Well, even though we are all sinful by nature I still feel like it takes some serious issues to be that malicious.

Well then why are so many people that sinful?

BringUpYourPost wrote:

Well then why are so many people that sinful?

Because this is our world. We live in a fallen world

-Squiggle wrote:

I am an autistic person, last year I was manager of a studio for Autism Awareness / Acceptance Month that got featured during April.
there was a lot of harassment, and most, of if not all of, the managers of this studio had ableist trolls come directly to our profiles and harass us. we were all very active in the studio for the entire time it was featured, and reported things immediately after seeing them. but using the report button does not get rid of the fact it happened, and it is hard to cope with regardless of how it is dealt with after seeing it.
(I have also faced ableist trolling and harassment just for inviting people to my own neurodiversity-related studios, which were never featured.)

however, this doesn't mean I wouldn't want a studio to be featured again for this year.
I absolutely loved being part of last year's studio and have memories of overwhelming excitement, joy and pure happiness from it. the trolling and disrespectful comments are much less significant to me than the happiness I felt and the impact I was able to see we made (so many supportive comments and projects), because my reality as an autistic person is I have to face that same disrespect no matter what I do in life, and making a difference feels so worth it, especially in a place where I already know I am safe and included like Scratch.
I think a featured studio/project is the best way to raise awareness and acceptance as it is more engaging than a forum post and raises the voices & perspectives of autistic members of the Scratch community rather than just being left to the Scratch Team. maybe there are ways we could be supported with this without the Scratch team taking charge of hosting an event completely?

^ This more or less captures the sentiment on how we want to celebrate stuff around here - It's why were hesitant to celebrate stuff via forum post in general, as well as why featured projects and studio are more preferred. A middle ground option would be featured projects with comments shut off (which has been done in the past), though usually this would mean the engagement would need to be by some other means (usually a high remixability factor). And also for people to create said project - sadly, still have not yet seen people post project examples in this thread, or the main proposal area, though.

BringUpYourPost wrote:

I feel like changing the OP will be much more of a difficult change due to the enormity of neurodivergence. Neurodivergence is a very broad idea. Autism is too but with a lesser extent

Perhaps harder - at least when it comes to a forum post - but if the ongoing sentiment is for April to recognize of all forms of neurodiversity, then it would have to be done this way to avoid conflict down the road. A set of projects on the other hand is easier because then multiple different project focusing on different types of neurodiversity can be featured over different days. Featuring stuff provides more creative way to celebrate stuff, and prevents further conflict of interest if a singular month could be used for more than one celebration.