THEY TOOK MY SKIN

"Pro life my fucking ass. Let's talk about all the native kids you've killed!!"

Turns out, the lil’ ghost redwoods benefit their hosts by filtering toxins and acting as a sort of backup immune system.

Them: sure!

Me: speaks for 5 minutes interrupted

Them: not every thought you have needs to be said :))))

like again, none of this is true. this is not the norm. i’m gonna try to be gentle here, but the comments on this post are… not good.

1. this might be the most important point: you cannot tell if someone is disabled or mentally ill based on their interests or how they talk or how they present themselves. you cannot assume someone is neurotypical because they like things you don’t. you also should not forget about masking, which people will especially do at places like work.

2. most people have as many interests and as rich of inner lives as you and it’s potentially harmful to assume they don’t. it leads to you dehumanizing and potentially really hurting those around you. “they’re not as smart/insightful/interesting as me” is not a great approach to socialization

3. just because something doesn’t interest you, doesn’t mean it’s objectively uninteresting or meaningless. and no one is all deep conversation all the time. most disabled and mentally ill people i know, myself included, also like talking about our jobs, pets, etc.

4. you are upset by people dismissing your interests while… dismissing people’s interests. a lot of the comments are just dissing people for not being interested in talking about film/tv or for liking things like sports.

5. i’m autistic and i hear that autistic people are “gifted” or “super geniuses” or whatever a lot and it’s dehumanizing. the idea that i have some deeper insight or heightened intelligence because of my disability is not helpful.

6. sometimes conversation is about give and take you will need to listen to and talk about things that don’t interest you much because you value the person you are talking to and they deserve a turn to share