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Article on "How Science can do better for neurodivergent people"

Interesting. The article mentions "Flow States." I have felt them before and during them I am at my problem-solving or creative best. I contributed significantly, so other quirks were tolerated by my managers.
 
Great article, though I feel like I am living in a different world from these lucky academics, I mean lucky in terms of their accepting colleagues or workplaces. I've not experienced that in academic workplaces, partly because they are often so minimally funded. But also because they're often either somewhat old fashioned and/or intensively business focussed, in ways that exclude many. Good to hear what these neurodiverse academics are saying though.
 
I was a matter of months away from fixing the last handful of inks of thousands my immediate supervisor and department manager stood in the way I guess they were getting cold feet. after I retired my position was filled but soon, gone the formulas were good enough that the hourly employees could make them just prior to use with minor tweaks. I showed my understudy who got promoted later to supervisor how to fix the remaining formulas prior to retiring, I guess he did. All I know is the sister plants wanted us to make inks for them, before I retired. They were so lost they were buying generic print rolls here in Ontario, from our supplier far I I know they are still lost. Too much business for one plant.
 
Interesting. The article mentions "Flow States." I have felt them before and during them I am at my problem-solving or creative best. I contributed significantly, so other quirks were tolerated by my managers.
"Flow State" is my natural state, although I never had a name for it until seeing this article. But I have always had a term for the interruptions; I call that being derailed. Any interruption derails me and it is very hard for me to get back on the "tracks".

I feel very fortunate to have ended up in an employment where my boss recognized (and listened to) that issue in me. Instead of firing me, he made sure I worked in my own isolated work space without interruption. It seems it is generally a good thing to discuss your "weaknesses" with your employer. Either they will fire you, which will eventually occur anyway, or they will work to satisfy your needs which ultimately benefits the company - and you.
 
Great article, though I feel like I am living in a different world from these lucky academics, I mean lucky in terms of their accepting colleagues or workplaces. I've not experienced that in academic workplaces, partly because they are often so minimally funded. But also because they're often either somewhat old fashioned and/or intensively business focussed, in ways that exclude many. Good to hear what these neurodiverse academics are saying though.
I don't know how old you are, but I would say that it is never over until it's over. Life is a perpetual progress and things happen along the way that you could never imagine.

My dream job / career was electronics design. Electronic theory was my dream as early as 6 years of age and has never diminished. Those dreams, however, were dashed as life progressed and found I could not navigate school. I struggled with and failed math in school. I attempted and failed at college. My social anxiety was just too overwhelming. I felt locked out. I felt that I was just too stupid. My school thought I was too stupid. Indeed, I am not a smart or sharp person. But I could not shake my passion for electronics theory and kept studying on my own. Eventually, I got a job assembling prototypes designed by engineers to be used for testing. Due to my autistic social blindness, I started pointing out design flaws in the prototypes. This angered many of the engineers. I did not know that was a social taboo. However, some actually took note. I started sneaking my design edits in the prototypes and presented it to the engineers (also a very socially dangerous thing to do). Prototype failures became a thing of the past, prompting the boss to add a new rule that all designs had to be reviewed by me. Eventually, without any college degrees or educational qualifications, I was promoted to senior design engineer.

My point is to just keep pushing toward your dreams. You don't have to be an academic whiz (I was a total academic failure). Yes, luck is definitely a factor - actually, a very big factor, but luck can't happen if you give up; resolving to living in a different world from the lucky academics.

It took most of my life to finally achieve my life's dream. A big part of my luck was just my obsessive pursuit of my passion. There are many paths to achievement apart from traditional. Even paths less taken; even the ones on no ones radar can finally get you there.

What I get from the article is that one can still be successful even without necessarily conforming to social standards. Finding those who realize that fitting you to your optimum environment is a win - win for everyone.

It's never over till it's over.
 
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Before I retied, I spent a lot of time conversing with the company process engineer he enjoyed passing his work term engineering students he occasionally hired to work with me to optimize the process. he went to the same university my brother attended and some of my classmates from high school, who took engineering. He really liked my insights, as they worked.
 
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