So like the title says, I went to Autreat. It was actually a lot of fun. It was also really tiring, for multiple reasons. One is the whole thing about needing sleep. I got the university we were having Autreat at, in California, Pennsylvania, between 9pm and 10pm Monday if I recall. I was pretty tired. My roommate was really cool, and she was actually on the same train with me. (I spent Sunday in New York City for their ASAN social meetup, then took public transit to Arianne's house, stayed with her, and took the train with Jason and my Autreat roommate down to Pittsburgh, where Beth picked us up.)
So I get there. Monday night I mostly just go to sleep. Tuesday morning I get up and go to breakfast. Do you have any idea how great it is to suddenly be somewhere where most people are like you? Neurotypical folks get to be around mostly neurotypical folks all the time, so they get used to it, but Autistic people are spread out and people often don't like us to hang out with each other because they think we'll start acting more autistic or something. Which, well, we kind of do. I just don't think that's a bad thing. There are presentations. There is a pool. There are Autistic people I'd not seen in a while, some who I had never managed to meet in person before. There were not fluorescent lights.
Wednesday was mostly like Tuesday, though there was a pretty big issue later in the day. I'm not the one it happened to, so I don't think it's really my place to talk about it. It seems to have been mostly resolved? It was also T-shirt painting. I painted my ANI Autreat 2013 shirt and my 5A (Autreat's Annual Amazing Adulthood Acclamation) shirt with my Because Patterns blocks. With luck I'll actually remember to upload pictures. I also handed over the T-shirts that Amy and her friend ordered.
Thursday morning was given to helping with fallout from the events of Wednesday night. But I made it to Kassiane's presentation on Autisifying Habitats, which was super-awesome. Kassiane's autisification stuff are the only organizational strategies that have worked for me even a little bit. (If I somehow become President of the United States, I want to hire Kassiane to Autisify the Oval Office. Otherwise, I will have to see if I can get her to help me Autisify wherever I wind up. And offer of pay at level I can afford will be made. President of the United States is kind of higher-paying than most engineering jobs, but engineers are still decently paid.) Thursday was also 5A. Which was cool. Kassiane was my first witness, and Jim Sinclair, who ran the ceremony, talked some too. I was only semi-coherent, so my speech was short. I think I mostly fanpersoned at Kassiane, which I've totally done before. Yes, yes I have. And Jim talked about the fact that WE BOTH LOVE PURPLE. ALL THE PURPLE. Yeah. I think it might maybe be an autistic thing the level to which we want ALL THE THINGS to be our favorite color? Could be. AND PURPLE. And then karaoke. We had a bunch of Autistic people doing karaoke. And it was fun. So Autreat. Yes. Autreat was good.
So I get there. Monday night I mostly just go to sleep. Tuesday morning I get up and go to breakfast. Do you have any idea how great it is to suddenly be somewhere where most people are like you? Neurotypical folks get to be around mostly neurotypical folks all the time, so they get used to it, but Autistic people are spread out and people often don't like us to hang out with each other because they think we'll start acting more autistic or something. Which, well, we kind of do. I just don't think that's a bad thing. There are presentations. There is a pool. There are Autistic people I'd not seen in a while, some who I had never managed to meet in person before. There were not fluorescent lights.
Wednesday was mostly like Tuesday, though there was a pretty big issue later in the day. I'm not the one it happened to, so I don't think it's really my place to talk about it. It seems to have been mostly resolved? It was also T-shirt painting. I painted my ANI Autreat 2013 shirt and my 5A (Autreat's Annual Amazing Adulthood Acclamation) shirt with my Because Patterns blocks. With luck I'll actually remember to upload pictures. I also handed over the T-shirts that Amy and her friend ordered.
Thursday morning was given to helping with fallout from the events of Wednesday night. But I made it to Kassiane's presentation on Autisifying Habitats, which was super-awesome. Kassiane's autisification stuff are the only organizational strategies that have worked for me even a little bit. (If I somehow become President of the United States, I want to hire Kassiane to Autisify the Oval Office. Otherwise, I will have to see if I can get her to help me Autisify wherever I wind up. And offer of pay at level I can afford will be made. President of the United States is kind of higher-paying than most engineering jobs, but engineers are still decently paid.) Thursday was also 5A. Which was cool. Kassiane was my first witness, and Jim Sinclair, who ran the ceremony, talked some too. I was only semi-coherent, so my speech was short. I think I mostly fanpersoned at Kassiane, which I've totally done before. Yes, yes I have. And Jim talked about the fact that WE BOTH LOVE PURPLE. ALL THE PURPLE. Yeah. I think it might maybe be an autistic thing the level to which we want ALL THE THINGS to be our favorite color? Could be. AND PURPLE. And then karaoke. We had a bunch of Autistic people doing karaoke. And it was fun. So Autreat. Yes. Autreat was good.
Purple! Purple! I wish I had gone. Some time in the next few years I plan to attend.
ReplyDeleteThank you. If you compared this description of autreat with K's description of autreat, you'd have no idea that they were the same conference. K is up in arms about what she went through while there, and I want people to realize that there is much more to autreat than that particular conflict, despite the amount that people are attacking each other regarding it. I was displeased this year compared to the past, but it won't stop me from attending again, and I am disappointed that certain people will not attend again or at all due to said major conflict. You were actually quite lucky to have missed this year. Too much fighting.
DeleteUm, that's because I purposefully left out that thing other than "there was a pretty big issue later in the day" and "Thursday morning was given to helping with fallout from the events of Wednesday night" and said very little about those times. I was one of K's main support people during the conflict, but didn't feel it was my place to write my report of the conflict without K's go-ahead.
DeleteAnd I actually might not go again over this, because if a place goes attack-fest rather than be safe for a friend of mine... do I really want to be there?
I enjoyed having you there, not to mention chatting about languages.
ReplyDeleteThat and I hope you enjoyed my presentation (if you were there).
I took so many notes during your presentation it's not even funny those pages of my booklet are covered in ink.
Delete... you do realize I'm uploading my slides, right? Also, my program manual insert has the URLs of each and every ethics code I cited.
DeleteI really wanted to avoid making people do that.
On the other hand, however, I'm glad that you found the information useful/helpful/generally good. :-)