Question everything.

Commonly throughout my life, I have come across the numerous facsimiles to a common response with authority. The lack of questioning it.

Authority is there to support us and help us feel safe. What happens when that authority begins to fail to keep you, as an individual, safe?

Separation from the authority is the most common response, finding a new authority to work with is the next best thing to develop a fresh viewpoint. However, what happens when your human-local social engagements make it impossible for you to participate in the authority structure you'd attune best with?

This is the hard version of what it's like being non-verbal, we end up sensing our peers and our ability to talk is reduced. On the flip side, those that are used to talking, become accustomed to talk about our verbal atrophy.

Notice how I avoided using the word "communicate".

We know how to communicate, we use our behavior and our minds to construct distinct responses. Then how can we adapt to include words in our communication without disruption?

I had to stop listening to people who were better established in life than I was. Everyone is willing to share how they did it for themselves. However, for non-verbals like myself, we're a different type of person. We're not just autistic, we're allistic & autistic. We've grown up in an environment that was either hostile, too comfortable, or somewhere in between; that promoted our non-verbal communication.

How did this happen?

It obviously wasn't our faults. What lead us to become accustomed to an environment that promotes our non-verbalism you might ask?

This is often where metal health professionals makes an easy decision. They omit the consideration of the parents' environment, they omit details which are more important to focus on because it becomes to risky to engage with a mentally unbalanced parent.

There is also the consideration that the parent knows enough, about what not to do to their children because they, themselves have had an abusive upbringing. The parent themselves, needs an example to live up to. How do you help without making them dependent on your assistance?

Adaptability as an indicator. Someone who can adapt quickly to change in the environment has a better chance of adapting and learning how to move forward through the adversity of the environment they found themselves within. When you distill the affects of metal health into a social framework, you're essentially asking the non-verbal to become accustomed to an adversity that doesn't align with their immediate needs.

This isn't a chicken or the egg problem. This is a lack of information problem for those that become accustomed to our non-verbal communication.

Hence why, I'm extremely verbal about my non-verbalism. Contributing my information and dismantling the criticism, through my perception of adversity.

Notice how I didn't use the word "narrative".

Using inductive reasoning from my mountain of empirical evidence, I can assert two principles

• Our brains are wired to understand language unique to our neuro-divergence.
• Our brains are wired to understand empathy, first.

I can further derive exercises towards homophily regardless of neuro-divergence.

• Anger, when unchecked can become difficult to think through. This is were non-verbals are different, we aren't angry. We aren't upset. We are simply, thoughtful.
• Take an extra moment, and if someone tries to take that moment from you. Tell them to wait. It's okay to flair your anger, but just for that moment.

We, non-verbals, struggle to turn our thoughts into action. The optimal path to correct this is to argue with the criticisms of our verbal peers. Optimal communication patterns is different between all types of neuro-divergent minds, once you identify the differences, it becomes easier to turn thought into action. You have to exert yourself, emotionally to do so.

Just don't get stuck being an angry person. Anger is where it starts, because from anger you can derive focus. From focus, you can gain control over your own behavior and emotions.

Let's put forth a commonly understood notion of academia:

The primary objective of academia is to teach knowledge. Educators aren't baby sitters and there is an implicit expectation put on parents to teach their children good manors.

• What about the parents that don't have a good baseline for proper manors for their children?
• What about the parents without a good baseline in maintaining their own emotions?

Does this really have to fall on academia or do you need a new type of institution?

If the objective is to proceed with induction or best explanation, than it stands to reason we autistics need to start standing up together to provide better explanations to our own behavior and emotions. How do we unite each other when we're limited by our collective imagination filtered through academia expectations?

Playing video games is a good starting point, but how do we transition from the game feel of a video game into our feelings of our own life? What guidance is available for us?

Open questions for academia

• What challenges can you give your ideal student, not students, to help them improve?
• How do you identify a student would work well with you?
• Flip it, how would you identify a student you'd work well with?
• What leadership qualities would you encourage in your student to teach their peers?
• Are the parents of the students you've identified open to adapting?