Diversity

 My course requires me to interview a person "from a diverse background"

I don't like the term "from a diverse background" for multiple reasons but  I wondered if maybe my readers would be interested in reading the notes  made. I thought I was making a voice recording but I screwed that up so this is more of a paraphrase than a transcript.  I hope I've retained the meaning.

These days   have no idea what is interesting or boring so if you'd prefer to watch paint dry, forgive me.

 

K: What does diversity mean to you?

Miss X: “Siri, define diversity. Understanding that each individual is unique and recognising differences. These can be along lines of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability etc”

 

K: Do you identify as “diverse” and how?

Miss X: Will I mention that I like girls? No, maybe not, that just complicates things and I don’t want to go on record like that, it just makes people freak out, oh wait, it’s anonymous? ok. So I have diagnoses of Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, anxiety, depression and PTSD.

 

K: How does that impact you in the community and workplace?

Miss X: Well it causes communication issues because I think differently to other people and interpret things differently so people think I’m being difficult when I’m really not, I’m just struggling to understand. Sometimes I need extra detail in instructions and I get overwhelmed really easily. I don’t like leaving my house, the noises outside overwhelm me. The people everywhere and the lights and people do random stuff like singing on the street. I don’t like traffic noise and sirens, there’s so many sirens here. I like that the supermarkets have autism hour, it’s really not that hard to turn the lights down and stop with the canned music

 

K: What do you wish people knew about your type of difference?

Miss X: Well I just wish they would be more patient. I had to get doctors reports at one workplace to say what work I was capable of, it made me feel like a freak. I’m not a freak, I  just want to be treated like other people,  I don’t want to be sent home for weeks while people decide what to do with me. Yea, I’d just like patience and if I could say more about my autism, if I didn’t have to hide it, I’d like that.

 

K: What could be changed to give you more equity and understanding?

Miss X: Well, working from home during covid has been great for me. Working from home means I’m in my safe space and if something happens that upsets me I can recover a lot faster and I can be more productive. I just don’t get so stressed and my anxiety isn’t so bad. I don’t have to deal with so many people and interruptions and people judging me. It makes my work better and it makes my life easier. Working from home is great, I have the blinds down in my room and it’s dark in there.

I really hate it when people say vaccines cause autism and I really hate it when people say I don’t seem autistic. Autism in women looks different, we are better at masking, we know how to look more normal than autistic men and we don’t all have an obsession like we don’t all love penguins or something and we make eye contact a lot better than men and sometimes I make eye contact so well that it makes people uncomfortable and I use my hands when I talk, I do that to be more normal and I make sure my voice has different tones so  don’t seem to be autistic but I am so it’s annoying when people say I don’t seem like I have autism because I‘m working hard to understand the world and if I seem like I’m okay it’s because I make a lot of effort.

 

K: Do you like to say you have autism or you are autistic?

Miss X: I don’t care, I don’t like all this “I have autism” stuff, I’m autistic, that’s how it is, it’s what I am. I don’t insist on the whole “I’m a person with autism” thing