Comment by lq9AJ8yrfs

If a company professes to be supportive of neurodivergence, it means either (1) they're supportive of neurodivergence; or (2) they are hostile to neurodivergence and have gotten into trouble for it, so have strong motivation to claim that they are supportive. There will probably be written policies and strongly-worded emails that are supportive of neurodivergence, which enable them to continue being hostile to neurodivergence.

I would guess there's far more of (2) going around than (1).

This is an overly polarized view -- what does "supportive" even mean? What forms are actually deemed permissible? -- but it's probably more right than wrong.

It's like the schools with posters everywhere declaring "Zero tolerance for bullying" or "Bully free zone". Except that there is no (1) at those places. Those signs mean they have a problem with bullying and haven't come up with any solutions.

Something I am not quite able to compute is why they are so rigid. I paid for a house with enough rooms that I turned one into a generous office. My peers tell me my hobby productivity is off the charts. There is / was no price at which I could solve for an acceptable office environment at this company. At any company I have worked with or heard of.

I get that there is back biting and intensive score-keeping, resentment etc, but the act of putting everything on a synchronized linear scale (with sub linear progression) seems cruel. Some people like tchotchkies, some people don't like those esoteric office snacks, some people like mouthwash and shoe polish and fancy towels in the restroom. Why gatekeep it all and shove the same exact bundle of goods down everyone's throats?

If they were really minimaxing your next unit of work, this is not an optimal strategy. It's just lazy, a children's tale of how an office might be.

Those all seem like easy problems to solve.

Draw straws and one person dials in from their desk or a phone closet. Take advantage of multiple locations, which are frequently if not always part of the landscape. I had a similar experience, there was a lady on the same floor who was sensitive to light, versus I had a plant that was dying, so I bought a timer and a desk lamp and set it directly under the lamp to run after hours, and we kept the lights dim during the day.

At some point the rigidity is just another type of enshittification, there to subtract. Ingrained in their culture and part of their prerogative. Denying them the privilege is an insult that earns greater retribution. Pour encourager les autres.

It would literally cost them nothing to be flexible. Solzhenitsyn level material.

Suggests a new unit of measure, the Solz, which characterizes how occult and byzantine the rules are and how vindictive and arbitrary the application. Bonus points for tail-eating and Lysenkoist aspects. Stalin era normalized to 1.

I had "exceeds" ratings the whole time at this job, btw. I am told my contributions live on 10 years later, I can't say that about most of my work experience.

I also thought I was exceptionally good at masking. Turns out I was exceptionally good at showing a differently weird version of myself that was still quite clearly weird.

my sister has this which led to many awful fights that i didnt understand. now i send this graphic to people in order to describe it: https://scontent.fhio2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/130843014...

I carry silicone putty ear plugs with me pretty much all the time.

They are very squishy and I can place then in my ear and depending on how thick I make them, they have varying levels of blocking out sound. Super useful if I want extra blocking or just a little light blocking so I can still hear things around me, but dampened.

They have been a life changer for me. The best kind I've found are Mack's. Maybe they would help you too.

I gaslit myself over it for so long. It makes me see red when I hear open-mouth chewing noises. Totally illogical.