Heads up about my username changing:
A little later this year I’ll be turning 41. That means my username is no longer accurate. So I’ll probably shift towards using the initials “JB”. JB is quite short so I might add a bit on the end. Not sure what, yet, though!
I added my age to my username because I used to get lots of condescending replies when people saw my handle and previous username that spelled out “An Autie at Uni”. Everyone assumed I was 18-22 years old or so.
Yeah. I’m not. And this is NOT my first go at uni!
It certainly highlighted how people can be prejudice against age, though… It got me reflecting on my own internal age biases and how this might manifest around the younger students. I have lots of bias that goes against myself as a very mature student (fun fact: most mature students are still in their 20s). But I’ve always been passionate about helping to create a culture with my fellow students where we have a level playing field and I’m not seen as an automatic authority figure. This works best with neurodivergent students, but less so with neurotypical. The latter ranged from freezing in terror at my presence in group work (I gently encouraged them to open up, showed them their views and contributions are just as valuable as any of ours)… to me being picked on by younger students, excluded, witnessing them cheating behind my back and then having to handle the delicate art of reporting my own group for plagiarism… while the staff doubted ME as the autistic one, not them. Hmm. Fun. 😶
Anyway, long story short: my username will change, but I’ll be a student for a while yet, so I want to continue avoiding attracting condescending replies (which even the younger students don’t deserve, btw.)
@AnAutieAtUni @actuallyautistic Change it to Uncle something and see how the dynamic changes 😁
@roknrol @AnAutieAtUni @actuallyautistic
Shouldn't that be Ucle?
