Final Action Plan 2.o
Check out my Action Plan for Autism Pride 2024.
Final Commentary on Class
By throwing out business linguistics, I am able to open myself up to more sharing of my creative endeavors. Although it's mainly just friends and acquaintances now, I hope to build more followers who appreciate my unique perspective.
If I ever do get to making an event, I totally understand how social media can promote and share the activities. I had already found my audience over the last 6 months of my own research, but this class has opened up my avenue for group discussions on FB and LinkedIn.
For me in my Autistic journey, it's still all about learning my people and what my identity is within that group. When that comes to fruition, I will know more about how I can contribute my skills and knowledge since everyone is still teaching me about the Spectrum. If it's just sharing links for now and inspiring conversation on topics, I will be happy.
I am not ready to take on Neurotypical world and trying to bridge the communication, just yet, as I am still learning about all my differing traits particularly because I am part of the late-diagnosed AudHD group. If you could imagine believing your entire life that you are just like everyone else (although your experiences and mental condition say otherwise) then come to find out you are part of a whole different way of experiencing life, which gives credence to the fact you always felt like an outsider not being able to find your people...well, I am there and still learning everything I can about my new special interest and identity.
Overall, I am still learning about my voice and this class has helped me to understand how I can voice it better.
If I ever do get to making an event, I totally understand how social media can promote and share the activities. I had already found my audience over the last 6 months of my own research, but this class has opened up my avenue for group discussions on FB and LinkedIn.
For me in my Autistic journey, it's still all about learning my people and what my identity is within that group. When that comes to fruition, I will know more about how I can contribute my skills and knowledge since everyone is still teaching me about the Spectrum. If it's just sharing links for now and inspiring conversation on topics, I will be happy.
I am not ready to take on Neurotypical world and trying to bridge the communication, just yet, as I am still learning about all my differing traits particularly because I am part of the late-diagnosed AudHD group. If you could imagine believing your entire life that you are just like everyone else (although your experiences and mental condition say otherwise) then come to find out you are part of a whole different way of experiencing life, which gives credence to the fact you always felt like an outsider not being able to find your people...well, I am there and still learning everything I can about my new special interest and identity.
Overall, I am still learning about my voice and this class has helped me to understand how I can voice it better.
Course Evaluation
Action Plan
What about Social Media Sharing instead of Marketing?
The whole "marketing" aspect still overwhelms me - "selling" and "branding" - as I don't like business talk, but if I replace that word with "sharing", then I have a better attitude about all of this.
I think this Social Media class has provided all the information I was looking for and provided a clear understanding on why it's important to understand your audience and exchange communications with them.
I actually hated FB before this class and almost deleted it, but am finding solace in the community groups, which I never took advantage of before because I didn't even know about myself fully (blah blah, the whole autism thing).
IG was the catalyst for me learning about my disabilities, trauma, and neurodivergence. Hearing other's experience has brought me understand myself and my experiences.
My next big step is becoming an organized, planned, and intentioned creator; in sharing my thoughts/visions, artworks, and needs; and helping neurotypicals understand our differences. I want to take part in a global awareness movement for Neurodiversity because it's what I identify with and can now relate to others like me, which I had no idea about 6 months ago.
This class has inspired me to get out of my hermit shell and start sharing myself and my perspective instead of being ashamed of my differences. I am learning to not judge myself so much, due to a perfectionist mindset I grew up with (and is often a female autistic trait).
The book has been mediocre for me. I can't relate to all his business/corporate talk. I don't like that world, it's competitive and intimidating.
I was fortunate to have a job previously where I had to learn a lot about this "marketing" strategy stuff; which was an up and down process because I had little data/visuals to work with (I mean using stock photos for every post) and I was working remotely. Still, with that experience under my belt, I have a much better idea on how I want to be a part of the digital world and now with this class, I have the knowledge and the skills to take me there :)
I think this Social Media class has provided all the information I was looking for and provided a clear understanding on why it's important to understand your audience and exchange communications with them.
I actually hated FB before this class and almost deleted it, but am finding solace in the community groups, which I never took advantage of before because I didn't even know about myself fully (blah blah, the whole autism thing).
IG was the catalyst for me learning about my disabilities, trauma, and neurodivergence. Hearing other's experience has brought me understand myself and my experiences.
My next big step is becoming an organized, planned, and intentioned creator; in sharing my thoughts/visions, artworks, and needs; and helping neurotypicals understand our differences. I want to take part in a global awareness movement for Neurodiversity because it's what I identify with and can now relate to others like me, which I had no idea about 6 months ago.
This class has inspired me to get out of my hermit shell and start sharing myself and my perspective instead of being ashamed of my differences. I am learning to not judge myself so much, due to a perfectionist mindset I grew up with (and is often a female autistic trait).
The book has been mediocre for me. I can't relate to all his business/corporate talk. I don't like that world, it's competitive and intimidating.
I was fortunate to have a job previously where I had to learn a lot about this "marketing" strategy stuff; which was an up and down process because I had little data/visuals to work with (I mean using stock photos for every post) and I was working remotely. Still, with that experience under my belt, I have a much better idea on how I want to be a part of the digital world and now with this class, I have the knowledge and the skills to take me there :)
Who's Story are you Telling?
Storytelling is a key element of cultural revolution. Corballis (2015, p. 107) maintained that “if there is anything that defines our species as unique… it is the telling of stories, and the invention of language as the means of doing so”. Good storytellers have stood out through time as evolution has shown communities with larger proportions of skilled storytellers experience greater levels of cooperation, and procreation. In our modern times, data may be more truthful, but in the battle between narrative and numbers, most of the time humanity picks narrative.
Now for me, as an Autist, language can be difficult because I constantly feel like whatever I say is misunderstood (virtually everyone with autism has difficulty with spoken language). However, studies have shown that autistics are visual thinkers: people who think in pictures rather than in words. This makes certain tasks, such as conversation, more difficult—but makes other tasks, such as engineering, significantly easier.
I also have PTSD, which is marked by an inability to construct a coherent story of our past. Traumatic memory is like a series of still snapshots without music or words that reside in the right hemisphere of our brains. The left-side of the brain does the thinking. Emotional and cognitive disassociation between the two sides of the brain occurs during traumatic events. The part of the brain that is most impacted by traumatic events is the Broca, the center for speech. The amygdala, the hippothalmus, and the prefrontal cortex are also affected by traumatic events.
This is the main reason I have sought out social media, so that I can heal myself through visual storytelling. Neuroscience says that we remember the last version of any story. When we rewrite our stories we can move out of the role of helpless victim to empowered hero. Taking chaotic events of our lives and giving them some type of structure and meaning is essential in reconnecting the emotional and cognitive aspects that have become disassociated. Neuroscience tells us that memory is plastic and dynamic. When memories are reactivated we are presented with an opportunity to integrate the experience and thus heal it.
Since theory suggests that people are more persuaded by information presented within a narrative, by eventually sharing my story via social media, I may be able to allow others to feel what life is like from an Autist’s point of view, which is the ultimate empathy exercise. Autism is widely misunderstood in our society today and causes a lot of communication issues. It wasn’t until I started listening to other adult females with late onset of autism diagnosis that I truly understood myself for the first time.“The only way to counteract people drawing horrible stereotypes about any group is to put out a plethora of stories that reflect the nuances and complexities of that group, and how many different types of experiences and personalities there really are within that group.”
Now for me, as an Autist, language can be difficult because I constantly feel like whatever I say is misunderstood (virtually everyone with autism has difficulty with spoken language). However, studies have shown that autistics are visual thinkers: people who think in pictures rather than in words. This makes certain tasks, such as conversation, more difficult—but makes other tasks, such as engineering, significantly easier.
I also have PTSD, which is marked by an inability to construct a coherent story of our past. Traumatic memory is like a series of still snapshots without music or words that reside in the right hemisphere of our brains. The left-side of the brain does the thinking. Emotional and cognitive disassociation between the two sides of the brain occurs during traumatic events. The part of the brain that is most impacted by traumatic events is the Broca, the center for speech. The amygdala, the hippothalmus, and the prefrontal cortex are also affected by traumatic events.
This is the main reason I have sought out social media, so that I can heal myself through visual storytelling. Neuroscience says that we remember the last version of any story. When we rewrite our stories we can move out of the role of helpless victim to empowered hero. Taking chaotic events of our lives and giving them some type of structure and meaning is essential in reconnecting the emotional and cognitive aspects that have become disassociated. Neuroscience tells us that memory is plastic and dynamic. When memories are reactivated we are presented with an opportunity to integrate the experience and thus heal it.
Since theory suggests that people are more persuaded by information presented within a narrative, by eventually sharing my story via social media, I may be able to allow others to feel what life is like from an Autist’s point of view, which is the ultimate empathy exercise. Autism is widely misunderstood in our society today and causes a lot of communication issues. It wasn’t until I started listening to other adult females with late onset of autism diagnosis that I truly understood myself for the first time.“The only way to counteract people drawing horrible stereotypes about any group is to put out a plethora of stories that reflect the nuances and complexities of that group, and how many different types of experiences and personalities there really are within that group.”
To Use or be Used: a Personal Marketing Strategy
In a gaming world, I think I would be an Explorer, as that’s what I am in real life, as well as an Achiever. If I were to put it in this perspective, my enemies are neurotypical ableists, but I want them to understand more so than be extinguished, so there is a little part of me that wants to socialize and create successful connections and relations.
As a consumer myself, I resonate with Creators and Collectors, with a splash of Critic (as I am learning to voice myself more and I disagree with many of the current global systems at large, a special interest of mine haha).
With some of my work positions in the past, I was the Creator of all their posts and the overall strategy was to get Joiners to raise awareness of the product/service and/or event. The Water Brewery’s goal was to get 10,000 followers and we achieved that (although not from my end, we had paid promotions). The Global Earth Repair had to deal with bringing traffic to the website and sharing the conference event, so I made a ton of blogs on the wordpress site (SEO focused) as well as daily IG/FB posts to push sharing information and /word of mouth suggestions to attend the conference.
In terms of my personal marketing plan, I would mainly want to engage with Collectors to promote my work - I just searched autism on Pinterest and was given a plethora of infographics and memes I had never seen. In regards to autism content, I already follow a ton of creators, and would love to have more critics like me to drive the message about our neurotype and why we behave so differently. I would also focus on Joiners to spread the ideas to others.
As a consumer myself, I resonate with Creators and Collectors, with a splash of Critic (as I am learning to voice myself more and I disagree with many of the current global systems at large, a special interest of mine haha).
With some of my work positions in the past, I was the Creator of all their posts and the overall strategy was to get Joiners to raise awareness of the product/service and/or event. The Water Brewery’s goal was to get 10,000 followers and we achieved that (although not from my end, we had paid promotions). The Global Earth Repair had to deal with bringing traffic to the website and sharing the conference event, so I made a ton of blogs on the wordpress site (SEO focused) as well as daily IG/FB posts to push sharing information and /word of mouth suggestions to attend the conference.
In terms of my personal marketing plan, I would mainly want to engage with Collectors to promote my work - I just searched autism on Pinterest and was given a plethora of infographics and memes I had never seen. In regards to autism content, I already follow a ton of creators, and would love to have more critics like me to drive the message about our neurotype and why we behave so differently. I would also focus on Joiners to spread the ideas to others.
The Way of Water
Over a span of 8 years, I worked for a niche health store based in Southern California. This was no ordinary store and it wasn't just the crystals that made it stand out. It is called The Water Brewery, so obviously the company works with water: purifying, remineralizing, restructuring and alkalizing. But what makes it so unique is the belief that water is living and needs to be tended to and cared for with positive vibrations, loving words, and high frequency music. This store was on another planet and I loved working there despite the constant customer service part of my job. I felt like the education of this special water needed to be improved and upgraded so I designed their POS system (which helped open new stores), devised an educational marketing strategy, and even worked on the social media pages for almost a year. I miss their water being so far away, but I have learned the important aspects of what makes healthy water living and more available for cellular needs. Ultimately, I still share in their vision of having worldwide Water Brewery Depots circumnavigating their message of love water across this entire planet.
Mission: Regenerate the World
As a single parent, I am always looking for small projects to help pay the pays: hustle culture to its fullest. I picked up a fun communications gig for a local nonprofit with a big global mission: to save this planet from destruction in the next decade of eco restoration. The organization was planning a global conference to take a jab at this gloom and doom situation us humans have gotten ourselves into: climate chaos. My boss, in his lack of digital culture, was adamant about social media posts to drive audiences to his website. So the strategy we devised was creating fun meme posts of the Restoration Heroes on his Hall of Fame (all on the website to pick up SEO on google searches). I definitely resonate with the idea of wanting world wide restoration, but I did not share in his vision for a huge conference being able to make big changes. However, I was able to design around 100 posts of his spotlighted heroes and heroines in the land saving movement. A few are posted here.
Calls to Action
I created a call to action post for a blog I wrote a few weeks ago entitled: "An Autist and a Motorcyclist".Links to an external site. The second image is more of a mood board collage: feelings of frustrations and anger with loud noises from trucks and motorcycles. I would use this photo on the Medium Blog Post, then use it on my instagram and facebook to promote my blog. It could also go on my linkedin profile (which I forgot that I have).
Basically, I wrote this blog to document my chaotic experience with loud noises and how it affects how I think and feel, as an Autistic person who is highly sensitive. I have been gaslit from others when I try to explain why I hate traffic, car dependence, and ridiculous motorcyles and trucks. It shakes every cell of my body and makes me feel horrible and rageful when I deal with it. People don't care that I have this sensitivity and refuse to understand how noises affect me. The whole car paradigm is a conundrum to me and with my disability, I have a hard time driving nowadays. When I have to work downtown giving a tour to guests, I am bombarded by the motorcycles and trucks that deliver all the goods to restaurants and bars for the weekend. I have to stop speaking sometimes and put my finger in my ears while they pass by. I cannot block it out, even with ear plugs. Neurotypical people have no idea what I go through on a daily basis with noise. It's not easy to just put noise cancellations earphones on!
So this Call to Action is about communicating an aspect of my an Autist's experience and why my behavior may seem irrational to people who don't understand. The hard thing with writing for me is many times I cannot express the amount of heightened sensory issues in words, it must be felt! How to convey feelings through visuals and words is what I want to focus on. My mission is to communicate why I act the way I do when confronted with something that triggers my sensitivty ("disability" in this society).
Basically, I wrote this blog to document my chaotic experience with loud noises and how it affects how I think and feel, as an Autistic person who is highly sensitive. I have been gaslit from others when I try to explain why I hate traffic, car dependence, and ridiculous motorcyles and trucks. It shakes every cell of my body and makes me feel horrible and rageful when I deal with it. People don't care that I have this sensitivity and refuse to understand how noises affect me. The whole car paradigm is a conundrum to me and with my disability, I have a hard time driving nowadays. When I have to work downtown giving a tour to guests, I am bombarded by the motorcycles and trucks that deliver all the goods to restaurants and bars for the weekend. I have to stop speaking sometimes and put my finger in my ears while they pass by. I cannot block it out, even with ear plugs. Neurotypical people have no idea what I go through on a daily basis with noise. It's not easy to just put noise cancellations earphones on!
So this Call to Action is about communicating an aspect of my an Autist's experience and why my behavior may seem irrational to people who don't understand. The hard thing with writing for me is many times I cannot express the amount of heightened sensory issues in words, it must be felt! How to convey feelings through visuals and words is what I want to focus on. My mission is to communicate why I act the way I do when confronted with something that triggers my sensitivty ("disability" in this society).
Constitutions of the Digital World
Digital Citizenship is all about respect: treating oneself and others with kindness. This may be ensuring boundaries are kept on personal information and protecting the rights of one’s work.
An obvious example is properly referencing photographs or any media used with the appropriate authors. We do not want to steal or take credit for someone else’s work.
I don’t see how it’s so much different than real life where one would want to be kind to one another, but perhaps that’s why we have so much violence in the world? Did we all forget to be a global citizen for our bodies and planet? I understand why the digital world would need its own set of rules, but in my perception, to be a solid, respectful human being, it would incorporate the same principles and ethics.
Personal branding is how one wants to portray themselves. It needs to be consistent with demonstrating one’s authentic values and balance with reputation. It’s taking your professional into the personal rather than separating work life from personal life. It’s being a leader and building relationships.
For instance, Professor Brock is all about COLORS. She has maintained the same haircut for many years, if not most of her life. She dresses in bright colors. Her work is presented in bright, rainbow colors. Her Second Life Avatar looks exactly like her. Her hair and colors are her visual branding.
Paying it forward is really the “social” in social media. It’s sharing, collaborating, tagging, forwarding posts/messages all with the intention to deliver consistent messages and respecting others opinions. It’s the engagement part as both a leader and a participant. I think it’s an area where we can learn a lot from each other since it’s not a one way street.
A great example of lacking this concept is seen in some of the FB groups I have expressed my opinions on. I got huge backlash and bullying behavior when I mentioned a different perspective on a situation when I was only sharing my autistic experience on noise pollution. People were gaslighting me and it triggered by PTSD and panic, which has limited my use of FB any longer.
Finding the balance in the digital world of expression/voice versus silence is challenging. Sometimes I share medium posts with my friends through social media or I’ll forward a meme. Not all people understand that one is trying to share and collaborate because this friend thought I was “passive aggressive” by sharing and spreading information about my healing journey, which was the total opposite of my intention.
Respect, understanding, compassion, authenticity, and consistency.
An obvious example is properly referencing photographs or any media used with the appropriate authors. We do not want to steal or take credit for someone else’s work.
I don’t see how it’s so much different than real life where one would want to be kind to one another, but perhaps that’s why we have so much violence in the world? Did we all forget to be a global citizen for our bodies and planet? I understand why the digital world would need its own set of rules, but in my perception, to be a solid, respectful human being, it would incorporate the same principles and ethics.
Personal branding is how one wants to portray themselves. It needs to be consistent with demonstrating one’s authentic values and balance with reputation. It’s taking your professional into the personal rather than separating work life from personal life. It’s being a leader and building relationships.
For instance, Professor Brock is all about COLORS. She has maintained the same haircut for many years, if not most of her life. She dresses in bright colors. Her work is presented in bright, rainbow colors. Her Second Life Avatar looks exactly like her. Her hair and colors are her visual branding.
Paying it forward is really the “social” in social media. It’s sharing, collaborating, tagging, forwarding posts/messages all with the intention to deliver consistent messages and respecting others opinions. It’s the engagement part as both a leader and a participant. I think it’s an area where we can learn a lot from each other since it’s not a one way street.
A great example of lacking this concept is seen in some of the FB groups I have expressed my opinions on. I got huge backlash and bullying behavior when I mentioned a different perspective on a situation when I was only sharing my autistic experience on noise pollution. People were gaslighting me and it triggered by PTSD and panic, which has limited my use of FB any longer.
Finding the balance in the digital world of expression/voice versus silence is challenging. Sometimes I share medium posts with my friends through social media or I’ll forward a meme. Not all people understand that one is trying to share and collaborate because this friend thought I was “passive aggressive” by sharing and spreading information about my healing journey, which was the total opposite of my intention.
Respect, understanding, compassion, authenticity, and consistency.
NEXT SECTION - DIGITAL MEDIA