Neurodivergence and The Church

[sock puppet]

Here's what our prophet said about individuals with disabilities:

Well, isn't that special? (imagine Dana Carvey doing Church Lady).

So, MAGA Mormons accept Trump mocking a disabled reporter not because he was disabled but because he wasn't a valiant enough spirit in the Preexistence to get a fully-functional body here in mortality.

It's truly a marvelous work and a wonder!

[MG 2.0]

Leaders and members have brains. When we see that there are nuerodivergent members in the ward there are ways to adapt to their needs. It's not like they are being ignored.

Regards,
MG

Really? What specific arrangements have you seen in any Temple for neurodivergent members? The Church magazine presents it as the parents of autistic children carrying a burden…the Church sees autistic children as a burden. Think about that for a minute. Do you honestly think the parents of autistic children see their kids as burdens?

From the article referred to:

Be Understanding and Patient in Church Settings. ...
Offer Practical Help. ...
Create Inclusive Church Environments. ...
Educate Ourselves and Be More Inclusive in Our Conversations. ...
Offer Emotional and Spiritual Support.

These are the things members do in an organized and specifically targeted way as explained in my previous posts.

Granted, you have to muddle through some of the juvenile posts to get to mine.

Regards,
MG

[Marcus]

...These are the things members do in an organized and specifically targeted way as explained in my previous posts.

Granted, you have to muddle through some of the juvenile posts to get to mine. ...

Sigh. Res Ipsa truly was prescient.

...Notice that none of your claims is prefaced by: this is what Mormons believe. Or even even "this is what I believe. You are telling every reader of the board what you claim is objective truth.

...Threads in which you participate are literally riddled with your "processs comments," with which you try to control what others post. Commonly, you do this as what you might imagine is some kind of clever zinger at the end of a post. The subtext is always "I know the real truth and if you disagree there is something wrong with you."

[I Have Questions]

Really? What specific arrangements have you seen in any Temple for neurodivergent members? The Church magazine presents it as the parents of autistic children carrying a burden…the Church sees autistic children as a burden. Think about that for a minute. Do you honestly think the parents of autistic children see their kids as burdens?

From the article referred to:

Be Understanding and Patient in Church Settings. ...
Offer Practical Help. ...
Create Inclusive Church Environments. ...
Educate Ourselves and Be More Inclusive in Our Conversations. ...
Offer Emotional and Spiritual Support.

These are the things members do in an organized and specifically targeted way as explained in my previous posts.

Granted, you have to muddle through some of the juvenile posts to get to mine.

Regards,
MG

I don’t ask what a few goodly members do here and there. I asked about specific Temple arrangements for Neurodivergent members. Care to answer the question I actually asked?

[I Have Questions]

...These are the things members do in an organized and specifically targeted way as explained in my previous posts.

Granted, you have to muddle through some of the juvenile posts to get to mine. ...

Sigh. Res Ipsa truly was prescient.

...Notice that none of your claims is prefaced by: this is what Mormons believe. Or even even "this is what I believe. You are telling every reader of the board what you claim is objective truth.

...Threads in which you participate are literally riddled with your "processs comments," with which you try to control what others post. Commonly, you do this as what you might imagine is some kind of clever zinger at the end of a post. The subtext is always "I know the real truth and if you disagree there is something wrong with you."

I can’t find a section in the General Handbook, nor the leadership Handbook, that explains how to process a temple recommend interview for a neurodivergent member. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Marcus]

I can’t find a section in the General Handbook, nor the leadership Handbook, that explains how to process a temple recommend interview for a neurodivergent member. Can someone point me in the right direction?

You'll find it right next to the comment, 'Mormons set the gold standard in child abuse prevention.'

[Moksha]

This is so repulsive that I imagine a few Mormons would wish it away. Perhaps the same amount that voted against Trump.

[Vegetius]

I'm slightly autistic, won't go through all the traits.

Been to 2 1/2 Mormon services so far, and the 2 recent ones did sensory overwhelm me, but I have a few cheats.

1) I have terrible eye sight and wear glasses, and so when sensory got to be too much, I simply raised my glasses on my head, and everyone turned blurry and the ugly ones became better looking. So that's a win.

2) The music and social noise was overwhelming to me, and I just let my mind wander and acted like I was always paying attention in the first hour.

I'm not autistic enough to need weighted blankets, and you have to have a doctor's degree to use restraints on an autistic child. Yes it calms them, be it a physical restraint of hugging them tight to the point they can't move, but they often times have communication issues and they might be acting out for a reason and can't communicate it, and restraining them can make them very angry, and breaks the law because simply put, you can't unlawfully restrain or detain someone against their will. A weighted blanket someone voluntarily opts into putting on themselves doesn't count, no jury will convict merely for having one on hand.

This being said, I wouldn't outfit a church or secular public organization to help any type of disorder until such a class of people come and are regulars, enough to justify the expense. Autism is fairly cheap to attend to and widespread, but the musical element of Mormon churches, and the ruckus is a bit of kryptonite. The congregation needs to be told what to expect, as in why someone seems to occasionally opt out of a part of a service suddenly or seems to be dulling their senses, so they don't come off as rude, if an autistic member is a regular. Just let them know their brains operate differently, but they are trying their best.