Systematic Like Me

Hey, do you like personality tests? Maybe you know your Myers-Briggs type, but do you know your communication style? Before you read the rest of this post, take this 25 question test. [PDF]  

Note: When scoring, you may notice that question 8 has no number. The scoring form (page 5) goes in order, numbering is just off by 1 starting with #9. Please excuse the glitch; this is the only “free” version of the test available online.

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So, which style did you score?

If you’re on the autism spectrum, I have a hunch that your dominant score was Analytical. (Also called Systematic.) The vast majority of my answers were in this category. Many common autistic traits can be found under the Systematic type. (Introverts in general will probably score here too.) But I also scored in other categories for certain questions… weird!

The HDRQ Personality Style Model posits that there are four communication styles, based on your choice of words, the way you say them, your body language, and personal space preferences.

It can also be described as a continuum from low to high expression of emotions, and low to high assertiveness in influencing others, with the four styles representing four quadrants. Read a more detailed analysis of the HRDQ model here. [PDF]

There’s something fascinating about this test. Look what they say! Systematic is one of four normal communication styles you find. All four styles have their strengths and weaknesses - and none is considered undesirable! I find that a nice bit of neurodiverse thinking, don’t you?

I wrote some time ago about “chasing typical,” how back in school, I was told my style was a weakness, limited my potential, needed to be changed, and so on. Imagine if my "shortcomings" had been viewed as a normal personality style instead. Not only normal, but valued! Hm, perhaps I am more typical than I thought...

So, to review: When an acquaintance puts their hand on your arm, you get annoyed: Normal!

When someone messes with your neat, organized desktop^*, you get upset: Normal!

When people get upset or cry in front of you, you try to remove yourself from the situation: Normal!

So if you’re Systematic like me, use your strengths! Flex dem muscles! You don’t need to change.


* Thanks @shitmyaspiesays for words to live by.

Pepper Shakedown

Help promote true autism awareness:

Sign the petition to Sesame Street to reconsider their partnership with Autism Speaks

And support companies that partner with pro-neurodiverse charities, like ThreadMeUp.

Half Life

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Noise Creep

Glitch

Wabongo

My name is Wabongo, and I'm a cool guy.

Everyone wants to be my bud.

I'm a decisive guy. I'm a go-getter.

I know how to deal with the loonies.

While everyone looks like this winter has withered their souls down to the bone, I look on the bright side!

I take chances. Live on the edge. Flirt with danger!

I'm anything but milquetoast.

Hard-Ass:P

It’s nice to believe that we all fit in somewhere, but do you think it’s really true?
Some of us find fitting in's not so easy, no, it’s not so easy to do.

Always being the odd one out, the misfit wherever you go,
Try as you may to find where you fit, seems it might never be so.
Have you been broken, have you been bent, crushed, or pounded to make yourself fit?
Have you been rotated, overturned, relocated? But still excluded. Sounds familiar, don’t it?

If you’re autistic, you’ve gotta work extra hard, for the same rights as everyone else.
When you’re faced with a problem, no one else will deal with it, so you’ve gotta handle it yourself.
Self-advocacy’s not for the faint of heart, it might be the hardest thing you’ll ever do.
But if you lie down and take it, your needs will be trampled, self-advocacy starts with you.

You’ve got to be a hard-ass.
A hard-ass:P.
You got to show them that you should be heard, and accepted. It’s the only way to be free.
Might mean you feel like the bad guy,
But it’s well past time to be the nice guy.
Your own troubles matter, above and beyond, don’t worry ‘bout how they’ll react.
Your own wants and needs matter, know this and remember, and you’ll find the courage to act.
It’s not enough to have the right.
You still have to fight the fight.
And be a hard-ass.
A hard-ass:P.

Self-advocacy takes everything that you’ve got, takes you out of your comfort zone.
It’s gonna take spoons, when you’re all out of spoons, got to dig deep, find strength of your own.
When you’re feeling your most attacked and most battered, you can simmer, and seethe, and slow burn.
Or say enough is enough. They wanna play rough? Show you’re not to be messed with. They’ll learn.

Say you want peace and quiet, when loud noise surrounds you?  Well guess what? You got to get louder.
Got to get their attention, stand up for your sensory needs, it’s all in your power.
Say you’re given directions, that weren’t so clear? It means that you’ve got to be clearer.
Explain you’re confused, and which part, and why – you’ll find understanding is nearer.
And if you wanna fidget, and they tell you sit still, don’t let them interfere with your motion.
Keep right on rockin’, cause it don’t hurt nobody. Rock their world with a tolerant notion.
And if they want you to speak, when you want to write, you have the right to insist.
Same words, different medium, so choose your own. When you make sense, who can resist?
You got the right to exist. As you are.
That’s how to be a hard-ass.
Be a hard-ass:P.

You might think that it would fine with most people, if you were to just disappear.
"They’d be okay with me out of the way. What they don’t understand, they fear."
But you do have a place, the same rights as the rest, and the only way in is to shove.
And you’ll find that you fit, without breaking or bending, when you stand your ground and get tough.
You might get your way or maybe you won’t, but you won’t find out ‘less you attempt.
And you may find you matter, you may find respect, much more than you ever had dreamt.
And you’ll tell ‘em, “Damn right, I’m a hard-ass.
“Autistic and proud, you see.
“I’m a bad-ass, and you know it. Dude.
“I’m a hard-ass:P.”