Today’s episode analyses the negative impact of mandatory team-building and enforced vulnerability sessions on autistics and gestalt processors. The author of the source article, Jaime Hoerricks, PhD, explains that these rituals, often framed as care or community, systematically fracture safety for neurodivergent individuals by introducing ambiguity, power imbalances, and non-consensual demands. Dr. Hoerricks argues that the resulting reactions, such as panic or shutdown, are not evidence of social deficits but rather accurate responses to structural harm and emotional extraction. She emphasises that pseudo-intimacy and performative compliance replace genuine connection when participation is required and the potential for refusal is not protected, leading to accumulated stress and subsequent burnout. Ultimately, she calls for greater ethical transparency and structural change regarding what is being asked of employees in these mandatory settings.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/when-community-becomes-extraction

Let me know what you think.

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