(Did we mention this is a virtual CAT café?)
Read more: Neurodivergent Hospitality is Not a Contradiction
Welcome to Saint Thorlak's Virtual Café: a place to pause, rest, and refresh. Neurodivergent life is challenging enough by itself, and we want you to know that we're on the journey with you.
Maybe you just need a moment to sit in silence and enjoy a brief respite from the demands of the day. Maybe there is a situation on your mind that could benefit from our praying together, or maybe we have an insight or bit of direction which might be helpful. Funny story? Special interest? Popcorn thoughts? All welcome here! Type your thoughts into the form alongside the barista banter to muse, blurt out, unburden or just be who you are. You can even "bring" your own pets to visit by emailing a barista their photos. All species coexist safely here!
Think of this as a small way we can offer hospitality within our means as autistic individuals who thrive on both interacting with our community and the extra processing space allowed by typewritten communication. We believe it is possible to experience meaningful connection even in non-traditional ways, and this "café" page is our way of demonstrating that.
Enjoy your time here!
Barista Banter
One of our visitors says:
Here’s what I think about masking.
It seems to me that masking is a universal thing that everyone does to some degree in order to conform to a group. It’s kind of like an unspoken agreement to check part of our individuality at the door for the sake of uniformity once we’re inside. The problem is, it takes energy to do that. It’s the equivalent of taking on a role which requires us to actively trim ourselves to that mold the entire time we’re there. That may come easily to neurotypicals, but for autistic people, it’s running one more app on top of all the other apps running at the same time when our battery is already lower than average (thanks to things like constant sensory processing, dysautonomia, and no extra time to recover). People seem to resent that we don’t have the spoons to play pretend like everyone else, which then raises the question of why everyone has to pretend in the first place. Yet people don’t usually have a better answer than "it’s expected of us." It’s a good thing to make an extra effort to be kind and considerate of the others in the room, sure, but once that crosses over into role playing, it takes more energy than a lot of us have, and a lot of us just don’t see the point.
