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Thank you for sharing this, Romaine.

Our experiences are so different, and we should acknowledge it and cherish
it, and we need to respect all people and accommodate all people.

My experience is related and opposite at the same time. I sometimes tell
people that Wikimania is my social life. It's an exaggeration; it's
Wikimania and other Wikimedia-related events: hackathons, workshops, local
meetups. But that's really about it. The Wikimedia community is my social
life. Events other than Wikimedia events —weddings, holidays, parties, you
name it— can easily cause me to feel out of place and to experience
feelings described in this thread.

Wikimania is where I feel completely at home. But if it's not a place where
others can feel at home, it's a problem.

I remember one Wikimedia event that had an "introversion room". I remember
how some people cheered when the event organizer mentioned it in her
welcome speech. We need more of that: not only "introversion rooms" (even
though they are welcome), but anything that makes people feel welcome.

We need more of this consideration and inclusion not just because it's the
right and decent human thing to do. We need it because it's our expressed
goal to include every single human being. Who if not us?

?????? ??? ??, 15 ????? 2018, 18:42, ??? Romaine Wiki ?<
romaine.wiki@gmail.com>:

> Hi everyone,
>
> In our movement we have a lot of different people, including people with a
> different neurodiversity.
>
> Then it can happen that with events organised by the Wikimedia movement,
> there are people that get sensory overloads. it basically means that the
> input through the senses gets too much at some point. This can result in an
> emotional outburst, an instant heavy headache/migraine attack, or in my
> case I go (almost) completely blank.
>
> It is really hard to complain how it is like to people who have no
> experiences with it.
> I think however that we need as inclusive movement to be more aware of the
> huge amount of varieties of people and there needs. For that reason I like
> to share a thread on Twitter with you how a user I know well has
> experienced it herself.
>
> Read at: https://twitter.com/dodocurieux/status/1029743772584865792
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> Romaine
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