Skills that effective activists need

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I am opening this thread in the hope that people will contribute different sets of skills, not just the one that I have selected to kick this thread off with. The one I have chosen relates to an ability to rapidly spot fallacies in claims made by "overdogs" to keep the underdogs confused and the overdog supporters hooked in.

Here is a link to some of the very common ones, that you can answer to brush up/refresh your activist skill set:

http://math.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/document/show/1364

Corporate obscurantism is here, mainly driven by the oil-billions/religious fundamentalists for ideology and military/banking complex for the operating part, with racism, creationism, anti-science and anti-intellectual tendencies fueled by bank-dictats (recession).

Don't divide - that's politics: a spectrum of special needs, where everybody stands their own grounds of short term interests.

On the other hand science is in corporate possession now, as media, and productivist growth can't be found in producing more but will be imposed in consumerist-dependancies, as most heavily seen in 'heath-care', where everything's profitable.

Fear is good,
a gun to shoot the unknown
and a pill to keep responsability away.

Posting here will just show your hand
The overdogs will learn new tricks
From the online underdog
Woof woof

The garden of eden lies beyond all this positioning
for top dog

But Alienhybrid, while that's true, the true trick that we must use to further our agenda and encourage them to use to further theirs is acceptance of everyone. Then we all win.

I need a beer,
the monkey is the only salvation

The moon
Cold light over toxic waters

If we play the breath flute in the forest
And no neurotypical is there to hear
Does the steam whistle still sound?

All the letters surge into the future
Like a piston
A steam engine conceived by Louise Bourgeois

What are we doing here?

What we can do-- let's brainstorm:

1. convince them that acceptance of everyone, autistic or not, is the best thing.
2. swell our own number.
3. make it interesting for the enemy one way or the other so that they'll pay attention.
4. be LOUD, one way or the other.
5. be in as many places as we can.
6. reach as many people as we can.
7. do it for as long as we can and must.
8. do our stuff as many times as we can and must.
9. customize our stuff to each person we are trying to convince.
10. convince them that there is something in it for them.
11. convince them that we would like them if only they would like us.

More?

That's a constructive post CGG - thank you.

I would add:

acquire media skills - how to present messages effectively, how to get them published (eg always put your most important message in the first paragraph; subeditors will often delete the final sentences simply for reasons of space)

acquire negotiation skills (eg the sandwich technique)

acquire debating skills

build extensive and co-ordinated reference resources which are catalogued for instant use when required

write and catalogue articles on specific subjects for instant use when required

after acquiring media-savvy interview skills (these can be learned) actively seek interview opportunities with the media

have a group where people have different skills and strengths - some are better analysts, some are writers, some are media savvy etc so that the talent pool can be drawn upon to play to everyone's strengths.

give your group an accurate name that is easy to remember and short

Set clear goals

Set implementation plans for the goals

Set implementation plans for after the goals are achieved (just as important, in my experience - once people are willing to accept awareness, they still need support and information to learn more in the process of changing their attitudes)

Strive to be active rather than reactive

Have a grand plan

Think big, think possible, ignore the naysayers, build a reliable support group where brainstorming and planning is regularly reviewed.

If no-one is interested but you, then go it alone. One person can make a huge difference.

Don't get hooked on the apathy of others. Reread the line above.

Coalition-building and finding common ground with other movements should be in there somewhere. It seems like an area where the autism acceptance movement to date has fallen a bit short. Perhaps that isn't surprising, since making connections with people is never going to be our strong suit in any case.

The obvious place for allies is in the disability rights and mental health movements (which is slightly vexing for those of us who don't regard autism as a disorder or a disability -- but a) we have more shared interests with them than with any other organized movement, and b) those shared interests are heightened by the fact that lots of autistic people are in fact disabled and/or mentally ill).

But I think it's worth looking a little further afield as well. In particular, the heaviest weight of discrimination in the US is felt by those who are both Black and autistic, creating a logical point of solidarity there (and one where AFAIK very little organizing has taken place).

There are probably crucial lessons to be learned from the trans movement, since the challenges to acceptance of gender-nonconforming people in society have a number of fascinating commonalities with the autistic situation, even down to the spectrum metaphor.