activism, autism, language, queerness, trans

How do you symbolize intimacy? For many AAC programs, not particularly well.

Content Note: mentions of sex, genitalia, abuse, assault, violence against disabled people, infantilization of disabled people, removal of autonomy. Also, this post is over 5,000 words long.

Continue reading “How do you symbolize intimacy? For many AAC programs, not particularly well.”
autism, mental health, queerness, trans

Dispatches from a Pandemic: On Being Socially Distant Even Before This All

Content Notice: (internalized) ableism and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry, suicide/self-harm, cure/shiny Aspie autism politics, drug use, smoking, drinking, COVID-19, sex/relationships, (reclaimed and unreclaimed) slurs.

I wrote a thing. I haven’t written here in almost a year but I needed to write this, right now. There’s a lot of discourse from disabled people who were homebound/socially isolated before COVID-19 stay-at-home orders around abled people complaining about being stuck at home. I have thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts about this. Being at home, with my family, is not good in a lot of ways for me. I’m safe and secure, don’t worry, but I miss a lot of the things I had. But a lot of the things other people had and complain about missing are things I never had.

I hope you like it.

EDIT at 2119 hours on 11 April 2020: About an hour after posting this, I learned that Mel Baggs, whose work I cited in this post, died today. I am heartbroken. Mel was an unyielding, blunt, incredibly advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Hir video In My Language was the first piece of by-and-for autistic people media I ever consumed. I owe so much to Mel’s advocacy. We all do. Rest in power, Mel. We will carry your work forward.

Continue reading “Dispatches from a Pandemic: On Being Socially Distant Even Before This All”