#The National Neurodivergent Queer Alliance

[himmurf]

1️⃣ Do you have ADHD, autism, a learning disability, or are otherwise neurodivergent?

2️⃣ Are you LGBTQ+ or have another queer identity?

❣️ If you answered yes to EITHER above question; you maybe interested in joining The National Neurodivergent Queer Alliance (NNQA)

There you can join in discussions about

🫂 mutual aid,

🛐 local resources,

💌 ongoing petitions or demonstrations,

🧘the greater nuances of living ND and/or LGBTQ+

[coochiequeens]

Another story of gender ideology being pushed onto neurodivergent girls

By CAROLINE DOWNEY December 19, 2023 3:43 PM

A mother and father sued a Michigan school district on Monday, alleging that school personnel encouraged their autistic daughter’s gender transition without their consent.

Represented by religious liberty nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, Dan and Jennifer Mead filed a lawsuit against the Rockford Public School District after district employees allegedly began treating their child as a boy without their knowledge and, when confronted, tried to conceal the child’s transition from them.

Shortly after the couple began working with administrators at East Rockford Middle School to address their daughter’s academic struggles, she received an official autism diagnosis, the Meads told National Review. They didn’t learn of their daughter’s social transition until they received a performance update from a school psychologist that included a teacher assessment which used a male name and pronouns to refer to their daughter.

Prior to this point, the Meads felt like they had a very trusting, productive relationship with the school staff advising their daughter.

“We thought, ‘this must be a mistake,'” Dan Mead said. When they contacted the school specifically, “there was absolute silence,” he said.

They gave the school the benefit of the doubt, and asked whether another child’s information had been pasted on their daughter’s report by mistake.

But as they dug further into the situation, they began to realize the male name and pronouns were part of a broader effort to encourage their child’s transition. That understanding was bolstered when Jennifer Mead found a queer graphic novel, Heartstopper Volume One: Hardback, in her daughter’s backpack. The book, given to her daughter by the school counselor, included graphic scenes, including one in which a boy forces himself on another boy.

Now a freshman in high school, the Meads believe their daughter’s transition process began in seventh grade, when teachers and administrators began using a male name and pronouns to refer to her. At one point, she even considered chest binding.

The Meads realized they needed to pull their daughter out of school immediately.

Confronting the principal, the Meads were told that the child’s demands supersede parental rights under school policy.

The district psychologist, who oversees all the schools’ counseling, changed their daughter’s name on official records but made sure that any documents that went home had her real name and female pronouns in order to conceal her transition from her parents, the Meads allege.

Jennifer and Dan said they felt blindsided and betrayed by the school and district. The school counselor was almost like a friend to Jennifer. She had often expressed how she enjoyed working with her daughter, Jennifer said.

“I had what I thought was building a trust between us as parents and the school system to help our daughter succeed and help her wellbeing,” Jennifer said. “I was disclosing intimate, private information with the school…They were letting the staff and teachers know so we could make the best decisions for our daughter. I really trusted them.”

“I thought they were in our daughter’s corner,” she said. “I was shocked and I was hurt. This hurt our family and this hurt our child.”

Asked for comment, the district replied: “We have no comment at this time because we have not been given official notice of this legal proceeding.”

[qnewsau]

Finding Community and Support as a Queer person with a Disability

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/finding-community-and-support-as-a-queer-person-with-a-disability/

Finding Community and Support as a Queer person with a Disability

“I had no capacity to communicate how severe my symptoms were and how much I needed help,” said Acacia Armstrong (@chrontiki), an LGBTIQA+ Disability advocate.

“Very few people ask how I am or offer help. Often, when I ask for help, I’m met with disbelief, criticism, and rejection.

“Eventually, I stop asking for help, and resentment grows. The people who actively support me represent hope for a brighter world.”

Challenges faced by LGBTIQA+ people with Disability

This struggle is often echoed by LGBTIQA+ people living with Disability, many of whom find it difficult to gain understanding and connection within a society that frequently overlooks their complex experiences.

Acacia has navigated the complexities of Neurodivergence and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) for over a decade.

In early 2023 she was diagnosed with Functional Disorder (FND), which includes intermittent leg paralysis.

Acacia is bisexual and sometimes asexual but exploring life beyond heterosexual relationships has been delayed by biphobia and ableism within the queer community.

Acacia’s relationship with her body has become a source of strength.

“Building that relationship with my body has been one of the most beautiful things about acquiring a Disability as a 29-year-old,” Acacia said.

“FND brought with it an unexpected gift. I have to strengthen my relationship with my body and brain to survive.

“With paralysis as the ultimate risk, a peaceful clarity came to me. I’ve never felt more loving of myself despite these symptoms. We disagree frequently, but ultimately, my body and I are a team.”

However, Acacia frequently encounters microaggressions, such as a recent incident at a pharmacy where a pharmacist questioned that someone so young needed joint pain medication.

These daily microaggressions are compounded with macroaggressions, like being discharged from hospital with paralysis and no care plan.

“Ongoing mistreatment by individuals and socio-political systems really breaks you,” she said.

Finding community and belonging

Acacia’s participation in the Our Voices Our Lives Our Way (OVOLOW) workshops in 2023 has helped transform a scary and isolating situation.

Co-designed by LGBTIQ+ people with Disability and developed by LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and the National Ethnic Disability Alliance, OVOLOW aims to build the capacity of LGBTIQA+ people with Disability to advocate for themselves and their communities by providing resources on topics such as understanding rights and the importance of intersectionality in advocacy.

For Acacia, these workshops provided a much-needed sense of community and belonging.

“It was a last-ditch hope for a community I could connect with. I felt so safe and welcomed,” she said.

The supportive environment of the workshops allowed Acacia to engage in a way that accommodated her needs, whether that meant napping or lying down with her eyes closed to reduce sensory input.

“Listening to other people’s stories reinforced that my advocacy is for those with shared experiences,” she said.

Building meaningful support systems

Looking forward, Acacia hopes the OVOLOW project will continue to highlight the diverse experiences of Queer Disabled people and foster difficult but necessary conversations.

“When you have excruciating pain every single day, you need a lot of stamina of heart and mind to keep going, and I don’t see a world where I maintain that without a community that actions love,” she said.

“Allyship is crucial when grounded in intersectionality and lived experience knowledges, but performative support is counterproductive and silencing.”

She emphasises the need to actively connect with people with Disability or chronic illnesses, by proactively checking in on their well-being and offering assistance without expecting them to carry the emotional burden.

“People with chronic illnesses or Disabilities can lead lives filled with joy and happiness despite their suffering,” she said.

“I’m currently experiencing excruciating symptoms on a daily basis, yet I’ve never been happier. If you witness Disabled Joy, don’t assume it doesn’t come with enduring challenges. Let it not be an excuse to neglect supporting vulnerable individuals in your life.”

Acacia’s advocacy highlights the need for a world where people with Disability are seen and supported, where their experiences are acknowledged without assumptions or judgments.

“The enduring belief that people with chronic illness and Disability can’t have a gorgeous life creates a world too apathetic to put love into action. I want people to believe a better world can exist, to listen, and move beyond conditional allyship.”

-To learn more about OVOLOW and access the online content, head to www.ourvoices.org.au and follow @ourvoicesourway on Instagram

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[eldritch-bf]

Zamachitz — A Wip Introduction (A Trilogy)

Summary

Faizal Kasicz, researcher, runaway, revolutionary, enlists in the Kesezevo military, along with his accomplice, Laia Bosara, to carry on his parent’s research—seized by the state years ago and the cause for his parent’s execution—at the behest of the underground, very illegal, communist organization they both belong to. This research, Faizal believes, is the key to unlocking the power the revolutionaries need to overthrow the Kesezevish government. He’s assigned under the command of Captain Satz Hästadt, war hero in Kesezevo, war criminal according to the International Alliance, and, unknown to the military, the now-dissolutioned anonymous author of The Remmarche, the exact banned book of communist theory the revolutionaries are using as a blueprint. Tentatively optimistic at the news the Revolution isn’t dead, Satz and the officers loyal to him, assist Faizal and uncover a conspiracy going back decades, pervading almost every aspect of the Kesezevish state.

World-Building

Humans in this world, usually around adolescence, manifest one of twelve elemental powers, based on their personality, and indicated by their eye color. They are referred to as [element] temper, e.g. water temper, ice temper, etc.

element - eye color - stereotype

fire - orange/red - passionate

water - blue/dark blue - gentle

wind - silver/yellow - spontaneous

earth - brown/red - responsible

metal - gray/black - stubborn

ice - near white/light blue - reserved

light - yellow/gold - jovial

shadow - purple/black - introverted

plant - light/dark green - sensitive

poison - violet/indigo - intelligent

lightning - teal/gray - energetic

glass - white/flecks - brittle

A very few people are able to transform into a Zamachitz—a massive elemental monster, believed to be the likeness of the gods themselves. When awakened for the first time, Zamachitzen are uncontrollable but overtime are able to be transformed into at will and controlled. Over the centuries there have been various explanations for this: a gift, or a curse from the god of your element. In modern times, it’s beginning to be understood as a certain product of chance and near-death experiences, the power of the Zamachitz seeming to grow with the level of trauma and hardship a person has experienced. Something which Faizal, a lightning temper, has more than his fair share of. The use of Zamachitzen, except against other Zamachitzen, has been deemed a war crime by the International Alliance, an organization Kesezevo is not a part of. During the Tattron Conflict, Satz’s Zamachitz—a fire temper—unexpectedly awoke and he went on a rampage, killing thousands of enemy soldiers, and ultimately ending the war.

(Faizal’s zamachitz.)

Features

A large cast, many disabled and neurodivergent characters, a world where queer identities are readily accepted and normalized, a slow-burn and complicated feelings mlm romance, government secrets, unethical scientific experiments, political intrigue, secret codes, unapologetic and possibly overbearing criticism of capitalism/fascism/nationalism/pitfalls of democracy, more or less functions as a communist revolution thought experiment (albeit in a fantasy setting).

If you’d like to receive updates on this wip, let me know in the replies/tags.