#neurodivergent friendly study sources

[trans-axolotl]

for anon asking about NPD/ASPD resources

For context, anon sent in an ask searching for nonstigmatizing resources for support with PD diagnoses and other stigmatized diagnoses.

And this is such a good ask--it is so fucking frustrating and dehumanizing to try to search for support when half the stuff that pops up is using really cruel language or just directed towards family and friends. The community definitely deserves better, both when it comes to the way psych professionals perpetuate stigma and in regards to the prejudice and sanism that shows up in other communities in our lives. Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of resources on hand, although I do know one good support group. The rest of the resources I know of are kind of mediocre or not PD specific, so if other people could add on I would really, really appreciate it!

Neuromancers runs a discord and a Cluster B peer support group that I've heard really good things about. I haven't been myself, so I can't 100 % vouch, but they're a group with abolitionist and mad pride values.

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's an article exploring cultural bias in PD diagnosis that links to a lot of sources that talk about how psychiatry contributes to stigma around personality disorders. I clicked through some of the studies that it links to and it does use a lot of medicalized language, but I thought I would link the article anyway in case it's ever helpful to have academic sources to show to other people.

Also not exactly what you're looking for, but another article debunking some of the common talking points about NPD in pop psychology (Content warning that it is discussing some very ableist myths in the context of challenging them)

Last sort of general resources for peer support that I have some trust that they are PD friendly are the Wildflower Alliance and Hearing Voices Network Groups. Wildflower alliance groups offer a lot of different general peer support and I have one friend with NPD who has spoken positively of those spaces. Hearing Voices Network groups can vary a lot depending on location, so defintely plan to email ahead, but I've been to a few groups that welcome people who generally identify as psych survivors/mad/ex patients who want to share community spaces around those values. Also want to share is the neurodivergent friendly workbook of DBT skills (the link is to buy it directly from the creator but if anyone who is interested can't afford it rn, dm me and I'll send you a pdf.) Again, I know this is really not super relevant to what you asked for but is one of the less stigmatizing, less medicalizing workbooks I can find for accessing info about coping skills and this is one of my general favorite support resources.

Overall I'm really sorry that I don't have better resources to offer you, and I think that really should be a sign to the mad pride/psych abolition/peer support community that we need to do a lot better job in making sure that our spaces are explicitly welcome to people with stigmatized PD diagnoses. The work shouldn't have to be on you to try to navigate these spaces and figure out whether or not you're welcome, and any spaces that offer peer support, are aligned with mad pride and psych abolition, really should be doing the work to make sure lateral violence and sanism aren't being perpetuated.

followers, esp followers with lived experience, please add on!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Welcome to Our Blog!

[Last Updated: 6/17/2023]

This is a space for us from @reticent-fate to put posts related to spirituality. We are a disordered plural system, and collectively you can call us DG (plural they/them). A few of us from the system will be using this blog, and you can meet us below! We will also have our own expanded bio pages (eventually). Also at the end of this post will be our DNI (because boundaries are important! Block us if you don't feel comfortable with us interacting with you!).

We created this blog due to feeling like there was very little space in the resources we've been collecting for people like us, both specifically as a plural system and more broadly as a member of the neurodivergent (and psychpunk adjacent) community.

There's a lack of discussion on the intersection between spirituality and psychology in most of the resources we've seen, and we'll occasionally post quite a bit about that (we have a special interest in behavioral psychology and consider ourselves psychpunk); likewise, we'll occasionally post about how plurality in particular affects our spirituality.

Please note: many of our headmates are otherkin, including some headmates that identify as spiritual entites (such as demons and deities). Our system has very hard rules about boundaries regarding identification as spiritual entities; in general, systems cannot control what introjects appear, but as it stands, there are stopgaps and gatekeepers in our system that regulate our relationship to things we can tell might trigger splits of this variety. Additionally, we do not allow our headmates to maintain names of spiritual entities they may "split" from (unless they are insourced, like Narty). That said, if a headmate still identifies as a spiritual entity (ie: as a shard), then they only identify that way functionally within our system. Do not be weird about this, please. Please please please.

We mention it because it is a huge part of why spirituality has been so difficult for us, and we will bitch about it on occasion. We are not saying we are anyone's god, nor are we demanding you treat us that way. The spiritual connection to the divine is a complicated, messy thing. Especially for systems like ours. Don't. Be. Weird about it.

Mods

Ellia (she/her) - The brains behind this operation (/joking). From the same innerworld source as Artura. Responsible for an irresponsible collection of tarot decks bought on clearance for the sake of "science" (comparing the Five of Cups in them all). Also responsible for making this blog, because she got sick of hearing advice that's excessively difficult to employ for plural systems, let alone headmates with exomemories under other stars. Practices a mishmash hodgepodge of tiny things here and there. Trying to reconstruct her beliefs from fragmented exomemories, which included dice divination and a more casual/friendly relationship to the innerworld gods.

Sol (he/him, they/them) - The guy that's really interested in Christianity as a concept. The holy weirdo to contrast Heitaros's demonic shenanigannery and Narty's apathetic middle ground. Doesn't practice Christianity so much as the study of it is his practice (especially scholarship that remembers the more radical Table Flipping Jesus that was 100% an anticapitalist anarchist). Especially interested in the lens of self-care and "holy" endeavors through the body as extension of the divine; ie: "there is divinity in all things and thus it is my duty to be kind to all things not willfully cruel; that including the self."

Heitaros (he/him) - A fictive who has his own otherkin blog, but also is vaguely spiritually weird because of it. Both identifies as Heitaros (a character) and partially with the concept of Satan as Accuser (in his understanding/role in-system: that which questions, especially with regards to structures). Interested in the intersection of psychological and spiritual (like Narty) but more from the perspective of an entity that recognizes where psychological origins can exist while embracing the messy spirituality that his identity imbues him with. His practices primarily involve a lot of hodgepodge like Ellia (he's a system host, so he kind of has to keep a hodgepodge going), but he's interested in lucid dream working, as well as past life work due to his otherkin identity.

Artura (he/him, they/them) or Nova (he/him) ; Sometimes referred to as Narty- From the same innerworld source as Ellia. God of Light, Linear Time, and Magic. Technically a two for one deal. The local anthropology nerd(s), that essentially practices through research. Mostly research. Like an obscene amount of research. May only show up when he wants to complain about ableism and Ellia isn't able to type her thoughts on the matter. Particularly interested in the intersection between psychological and spiritual (like Heitaros), from the idea of psychology as a bastardized spiritual practice (this is a very reductive explanation, and we have a lot to write about it; this isn't saying psychology is religion, but it is saying that functionally speaking, structures associated with psychology lend itself to the interpretation of the psychological as intrinsically spiritual). Generally dislikes dabbling in practice if it involves the risk of disturbing entities or could exacerbate system-wide anxieties. Plays the role of headspace therapist and thus is more interested in dissection of craft and understanding psychology through the spiritual lens (especially at the edges of where hard science and data cannot map).

Important Tags

#[Mod Name] - Anything posted for the perusal of individual headmates* running the blog.

#[Mod Name] talks - What it says on the tin*!

#ramblings - Catchall for the above tag

#ref mats - Self explanatory as well!

#disability - Posts about disability, because this blog is about the intersection of disability and spirituality

#promo - Posts promoting other folks' stuff (ex: tarot readings, pendulum readings, etc.).

More tags to be added!

*Note: Since Nova and Artura are a median subsystem, sometimes their posts may include both their names. Narty is our fun nickname for the research disaster duo, but not a great functional tag lol.

DNI

anti-otherkin

homophobic/transphobic

terf/radfem

transmed

swerf

proship/anti-anti/etc.

queer exclusionist

racist, pro cop

ableist

anti-endogenic, anti-nontraumagenic, anti-thoughtform, etc.

[adventuresinhistory]

Blog Post 8 Digital Project Review Draft

 Dr. Kathleen Thompson’s Ratification of the 19th Amendment: Timeline Map is a digital tour through the US centered on the sites where each state ratified the 19th amendment. This work is a thematic research collection with links to additional works in women’s history. Perhaps poorly named, the project is much more a map and archive than a timeline.

Hosted on Clio, a site typically used for generating local historic walking tours, and an interesting choice for a nationwide “timeline map”. The tour features a Google maps base route to each of the 48 state houses where ratification took place. While the tour through the state house follows the chronological order of ratification the site fails to provided a timeline that truly portrays the difference in speed at which each state ratified the amendment. This is especially unfortunate as the roughly 50 year difference between the first few states to ratify and the last featured, Florida, is reflective of the long fight suffragettes faced to secure women’s rights prior to the introduction of the 19thamendment. 

On the tour, each stop features a quick introduction the to state’s path to ratification. Additionally, digitized pictures, three dimension rendering of the state capitols,  and news articles provide visualizations to enhance the entry. The site’s strongest point comes from the additional information links at each site. These links lead to additional sources on women’s fight for equality in each state. They  feature both additional digital resources as well as places to obtain printed materials on the topic. These link form the basis of the archive which can generate continued research on the subject. 

Besides these outside links, the site is lacking in contextualization. It does not address the historiography of women’s rights. Not only does it fail to fully realized the temporal delays in ratification after congressional adoption of the amendment, it fails to address the larger social, cultural, and economic factors the influenced ratification. 

The  site is very user friendly. The site works well on mobile platforms, which makes it a prime resource for our increasing on the go culture. Additionally, built in speech to text services are available on each page for the stops through out the tour. This increases the sites accessibility for neurodivergent visitors, as well as those with sight-related difficulties. The site also includes full citations for  each page, which can encourage student use of the site in  their own works. 

Overall, the site appears to be more of an archive to support additional research than a fully developed historiographical narrative. As such, it is bound to receive intense scrutiny as a work of scholarly inquiry. However, archival sites like this are equally important in increasing accessibility to historical study as those with clearer narratives. Indeed, one may ever argue sites like this that leave interpretation up to the user are more apt to generating additional research than those that tell the use what to think. 

Bibliography 

Thompson, Kathleen. "Ratification of the 19th Amendment: Timeline Map.” Clio: Your Guide to History. July 7, 2021. Accessed October 25, 2022. https://www.theclio.com/tour/1953

[art-of-mathematics]

Hello! I was wondering what textbooks you would recommend for someone looking to get into mathematical proofs and introductory physics. I don't have physics in my courses this year so any notes would be helpful. Thanks!

Hello there!

I am glad you approached my ask box (or me).

Unfortunately I may not have the answers you might be searching, but I found Keith Devlin's book Introduction to Mathematical Thinking helpful as an intro. (It's neither a textbook nor is it exactly about mathematical proofs.)

Do my fellow math peers here know some good textbooks and want to share? Please feel free to reblog with some infos and references. (I would like to know some good books about mathematical proofs as well.)

As for physics I consider the Feynman lectures merely well-written.

[Caltech has uploaded the Feynman lectures as digital format/website:]

Another source I enjoy is Hyperphysics. [... although it is not a textbook either, but a good website]

It's a very neat and very basic html website with many good javascript boxes to directly play with some equations, as well as it contains well-summarized information and an overall good visualization and explanation of the concepts.

The mindmaps with topics (and sub-topics) are clickable:

Sub-topics are chunked into well-summarized: boxes:

And the plain/simple javascript forms are helpful for getting a quick intuitive feeling for the concepts when playing around:

(It helps me to make it compatible with my imagination. I don't know if other people might find this helpful as well.)

I consider this website merely neurodivergent-friendly, as it's well-summarized, well-structured, well-visualized, chunked, minimalist and quick-to-the-point, while also using very basic design, which makes it quick to load as well as more minimalist to look at - meaning less distraction and more focus for the depicted topics/concepts.

And you have an index window on the side which you can close:

[astriiformes]

@roguelibrarian did a neat tag thing awhile ago (aka back when i still didn’t have a computer and couldn’t make a post like this) encouraging people to list their ten favorite characters from ten different fandoms, and sort of umbrella-tagged anyone who wanted to do it as well, so i’m stealing it for my own

this was harder than i thought it might be and there were a handful of worthy candidates that ultimately didn’t make the list, but i think the results give a decently accurate picture of who i am as a person. (they’re not in any sort of ranked order though. i couldn’t do that to myself)

1) star wars - luke skywalker, because how could i say anyone else other than one of my favorite characters of all time. he’s the soft male protagonist i need to see in fiction, and his boundless hope and optimism are really important to me (certain movies that shall not be named are, consequently, completely ignored). although for this particular fandom i do have to list an honorable mention, because bodhi rook is the most accurate depiction i have ever seen of my anxiety in a fictional character, and i love him for it

2) carmilla - lafontaine, trans paranormal scientist of my heart. do i honestly need to say any more than that. they embody so many things that i love. of course they make the list

3) atlantis: the lost empire - milo thatch is another much kinder and more empathetic male protagonist, and the academic linguistics interest is a great bonus. and his nervousness. deeply relatable in some embarrassing ways

4) gravity falls - stanford pines is my complete opposite in some areas, and a direct callout in others. his existence kind of helped me in some areas of my life, and undoubtedly made others worse, but honestly, that’s on me for being way too invested in fiction and proof that he’s a legitimately great character with both strengths and flaws. if nothing else, my goal in life is still to steal his entire aesthetic. plus, certain comments in journal three make him feel a little like the closest thing i’ve ever seen to an aro character, at least for now. so that’s nice

5) pacific rim - newton geiszler is another character i like a lot and as a result, apparently, have to ignore an entire movie from his source material to avoid being sincerely messed up. a little bit like ford in that my clinging to him for my entire senior year of high school was both good and bad, but hey, i think the ultimate impression was a good one. the actual literal reason i’m studying biology now, so that’s something

6) stranger things - will byers had to be included on this list entirely because i not only love him, but i decided i loved him after about five minutes and didn’t yet know the plot of the entire show was going to revolve around him going missing in another dimension, leading to gleeful friendly mocking from my friends about me having a type. legitimately though, he’s great. another softer male protagonist (gee, do you think i might have another type?) who i wish could have an easier time of things

7) back to the future - marty mcfly may not be the choice everyone would expect of me (“really nate? you’re not going for the eccentric scientist?”) but i do have my reasons. largely involving pretty strong headcanons. i’m firm in my belief that it’s very easy to interpret marty as trans and neurodivergent and i love him for it

8) ars paradoxica - sally grissom follows up as another wonderful time traveler whose personality i adored long before the biggest reason she makes the list was even canon: ace protagonist. but even if that weren’t true she’d still be a big candidate -- i love scientists, and i love people trying to process difficult mental health situations. of course she appeals to me

9) critical role - percy de rolo is the most recent addition to this list, mostly becuse everything about him reads like taliesin jaffe created his character by mostly by looking at list of tropes i’m a sucker for. he was my favorite party member long before the reveal that, oh, yeah, did we mention he made an unfortunate deal with a demon? props to the people who knew me and my fictional weaknesses as i started liveblogging this show and withheld your amusement over my preferences until after i knew about that particular plot point. i don’t know how you did it

10) doctor who - “the doctor” is broad but does encompass the character i’m trying to say i love, if i were to narrow it down the eighth and twelfth doctors are probably the nearest and dearest to my heart. the show has a lot of ups and downs but the general persistence that the universe is big and marvelous and exciting and isn’t it great that we’re a part of it will always strike a chord with me. there’s an eighth doctor quote that i absolutely adore, where he’s talking about the nature of the universe to a disillusioned grad student and his general sentiment ends on the note “why not get enthusiastic about it?” and i love that. i love that so much

..........and i’m not officially putting him on the list because i would feel silly doing that with a character i created myself. but i cannot talk about characters that i like and not mention my sweet anxious ranger, my wonderful d&d boy, erwyn cestacelvar. i never understood people getting emotional about or invested in their own ocs until the campaign i made him for. i cannot express how important he is to me. which is wild

i’m going to follow in winter’s shoes and blanket tag everyone interested in doing this instead of tagging specific people. if you decide to do it, have fun!

[autstudy]

STUDY MONDAY #3

Study Place Essentials! (according to me)

This is an article discussing what I think are essential items for autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people to have at their study place. I do not discuss things that aren’t ND specific (such as why colored pens are great or why making notes is better than just reading). There’s plenty of posts and articles like that. I’ll focus on things I consider important and give reasons why. I will also give you some ND study tips! So, let’s look at my study place.

1. Ear plugs

This is very important for autistic people and others with sensory processing differences: get rid of all sensory distractions! You might not notice it, but it will harm your focus and productivity immensely. If after an hour of studying you didn’t manage to learn or do anything and feel more tired than you would expect, sensory overstimulation is a very likely reason. If you already know which of your senses are overstimulated, make sure to bring helpful items such as ear plugs, headphones, sunglasses, comfortable clothes, etc. If not, spend some time figuring out whether anything bothers you. Believe me, it will make a difference.

2. Tangle Jr

Some of my senses are often overstimulated, but others are often understimulated. That is true for my proprioception - it is quite weak. As a result I do a lot of movement stims, including hand motion stims. Unfortunately that often means scratching myself or picking at my own skin. I really don’t notice that I’m doing it, especially when I’m focused, so the best solution for me is to keep a stim toy with me. Usually it’s a spinner ring, but here I put a tangle Jr on the table because it’s one of my favorite stim toys.

If you know that you stim a lot when focused and studying, stim toys might help you. It’s especially important if some of your stims are harmful, like my scratching. Even if you don’t feel fidgety now, still put a stim toy on the table. You might need it later. Remember that there are good alternatives to almost all harmful stims: if you bite your nails, there are chewable toys; if you pick hair, there are hairy stim toys; and so on: put some time into research and it’s likely you will find a solution.

3. A glass of water

Many people will enthusiastically talk about how you are supposed to drink eight glasses of water, no less, every single day. Even if you aren’t thirsty. I don’t agree with that, because it’s not true! No one should force themselves to drink if they don’t want to, and the daily norm varies a lot depending on your weight, age and level of physical activity. The reason I still put “a glass of water” in this list is because like many autistic people I actually have trouble knowing when I am thirsty. Often enough I won’t remember until I see a bottle of water or a water filter, and then I’ll drink two full glasses in one go!

That’s why I keep water or some other drink near me when studying. Even if I don’t feel thirsty, I might glance at the glass and realize it. Then I can sip from the straw and not worry about spilling it all over my books (which with motor dyspraxia is quite likely). Also a friendly reminder that juice, tea, coffee and even soda are all excellent sources of H2O as long as you aren’t consuming too much sugar or caffeine. Caffeine has a tendency to dehydrate you but it’s a fairly small effect, so one-two cups will replenish your water balance just as good as pure water.

4. A reward box with low-energy study break activity suggestions

This is a study hack I use for studying something I don’t like. I used it a lot when preparing for my biology of plants exam (which, to be honest, I didn’t pass that well, but I did pass it on my first try!). It’s a reward box filled with suggestions of study break activities: playing my favorite iPad games, watching YouTube videos, going on Buzzfeed, drinking a cup of tea, and so on. When the subject is dull I cannot hyperfocus no matter how much I try, so I keep looking at the clock and asking for the study break to come sooner. With some rewards waiting for me, I can motivate myself to focus just a bit more and stick with the subject until the break.

A great motivator for studying boring stuff is special interest time! After some work done, there’s nothing better than engaging with your special interest in some way. I used it a lot, including in silly ways (like pretending that different types of plant tissue are Doctor Who aliens with certain traits and superpowers). One note though, make sure your study break activities are low-energy and don’t require as much attention. Switching tasks is already draining, so you better do something ridiculously simple for study breaks - like playing Candy Crush or watching cat videos.

5. (not pictured) Study Plan

I know I always talk about study plans but it’s because I find them immensely useful. When you have executive dysfunction, it might be really difficult to do many things: remember to do tasks, switch between them, break them down into steps, even just start tasks. In my opinion precise and detailed plans help a lot. Prepare them on a good executive functioning day and keep it near you. You can do it on paper or in an app. Make it in three sections: main parts, intermediate steps, daily goal. For example when revising for my zoology exam, my plan could look like this:

II. Revision notes 1. Protists 1) Read chapter one of the book 2) Translate all the words I didn’t understand 3) Rewrite key definitions and information summary for three phyla

It helped me to stay on task and accurately predict how much time each part will take. As a result I finished couple of days earlier and had time to read my revision notes again and recall the information better. And I got the grade I was hoping for! ———-

That’s all I wanted to show you. What do you think? Whah are some your study place essentials? Share you info in replies or through asks!