#this month has been an autism win

[actually-autisticc]

FOXY

IS

SO

CUTE

LOOK AT HOW HIS EARS PERK UP LIKE THAT 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I FUCKING LOVE YOU

[officerdougeiffel]

cha cha cha is still in top 10 spotify songs in latvia I cant

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for inviting my cousin to an LGBT meet up?

Cw: mentions of suicide and transphobia

I (18M) am a trans man and my cousin N (21F) is a lesbian who is very masc presenting. We're the only queer cousins in the family (at least in our generation) so weve always been good friends and shes been one of the biggest supporters of my transition, defended me from bigoted family members and always corrected family when they used my deadname/old pronouns. I lowkey hoped she would come out as a trans man or nonbinary as well. We dress in the same style which makes it so when were hanging out together one of us is gonna get misgendered since people asume both of us are trans men or masc girls. When N is the one being misgendered she doesnt bother fighting it since its more trouble than its worth but looking back i think it really annoyed her.

Earlier this year N was severely struggling with her mental health. I apologize for the wording i may have since i dont know the proper terminology for this stuff or any specific disorder diagnosis she may have (other than autism). She was having some sort of manic or depressive episode. She was dead set on pushing people away and making them hate her so she could take her own life without regrets.

I visited N once to give her my support during a struggling time but i stupidly told her there was nothing she could say that would push me away. She told me not to test her but i kept pushing it and i admit what happened next was my fault. She told me in a very cold voice that she was a terf, though that she didnt want me dead but that "we" (im guessing she meant trans ppl) made it so much harder for her to exist(???????). I didnt let her keep talking just and left her room, said my goodbyes to her family and just cried while driving home.

Im still not sure if she meant it or if it was part of her mental episode and just a way for her to hurt me and push me away. On one hand ig it explains some of her behavior? N sometimes complained when she got asked for her pronouns or being misgendered like I mentioned before. On the other hand, I gen do not believe she has been a terf all along esp with how supportive shes been of me. If she was a terf youd think she would try to subtly talk me out of it, but that has never happened. My friends have nicknamed her schrodinger's terf lol

Anyway, i went no contact with N for a few months for my own wellbeing. During this time i heard that she tried to kill herself a few times, which got her into a mental hospital. She was given higher doses of meds and seems to be doing way better.

We had a family reunion this week and i decided to approach her. N seemed a little hesitant to talk to me but stayed polite. I tried testing her and talked about the effects T has been having on me but she acted like she always had and congratulated me and even complimented me on how deep my voice has gotten. I wasnt satisfied cause i wanted an apology for what she had said to me so i pushed it more. She did end up apologzing but it was a very surface level apology. At this point i didnt want to keep pushing in case it set her off again so i just took her apology (plus i wanted my best cousin back) and spent the rest of the day hanging out with her.

On the way home my mom said she was happy me and N had made up and that i should invite her to the lgbt club meetings Ive been going to this year. It seemed like a good idea to me, she lost a few friends during her episode and she could make more queer friends here. If N is trans and just in denial it could help her get the resources she needs to feel comfortable coning out. If N IS a terf maybe having more positive interactions with trans ppl could change her mind on it. Overall i thought it would be a win for her.

I brought it up to my friends and some of them blew up at me. Their argument was that itd be exposing the other trans ppl in the group to a terf and putting them in danger. I truly hadnt considered this angle so im kinda conflicted now. She had never felt like an unsafe person before and now that her episode is over she feels normal again. Even if she is a terf i dont think she could actually cause harm? I want N to get better but i dont want to put my trans friends at risk.

So tumblr, WIBTA for inviting N to my lgbt meet up?

What are these acronyms?

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Hi Clan! I haven't been around in a while the autism took me for a few months sorry. Would you do some headcanons for Miles and/or Gwen meeting a Mutant!Spider-Person reader? Like an X-Men type mutant. They never got bit but were instead born with the spider powers (including the webs) and 4 arms. Because they're a mutant they aren't really trusted as a hero by the people of their city (or the cops) but they still try their best because "If I gave up because a few people didn't like me, I wouldn't be very good at my job"

-Forgetful Anon

Gwen Stacy

While visiting Spider Society HQ for the first time, she noticed you sitting at a nearby table, having an arm-wrestling match against Ben Riley.

He insisted you used all four of your arms to "challenge" him....and yet he sulks when he ultimately loses, and you just laugh in victory before patting him on the back.

Once he leaves, you spot this new Spiderwoman and wave her over to your table, insisting on having a match.

It's just your way of breaking the ice for new Spiderpeople. You loved getting to know them and testing their strength. Winning or losing doesn't matter to you.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on ya." You tease, only to be surprised as Gwen wins with little effort, her smug grin present.

"You went a little "too" easy on me, I think."

"Haha...jeez, I guess so."

And so you both talk for a little while about different things: what she thought of Spider Society, how long she's been Spiderwoman, etc.

When she turns the questions on you, however, you're....a bit hesitant to share.

Unlike most of the Spiderpeople here, you didn't get your powers in the "traditional" sense. No spider has ever bitten you.

Seeing Gwen's curiosity, though, you eventually tell her you're actually a mutant, a human born with the X-gene that made you into a spider hybrid.

You mentioned a league of mutant superheroes in your dimension.....but you ride solo, as most Spiderpeople do, not wanting to be tied down to any specific group (ironic as you're part of Spider Society, but that's besides the point).

She imagines the people there feel pretty safe, though you shake your head. "Nah, some see us as the bigger threat just because we look like this and have all these crazy powers. I've fought aliens and wizards, but...there's some battles that you just can't punch or shoot webs at, y'know?"

Her expression changes to a slightly solemn one, nodding her head in sympathy. "You're fighting for basic respect."

"We just want fair treatment...and it's like we're asking them for the world. All I wanna do is protect my city, but it's hard when half the population hates us and thinks we brought the trouble to them."

"I can't imagine.." She frowns. "If I might ask..what keeps you going? Why bother if nobody even thanks you or sees you as a hero? What's the point?"

"......."

"...sorry, was that too deep-?"

"No, no..you're good, kid." You chuckle, feeling more relaxed. "All my life I've dealt with that stuff, and it still sometimes hurts, but if I gave up just because some people didn't like me, well...I'd be terrible at my job as a Spiderperson."

Gwen's impressed by your words, not expecting to have such a deep conversation about your "origin story" at the first meeting.

But she's glad she could talk to you, needing this distraction from the incident with her dad while she was questioning her own self-worth as Spiderwoman.

You reassure her she can come to you for advice anytime.

Miles Morales (E-1610)

You first met Miles after getting thrown into his dimension thanks to the collider explosion, taking comfort in knowing you're not the most "unusual" spiderperson around.

There's a pig and an anime girl with a psychic link to her spider, for crying out loud.

Anyways, you had faith that he could help you get back to your dimension, never doubting him unlike the other spiderpeople who firmly believed he wasn't ready for this task.

You followed him after he left May's basement to talk one-on-one, sympathizing with his struggles.

"Trust me, kid..I've been in your shoes once. I never felt like a Spiderman in my life..even now."

He stares at you in disbelief. "Really? You? But...you got all your powers at birth! I mean yeah, you weren't bitten, but....but you're already better at this than I am! I bet people really admire you-"

"I've had my fair share of doubters, Miles. All of us have, but I got it...particularly bad in my world. And not just because I'm a "masked vigilante putting myself about the law"."

He's still a bit lost, so you tell him about the unfair treatment of mutantkind in your dimension, speaking of how some people hated you so much...they sought to "cure" your X-genes.

It stings to know that they will shun you instead of seeing you as a hero, though you didn't wanna ramble on for too long and depress Miles further, seeing his frown growing.

"You say all of this, and yet...you think I can help you get back there. Why would you ever wanna go back to a world that hates you just for being yourself? For just trying to do the right thing even if everyone's telling you no?"

"Well..besides dying if I stay in this dimension--" You begin, painfully glitching for a moment as if to prove that point. "--ouch...look, I just can't abandon the people who need me. The ones who do see me as a hero. It's my duty, and...if I gave up trying to be Spiderman just because I get a few stares or snide comments...well then I'm not really Spiderman, am I?"

Miles doesn't know what to say...but he does feel incredibly inspired by your words.

He only wishes the others trusted him like you did.

Patting his shoulder, you remove your mask and smile at him. "Don't their words bring you down, kid. You got potential...they'll realize it soon enough."

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 2 MASHUP 4

Winry Rockbell (Full Metal Alchemist) vs Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum (Adventure Time)

Winry Rockbell is an Automail Mechanic!

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum is a Bioenginner, Chemist and Roboticist!

Why you should vote for each contestant:

Winry Rockbell:

"The best automail mechanic in the whole of Amestris: need I say more? She’s also the only person who can really get Edward Elric to listen / scare him"

"She's super smart and is crazy about mechanics, but she's also so kind and compassionate! She helped deliver a baby, she cares really deeply for her friends and family! She truly rocks!"

"i’m a biomedical engineer so she is the best women in stem"

"she’s extremely skilled and dedicated to her craft, her work is very high quality (she’s also the personal mechanic for one of the protagonists) and she has a dedication to improving the lives of the people around her in any way she can (and she has so much autism swag about automail, it’s a joy to watch). i love her your honour"

"She's so good and so fun and she's trying her best. She makes sure the prosthetics work and they're super plot important!!!!!"

"She can build and repair robot limbs AND attach them to human nerves"

"She’s only 15 and is repairing magic-infused heavy machinery for fun"

"Spunky, kind, and smart as hell... one of the shounen manga girls of all time."

"At age fifteen she could build a whole metal arm in 3 days (pulling all nighters)! She geeks out over the work of other prosthetics engineers and earned herself an apprenticeship where the shop's costumers began to prefer her after only a few months! She's kind but takes no shit and narratively symbolizes the goodness of humanity. also she read medical textbooks as a kid (her parents were both doctors) and was able to apply that knowledge for successful impromptu midwifery years later!"

"She is practically a child engineering Genius! Designs and makes prosthetics. She takes her work very seriously and geeks out over other people's designs. She is such a beautifully written strong female character that holds her own in a fandom full of amazing strong female characters and a great role model. She's Hella cute"

"She is considered a prodigy in her field, and is known as the “Automail Otaku” because of her unending interest of any machines and tools in the building and repairing of automail. She is incredibly smart, sincere, and passionate. She works hard for what she wants, is full of optimism despite what she has suffered, and is very loyal to her friends."

"built a fully functioning prosthetic arm for her friend when she was TWELVE basically by herself and has been his regular mechanic since. also heavily dabbles in the medical side as well as the mechanical side (for example: she successfully delivered a baby single-handedly at fifteen having only ever read about the subject before). she is so skrunkly she’s an icon a legend and she is the moment"

"Listen any girl who can master mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and biology in order to build prosthetic limbs by the age of 12 is Impressive. She’s the one that got me onto an engineering career path I’m very biased"

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum:

"She’s a freak about it! she is committing horrors in there but just lowkey, and she’s having fun doing it which is what matters"

"She cares about her people to an absolute fault and all her evil science is for them (when it’s not simply for sciences sake) and that’s why she’s a girlboss <3"

"She’s unethical. She’s a mother. She’s a monster. She lives in a world of magic but only believes in science. She was even a lesbian. PB for the win!"

"she is a pink lesbian!! she has committed war crimes!! she is much more complex than the audience's (and the main character's) initial impression of her!! she created an entire kingdom that she rules and when she gets voted out she loses her sense of identity!! and loves her subjects and also spies on them!! she is trying not to be so mean!! she is passionate about her science work and she loves her girlfriend!!! SHE IS SO GREAT. her gf Marcy is actually my favorite but bonnibel's relationship with family and home is super compelling, everything from her abusive/controlling uncle who tried to force her into a het relationship to her (metaphorically) intellectually disabled younger brother who she loves so much because people get built different! we don't need to know why we just need to respect them! thank you. I love her"

"Organizes conferences for people to present their scientific findings, created life forms when she was lonely, has committed so many war crimes (including intergalatically) using tech she invented, lost an election because she assumed people would care more about facts than charisma (they did not), is gay. Spent a thousand years pining for her rockstar vampire ex-girlfriend. 💕💞💕"

"She has a RAT named SCIENCE. One time in the comics she also did a flip and kicked a door down while saying ""physics I swear to gob if you don't work now I swear physics I SWEAR"" she was literally threatening physics. Anyways physics worked good for her! She has built an entire kingdom from the ground up INCLUDING its life forms. She HATES wizards with a passion. Magic to her is just science with silly presentation. It's implied she's been to wizard prison a lot of times before. HOWEVER she also has a vampire half-demon girlfriend so yeah. Oh yeah she's gay too. "I have a disease that makes me like vampires and titties its called being a fucking genius""

"She is the best woman in STEM because she LITERALLY created and genetically engineered the people of her kingdom, built incredible robot guardians to fight off intruders, and continues to experiment (including an experiment gone wrong where she was trying to resurrect dead citizens) in spite of being a busy princess (and lowkey dictator) ruling her kingdom solo. She created/built her own family (aside from her brother), and eliminated them when they tried to rule over her and stop her from being an independent scientist. She is multitalented, hardworking, and just unethical enough to keep things fun and entertaining! She has no ethics board, so the experiments get wild! She is so Blorbo, you know? Also people don't acknowledge her science stuff enough, I want her to get more recognition as the insane, wonderful mad scientist she is."

"She’s an unethical mad scientist who experiments on her subjects. What’s not to love"

"Invents gadgets/devices and even created her own citizens"

"For the realness of working in the lab endlessly without sleep (Ignore that she set up a police state I guess)"

"Literally built an entire kingdom citizen by citizen"

"She bioengineered an entire country . Kinda fucked up, but that's okay"

[fictional-library-tournament]

Prelims round 1, poll 4

Propaganda

Scarlet Hollow Town Hall/Library, Scarlet Hollow:

-has a stupid creepy ass mural depicting the murder the town did to the local coal baron in the 1800's

-literally haunted

-dilf librarian

-dilf librarian's house is a part of the same building

-has a cat

-dogs are allowed

-makes you repent for your family's sins

-the town mayor is a dog and they host him in the library every month on "mayor jimmy day"

The Arcanaeum, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:

Urag gro-Shub is BAE. And it’s a very pretty library.

The Archive (with the recipe book), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood:

None

The School Library, Clannad (visual novel):

you meet the sad girl with science autism in there

Kiersau Abbey Library, Pentiment:

You know how libraries these days are places for more than just books? This was one of these 500 years before it was cool. Here you can find old heretical texts, hot nun goss, secret passages, gay sex, delicious symbolism that represents the crumbling of an oppressive religious institution and increased education for the masses... what more could you ask for?

UPDATE: Minecraft Uncensored library has been disqualified for the reason of not being fictional.

Please don't vote for it. If it wins, the second place library will go through instead. Apologies for not catching it earlier.

[cottagecorearoacelesbian]

Do not despair rottmnt fandom! We still have a ninja’s greatest weapon—hope! If we keep hoping, Donnie just might win! But why should you vote for Donnie, you ask? Well…

Donnie is canonically autistic and has so much swag it’s unreal.

Donnie has helped educate people on autism and neurodivergence in general. He may or may not have been the driving force for my realization that I might be autistic. Donnie seriously changed my life with that piece of information.

Donnie is very realistic autistic representation. He’s just an autistic character who’s allowed to exist and exhibit autistic traits without being scrutinized for it. I love when he stims!

Donnie presents many autistic traits such as low empathy, monotone voice, sensory issues, difficulty with emotions and feelings, special interests and stimming!

In conclusion, please vote for the autistic turtle! Maybe it’s because I’ve been fixated on rottmnt and autism for the past seven months but I genuinely believe that he deserves to win. I hope that you can give Donnie the support he needs to win this competition with his clear superior autism swag! 💜💜💜

@autismswagsummit @autismswagreblogs

(I am way too invested in this competition, someone help. Even if Donnie doesn’t win, he’ll always be a winner in my heart!)

🐢💜

[random-thought-depository]

I got "Tumblr is a hook-up app" to work for me! Yesterday I saw a post written by a trans woman saying she wanted to find male partners she could trust to see her as a woman but who might enjoy calling her a boy as a kind of sexual play, I offhandedly made a reply saying that I think I might be able to give her what she wants, the OP replied to me suggesting I approach her the next time I was in her area, apparently I might be able to give her something she finds really hot but doesn't get very often. That was not something I was expecting, but was a very pleasant surprise! A few rounds of DMing later and me and her have arranged a meeting for casual sex in June, when she already had plans to visit the approximate area I live in.

I asked her if it was OK if I posted about this and she said yes.

I was worried she might be put off when I disclosed that I'm a virgin, but it turned out she's OK with that. So, assuming all goes well, I've basically got an appointment to lose my virginity in three months! OMG SQUEE!

She's post-vaginoplasty/SRS. :dazzled heart-eyes:

If you're a pre-op/non-op trans woman reading this I don't mean to insult your body type, I just have a preference for partners with vulvas/vaginas (preference as in "all else being equal I am pretty sure I'd enjoy sex with a person with this feature more," it isn't a requirement for me to be attracted to somebody) and am happy that a person who wants to have sex with me has a body type congruent with this preference.

I wrote here that one of the biggest things I don't have and would like is an erotic life that sometimes involves having sex with one or more other people, lately to try to fix that I have resolved to try to be less timid about expressing sexual and romantic interest, and it looks like that's starting to pay off!

I spent yesterday evening in a better mood than I can remember being in in years. I've been wondering if I have depression or something but what I experienced yesterday made me wonder if my melancholy is mostly or entirely just shit life syndrome.

Tonight I will have a chicken katsu take-out meal for dinner, because it's the closest thing I can conveniently get to katsudon and the association of katsudon with victory is pleasing in this context.

Anyway, I generally had a really good day yesterday. When I was at the polling place to vote I ended up having a nice conversation with a college student who was ahead of me in the line. It started with me noticing her playing with a stim toy, asking if I could try it a little, and saying I'd never seen an autism symptom list I didn't see myself in, and we ended up comparing experiences of neurodivergence.

It would have been better if the election results were better, in particular I'm unsurprised but disappointed that Barbara Lee didn't get more votes, I had the good fortune to get to vote for her and she deserved to win IMO.

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

hai,,, what r ur sulemio headcanons

OHH I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!!

they are autism4autism this is Very important to understand. suletta stims by swinging herself around miorine stims by being swung around and the distinction is small but IMPORTANT. this also because literally every time i try to write suletta being happy i always imagine her straight up wiggling around with it and i Fully imagine that when they're lying around some nights and cuddling she will just swing miorine around with her while she joyously rolls entirely from one side of the bed to the other on her back giggling and kicking her feet etc etc. miorine is like This is perfect for me I am winning

this also relates to this one tweet that changed me as a person lmao i am of the very firm belief that miorine needs to sometimes be Crushed into a Hug. compressed into a file even. flattened like in a tom and jerry cartoon. and suletta needs to be Holding something all the time. autistic girls who stim by hugging (they are in love). you understand. miorine discovers weighted blankets and her life is changed.

adding onto this they need to be touching All the Time they cannot go anywhere without grabbing onto each other. miorine consistently is like no you dont understand i have to be holding onto her every second of every day or i'll die and for suletta this is just normal behaviour that everyone expects

personally i do Not see miorine as butch (i see the vision though.... i see the vision) but i feel like she would get to earth and start looking into earth history and discover butches and her mind would be BLOWN

EVEN MORE AUTISM!!! miorine has sensory issues regarding clothes and is very specific about the work outfits she wears because otherwise she will have the literal worst day in the world and come home and just Not talk for a 24 hours straight. suletta of course is like. why do you own this blazer anyway it's Evil

they are always talking to each other all the time every moment of every day when they are separated for work reasons LMAO i keep seeing art thats like. work mio vs talking to suletta mio and i think that idea is SO funny. she goes from being your very serious boss to 'affgdhfjdsfggfsgjfgsdh hiii ♥♥♥♥♥♥' the MOMENT her wife is on call and she is So insufferable about it. suletta is equally annoying she will literally get a call and be like 'excuse me MY WIFE is ringing :)' and be on the phone for the next hour telling miorine about her day in excruciating detail (they are going to call again when miorine's meetings end in less than 2 hours). earth house is very divided on whether it's absurdly cute or not (chuchu vs Everyone Else)

miorine and elnora very specifically only get along for the purpose of making suletta happy LMAO they don't hate each other but they are absolutely not at any level of friendship and will likely not be for a very very long time. elnora does help with her work stuff a lot because she's used to the insane machinations of loser capitalists though

speaking of relationships with elnora i think it takes suletta a long time to work through the whole repli-child stuff and it's very important to her that she starts on that separately to spending more time with elnora. she tells miorine about the whole thing (she's been trying to work up the courage for months) and miorine is immediately like. do you want me to punch her for you. i will punch your mother for you. this is great for suletta because she fully thought miorine was going to break off the engagement and everything (there is no basis for this) + she continues to have a lot of identity issues about it as regular life progresses because it turns out that pretending that everything is fine does not in fact make it fine!!

i choose to believe that there is enough space in the cockpit of chuchus mobile suit for them to squish in behind her seat when miorine comes and finds her after quiet zero. suletta is barely conscious but miorine (who is terrified she will just die there and then) keeps talking to her (mostly sobbing hysterically and telling her off for making her think she was dead) and its at this point that suletta asks her if she loves her. (chuchu is very pointedly pretending not to notice and doing her best to tune them out)

miorine, still sobbing hysterically: oh my g-d. are you insane. of course im in love with you. what do you think all of this was about suletta: oh sweet! :3

i have written this scene out and will post it one day i think it's the catradora in me thats like. they HAVE to have a love confession and kiss NOW. i just think itd be so neat if it paralleled their first meeting even more.... miorine helps suletta take off her helmet and kisses her.... do you see my vision

suletta plays the guitar and miorine sings. you agree. reblog.

genuinely though i think suletta would pick up guitar to help with her hands and miorine, who is also getting back into playing piano around this time, gets into the habit of singing along while she's doing things around the house

suletta calls her wheelchair aerial 2.0 and nuno and ojelo help her paint it in aerial's colours. when she moves to crutches they get the holder colours

technically they still have a year of school to go but for most of it suletta isn't able to go to lessons + focusing mainly on her physical therapy and miorine is too busy dealing with the benerit group's funds that for all intents and purposes they're no longer enrolled. miorine's rooms aren't wheelchair-accessible and so they stay in earth house instead until they turn 18 and can legally buy a home on earth. all of earth house subsequently has to third wheel

they don't get married for a little while. mostly because suletta is in recovery but miorine also needs to work up the courage to actually ask. (eri bullies her into taking her with her when she goes ring shopping) eventually she gets around to it after suletta's health starts improving and when she pulls out the ring box suletta is like Oh! and reveals that she literally cut up and made paper rings one day for this specific purpose

their wedding is on earth, to sort of start the official move. miorine pulls some strings to get nika to at least be able to See whats going on + they have the ceremony in a big field not far from their new house. suletta's chair (aerial 2.0) is decorated with So many flowers as per the instructions of the kids in the neighbouring town (who love her + want to be her first students) and miorine absolutely did not get away without getting Flowered too. they both are crying the whole day and neither of them are subtle about it

miorine's hair gets shorter and suletta's gets longer. miorine just wakes up one day and is like I HAVE TO GET RID OF IT

mio fell basically immediately but i think that its only when suletta is in space with el4n that she realises + it clicks for suletta when miorine literally starts a company for her lmao

[duckprintspress]

6 Queer Books for Autism Acceptance Month!

April is Autism Acceptance Month, so the group of folks at Duck Prints Press who suggest titles for these rec lists dug into personal favorite queer reads to find these six titles that include queer characters who are explicitly or implied to be autistic. Our picks are:

The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes

Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely ignored by her peers—despite her bold fashion choices. So when cute, popular Luis starts to pay attention to her, Ari finally feels seen.

Luis’s attention soon turns to something more, and they have sex at a party—while Ari didn’t say no, she definitely didn’t say yes. Before she has a chance to process what happened and decide if she even has the right to be mad at Luis, the rumor mill begins churning—thanks, she’s sure, to Luis’s ex-girlfriend, Shawni. Boys at school now see Ari as an easy target, someone who won’t say no.

Then Ari finds a mysterious note in her locker that eventually leads her to a group of students determined to expose Luis for the predator he is. To her surprise, she finds genuine friendship among the group, including her growing feelings for the very last girl she expected to fall for. But in order to take Luis down, she’ll have to come to terms with the truth of what he did to her that night—and risk everything to see justice done.

May the Best Man Win by Z. R. Ellor

Jeremy Harkiss, cheer captain and student body president, won’t let coming out as a transgender boy ruin his senior year. Instead of bowing to the bigots and outdate school administration, Jeremy decides to make some noise–and how better than by challenging his all-star ex-boyfriend, Lukas for the title of Homecoming King? 

Lukas Rivers, football star and head of the Homecoming Committee, is just trying to find order in his life after his older brother’s funeral and the loss long-term girlfriend–who turned out to be a boy. But when Jeremy threatens to break his heart and steal his crown, Lukas kick starts a plot to sabotage Jeremy’s campaign. 

When both boys take their rivalry too far, the dance is on the verge of being canceled. To save Homecoming, they’ll have to face the hurt they’re both hiding–and the lingering butterflies they can’t deny.

Hell Follows With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor

Sam Sylvester’s not overly optimistic about their recent move to the small town of Astoria, Oregon after a traumatic experience in their last home in the rural Midwest.

Yet Sam’s life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, the pretty neighbor. However, Sam can’t seem to let go of what might have been, and is drawn to investigate the death of a teenage boy in 1980s Astoria. Sam’s convinced he was murdered–especially since Sam’s investigation seems to resurrect some ghosts in the town.

Threatening notes and figures hidden in shadows begin to disrupt Sam’s life. Yet Sam continues to search for the truth. When Sam discovers that they may be closer to a killer than previously known, Sam has a difficult decision to make. Would they risk their new life for a half-lived one?

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Wei Wuxian was once one of the most outstanding men of his generation, a talented and clever young cultivator who harnessed martial arts, knowledge, and spirituality into powerful abilities. But when the horrors of war led him to seek a new power through demonic cultivation, the world’s respect for his skills turned to fear, and his eventual death was celebrated throughout the land.

Years later, he awakens in the body of an aggrieved young man who sacrifices his soul so that Wei Wuxian can exact revenge on his behalf. Though granted a second life, Wei Wuxian is not free from his first, nor the mysteries that appear before him now. Yet this time, he’ll face it all with the righteous and esteemed Lan Wangji at his side, another powerful cultivator whose unwavering dedication and shared memories of their past will help shine a light on the dark truths that surround them.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.

Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organised much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot – if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.

What are your favorite queer books with Autistic rep? We’d love to hear about them!

You can access this list as a bookshelf on Goodreads!

Did you know? Duck Prints Press has an affiliate shop on Bookshop.org – and you can access all our rec lists (including this one!) there to facilitate purchasing the books. If you buy with us as your affiliate book store, authors get royalties, Bookshop.org gets a cut, and we get a small percent of the purchase price too – everyone wins!

[acertainmoshke]

Redoing the Intro One More Time!

Updated 9/30/23

Call me Moshke Palmoni (they/them). I spend as much time as I can writing, but that is not as much as it might be because there's also a lot of life going on right now. I also like to read, knit, collect vintage ephemera, and play with my cat.

General WIP tag list: [your url here!]

Active WIPs:

7 Days for Fae

Coming October 2024

10-year-old Fae is isolated by her disabilities—autism and ataxia—that causes her communication and mobility issues. She doesn’t have any friends her age, and she’s accepted that. She reads a lot and plays pretend in the forest at the end of the street. Her family loves her for who she is and so far that’s been enough. Until, that is, she meets the new kid. His name is Brownie and for reasons Fae can’t imagine he wants to be her friend no matter how weird or awkward she is. When he still invites her over after a meltdown in class gets her suspended for a week, she decides to take a risk and accept. The ensuing adventures are marred only by the other sudden change in her life—an aunt Fae barely knows has moved in with her family. She doesn’t know how to talk to Fae and, worse, refuses to accept Fae’s nonbinary parent’s identity. But since no one else seems to know how to deal with the mess their home life has become, Fae tries—with Brownie’s encouragement—to sort the situation out herself.

Cold Iron

In 1956, Shakatra Zoawin is 40. Or they might be 20, depending on how you look at it. They are a changeling and their aging is kind of weird, but that doesn't matter to them because they have a good life in the subway tunnel with their brother, Kris. Both of them are changelings swapped as infants for human children and then rejected by their human families. Their wits and powerful magic have kept them alive this long, and Shaka is perfectly content to keep going. After they do one little thing to appease their guilt: find the 40-year-old they were swapped for and free her to have her own life in the human world free from servitude in the courts of the Fae. And so begins an adventure that will have repercussions neither of them could have imagined.

Intro posts for the books in this series: Cold Iron, City of Frost, Song on Repeat, and Future Not Found

Character Intro Posts: Shakatra, Kris, Lynn, Tatiana, Liliana, Harry, Doug, Beth, Aaron, Cassie, and Althea

Tag list: @pga-books

Blades of Ice

In the kingdom of Halara, orcs and elms and slimes and centaurs live peacefully side-by-side with humans. Less peaceful is the relationship between Halara and their neighboring kingdom of Eng. The generation-long conflict has drawn in other nearby kingdoms and stagnated artistic and social works. All Aryel ever wanted to do was be left alone to love who they want and practice sparring with their axe, but as a royal child they have responsibilities, namely leading the entire army. There's no talk of ending the war in any way but victory, just as Halara won its initial freedom from Eng 300 years ago, but this endless fighting is getting them nowhere but too many funerals and not enough bread. And then when a familial tragedy leads to Aryel leading both the army and the kingdom, they know they can't balance the tensions and demands of everyone at once and win this war. Something has to give, and they just hope it isn't the entire kingdom.

Backburnered and still-in-planning WIPs under the cut.

Time Traveling Anthropologists

(permanent title coming soon)

Set approximately 2 generations in the future. Esther Dahan has her dream job. She gets to time travel with her new team, and against all historical odds they are there to study ancient cultures rather than do anything violent. Their first assignment is 8 months in the 9th century Jewish kingdom of Khazaria. Everything is going great—illicit romance with a Khazarian blacksmith notwithstanding—until Esther finds a plate that doesn't belong in this time. Curious and suspicious but without enough evidence to involve her boss, she investigates on her own, discovering much more than she planned—and leading to far worse consequences than she could have imagined.

Tag list: @amielbjacobs @kingkendrick7 @moonluringfrost @another-white-hole

To Die Among the Stars:

20 people have been chosen to test the effects of faster-than-light space travel on human minds and bodies. They were taken from prisons, wellness centers, and other areas where near-certain death seemed like a reasonable chance to take. Each have their reasons for being there, and their secrets. Against all odds, the jump to FTL doesn't destroy the ship. But the further away from Earth they travel, the more strange things begin to happen that call the purpose of the experiment into question. And then the impossible: a human distress signal in deep space.

Told from 4 rotating perspectives: Pixel, a semiverbal illegal human modder; Ri, whose body and mind are overloaded with mods; Zippy, a young disabled woman desperate to support her family; and Peppermint, a genetic experiment combining human and cat DNA raised in an isolated lab.

Tag list: @hd-literature

Falling Petals

A multigenerational story about trauma, love, and disability set against the backdrop of one Jewish family. Beginning in the 1920's with Ira Katz, who is brilliant and charming with no understanding at all of tact or why the best way isn't always blunt observations and mean jokes. It follows him as he grows up, marries, and inherits his father's drugstore, and then moves on to following one of his sons, Daniel. Daniel grows up in the 1940's and is naturally gentle, kind, and sensitive, but is treated so harshly for these traits he learns to hide himself away inside and only show emotion in explosive bouts of anger. It follows him through adolescence, college, and marriage, before moving on to one of his daughters, Shoshana. Shoshana grows up in the 1960's and is colorful, young for her age, and full of social panic. None of them know how to relate to each other or survive in a world that each of them see the beauty in but aren't allowed to connect with in their own way. And yet through the pain and confusion, they are full of love. And then everything changes for them with Shoshana's niece, Naomi, growing up in the 1990's, who will not be allowed to see herself as broken.

[local-redhead-bookworm]

I'm asking you about your autistic Eleven headcanons because I'm fascinated to hear about them, especially with the intersection between it and her post institutionalization syndrome

I’m more than happy to share my thoughts on this!

@strangerthings4theories actually was the person who first put this headcanon on my radar, so go check out this post by them on it. Full disclosure, I am not diagnosed autistic, although I’m about as sure that I am as possible without a clinical diagnosis. I’ve only been researching autism for a few months, so my understanding may be flawed in some areas, but I’ll do my best.

So, from my very brief research, post-institutionalization syndrome can result in behaviors that look autistic to an outsider’s perspective, in addition to some anger issues. Many of these traits include speech delays, repetitive motions such as rocking, difficulties with eye contact, and sensory issues, especially when pertaining to physical touch.

Based on this (admittedly inadequate and outdated) research, post-institutionalization syndrome seems to be something that can sometimes be acclimated out of during puberty, but it does often take years to unlearn. The two can look very similar.

So, reasons for my autistic El headcanon:

She struggles verbally and exhibits what I would label as echolalia. El says very little on her own at first, and she seems to learn words by repeating them. This could be connected to the coma she supposedly went into after the Hawkins Lab Massacre, but I still lean toward autism as the root.

She is deeply emotional but struggles to regulate those emotions. We’ve seen her express a wide range of emotions, but when she’s in emotional distress, she tends to lash out. She breaks Troy’s arm with her powers. When she sees Max with Mike, she immediately trips Max’s skateboard. She breaks several windows when she finds out about her mom. She attacks Angela with a skate and gives her a grade two concussion.

She has extremely high empathy. Her ability is quite literally to connect with people. She saves her friends by tapping into the emotions she has from good memories with them. She exhibits many of the same emotions as the person she is near. She is kind to Billy and uses his good memory of his mom to remind him, “you were happy.” And as silly as I think this was, her pep talk from Mike and her choice to focus on kindness and love over evil is what allows her to win. (This is kind of iffy toward the end, but it felt relevant)

She doesn’t fully understand social cues or boundaries, so she mimics others. She mirrors the boys in s1, she mirrors Hopper and Kali in s2, and she behaves like Mike and later Max in s3, and we also see her mirror Will in s4. We see her sit in the recliner the way Mike did in s1. She takes her cue from whoever she deems the most in-charge person in the group. She also mimics fashion from them too, such as her more boyish style in s2 and her more feminine look in early s3. Even her hair in s4 is strongly reminiscent of Joyce.

She feels inhuman and out of step with her peers. She says what she has to in order to seem normal and fit in. We hear her ask several times in the show, “am I a monster?” She tells Mike that she doesn’t fit in in Hawkins, at Lenora Hills, or anywhere. She’s also told she’s different by Henry, who makes her difference out to be a superiority.

She dresses primarily for comfort. This is especially evident in s2 with her cozy shirts and overalls, but it’s also true in other seasons. Even as bright as the colors are in some of her s3 outfits, they still prioritize comfort and freedom of movement. She wears soft and warm textures almost constantly in s4.

She has routines and safe foods. Eggos are obviously a safe food for her, considering her love for them. She also keeps careful track of when Hopper is supposed to be back from work. Even her preparation to enter the void is a sort of routine. She keeps the door open three inches, even after Hopper’s disappearance.

El’s initial reaction to the roller rink debacle comes across like sensory overload. This final detail was what really started the headcanon in full force for me. The noise, the feeling of the world spinning around you, being overwhelmed by the lights and all the people. It had me immediately going “that is sensory overload. That right there is what it feels like.”

So there you have it! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t aware of post-institutionalization syndrome before now, but I enjoyed the research. Most of my reasons for headcanoning El as autistic could go either way. The two look pretty similar sometimes, I’ll admit, but I think that there’s room for both interpretations in fan works, and I’m curious to hear anyone else’s thoughts if they’d like to add on!

[dramashii]

The joy I felt because of the many improvements between the relationship of Lee Jun Ho and Woo Young Woo has been diluted because of my anger towards a certain character called Kwon Min Woo.

Seriously, I have never met such a punchable face. 

His attitude towards Woo Young Woo has been pissing me off for many episodes now, but in episode 7, he really took it up a notch. 

It’s absolutely crazy to me that he had this surprised reaction after finding out that Woo Young Woo’s father knows the CEO of Hanbada. It’s as if for him everything finally makes sense. His face is literally saying:

“Oh, so this is why I have a colleague who is autistic. Her father knows my boss. I have always wondered why I have a co-worker who was a summa cum laude graduate from one of my country’s top university and who also happened to have a near perfect score on the bar exam. I never really understood why anyone would hire a lawyer who has autism and those credentials, but it makes sense now.” 

I am livid. 

This reaction is coming from a man who has given no outstanding input in this current case and even the ones from the previous episodes. 

I think he is forgetting how Woo Young Woo has managed to be the spearhead in solving many of their previous cases. He’s so focused with the label “autistic” that he has disregarded the fact that Woo Young Woo is an amazing attorney. 

His reaction towards Woo Young Woo is simply a manifestation of his insecurities and inferiority complexes. He cannot accept that a woman who has autism, someone whose life is naturally made difficult by society because of their many prejudices is doing better at him as a lawyer. She’s already playing at a disadvantage but she’s playing better than him.

Yes, it’s true. Woo Young Woo is strong. Imagine living in society where there are many people like Kwon Min Woo who doesn’t see anything else in you other than the fact that you’re autistic. It doesn’t matter how much she has accomplished and how much she had endured, people still see her as autistic Woo Young Woo. 

Yes, it’s true. This is an unfair game. Imagine having opportunities automatically being shut on you just because you have autism. 

Woo Young Woo was jobless for six months with her amazing credentials. She graduated with summa cum laude in one of her country’s top universities, and almost had a perfect score on the bar exam, but no one still wanted her. If circumstances were different, and she did not have autism, law firms would be doing their best to recruit her. From the beginning, people already have formed opinions about her capabilities, and that is seriously unfair. 

Yes, it’s true. People should be considerate not only to people like Woo Young Woo but to everyone. People have their own baggages and each person carry them differently. Being considerate is basic human decency. This isn’t just a rule solely for people who have autism. This for everybody. 

Yes, it’s true. Woo Young Woo is not the weak. It’s the people who have treated her less than she should have that are weak. Woo Young Woo has continued to persevere even if odds are against her most of the time. That takes a lot of great strength. 

Kwon Min Woo sees Woo Young Woo’s autism as her weakness, but in reality it’s her strength. 

It’s crazy to me that he always thinks that Woo Young Woo is deliberately trying to win against him when she’s simply doing her job. She gets those opportunities because she deserved them. They weren’t given simply because she was autistic. She’s “winning” and getting all these praises from her superiors because she is an amazing attorney. She works hard just like the others. Kwon Min Woo just cannot accept that he’s putting the same effort but she still gets the winning idea. 

It’s okay to be competitive as long as it’s not harming another person. If anything, he is the one who is deliberately trying to sabotage Woo Young Woo. In one of the previous cases they worked together, he chose to withdrew information from her. But rather than telling him off to her superior, Woo Young Woo decided to let it go. At that moment, Woo Young Woo was being considerate of him.

He probably has his own reasons as to why he behaves the way he does, but it doesn’t matter. There are no excuses for being this sort of a jerk. Being a jerk is a choice, and he chose to be one. 

[existentialterror]

hi this is probably SUCH a weird ask to receive but im scrolling your light tag in a fit of autism and saw you refer to lament (thats lament right? ihavent missed some critical light lore where she has a fiance who isn't troy lament?) as butch and its been sending me into a conniption. is lament a butch. is it real. me and my friend have had our own butch lesbian troy lament mindscape for months now.were we right all along. i feel like im going insane.

omg no you are so good, I am incredibly flattered. (Listen, PSA to anyone who's worried about being weird about Light to me: it's no problem, it's really hard to be weirder about Light than I am and I'll be impressed rather than freaked out if you are. It's chill.) That tag actually wasn't about Lament! This is about her late (or, if she was in fact swallowed up by an antimeme and is still kicking, "late") fianceee. I could have sworn that there was a detail about her late fianceee on my author page, but looking now, there definitely isn't and has never been one. What was I thinking of? Maybe an old rp character sheet? ... You know what, I'm putting that on there right now, because fuck it.

LOVE WINS!

Anyway, this is part of the vast amount of Light lore that mostly only exists in my head and draft files.* The late fiancee's name is Mars. Her other appearance on the site is in Soulless's tale all I ever wanted; all I ever deserved, which is where the Mars-As-Nobody concept came from, and which is quite lovely writing.

Here are some Mars facts for interested audiences:

Very butch

Also a scientist; worked with Light in the regular world. Neither of them had any conception of the anomalous before The Incident.

Light loved and misses her very much.

Dedicated transhumanist

Light attributes her strong moral compass to Mars having one. Unclear if this is actually true given that the other Lights (O5-2, etc) also seem to have a strong utilitarian moral compass and don't have their own Mars - but this would be surprising news to Light herself.

She and Light lived in a ricketty little one-bedroom apartment together and kept pet finches.

So that's who that's about. But none of this contradicts with butch Lament, certainly. Get him in here. Good for him! I love that.

I feel like there's some space you could explore here about new Foundation recruits who have their whole memory erased, and the new identity they put together... could be wildly different from the old one. The Foundation might encourage that as a way of separating them from their past. Like, you don't have to go there with Lament specifically, but you could.

I also think the idea of Light having a type is cute. Lament and Mars have never met each other. But if they were to meet they'd see the other and maybe size each other up a little and be like "...yeah, okay, that checks out."

-----

*... I may be working on something. Watch this space.

[foster-the-world]

Bumpire no more

For months baby boy been saying he wants to be a bumpire (aka: vampire) for Halloween. Today when I said Bumpire (because why would I ever correct him) he said "NO VAMPIRE." Aw, my babies getting big. I'm going to miss his sweet little kid voice so much.

We met with a development ped today. The agency made the appt so it was a not particularly well regarded hospital by our house. Mostly low income patients. Long line when we arrived. Three out of three of the patients in front of me had the kids interpreting for the parents. The 11 year old came into get her vaccines but they said because she hadn't visit their office in 2+ years she needed a physical first. They didn't have an appt until Oct 3rd. The receptionist tried to tell the Dad to find an appt somewhere else but I don't think he was understanding. He took the Oct 3rd appt. I am now very worried this child is not going to go to school until Oct 3rd :( The child wrote down the date and time of the appt in their own calendar app. So many kids have so much responsibility. So difficult for everyone.

Our own appointment left me depressed. It was his nap time so he was not behaving. Not that he would have anyway. Places where you are supposed to sit quietly are not his strong suit. I told the Dr about his hyperactivity. She was new and/or a resident??? After five minutes she went to tell the more senior Dr everything I told her. This Dr came in and was asking all of the autism screener questions. She didn't seem to believe my answers. I don't mind if he has autism -in fact it opens up a ton of services that a SPD diagnosis on its own won't get him. And perhaps I'm wrong and he does but is not typically persenting. Certainly there is a ton I don't know about autism. But his behavior does not match the screener questions. He tried to turn off the lights a few times. She tried to turn that into "repetitive behavior". The only repetitive thing he does is ignore whatever you tell him not to do. She verified ADHD was likely. She said he's "self-directed' which I believe means doesn't listen to anyone. True. She said she wants him in speech after he didn't respond much to two or three quick questions. Again, in this instance I believe his problem is not feeling the need to respond/perform/listen. He understands everything. There were three new adults in a tiny room (there was another student shadowing). He speaks in long sentences all of the time. They were asking about three word sentences - he's been doing that for literally years. He speaks in 8/9/10 words sentences regularly through out the day at home. The other Dr even piped in to say she heard him talking in longer sentences to me. But if they will send a speech person to the school I don't mind. He does stutter on occasion and I don't know about his articulation. I understand him just fine but that doesn't mean everyone can. She mentioned something about maybe needing a smaller special ed school. I hate when people brush off my concerns about him AND I hate when people validate them. Can't win either way with me. I know I'm extra sensitive about him. Also, skeptical how she would know after three or four minutes. On the other hand I was there because I'm super concerned with how he's going to do in a 3K program. He just doesn't listen or sit still the way other kids his age do. I guess will find out next week.

A smaller special ed school would be fine if that's what he needs. I'll have a little mourning time about what we planned for him. We love the girls school and wanted all of our kids in the same place with the same lovely community. Anyway, not much point thinking about it. Will see what comes. He does fine at daycare. If 3K doesn't work for him he can go back there until we figure out a perfect spot for him.

[wyrdify]

life update

It's been a busy couple of months, so I thought I'd give a bit of an update. Things are hopefully going to slow down for a little while before they speed back up for the holidays. Cats: Okay for the most part. Vincent appears to have lost more teeth, so we're keeping an eye on him. He doesn't seem to be slowing down, though. Health: I have a root canal scheduled for later this month. I also need to find a regular dentist again. Otherwise, I've been getting out for walks more with the better weather, so that's been good. I'm starting my DBT life skills group this Wednesday per my therapist's recommendation. I'll be changing providers in January, so fingers crossed I can get a referral for a neuropsych eval for autism and ADHD along with a better med manager and/or psychologist. Job: Mine still sucks, but I'm doing something about it. I got my loans out of default, and I was able to file the FAFSA. Now, I just need to apply to schools for a Masters program in library science, and I have four in mind. Husband is actively looking for another job as well. Other: My sister got married last week, which is what was keeping me majorly occupied for a while in regards to planning and mental energy. So, that was exciting! We also got to do other things surrounding that wedding, never mind going to a concert the week before due to winning a raffle. Writing: I have no interest in RPing for the foreseeable future. It's like someone flicked a switch in my brain, and now I don't want to write for any of my characters. Maybe that will change. Maybe that won't. I'm taking things a day at a time. I still don't feel like posting my poetry on tumblr either. Not logging onto this website has been great, honestly. That's been it. If you want to keep in touch, you can find me on disco: 209843601356750852. Apparently, that's how the IDs work now. You can also search for FateDefied. See you around! Hope you all are well!