 To every person who's publicly and proudly transgender, queer, gay, lesbian, ace, poly, pan, bi, black, indigenous, a person of color, disabled, neurodivergent, plural, autistic, ADHD, etc: Thank You Visibility matters. Simply being yourself can impact the lives of others in ways you cannot even fathom. I would not have found myself if not for people like you :heart_pride: 18 comments
@malcircuit Everyone should have a community like that - be it for autism, LGBTQ, or whatever. Even if it's just some online friends, it can be the difference between "in a freak of nature and nobody will ever accept me for who I am" and "I'm normal - just a slightly different normal than I thought." 2/ I tried to include as many categories as I could think of, but don't be offended if I missed yours. Diversity is an asset. Tolerance and inclusivity are strengths, not weakneses. All people deserve respect and dignity. Our planet is a clusterfuck because the people in power, past and present, believe(d) otherwise. We will prove them wrong  @malcircuit In summary, Standard People Don't Exist, but people believing that they're the Standard People does a lot of evil. When I say "We will prove them wrong" I don't mean that in the "the arc of history bends toward justice" kind of passive inevitability. I understand that it's an active fight that never ends, and that there's no guarantee of success. What I mean is that I believe that the people who employ a diversity of thoughts, opinions, beliefs, attitudes, lived experience, etc have always had, and will always have, a natural advantage. Those that can wield it will win out in the end. The intolerant believe "purity" gives strength, but our modern world is built upon alloys toughened by adversity @malcircuit honestly, I remember the first time I saw a couple trans people (they both had cute trans badge beanies) hanging out together in my local city after I came out to myself but was still closeted. It made me realise that coming out would eventually be possible, that I would eventually be able to experience some trans joy of my own. @malcircuit It's why I'm happy my new job is a Principal level engineer in a software startup. Gives me the drive to crush it to be a positive example. @malcircuit its a shame i cant pin someone elses post to my profile! <3 lovely words, thank you.  I'd like to say: thank-you, that hit me where I live. I'd also like to say that "coming out of a closet [of whatever type]" can be done in many ways. It's not [should not] be about making yourself a stereotype to push diversity, but about being yourself as best as you can. Sometimes it might mean wearing a pin of some sort, or participating in a protest -- but mostly it's about not having to lie when a particular topic close to your identity/existence comes up.  @malcircuit I don't know that we've seen plurality mentioned in one of these before. Thank you.  @malcircuit Feel fortunate to live on a small dead end street with LBGT & Bi-racial couples as neighbors, immigrants from the Middle East & China. There are about 10 languages spoken in addition to English.    @malcircuit don't thank me just yet. I may yet go back in the closet, because I don't want to end up in a camp, at least that I can hide (sorta.) We're surely fucked, though. |
Gregory's Server
@malcircuit When my wife and I first got our son's diagnosis (and I subsequently realized that I'm autistic), we felt like "freaks" who were going through things that nobody else had to go through.
We joined a local group and found that there were dozens of people who went through the exact same thing. That community was essential to our understanding of Autism.
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