The Weekly Infodump, 2024/01/26
Welcome to The Weekly Infodump, which contains a short write-up of whatever is on my mind. You are allowed to share this newsletter with others and I hope you will.
Were I ever to defy probability itself and win the lottery, I'd establish a Neurodivergent Freedom Fund. I don't know about you, but the only reason I put up with so much neurotypical nonsense is because I have bills to pay.
But what if I didn't? What if WE, collectively, didn't?
Remember folks, the "cure" for autism is giving money to actual autists!
(links) Check out New Disabled South's Plain Language Policy Dashboard, which is awesome, because legislative text is dense and complicated, whereas the ways in which our laws fuck over disabled people are many and brutal.
(SpIn!) When I was a kid, I got a copy of Medical Mysteries: Six Deadly Cases from the venerable and lately controversial Scholastic Book Fair, which I read and reread obsessively, all the while fretting over which obscure pathogens my body, unbeknownst to me, might be harboring at that very moment.
That's why I flapped with joy when I came across this Longreads reading list.
(I especially appreciate the shoutout to House, M.D., a show that, for all its flaws, will always have a place in my heart because it remains (imo) the only realistic depiction of an autistic physician on television to date. (I said what I said, The Good Doctor.))
If you, like me, cannot resist the gravitational pull of case studies of extremely rare diseases, and also don't mind stress-Googling these selfsame extremely rare diseases at 3 am – or really, any time you feel the slightest pop or twinge anywhere in or on your body – then this one's for you!
(links) This is cultural appropriation. Autistic people invented the Uniform, but do we get credit for it? We do not! Instead, the NTs bully us mercilessly for wearing the same outfit – or slight variations on the same "bland, soft repeating" outfit – every day.
On the one hand, I support anyone who decides to create a uniform. I myself require comfortable clothes to function, even if I pay the eye-watering social price of resembling a donation bin made flesh. On the other hand, I notice more and more NTs adopting autistic survival mechanisms only to turn around and say, "That's not an autistic thing! It's an everyone thing!"
What they mean, of course, is that they don't want to think of it as being an autistic thing because they think autistic people are weird and embarrassing and they dread being associated with us. Noise cancelling earphones (or, if you're broke, just wearing headphones all the time while pretending to listen to music)! Weighted blankets! Fidgets and stim jewelry! All of these things have utility for many people, not just the neurodivergent.
And that's fine! What I don't like is that whenever I mention the origins of these things, I get told not to "gatekeep" my own accommodations, which is wild but sadly (neuro)typical.
(links) On the other hand, the mainstreaming of niche psychiatric interventions driven by the insatiable demands of late stage capitalism cuts both ways: another behavior modification tool for the NDs is being rebranded for the intensive parenting set. Which makes a lot of sense, because the entire vibe of modern white-and-middle-class-coded parenting seems to be "implementing incredibly strict and coercive methods of childrearing under the guise of being chill and supportive." I'm just "raising good humans (with off-brand ABA and melatonin gummies)," they say, 15-20 years before those same good humans go no-contact without warning.
Anyway, enjoy your "special time," Normies!
(television) The main thing that's getting me through January is ¡Dale, Dale, Dale!/Piñata Masters! on Netflix. Cartonería experts, puppet builders, and other folk artisans in color-coded jumpsuits compete to create themed piñatas, which are then judged by a panel of children. It is exactly as delightful as it sounds and I highly recommend it.
That's all I've got. It is so little, and yet it took so long to write because I'm so tired.