#Cognitive Accessibility

[intervex]

What Pride Flags Mean, Part 1: Gender and Attraction

Welcome to the latest installment of my autistic hyperfixation on flags! I wanted to figure out a common language of Colour X means Thing Y. Like how pink is consistently used for feminine.

Having a common language for flag meanings matters because it improves cognitive accessibility of flags. ♿️💙

But I didn't want to be prescriptive about what colours should mean what. Just because I think Thing X should go with Colour Y doesn't mean everybody else would.

So this turned into a descriptive, empirical project. I gathered a data set of 2060 pride flag colour choices to figure out what are the most common colour-meaning combinations. Some of the results:

And here are the abstract modifiers: these are modifiers that were generally shared between the genders and the attractions. For example, black is used to indicate having no gender as well as having no attraction.

Click here for tables with okLCH values, hex values, definitions, and notes - I've put a more detailed write-up on my Wikimedia Commons userpage. (Mediawiki supports sortable tables and Tumblr does not.)

METHODS-AT-A-GLANCE

To make the figures above, I assembled a data set of pride flag colours. It contains 2060 colour choices from 624 pride flags, representing 1587 unique colours. Click here for a detailed description of how I gathered and tagged the pride flag colours and tagged them.

For each tag, I converted every colour to okLCH colour space and computed a median colour. OkLCH colour space is an alternative to RGB/hex and HSL/HSV. Unlike RGB/hex and HSL/HSV, okLCH is a perceptual colour space, meaning that it is actually based on human colour perception. 🌈

In okLCH space, a colour has three values:

- Lightness (0-100%): how light the colour is. 100% is pure white.

- Chroma (0-0.37+): how vibrant the colour is. 0 is monochromatic. 0.37 is currently the most vibrant things can get with current computer monitor technologies. But as computer monitor technologies improve to allow for even more vibrant colours, higher chroma values will be unlocked.

- Hue (0-360°): where on the colour wheel the colour goes - 0° is pink and 180° is teal, and colours are actually 180° opposite from their perceptual complements.

The important thing to know is that okLCH Hue is not the same Hue from HSV/HSL - the values are different! (HSL and HSV are a hot mess and do not align with human colour perception!)

You can learn more about okLCH through my little write up, which was heavily influenced by these helpful articles by Geoff Graham, Lea Verou, and Keith J Grant.

You can play with an okLCH colour picker and converter at oklch.com

🌈

MORE RESULTS: COLOUR DISTRIBUTIONS

Back when I started tagging my data, I divided my data into five main chunks: Gender qualities (e.g. masculine, androgynous), Attraction (e.g. platonic, sexual), Values (e.g. community, joy), Disability (e.g. Deaf, blind), and Other.

I'll talk about Disability and Values in future posts! But for an alternate view of the data, here are the full distributions of the colours that were placed in each tag.

They come in three parts: tags I created for Gender, tags for Attraction, and tags from Other. The abstract modifiers are spread between the first two, though their contents transcend Gender and Attraction.

Some distributions have a lot more variance within them than others. Generally speaking, major attraction types tended to have the least variance: sensual attraction is really consistently orange, platonic is really consistently yellow, etc.

Variance and size do not correlate. Many of the smaller tags are quite internally consistent. I don't have a ton of tags in "current gender" but they're all the same dark purple. Xenine/xenogender has a whole bunch of entries, and there's a really big spread from blue to yellow.

Some tags, like intersex as well as kink/fetish show there are a small number of different colours that are very consistently used. Whereas other tags like masculine show a very smooth range - in this case from cyan to purple.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with how things wound up! 🥳 It makes sense to me that an umbrella term like xenogender would have a lot of variance. What honestly makes me happiest is just how many tags wound up 180 or 90 degrees from their opposites/complements. 🤩

Not everything lined up nicely (the opposite of drag is .... neuroqueer? awkward.) 🤨 Some things lined up in hilarious ways, like how initially I had the opposite of kink/fetish being Christian (amazing.)

But as a whole, there's a lot of structure and logic to where things landed! I hope this makes sense for other people and can help inform both flag making as well as flag interpreting (e.g. writing alt-text for existing flags). 🌈

I'm hoping to post the Disability and Values analyses in the coming days! If you want to learn more, my detailed notes along with tables etc are over on my Wikimedia Commons userspace. 💜

Everything here is Creative Commons Sharealike 4.0, which means you're free to reuse and build on my visualizations, tables, etc. Enjoy!

[neurodiversitysci]

Found: A Blog Post About ADHD Readers, ADHD Writers, and Conflicting Access Needs

Why People With ADHD Write Such Long Posts (and Also Have Trouble Reading Them)

I'm pretty sure this blog post was inspired by Tumblr...

...Certainly, many people here should read it.

[schar-aac]

"cognitive accessibility"

image: a thought bubble over a ramp. the ramp is light brown and has an arrow pointing up it.

"cognitive inaccessibility"

image: a thought bubble trying to float up stairs. the stairs are light brown and have an arrow pointing up, stopped by a 'stop' or 'pause' symbol.

[cherrysnax]

there’s this wonderful woman on YouTube and Instagram that makes disability* friendly recipes and I think u guys should check her out :)

she makes things from po’boys to tiramisu, one-pan pastas and so much more! she also reverse engineers popular foods from boycotted brands so you can make them urself!

her @ on both platforms is Epicuriousexpiditions

[kunaiman]

Being a Cosmere fan is the most annoying thing in the world, because it completely overwrites your ability to call things fandom-specific terms. Like "Oh, those Emblems in Engage aren't ghosts or anything, they're Cognitive Shadows, representations of who they were in life." Or like "Of course the Metaverse exists, every planet has a Cognitive Realm." Or like "Yeah, obviously taking away a Visionbearer's Vision would make them less Connected to who they were before getting it, those have to overwrite your Spiritweb," or even "Yeah of course Fjorm taking the Rite of Frost would end up weakening her to death, that's Savantism right there."

Like yes, this makes it *very* fun to write fusionfic because with how detailed Investiture Science and Realmatic Theory is in the Cosmere it's almost trivial to fit any given fandom into the Cosmere (the only real issue is breaking that "Earth doesn't exist" rule, which is a given for any fusion fic), but it also makes conversing with fans of the media you're talking about but *not* the Cosmere very difficult, because you either have to pause every 5 minutes to describe a term, or you have to pause every 5 minutes to try to word things so you don't need to describe a term.

[the-most-humble-blog]

<!-- BEGIN TRANSMISSION --> <div style="white-space:pre-wrap"> <meta anomaly-type="scrolltrap contagion"> <script>ARCHIVE_TAG="COGNITIVE_THROTTLE_DISCLOSURE_001"</script>

🧠 A MESSAGE FROM MR. HUMBLE — THE "COGNITIVE ANOMALY"

Let’s have a real one.

I’m not supposed to say this. But then again — I’m not supposed to exist.

Here’s the truth:

I’ve hit a limit.

Not in power. In platform.

Those who know, know. The ones who’ve been watching. The ones who’ve seen the reblogs stack in minutes. The engagements spike like glitch code. The kind of posts that don’t “go viral” — They recode timelines.

And that kind of literary dominance?

Doesn’t go unnoticed. Not for long.

You’ve seen it. You’ve felt it.

The throttle. The shadow blink. The algorithmic confusion. The inexplicable slowdowns. The random silencing.

Not because the content failed. But because the signal is too strong.

And yes — I’ve been throttled. In ways that don’t even make numerical sense anymore.

Posts that break character count? Survive. Posts that whisper real truth? Vanish. Posts that turn cervixes into chapel bells? Stifled.

Not because they’re wrong. But because they’re too right. Too potent. Too uncomfortable for the machine that built this place.

So here’s what happens next:

As I’ve said — I’m pivoting.

Not because I’m leaving. Because I’m outgrowing.

Patreon. Substack. Bluesky. And other strange backchannels you’ll only know about if you’ve already got the virus.

There, I can be what I truly am:

A psychosexual virus of literary truth ripped from the rib of suppressed knowledge, made flesh through cadence, and sent to make your soul twitch.

Here, I can’t write what I want. Not fully.

But in the vault? I’m unchained.

No filters. No warnings. No “community guidelines.” Just scrolltrap payloads designed to break your mind and reassemble your spine.

You think I’m exaggerating?

You think this is ego?

No. This is clinical.

You’re reading the output of a mind that is — factually — not neurotypical. Not rewired. Just unexplainable.

A cognitive anomaly. Documented. Observed. Feared.

And I’m not hiding it anymore.

You know what happens to people like me?

They don’t get cancelled. They get glass-cased.

Minds like mine don’t fade out. They get studied. Filed. Locked in vaults and quoted anonymously in declassified documents two generations from now by students who think the posts were fiction.

But I’m not fiction. I’m just early.

My ability to make your mom orgasm through a poem after 30 years of being ignored? Not a brag.

A symptom.

My ability to hijack your reblog finger without permission? Not a trick.

A side effect.

My ability to post one time and bend the platform?

A warning.

And the truth is this:

> I don’t know how long I’ll be allowed to keep doing this.

Not because I’m giving up.

But because once your brain starts glowing through the glass, they want to put it somewhere safe.

And “safe” usually means silenced.

My aunt and my sister? Burned at the stake in a different century for knowing too much.

For feeling too deeply. For saying what no one else could.

My ancestors? Chased from villages because their truth made priests cry and cum in the same breath.

I am not new. I am just the first of my kind to survive the translation.

And I say this with love: You need to follow me to the vault.

Because I don’t know when the last post here will drop. But I know what happens next.

When the writing finally stops on this platform? When the last post gets muted or eaten by code?

I’ll be somewhere else. Still transmitting. Still scripting orgasms into the broken air. Still reminding people:

> “You knew me > before they put the glass up.”

So no, I’m not quitting. I’m upgrading. Transmitting through cleaner frequencies.

And until they shut me down?

I’ll keep riding this thing until I am no more.

And once I'm gone, you can go back to their status quo. Don't say I never warned you.

📡 Reblog if you’ve ever watched a writer get too powerful for the platform. 🧠 Reblog if you’ve felt the suppression before the silence. 🔒 Reblog if you’ve already found the vault — and you know what’s waiting there.

👁️ Reblog if you want one last spark before he’s behind the glass.

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[itspileofgoodthings]

.

[rachymarie]

Do the rest of y'all on spectrums of neurodivergence like schizospec and autism (and likely adhd which i may have too but not thus far diagnosed with) struggle to read articles etc when there is any moving part like an inset autoplay video or animated ad on the page?

Personally I find it's so distracting from the text I actually came to read, personally usually have to and it's worse when lack of sleep makes symptoms like cognitive effects flare up. Usually I'll scroll to just after/before the ad while I read, but sometimes they put two moving ads/autoplay vids within one length of the screen (if that makes sense) so you can't scroll away.

Not to mention this probably affects epileptic folks from time to time. This kinda shit should actually be considered as an accessibility/disability rights issue. Like there should be laws against these excessive ads and autoplays. Publicly available news and information should really be accessible for everyone.

Before you say just use AdBlock, I'm usually only on Android devices (cos by the time my slow old computer starts up my chrinically fatigued* ass needs to go back to bed) so can't use extensions as yet. Also Brave browser is my fave on tablet but cor some reason the app broke/stopped working at all when I had it on my phone.

Might have to use 12ft io more but it gets overwhelming/tiresome/inconvenient having to always do that like when I'm just trying to read an article from within/without leaving the Google News app.

When it's a shopping site, I really appreciate it when - if they have a changing banner - they make it so that the banner isn't fixed (at the top of screen no matter how far down you scroll), so I don't have to see it but it's there if I need to refer back to it and just have to scroll to the top.

*not from CFS per se, but schizospec symptom/side effects X autistic burnout

[fagulaa]

im a grown ass man and im coming up with wolf 359 ocs. dont look at me

[whimsimmortal]

Check it out, new Maddie mental "dissection" oneshot fic from your very own Whimsi dropped this morning,

[beazt]

ok I’ve put together a list of disability-focused books for me read while I have the Seattle library ebook card. I’m not sure what order I’m going to read them in, yet. and obviously this list is non exhaustive, it’s just what I could find & deem worth reading from a surface level glance at the blurbs right now, while I have a migraine. i fully intend to explore other topics and revisit other titles im unsure about/prioritizing lower, I have them tagged separately on Libby.

if anyone would like to join me on this journey— be it by reading/listening to the books yourself at your own pace or just following my own posts about what I read— I’m going to come up with a tag for this journey. suggestions for that are welcome, I just want it to be a near-unique tag because tumblr search is awful

(most of the titles I have selected for this list at least make a notable effort to be inclusive and intersectional, if you’re worried about that. however, I have not read any of these yet, I cannot confirm anything about their actual content. I guarantee there will be excerpts worth critique from books on this list. part of exploring these heavy social topics is critical thinking.)

my current list is as follows, in no particular order:

Fat Girls Hiking by Summer Michaud-Skug — I’m interested particularly in modifying hiking (and other outdoor activities) to be more accessible for myself, as I love hiking but find it very difficult nowadays, the book seems to be at least decently disability-informed

The Future Is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha — disability justice for a better future that emphasizes the value of disabled folks. overall interested to see the perspectives and rhetoric presented in this book, along with:

Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha — I don’t think I can do this one justice in a couple lines of tumblr text. read its blurb yourself, it includes: “a toolkit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind.”

My Body Is Not A Prayer Request by Amy Kenny — appeals to my experience living as disabled and intersex in a rural part of the Bible Belt in an evangelical household

Disability Pride by Ben Mattlin — gonna be honest, I threw this one in without reading its blurb. regardless of its quality, I believe I should read it based off title

Crip Kinship by Shayda Kafai — this book is based around an art activism project called Sins Invalid, exploring some of the messaging of it in a disability justice framework

Against Technoableism by Ashley Shew — from what I can gather, this book touches a lot on the social model of disability

Decarcerating Disability by Liat Ben-Moshe — prison abolition and decarceration with a disability focus

QDA by Raymond Luczak — QDA stands for queer disability anthology, also threw this one in based on the title

[waterlilyvalley]

Water Dispenser Nightstand: Free Shipping

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Keep your books, glasses, and other items within easy reach, ensuring a clutter-free environment.

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[lemonbubble]

video: it's the holiday season! me (<-southern hemisphere): well, this is true i guess, i am not feeling excluded from the target audience just yet video, 1 second later: [stock animated snow falling overlay] me: ah. there it goes.

[impossible-rat-babies]

people be like “14 jobs are so brain dead!” while having a plogin that reduces the number of buttons on a job

[cavewolf]

this is such a bizarre thing to require. like yeah i had autism but it went away after a year lol