#neuros

[transsexualfiend]

Cripplepunk, madpunk, and neuropunk aren't just "I'm disabled and also left-leaning". It's a specific realm of activism rooted in dismantling the systems that put disabled, mad, sick, etc folks at a disadvantage in society. This mean not only being against the very systems that harm us but also understanding their colonial origins and continued racist legacies. (Anti-ableism, anti-sanism, anti-psych, etc). This means not only just identifying and finding pride in your disability but also building and constantly evolving your understanding of disability and diversity and learning how you can change your worldview to accurately highlight the struggles of disabled people. (EVEN if it sometimes means you will be uncomfortable or unsure of unlearning some kinds of hate.)

[great-and-small]

Do y’all know about Frédéric Thomas? He is a French parasitologist who heard a story about crickets in New Zealand leaping into the water even though they can’t swim, and immediately speculated this suicidal behavior was related to behavior manipulation from an internal parasite. This is before neuro-parasitology was a field at all, and before people really put much stock into parasite’s ability to control animal behavior.

Thomas was certain that studying these crickets would be a huge priority for the scientific world given the implications of a parasite controlling an animal’s actions in such an insidious way. Unfortunately, absolutely nobody would fund Thomas’ expedition to study the crickets, and his grants were all declined. In a wild move that showcases the balls to the wall, near- insanity level passion of a biologist, Thomas declared a hunger strike and wrote a letter to the president of France saying he would not eat until someone took the matter seriously and funded his study on the suicidal crickets. I feel like those of us in research can at least a little bit understand this impulse.

Well the French government actually got Thomas’ message and freaked out a bit at the negative publicity that could arise from a crazy worm scientist starving to death. So they send some government bigwigs to the university to pressure Thomas and his department heads into calling an end to the hunger strike. In the flurry of attention that resulted from this, a Swiss billionaire heard about Thomas’ plight and offered to partially fund the study. The French government was happy to get rid of Thomas and contributed funding as well so that Thomas could head to New Zealand to study his suicidal crickets. He was right about the parasites causing the behavior!

The hunger strike debacle is not even the wildest part of this story. I love biology so much

[wheelie-sick]

I'll constantly see people list of disorders that cause psychosis and talk about how they're highly stigmatized and somehow they never ever mention bipolar disorder? ever? and it's almost certainly because people online tend to have this perception of bipolar as the "socially acceptable sad happy disease" and it is not. it is just not. bipolar disorder is so incredibly stigmatized and its symptoms go so much deeper than just "sad and happy"

did you know bipolar causes psychosis?

do you know what mania actually is? (hint: it's not "extremely happy"!)

did you know bipolar causes hypersexuality?

did you know bipolar causes aggression?

did you know bipolar causes generally socially unacceptable behavior?

did you know bipolar people are more likely to kill themselves in a manic episode than in a depressive episode?

did you know bipolar causes a thousand other highly stigmatized symptoms?

did you know that after my bipolar disorder diagnosis people started gossiping about how I was "unstable" and therefore "untrustworthy" and I was "erratic" and "a liability"? would you guess that these things were said by a progressive activist group who were "anti-ableism"? does this all sound like an destigmatized mental illness to you?

does it????

[transgendz]

This is going to be short bc i already have a post up explaining this situation, but I started having seizures, which led to medical costs I couldn't handle bc I have an autoimmune disorder that's been going untreated for years. I got the appts covered bc of an extremely generous friend on here, and had some additional medication costs which I thankfully had enough for. I've been applying to at least 10 jobs a day and had tons of interviews. I'm going through interviews and assessments for several jobs (got more scheduled for tomorrow) Then my card got stolen, and now I am screwed as far as rent goes, even if one of these jobs comes through like today we will still fall short because rent is due on the 1st and we don't get a grace period. I am trying to get the money that was taken when my card was stolen back, but I have been told to wait to hear back after submitting all the details, and have yet to hear back.

Dm me for proof or more details. I will do art for anyone who helps with this and you can commission me at my art blog @theartistrans I just desperately need to get rent. My roommates and I have a huge food garden planted and are working towards self-sufficiency, which we have no hope of if we can't pay rent.

PP -- $C -- V -- kofi

$45/$650

[neuroandhemo]

this is my oc neuro, its a neuron and i wanted to make it look like a diagram ^_^

its meant to be a cat looking thing

woah htis is geting attentoin thank yall1!! follow if u wanna see more o f this gober.. an its friends..!

[crazycatsiren]

Don't derail posts about physical disabilities to try to make them about neurodivergence. Just don't. Nobody's saying being neurodivergent doesn't count as being disabled. Plenty of us physically disabled people are also neurodivergent. But let people talk about things, and make your own posts for what you want to talk about. Some things are just not about you, and that's ok. That's going to happen.

[lesboylycan]

another thing that's deeply fucking annoying is the way schizophrenia is treated as an all-or-nothing thing, where if you don't have the most severe presentation of it that cannot be masked under any circumstances ever, you can't have it at all. and also if you're self aware of your symptoms in any form, you can't have it at all, especially (in our experience) if you have any awareness about your delusions, even if your awareness extends only as far as "other people think these are delusions and i know this because i've been told as such, so it isn't safe for me to talk about them because i risk getting hurt if i do"

[fimbry]

Lykoi the werewolf cat breed

So I’m not going to be arguing because I’ve seen enough from enough owners over the years to have reached this conclusion, and I’m not in well enough health to come back to this. But I’m seeing the lykoi breed get more attention around tumblr lately, and I’ve gotta speak up because the breed has a dirty little secret.

I joined the Lykoi Lovers group years ago because I loved this breed, they’re super cute! I love werewolves! However, over the years, as more people got these cats, and their cats aged up (3-5+yo is when skin issues become REALLY evident) the group turned into a horror show.

This mutation really reminds me of lemon frost in leopard geckos. In the geckos, it was the desirable appearance which CAUSED the cancerous tumors. It wasn’t something that could be bred out. Similarly, it is the werewolf appearance which causes the skin issues, cysts, pimples, bleeding in the cats. You can breed away from it... and end up with a normal looking cat with fewer skin issues. You cannot seem to keep the werewolf look AND have good skin.

More below, and it IS graphic so be warned. Pus, blood, sad cats under the cut.

Let’s start with "what to know before getting a Lykoi”

Okay, inevitably bumpy? What’s that mean exactly?

“The gene that is specific to Lykoi that creates the semi hairless and roaning look is thought to be responsible for less hair follicles and possibly smaller pores. This in turn could be responsible for the cyst/pimple issue. So, it's not going to be in Sphinx or any other breed, it's specific to Lykoi. Responsible breeders are currently working on breaking away from some of the older lines with bad skin and breed Lykoi that have no or less bumps. However what happens when you breed for more coat and better skin is that it seems to lessen the look of the Lykoi. Many of the heavier coated Lykoi without skin issues lack a mask or have a very slight one.“

^^^This is pretty damning as far as the future of the breed goes. Well bred ones will not look like werewolf cats.

Okay, but that’s just a couple cats, and just one cyst. That’s not so bad---

“They definitely bother me more than her.” You sure about that?? Look at her...

Okay but that’s just a FEW cats, how bad could it b--

Again, this issue typically appears after the cat is 3-5 years old, so people buy their little werewolf cats unwise to the fact it’ll live with painful skin problems for the majority of its life.

It is the very mutation which reduces follicle count and pore size which causes the werewolf appearance and the blackheads and cysts, so I think “breeding it out” is nothing but a pipe dream. The mutation itself is what causes the problems, as mentioned earlier just like lemon frost leopard geckos.

Anyway, this has been a PSA.

[diesatoru]

i think mercy is sooo fucking hilarious for showing harrow how to keep her cortisol going instead of the more obvious way to lengthen the time u stay awake (SCN or EPG) < this is what i would do

mercy: oh you want to stay awake? let me show you how to do that but also make u so fucking stressed

idk if this is bc tazmuir isn't like. a neurologist so she chose cortisol but still i would like to think its bc mercy hates harrow

[spookysalem13]

My neurospicy alt brain 🧠 🙃

[arodata]

When you think of ableism in terms of real systematic oppression instead of the chronically online "are you allowed to say x?" and/or "you can't criticize me I have adhd" type of bullshit these discussions get incredibly tedious because oftentimes the latter group seems entirely unaware of the former

Congratulations! You have removed "stupid" from your vocabulary. But are you, like, critical of psychiatry as an institution of societal control? Also are you normal about physically disabled people

[autball]

Part 1 of a 5 part series about the ways harmful practices are being made to sound more appealing through the co-opting of language and how to spot the differences between helpful and harmful approaches.

The language of the Neurodiversity Paradigm is soooo hot right now. Everyone from ABA centers to social media creators are adopting it to sound like they’re safer and more knowledgeable than they are.

But you can’t just pop some neuro-word in place of “autism” and stop picking on a couple of Autistic traits and call yourself “Neuro-affirming.” That’s the low-hanging fruit of #neurodiversitylite.

REAL Neuro-affirming practice comes from a complete shift in mindset, unlearning all the harmful things you once thought were true, and learning about all the things you never even knew you didn’t know. It’s also an ongoing process, not just something you can learn from reading an article or taking a single training.

ABA practitioners are probably the worst offenders right now, mainly because they know they need to rebrand as more and more people learn about what ABA really does to people, but also because their practices in particular are THE furthest away from being Neuro-affirming compared to any other discipline.

They are not the only ones, though, so be wary of #neurodiversitylite in ANY resource aimed at autistic people that appears to be saying all the right things, including: OT, speech, play/talk therapy, early intervention, education, your favorite parenting expert or social media personality who just discovered the world of Neurodiversity, etc.

Look beyond someone’s use of the “right” words or symbols. Do they talk about teaching people to fit into the normative world, or how to more safely and authentically navigate a world not made for them? Do they talk about making the person easier to deal with, or making life easier for the person? Do they concentrate on external behaviors, or are they more concerned with internal experiences? Does most of what they know come from people who studied autistic people from the outside looking in, or from actual autistic people who can speak from lived experience? And are they even using the words right??

The good news is that there are SO MANY resources out there BY autistic and otherwise Neurodivergent people for anyone who wants to learn how to make their practice *actually* more Neuro-affirming. SO MANY!! Three such resources are featured in the second panel from Autism Level UP, Neurowild, and Kieran Rose-The Autistic Advocate. (Big thanks to them for letting me include their work in the cartoon!)

EXPLANATION OF WHAT’S WRONG IN THE “FAKE” PANEL:

- The phrase “individuals with neurodiversity” misuses the word “neurodiversity” and utilizes person first language. The Neuro-affirming phrase would be “neurodivergent people,” or “autistic people” if they specifically meant autistic people.

- Getting rid of puzzle piece stuff is merely a surface level first step, not an end point.

- Not forcing eye contact and allowing hand-flapping are also only surface level first steps. The fact that they still target other stims means they do not understand the importance or functions of stimming, making them incapable of being Neuro-affirming.

- Social skills training aimed at ND people usually centers NT social skills as the “right way” and frames ND social skills as the “wrong way,” making them shame inducing and not at all affirming.

- “Tolerating distress” most often means “suppressing distress.” Neuro-affirming practice would concentrate on identifying and avoiding triggers, helping the person stay regulated, and teaching the person how to accommodate and advocate for their needs so that they are not distressed in the first place.

- “Sensory desensitization” is not a thing that can be done to someone without harm. It is usually done with exposure therapy, which should not be done TO someone who cannot consent. It is also inappropriate for sensory issues, which tells us they don’t understand sensory processing differences at all.

- The posters: Whole Body Listening is based on neuronormative expectations; “They say I’m neurodiverse” is incorrect usage of the word “neurodiverse” (it should be “neurodivergent”), and “but I say I’m perfect” insinuates that being “neurodiverse” is a bad thing, while the use of the rainbow infinity symbol with such a non-affirming message adds to the dissonance; the ABC’s of Behavior is an indicator that ABA/behaviorism will be used, which is the opposite of Neuro-affirming practice.

EXPLANATION OF WHAT’S RIGHT IN THE “REAL” PANEL:

- The person accurately explains what Neuro-affirming practice looks like, without needing to use (or misuse) any Neurodiversity “buzzwords.”

- Bumper, A Whole Body Learner, is a resource created by Autism Level UP that encourages people to discover what it looks like for them to be ready to learn, acknowledging that there is no one right way to appear attentive.

- The poster by Neurowild indicates that they value difference and neurodiversity and that they know there is no one right way of being.

- They use the Advoc8 Framework, a resource created by Kieran Rose, The Autistic Advocate. Using this framework means they want to help the people they work with achieve Agency, Autonomy, (Self) Acceptance, and Authenticity.

[frostystorm12]

SOME OF YALL WHO REPOST MY ART ARE CRAZY YO

more lloyd tbh i was just tryna figure out proportion and poses

[wheelie-sick]

having a manic episode has completely changed my perspective on people doing strange things with disastrous consequences

like, yeah, people absolutely make bad decisions while completely lucid

but then sometimes I hear about someone spending an absurd amount of money on something bizarre and it gets framed as "this freak is so into hazbin hotel they bankrupted themself by commissioning an elaborate animation of them having sex with one of the characters!!!" and it gets passed around as a public joke. "who would be stupid enough to bankrupt themself for a hazbin hotel self insert sex animation 😂" meanwhile I look at that and think "oh. that's the kind of thing I would have done 3 months ago at the height of my mania."

people make comments like "who in their right mind would do something like this??" on these kinds of stories all the time and never consider the possibility that maybe they weren't in their right mind.

and with these stories 9out of 10 times it comes out that the person behind them was having some sort of mental health episode- whether it was a manic episode or not. these people then have to deal with picking up the pieces of not only their life but also their reputation after the internet has spent weeks mocking them to death.

idk, have compassion for people

[legokingfisher]

“Neuuroo 😁 master of mind👀...! Versus. 👹BOLOBO.👹👹👹 masterof nnature!”

[crystalchespin]

bloomerang ilove yuo ......