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Updates

 My poetry chapbook was self-published earlier this year and can be found on Lulu, or anywhere else that books are sold. It is entitled Cracked Around the Edges, and contains poetry from the years 2015-2016 & 2019. It can be found anywhere from Amazon to Google Play store and Apple Store under the name Lily Maureen O'Nan.

I am currently also working on new poetry, an autie-ethnography, and a short story, along with doing a series of mixed media queer and kink-themed artwork. 

I have also been voraciously reading neurodiversity studies books, almost all of which have been written by Autistic authors themselves. I am currently on the book, Typed Words Loud Voices, and it is having an impact on how I view my own communication, as I find it much easier to communicate through text, so I have decided to make a concerted effort to employ text-to-speech AAC apps more in my daily life.

As far as gender goes, that has also become more intertwined with my neurodivergence as I now identify as a genderfluid transfeminine hypertwink and otherkin. The otherkin community, in particular, seems very welcoming of Autistics, as if there was not already often an intersection between autism and gender orientation/expression. My pronouns are they/them/their, ze/zim/zir, she/her/hers, and xe/xem/xyrs in that order of preference. I figured that if I cannot seem to stick to one gender identity, why not embrace multiple genders?

I am undergoing ketamine therapy for treatment resistant bipolar depression and trauma primarily, and that has also made a world of difference in my recovery process. While I know that I cannot recover from hardwired neurological queerness and wouldn't want to, it's nice to let some of the trauma and depression go. It seems that some of the anxiety is becoming more manageable as well.

I'm not sure what my original intentions were for this blog, but I'm going to try to keep updates going, so that people have a better idea of where I am coming from, and maybe the original intentions have changed, but the more I learn about the neurodiversity paradigm, the more my opinions change about a number of so-called psychological phenomena.

I am still going to university for psychology with a minor in studio art, and plan to get my master's degree in social work to become a therapist. I figured the minor in art might be beneficial to including art therapy in my repertoire and more interactive and humanistic therapy approaches for neurodivergent individuals seeking therapeutic services (and it's important that they be seeking them of their own volition). In the meantime, I have put in an application to get licensed as a community health worker and certified recovery specialist.

I will be finishing my associate degree in social science and starting my bachelor's degree in psychology this fall (in less than a month). I will be taking the required math and health class, along with human sexuality. 


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