Skip to main content

Disability Studies

 While I am getting a bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in either sociology or gender studies at the University of Southern Indiana, I would also like to obtain a bachelor's degree online in my own time in Disability Studies.

While I have primarily been reading Neurodiversity Studies, Autie-ethnographies, and fiction written by Autistic authors, I have decided to brush up on Crip Theory and Disability Studies in general by reading "Feminist, Queer, Crip" by Alison Kafer. It brings in a lot to think about and introduced me to the political/relational model of disability, instead of just the social and medical models.

Overall, I would like to be a Disability Studies scholar, advocate, and activist to the best of my ability and try to be as inclusive as possible of various other people's Disabled status, despite this specific blog being more centered around Queer Neurodivergence. I would also like to be more mindful of how I approach difference in the world, whether from a Neurodivergent standpoint or more visible disabilities, and also take into account my own privileges, so that I remain humble. I want to be as inclusive about all human diversity as possible in my attempts to make a difference in my own way.

While a lot of my work on here is going to remain centered on topics of Queer Neurodivergence, as I learn more about the discipline of Disability Studies, you can expect me to expand and likely start another blog or work on other writing projects, such as books. I might be 33, but I am only truly beginning my education journey now that I have completed most of my associate degree in social science, and will graduate after fall semester. I might be able to customize my psychology degree to be centered on social psychology, and if that's the case, then I will minor in gender studies. Otherwise, if that is not an option, I will likely get a general psychology degree and minor in sociology. I have also found a program online where I can obtain a bachelor's degree in Disability Studies, so I plan to pursue that when I have the time. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Genderfluidity

 Over the years, my gender identity has shifted many times. I knew initially that I was genderfluid, but tried very hard to be a binary trans woman, along with various other non-binary identities until I came to the conclusion of being a genderfluid hypertwink and otherkin (a partially nonhuman entity).  I consider myself a girl, a boy, technogender, and aliencatgender. The latter two can fall under Xenogenders or agender. The reason I call myself a girl and a boy is because I'm uncomfortable with woman or man due to developmental delays caused by trauma that have put me in a near permanent state of regression. I am also a hypertwink and try to take twink aesthetic to its fullest reaches in my presentation, and I am on hormone replacement therapy primarily to preserve my youth, my hair, and make me more twink-like and androgynous. The only gender affirming procedures I find necessary for myself is further laser hair removal. I would also like to describe how my genderfluidity ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mirror-touch Synesthesia & the "Empath"

 I personally do not like or adhere to the term "empath," but I believe I have figured out the explanation for this phenomenon, which I do experience. It's specifically called mirror-touch synesthesia, and is also related to mirror-pain synesthesia and mirror-emotion synesthesia, which I spoke of at an earlier time. Studies show that mirror-touch synesthetes experience heightened levels of empathy because, in addition to feeling at least an echo of another person's pain, many of us also feel their emotions as if they were our own. This sounds an awful lot like the horrific pop psychology term, "empath," but most people attribute it to a supernatural phenomenon if they're not lying about it, rather than a Neurodivergence. It's a lesser known type of synesthesia, but I experience mirror-touch, as well as more "traditional" types of synesthesia where many of my senses blend together. I was actually misdiagnosed with schizoaffective because I d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trauma Response on the Poet's Stage

 Last night I attended an event locally entitled Poetry Speaks, and it was a celebration of the life of the late Bill Sovern. I have known him since I was 15, and he gave me a stage to read poetry at a young age. The last performance of his that I attended when he was alive was over a decade ago, long before I started transitioning, and he made a comment about Jack Kerouac (likely in relation to my poetry style), and I took offense to it, although I should have taken it as a compliment since I was a voracious reader of the Beats and fashioned my early poetry after them, especially Kerouac. So, that was the last time I performed while he was still alive, but I had planned to start going to more poetry events since the publishing of my book, Cracked Around the Edges, and he tragically passed in a car wreck before I had a chance to read any of it to him. Well, going to Poetry Speaks last night was surreal. It was the loudest and most emotional poetry reading I have ever attended durin...
Post a Comment
Read more