Atsushi Sakurai: Well, I guess I want to transcend gender. It's part of the job. The moment I get embarrassed about this kind of thing, I'm finished...But I think it's only recently that I've really become able to get pumped up about it like I do now. It's become more fun for me, too. I feel like I'm transforming into something else.
Interviewer: I suppose your image is similar to David Bowie's bisexuality. Or maybe it's a more Japanese image of femininity.
AS: Yeah. ...I think it's more Japanese style. Bowie's calculated androgyny was certainly surprising as a work of art, but when I act a role for myself, it's the refined femininity of ancient Japan, but with power. That's what I become. In fact, I have a number of friends and acquaintances like that. Men, but with women's souls, something like that. When I look at people like them, I think… “it suits them so naturally,” or “I quite like this.” They also seem very gentle to me…I suppose I have a bit of that element or quality myself. When I was a child, I felt more comfortable playing with girls. Even now I sometimes get told that I'm “feminine.”
Interviewer: If you went down that path, do you think you could love a man?
Do people know about Vocational Rehab? If you're USAmerican they have this in every state.
It's a program that helps disabled folks access education, training, and employment. For FREE.
You only have to be disabled to qualify (autism, ADHD, mental illness, physical illness, etc) and they cover very broad categories of disability. You do NOT have to be officially diagnosed yet when you walk in - they will even help pay for your diagnosis if you are struggling w disability.
I applied with my suspected autism and fibromyalgia, and they paid for 100% of my formal autism assessment.
Once your disability is established they will give you career counseling to learn about your interests and skills, and depending on the plan you create with your caseworker they will then help with school or finding employment. They paid for 100% of my college tuition and books, and even provided a laptop for me to use.
You do not have to pay anything for this program. If you make above a certain income, you will have to contribute to educational costs but will still receive assistance.
They will also help with the cost of things like mental health counseling while you work towards your goals, clothing for interviews, etc.
They cannot discriminate based on your race, gender, or sexual orientation.
They won't make you do excessive meetings.
They will allow you to do meetings with your caseworker remotely.
They will not drug test you.
They want you to succeed.
I'm sure that individual experiences vary but my caseworker was exceptionally easy to work with and very kind.
Vocational Rehab is a phenomenal resource every disabled person should be aware of. Here is the list of offices in every state:
@plaguedocboi is absolutely right! This is a Geckolepis! You might remember the one we described a few years ago, Geckolepis megalepis, that went as far as becoming a feature on Snapchat of all places.
And resulted in this *spectacular* art by @leotide:
There are five currently recognised species. I would hazard a guess that the one pictured above is G. typica, but these geckos are very hard to ID.
today, april 11th, is the anniversary of Mel Baggs' death. Mel Baggs was one of the early founders of the neurodiversity movement and believed that no one was too disabled for human rights, something that modern nd movements fail to understand to this day. sie was so instrumental to my understanding of literally everything. sie died from medical ableism and neglect during the beginning of the pandemic. we would be nowhere fucking near where we are now without hir. i've decided to make a masterlist of some of my favorite posts of hirs, organized into different categories.
(some of these are listed in more than one category because they overlap so much)
here are some of the "essentials" (what you might have already read by hir/should read first):
hir memorial site hosted by ASAN:
In My Language
the oak manifesto
There is ableism at the heart of your oppression, no matter what your oppression might be
Getting The Truth Out (many pages, parody of bad autism awareness campaign called "getting the word out")
the meaning of self-advocacy
what makes institutions bad
aspie supremacy can kill
here are some of hir beautiful writings on perceiving/communicating with hir environment as an autistic person, and on communication in general:
up in the clouds and down in the valley: my richness and yours
distance underthought
the naked mechanisms of echolalia
empty mirrors and redwoods
the fireworks are interesting
hir tumblr tag #sensing (@withasmoothroundstone)
on personhood and who has the authority to take it away:
being an unperson
what it means to be real
empty mirrors and redwoods
And understand that this is confusing. So when I write about decisions I am making, don’t take them as judgements on people who don’t or ca
on institutions and the I/DD service system:
caregiver abuse takes many forms
"i don't know that person's program"
what my home means to me
dd service system tag
god help the critic of the dawn: glamour and its fallout
what makes institutions bad
post on the JRC
outposts in our heads
on online social justice communities/their inaccessibility:
Your politics have a problem when they contradict the real-life experiences of the people they're supposed to be about.
[If this post is too long for you, try this other post, which summarizes it, but doesn't have quite as much information.]
First off, quickl
I’m autistic. Not everyone autistic sucks at pronouns, but enough autistic people suck at pronouns that it’s been remarked upon since the v
politics, ethics and mental widgets
hir tumblr tags #outside the wall and #little packages (@withasmoothroundstone)
misc:
The Bones My Family Gave Me
Please violate only one stereotype at a time
My sort of people, just as real as theirs.
Reviving the concept of cousins
gender tag
this is hir poems and creative works:
Poetry and creative writing
this is hir writing on autistics.org:
Personal non-site and FAQ by an autistic
woman who used to have a more extensive website, and where to find her
current writing on autism
no, i do not believe this level of delusion about the pandemic being “over” is sustainable. i have noticed people behaving in ways they never would have before c19, like they know deep down that things are not OK and they’re scared. international travel, huge parties, etc. i don’t know. i guess i’ve been surprised and disappointed by mass human cruelty and indifference before but i really do believe there will be a tipping point. once activists can catch their fucking breath? maybe? it took 10 years of AIDS before ACT UP took to the streets. i don’t want to wait 10 years. i’ll push as hard as i fucking can but unfortunately i’m close to bed-bound by long covid at the moment. i do not want to die. c19 activism feels like a tipping point for climate change action, anticapitalist action, and abolition action. this can be a radicalizing moment. they made the US slightly more accessible for a MINUTE and then yanked it away but we *saw* it. we saw it!!!!!!!!!! efforts to squash c19 precautions go hand-in-hand with squashing anti-police protests: they know that the summer 2020 uprisings were able to happen because enough people, for a brief moment, were freer than they had ever been in this fucking evil country. when people are given resources, they give a shit. cops were the only maskless faces in the streets of minneapolis and that is not a coincidence. the old world is fucking scared and wants you to get sick and die. c19 deaths keep climbing, your yard is burning or flooding or bogged down by smoke, cops have killed more people each year since 2020. that’s the “normal” everybody is trying to convince you it’s sooooo fun to go back to. fuck off. fuck off. there will be a crack and we will kick it open
People wait for a revolution, but we have to be the ones who do it. Someone has to do something, and if you are waiting for a tipping point THAT TIPPING POINT IS NOW. Everything hinges on now. You are either poor or poor in waiting, you are either oppressed or oppressed in waiting. Remember that you are not powerless, and that the greatest moves are made together. When you see laws being advanced that punish trans existence by up to 5 years in prison, or next week when you see on the news another brutal murder of a black man at the hands of police, instead of talking about how shocked you are, figure out what you can do to get involved. The time for talk is over, the time for action is now.
you can tell this website is autistic as hell because someone posts a video with a mildly catchy phrase in it and no one shuts up about it for an extended period of time. or image even. image with a mildly catchy phrase in it even. we love phrases here on tumblr dot com love to repeat them. due to the autism
i love headcanoning old men as ftm. like considering fandom loves to equate being transmasc to being young no one will probably agree with me but i look into his eyes and see the wisdom only a post-menopausal man could provide
so my fridge is covered in femboy pinups i got when i was a subscriber to this porn artist's patreon and i just have like so many femboy pinups and also a furry pinup on my fridge it really is quite erotic
and my wifi password is "onthefridge"
so whenever someone new comes over and i offer to let them use the wifi i tell them the password is "onthefridge" and they go and look at the fridge and are met with all this femboy ass and are like where is it there's a lot of stuff here and i reiterate it's onthefridge and they go where!!! and i come over and type "onthefridge" into their phone and they get so mad
