#actuallytranstistic

[genderqueerpositivity]

I am neurodivergent. I experience everything through the lens of my neurodivergence--emotions, relationships, social interactions, touch and sight, sound, taste and smell, my ability to learn, how I process information, my values and beliefs. I exist in, interact with, and perceive my own body as neurodivergent person.

I've experienced gendered socialization as a neurodivergent person. I've experienced gender dysphoria and euphoria--social and physical--as a neurodivergent person. And I've experienced gender affirming hormone therapy as a neurodivergent person.

I draw parallels between my experiences as a neurodivergent person and as a trans person all the time; it just seems so natural and obvious to me to do so.

My transness and neurodivergence are connected and inseparable.

My transness is neurodivergence.

I feel like this isn't a popular statement to make, and it's not something that I see discussed frequently. It think that is an inevitable part of the push against transness being defined as a mental illness.

We want to talk about transness in the terms of identity rather than of medicine. We protest when anti-trans people weaponize the research that connects transness and autism (or other forms of neurodivergence) in order to suggest that our transness is disordered.

I get this. I understand it. And I am not arguing for medicalization of transness or neurodivergence here, in fact I am against that.

What I want is for it not to be weird that I name my gender dysphoria as a neurodivergence. I want more people to see and understand the connections between transphobia and ableism, especially as it impacts transmasculine people and trans men. I definitely want people to stop mocking the language that neurodivergent trans people have created to use to talk about how we experience gender.

I want everyone to understand that you can't truly be pro-neurodiversity without being anti-transphobia. Your autistic advocacy must be pro-trans. Your trans advocacy must be anti-ableist.

I believe the connection here must be accepted. I believe that neurodiversity activism and trans rights activism can and should inform and impact each other, and only through honoring this can we get closer to liberation.

[genderqueerpositivity]

(Image description: six lavender and lilac watercolor images with dark text. Text reads:

1) What does it mean to identify as gendervague?

2) Gendervague is term used to express experiencing a connection between gender identity and neurodivergence.

3) Many neurodivergent people experience their gender identity as being inherently connected to their neurotype.

4) Some individuals may choose to identify as gendervague because their neurotype makes it difficult to define their gender with other labels.

5) And other people may identify as gendervague in addition to addition to using labels such as transfeminine, agender, or nonbinary.

6) Neurodivergent experiences of gender and transness are personal, complex, beautiful, and valid.)

[genderqueerpositivity]

(two transgender/gendervague pride flags with text that reads 1) "my gender and neurotyoe are connected," and 2) "my gender cannot be separated from my neurotype")

Transgender: having a gender different from the one which a person was assigned at birth.

Gendervague: having a gender which cannot be easily described or defined due to neurodivergence; an experience of gender and transness which is inherently connected to neurodivergence.