language policing

key point: people still use 'autistic' the way we used to use 'gay' when I was in school, and that's stigmatising all neurodiverse people. I'm neurodiverse: I'm transgender and bipolar, and those are real diagnoses that I really received. None of my psychiatrist friends has suggested autism IRL either... - Why the rant: one of the bulletins at work had the new autism manual - I skimmed it, and double-checked the diagnostic criteria. I don't meet enough of them: even with the online tests, mine is a borderline case, while my mood disorder is obviously real. It could be Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

But honestly, I was homeschooled and grew up partly in another country. That's why my social skills are different, and in environments that aren't mainstream NZ, I succeed. -

As I say, neurodivergence is the key term to add to the discourse. ADHD, Bipolar, Anxiety disorder, ASD, FASD, depression .. these are all neurodiverse conditions. - As for why I'm not talkative and sharing at the office: I got burned really badly on opening up to people over my activist career, and now I simply don't trust anyone. People from Isentia would remember me as oversharing, so this is trauma from the War on Drugs - I spent the last several years in a world of double-talk and cagey silences, and other than Anna, there aren't a lot of gay people. - Of course the language on the tape is idiosyncratic and repetitive: have you ever watched Dakta's channel? 😀 Activism requires a certain sloganeering attitude, and I'm about as on-message as any politician, who also have a very repetitive way of speaking.