Open Society

Education technology tends to dismiss embodiment. Even when folks tout "learning by doing," it's often reduced nowadays to "learning by clicking." You'd think that having just lived through several years of Zoom school, we'd be more willing to prioritize the importance of teaching and learning with our bodies in physical spaces with other bodies. (Or even have more nuanced conversations about the effect on bodies of teaching and learning in digital and non-digital spaces.) Alas.

“That’s what I like about being on the road. After you’ve seen enough, here and there, you get a better sense—nothing’s normal and nothing’s not. It’s all outside. You know?”

And when you’re on your guard all the time, it gets too easy to mix up curiosity and aggression.

“Sure. Just sure. Or used to special treatment on the coast. There’s probably special treatment for folks like you on the coast.” The choice of words is intentional. And at another time in my life, I would have joked or played it off. A time after that, I might have shoved him aside. But the only way to be with people like this is steady and unwavering, and I want my son to see that at this particular point. I smile and don’t say a word. “Special,” the man in the tall hat repeats, like he knows.

We’re so different from everybody, I feel like we’re in the wrong world sometimes.

Strategic and false claims that stories are fake news or deepfakes may benefit politicians by helping them maintain support after a scandal. We posit that this benefit, known as the “liar’s dividend,” may be achieved through two politician strategies: by invoking informational uncertainty or by encouraging oppositional rallying of core supporters.

Trans healthcare, in other words, has never been an honest endeavor. It places overwhelming, social manifestations of moral judgement and disapproval in front of the actual medical procedures and medications it offers, designed to pressure as many people as possible to wash out before getting what they want, and forcing the rest to “rehabilitate” themselves into productive, docile subjects of gender. This is because medicalization is premised on the idea that it is irrational and disgusting to transition, so no rational doctor would permit it except as a last resort.

There is a form of social and political control implemented by medicine, a way to sever an unpopular minority from their own bodies and then sell back limited access to their bodies if they will submit to a set of trials to prove they can be good people, or at least made better. The people opposed to that kind of medicalization simply think that trans people enjoy no right to their bodies at all, under any circumstances.

From the very beginning, Rogers knew that love meant talking about the hard stuff.

“The roots of a child's ability to cope and thrive, regardless of circumstance, lie in that child's having had at least a small, safe place (an apartment? a room? a lap?) in which, in the companionship of a loving person, that child could discover that [they were] lovable and capable of loving in return. If a child finds this during the first years of life,[they] can grow up to be a competent, healthy person.” -Rev. Fred Rogers

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations have always included autistic people & those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), yet our existence is not adequately reflected in SGM health research. Instead, autistic SGMs, particularly those of color, are excluded from & mistreated in clinical & research settings, resulting in adverse health outcomes. Autism, alone, does not create these disparities. To start closing the gaps, NIH’s strategic plan for SGM health research must replace the euphemistic “ability status” with the more precise “disability status.” The plan must also expand its “sexual and gender minority subpopulation” to include SGM’s with IDD & SGM’s of color with IDD.

Impact of individuals’ gender/sex & race/ethnicity on accessing an autism diagnosis & autism services & supports. While research is starting to grasp the gender disparities in accessing an autism diagnosis, there is little discussion about accessing an autism diagnosis for trans & gender-non-conforming people, & even less focus on the intersectional experiences of SGM people of color in this context. Closing equity gaps in access to diagnosis is essential because diagnosis is often a gateway to services & supports.