#they are equally autistic

[brandyschillace]

The Forgotten History of the World’s First Transgender Clinic

I finished the first round of edits on my nonfiction history of trans rights today. It will publish with Norton in 2025, but I decided, because I feel so much of my community is here, to provide a bit of the introduction.

[begin sample]

The Institute for Sexual Sciences had offered safe haven to homosexuals and those we today consider transgender for nearly two decades. It had been built on scientific and humanitarian principles established at the end of the 19th century and which blossomed into the sexology of the early 20th. Founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, a Jewish homosexual, the Institute supported tolerance, feminism, diversity, and science. As a result, it became a chief target for Nazi destruction: “It is our pride,” they declared, to strike a blow against the Institute. As for Magnus Hirschfeld, Hitler would label him the “most dangerous Jew in Germany.”6 It was his face Hitler put on his antisemitic propaganda; his likeness that became a target; his bust committed to the flames on the Opernplatz. You have seen the images. You have watched the towering inferno that roared into the night. The burning of Hirschfeld’s library has been immortalized on film reels and in photographs, representative of the Nazi imperative, symbolic of all they would destroy. Yet few remember what they were burning—or why.

Magnus Hirschfeld had built his Institute on powerful ideas, yet in their infancy: that sex and gender characteristics existed upon a vast spectrum, that people could be born this way, and that, as with any other diversity of nature, these identities should be accepted. He would call them Intermediaries.

Intermediaries carried no stigma and no shame; these sexual and Gender nonconformists had a right to live, a right to thrive. They also had a right to joy. Science would lead the way, but this history unfolds as an interwar thriller—patients and physicians risking their lives to be seen and heard even as Hitler began his rise to power. Many weren’t famous; their lives haven’t been celebrated in fiction or film. Born into a late-nineteenth-century world steeped in the “deep anxieties of men about the shifting work, social roles, and power of men over women,” they came into her own just as sexual science entered the crosshairs of prejudice and hate. The Institute’s own community faced abuse, blackmail, and political machinations; they responded with secret publishing campaigns, leaflet drops, pro-homosexual propaganda, and alignments with rebel factions of Berlin’s literati. They also developed groundbreaking gender affirmation surgeries and the first hormone cocktail for supportive gender therapy.

Nothing like the Institute for Sexual Sciences had ever existed before it opened its doors—and despite a hundred years of progress, there has been nothing like it since. Retrieving this tale has been an exercise in pursuing history at its edges and fringes, in ephemera and letters, in medal texts, in translations. Understanding why it became such a target for hatred tells us everything about our present moment, about a world that has not made peace with difference, that still refuses the light of scientific evidence most especially as it concerns sexual and reproductive rights.

[end sample]

I wanted to add a note here: so many people have come together to make this possible. Like Ralf Dose of the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft (Magnus Hirschfeld Archive), Berlin, and Erin Reed, American journalist and transgender rights activist—Katie Sutton, Heike Bauer. I am also deeply indebted to historian, filmmaker and formative theorist Susan Stryker for her feedback, scholarship, and encouragement all along the way. And Laura Helmuth, editor of Scientific American, whose enthusiasm for a short article helped bring the book into being. So many LGBTQ+ historians, archivists, librarians, and activists made the work possible, that its publication testifies to the power of the queer community and its dedication to preserving and celebrating history. But I ALSO want to mention you, folks here on tumblr who have watched and encouraged and supported over the 18 months it took to write it (among other books and projects). @neil-gaiman has been especially wonderful, and @always-coffee too: thank you.

The support of this community has been important as I’ve faced backlash in other quarters. Thank you, all.

NOTE: they are attempting to rebuild the lost library, and you can help: https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/archivzentrum/archive-center/

#support trans rights #trans history #trans #transgender #trans woman #trans rights #trans representation #interwar period #weimar #equality #autistic author #nonbinary #lgbtq representation #lgbtqia #book news #book #books #new books #thank you #neil gaiman #for your support

[weedplantar]

Everyone always talks about autistic people who hate being touched, but where's the representation for sensory seeking autistics who love hugs and would be cuddling with someone 24/7 if they could????

#both are equally valid!!! #my brother and i are on both autistic and are opposites #he can only tolerate high fives or fist bumps #meanwhile i hug everyone near me & need as much physical contact as possible #autism #actually autistic

[pftones3482]

Listen, I hear y'all and your Touch Averse Autistic Donnie headcanons. But may I take a moment to present you with the option of: Physical Comfort Autistic Donnie, who is very comfortable touching his family and friends and with them touching him? And who uses physical touch as a way to show love without words?

Bc once you start looking for it, he is CONSTANTLY in physical contact with someone, and it's almost always in an affectionate way

#this is just a headcanon and observation obvi yall hc what makes u happy #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #donatello rottmnt #its always just disheartening when all autistic representation is touch averse when thats not how every autistic person is yk? #myself included #leo and mikey can def get away with it more than the others can but donnie really just always is in someone's personal space #i think his aversion would come in times of insanely high stress (like when theyre fighting the krang) #and as soon as he manages to calm down enough he'd be clinging to his brothers #also i think a lot of his 'ew hugs' moments are just the typical 'ew my family is hugging me' phase that a lot of teenagers go through lol #6 of these screenshots he actively initiated the touch or equally participated in it too #also also love the idea of a fic where Donnie is nonverbal one day and just uses touch to make sure everyone knows hes ok

[tatersgonnatate]

Every day of the year, not just during Pride Month. Trans and GNC lives are ALWAYS important and ALWAYS relevant.

(Photo by me at a local pride parade)

#defend trans lives #lgbt pride #trans lives matter #trans lives are human lives #trans lives are valid #pride month #happy pride 🌈 #we love our trans brothers and sisters #queer equality now #queer history #we have always been here you just didn't want to look #WHAT IS GENDER ANYWAY!!!!!! #gender identity #gender questioning #genderqueer #gender queer #trans pride #trans and autistic #trans and gay #trans and proud #trans and happy #trans happiness

[astraltrickster]

I want to introduce a disability concept that I've been calling paradoxical stigma.

What is paradoxical stigma? It's the stigma against:

1) The actually disabling traits of a disability that's in the spotlight for the parts of it that are convenient to accommodate, and/or

2) The diagnosis of such a disability itself,

Due to the assumption that the spotlight renders it "destigmatized" and no longer in need of support.

As of right now, at least around this corner of the internet, the most obvious examples of this are autism and ADHD. It's become disturbingly common for people to treat those like Diet Disabilities That Don't Actually Count. It's been really interesting to watch the popular attitude about these disorders shift from "autism is either a tragedy or an excuse depending on 'severity', and ADHD is just a myth used to drug kids into complicity instead of teaching them actual skills", to "actually these are real disorders that affect people in all aspects of their lives", to "I GUESS they're real disorders but honestly EVERYONE has them can't we worry about more SERIOUS ones?" and...not in a good way.

It comes up...partially as a legitimate backlash to people with these disorders who think that invisible disability and/or neurodivergence begins and ends at their experience, and...yeah, that's a problem all right, in fact if I had a dollar for every asshole who looked at my struggles with things like keeping my space clean or not fucking up my medication doses DUE TO ADHD and went "well I have the same diagnosis and I don't have THAT problem to THAT extent, obviously you're just lazy and careless", or saw me having an AUTISTIC meltdown and called it "bullying" or worse because I get loud and insisted that I NEED to CONTROL that CHOSEN BEHAVIOR if I want to not be a Bad Person, or heard about how AUTISTIC overstimulation defense measures play into my trouble with cleaning and insisted that well THEY'RE autistic too and don't have that specific problem so this is clearly weaponized helplessness because I just don't WANT to learn to do better, I'd...probably have a lot more assistive tech. I also get really, really frustrated and upset when people use RSD to mean "if you ever criticize me that's the height of ableism, no matter how much I'm actually fucking up and hurting you" - especially since it's so often invoked as a defense against being lightly criticized for ACTUALLY harmful behavior and as much as it sucks there IS no substitute to make that more emotional-dysregulation-friendly beyond basic kindness in criticism. That attitude exists. It's bad.

And yet, theoretically, I think we could all agree that the response to that should NEVER be to reinvent the old "ugh, those aren't REAL disabilities, those are just EXCUSES that LAZY PARENTS make for kids being kids, what they need is DISCIPLINE" stereotype of the 90s-2000s, just now aimed at those same kids as adults, in ostensibly supportive spaces - or arguably worse, to revert all our understanding of support needs to the externally judged high-functioning/low-functioning dichotomy.

What really sets this apart as paradoxical stigma, rather than just garden-variety lateral ableism, is that 1) we CAN theoretically all agree that reinventing those stereotypes is a terrible response, yet many people do it anyway, and 2) these stereotypes are invoked not only because of that intracommunity misbehavior, but both within and outside of disabled spaces, because of the illusion that you can bring up those disorders and have them taken seriously because fidget toys and stim videos and weighted blankets are popular now. An event having quiet rooms, or backlash to Autism Speaks being visible outside of autistic spaces, will be taken as "proof" that autism stigma is over forever and anyone who complains about it is just a whiner who doesn't know how good they have it...even when what they're complaining about is, say, being barred from migration. Paradoxical stigma is enacted by people who think that they, alone, are standing up against someone who's throwing others under the bus to continue to progress their own limited agenda...when in fact they're speaking a very popular shitty opinion, that MANY of the people making that claim would disagree with HEAVILY once separated from the "crab bucket reflex".

As a personal example, the result is that when I'm looking for assistance, I'm...hesitant to bring up those diagnoses, because I know I'm going to be written off as "obviously a high-functioning low-support needs scammer who just doesn't WANT to CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY and EARN things" - even by people who otherwise agree that people should be allowed to survive even if they truly are the living strawman lazy bum who has nothing wrong with them but just WANTS to lay around eating junk food and doing drugs all day, AND that disability deserves to be respected, isn't black-and-white, and affects everyone differently; somehow when these combine in the context of my diagnoses that have had a very sanitized version of themselves "destigmatized" on TikTok, they cancel out into blatant reactionary sentiment indistinguishable from what I'd hear from my shitty token Republican uncle.

So, that's paradoxical stigma. Feel free to use the term if you find it useful.

#disability #serious tag #and yes it is applicable to issues other than disability #if youre seeing parallels to this in how same-sex marriage passing nationwide in the us #was the beginning of a big downswing in support for queer rights because what ELSE could these entitled freaks POSSIBLY want #you are correct! they are VERY closely related! not quite identical because it wasnt almost equally intense within the community as outside #but i wouldnt call you wrong if you wanted to use the same term! #speaking of bringing back the high-functioning/low-functioning dichotomy - it is NOT lost on me #just how many people dont take me seriously as a Real Autist because im usually ''well-spoken'' #therefore i CLEARLY cant have support needs that are hard to aestheticize right??? #as if that kind of misconception isnt EXACTLY WHY we moved away from functioning labels in favor of discussing support needs

[nemmet]

thinking about what's new scooby doo fred in particular on this fine evening. he's the most 'just some guy' of all time. he likes sports but not the ones you would expect (ice hockey and wrestling). he lives with and COOKS FOR shaggy and scooby. he adores his van. he's easily embarrassed by his parents but cares so deeply about them and goes Dead Serious when they're in danger. he's such a big elvis fan that he went to a fantasy elvis camp. he almost died twice, and on both occasions scooby single-handedly saved his life. he's sad that he doesn't have a catchphrase. he refers to the rest of the gang as his family. he's easily distressed when others say his lines/come up with plans/drive the mystery machine because he's autistic and needs his routine. he panicked when fake-dating daphne as bait for a monster and ended up extensively rambling about his hayfever. he turned into a vampire that one time. he stood up and did a live trap demonstration in the middle of an interview because he cannot sit still for even five minutes. he has such a goofy way of expressing himself that velma and daphne refer to it as "fred speak" and need to translate it for others. he will throw his entire body at a monster if it causes his friends the slightest harm. he thinks he's above the laws of physics. he's never had ownership of the communal mystery inc braincell ever, in his life. and most importantly of all, HE CAN BENCH PRESS 220

#everything here is 100% canon aside from the bit about autism ahaha #that's just my headcanon because this was pre-mystery inc #but i 100% see this version of fred as autistic and maybe adhd too #he's so underrated i feel - mystery inc fred is incredible and deserves all the love he gets #but wnsd fred is so earnest and silly and charming and makes up an equally large part of why i love fred so much overall :) #ok this is a lot of words i will stop now kgfdghgfh #scooby doo #what's new scooby doo #fred jones #fred scooby doo #nem misc posts :] #scooby doo and nemmet too!

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

“Treat others how you want to be treated” is a cute sentiment but such awful real life advice that has gotten me into endless predicaments. Neurotypicals do not want to be treated how I want to be treated.

Turns out that among all eight billion of us, there are a few different sets of values and preferences and neurotypes. Turns out not everyone wants to be treated the same ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#also equity>equality #adhd autistic #neurodiversity #allistics #neurotypicals be like #autistic things #untreated adhd #late diagnosed autistic #cptsd recovery #audhd #borderline personality disorder #did osdd #bpd #adhd problems #cptsd healing #trauma recovery #complex trauma #audhd problems #audhd creature #audhd things #counterculture #golden rule #treat others how you want to be treated #intersectionality #neurodivergent #traumagenic #equitability

[azuresquirrel]

Dungeon Meshi manga is ending THIS WEEK the weekend is going to be a time for fucking coping, my dudes

#Dunmeshi #Dungeon Meshi #my stupid lesbian brain asking Ryoko Kui to ignore every thematic thread she has set up #and let Falin live #not even to ship - just let her be happy!!! #let her eat monsters with her equally autistic brother!!! is that too much!!!! #surrounding myself with the bottles of hubris

[lowvintagesims]

@funkiesims and i saw john mulaney last night and this is the front and back of the shirts we made for the occasion

#john mulaney hate is more than welcome in the replies #his set was remarkably unfunny #he’s always had questionable jokes about jewish people but how DARE this man use the phrase ‘jew me down’ #when his whole justification was haha my wife is jewish. like ok buddy #you cheated on her and got another woman pregnant robbing her of her child bearing years #left her for that other woman. put her in the hospital. all while you get to flit around being famous #his last bit was about how he thought his tour bus driver was an idiot redneck but that he was actually autistic #i hate him with my whole heart #i can’t believe there were people who paid $800+ to sit in the front #i planned to buy some of anna marie’s art of equal or greater value to the ticket price but everything on her website is sold out :/ #i want a print of dinner in march so badly #john mulaney #big mouth #textpost

[crowpunkcognitivedecline]

this is a cripple punk post; ableds must tag reblogs with #i’m able bodied

stop calling ND people’s ableism against physdis folks “lateral ableism.” it’s not lateral.

the vast majority of physdis folks are ND. while ND people can absolutely be disabled, ND disability works and is experienced differently, and isn’t just “physdis but mental”

ND people’s ableism against crips isn’t “lateral.” it’s ableism with an excuse.

#DO NOT TAG AS “C SLUR”/“TW SLUR” #related: LSN autist’s ableism against HSN autists isn’t lateral #if there is an imbalance of privilege in the area it’s not fucking lateral #stop appropriating social justice terms to make it sound like we’re all on equal footing here because we fucking arent #cripple punk #crippunk #cpunk #ableism #anticrip ableism #lateral ableism #lateral oppression #sanism #autistic #actually autistic #neurodiversity #neurodivergent community

[heresronnie21]

Apollo’s boys are stylish (usually)

#he loves them all equally though #gonna draw a full size version of that Apollo fit (I wuv him) #toa apollo #pjo apollo #will solace #austin lake #lee fletcher #michael yew #cabin 7 #will has that autistic drip #fully an excuse to sketch some fun outfits yes #my art #sorry kayla i needed an odd number #she is also very stylish

[desire-mona]

I LOVE AUTISTIC TODD ANDERSON!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE AUTISTIC TODD ANDERSON. autistic todd anderson (normal todd anderson) come back to me please i miss you

#desire mona #equally autistic but far more extroverted neil perry #what about that #what if theyre all autistic #i have a friendgroup like thag #dead poets society #todd anderson

[sparky-scratch]

couple pages of rottmnt doodles. we stay silly

#i need to make a friend who is equally autistic about these guys so that i can send them every single drawing i make ever #rottmnt #doodles #my scratches #donatello #leonardo #raphael #michelangelo #casey jones jr #cassandra jones #april o'neil #art #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #future leo #i actually rlly like the one of donnie where hes super square. and the murderer mikey

[spaciebabie]

fellas, are you living the Yuri ™ dream if the subject of your affections barely has any alternatives?

#spacie scribbles #oc stuff #two #the war organization #drawing that lily took an hour #can you tell #you can b/c the rest of this drawing took 30 minutes total #oc: cherri chandra #oc: katherine quin #girl fail chronically online introverted (and probably autistic) weirdo x (definitely autistic) extroverted equally chronically online #girl boss weirdo #they were made for eachother #these teenagers have so many mental illnesses innem (like me when i first created these characters at 14)

[fujii-draws]

(Hero/Dusknoir thoughts undercut)

#I THINK ABOUT THESE TWO WAYY MORE THAN I SHOULD TBH #one day I’ll reveal my equally autistic HCs w/ Aimilios and Dusknoir. maybe even draw them

[ghost-of-a-vulture]

Doctor Who is so funny because his companion will be like "yeah! He's called The Doctor, he takes me all over space and time, he's super smart, you just gotta meet him!" And then The Doctor is the most autistic stick person you've ever seen

#and we love him for it #doctor who #tenth doctor #yeah this is ab him. haven't seen the other doctors yet but im sure they're equally autistic