Rowan

Welcome to my page Empowered Together, I'm Rowan! The goal of this blog is to bring together people in all walks of life. To educate those who may not understand the disabled/neurodivergent experience, while bringing love and community to those who do. With that in mind, this is a safe space for(hopefully) many, and I hope you all can keep hate/bullying/any other harassment to a zero.

While I do have diagnosis for multiple things the main ones I am comfortable sharing at this time(for educational purposes) are: Tourette’s, Autism, a seizure disorder and chronic illnesses. These things cause my need for mobility aids and a large bit of experience on my part.

Life’s been a bit hectic lately and I am taking a full break from any type of social media. I intend to come back, don’t worry! I just need a bit of time away for my own mental health. Thanks for understanding, and I’ll see ya on the other side!

It took me so long after escaping to be able to realize that I was autistic simply because I didn’t have any of the telltale symptoms due to my trauma. For example, a difficulty to read social cues is one of the biggest things that people see and say ‘autism.’ Growing up in a place where even a slight misstep on my part could lead to severe punishment based on how cranky my parent was, I learned real quick to read every single person in that room to keep myself safe. In addition, I was constantly masking my neurodivergence without even realizing it. What were simply autistic traits led to me being called a bad child and given consequences, so obviously I hid them in an act of self preservation. This certainly did not help in getting a diagnosis since I seemingly displayed so little symptoms as a child. 

Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings are so often used interchangeably when they are in fact NOT the same! So here’s a quick run down of the difference between them, when and when not to use a CW vs TW, and also how to use them at the very bottom.

CW(Content Warning): As the name implies, this warns people of the content. The main rule of thumb is to use when something in your video could upset a phobia, gross someone out, cause an unwelcome reaction, etc. This would be used if your piece of media contained something like nudity, gory depictions/images, and other things like that. [Examples: CW//Nudity, CW//Tics, CW//Blood)

TW(Trigger Warning): These should be used only when your media could potentially trigger someone. Keep in mind there are multiple different types of triggers, (eg. past trauma vs seizures, both are things that can be triggered but are completely different in their causes). Generally if your content could cause any sort of harm towards another person by the talk/elements of the media, put a trigger warning. [Examples: TW//Eating disorder, TW//Flashing lights, TW//Violence] 

For me with my tourettes I have a lot of mental tics. Most days they’re just like other tics but other days it’s so constant it hurts my head. Another thing is my autism/adhd. Once I hear a word my brain is off, and I’m stuck repeating that word in my mind. Sometimes I HAVE to say it out loud or I physically hurt. One time a couple weeks ago I heard someone use a slur(in a completely non-derogatory way, they were allowed to say it) and my head went immediately to repeating that word. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. I felt so bad, not being able to keep myself from saying something I knew was wrong. 

your mobility aid does not ruin your outfit

Men deserve to be able to show emotions without getting judged. Women deserve to work for the same wages that men do. Parenting is hard for dads too, and they need to be recognized for that! (by this I mean dads who are there and actually pull their weight. I’m not giving credit to the guys who don’t parent) Pink tax is the dumbest thing on the planet, and needs to go away. Men get raped too and are silenced even more than women are, they have the right to a voice, do they not?