(I don't do anything)

Comments: The amount of pregnant man jokes that are just stand-ins for rape jokes is disturbing.

[Image ID 1: A userbox with a muted spring green border and a pale spring green background. In the left side box is clipart of a yellow seahorse. In a darker muted spring green font, it reads "Pregnant men are not a punchline." /End ID 1.]

hi, everyone. the situation at home has gotten progressively worse, with my father turning physically abusive and breaking my nose a few weeks ago. Me and my gf need help to leave the house and rent a small place for ourselves, as well as pay for our meds and hrt. We are kind of in a desperate situation right now, and any amount would really help us.

p*yp*l: [email protected]

While positive symptoms include the presence of things, negative symptoms are reduction/absence of certain things.

Memory problems, Language difficulties, concentration issues, impaired social cognition, impaired executive functions, Anhedonia (reduced pleasure, especially with tasks), Avolition (reduced motivation), amongst others.

These can be very disabling! And on top of that there are many side effects from medication that may amplify these, or cause other disabling and potentially permanent side effects.

I think education on schizospec disorders is really important! It’s not just psychosis, even if hallucinations and delusions may be present.

up until like 6 months ago, i have done everything by the book since my first psychotic episode. i sought treatment one week after my first episode. i tried so many different meds. i have been bounced between doctors, therapy models, hospitals and specialized programs (every single professional has, at some point, run out of ideas)

i have been in therapy consecutively, for longer than i have had this blog. some of my treatment affected my quality of life for the better, and i even learned some skills to manage my depression. but absolutely none of it touched my psychosis.

30% of people with schizophrenia are treatment resistant. maybe a year's worth of antipsychotics worked for some of you, but for some of us, the strongest stuff on the market won't even touch it.

recovery also doesn't mean psychosis will be eliminated entirely for some people. some of us will have this for our whole lives. even WITH the right medications and therapy, we could be talking to our hallucinations every minute.

some people are going to be psychotic. you have to fucking deal with it. i was trying to add an alternative option besides dealing with it to cushion this statement, but i truly have none. y'all cry about how mental health matters until it's too scary, too annoying, too MUCH.

as scary, as annoying, as much as my psychosis is to you, i promise, its a helluva lot worse for me.

I don't know how often I've heard something described as "AI-generated word salad" in the past couple of years, but did you know! Word salad is an actual schizospec symptom and not something AI can do?

Word salad, which is also known as schizophasia, is a thought disorder seen in mental illnesses like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar mania, or advanced dementia. It stems from a disruption in the brain's ability to process language and organize thoughts logically. As a result, what the speaker says may follow some grammatical rules, but they are semantically meaningless to the listener. The speaker is usually unaware that they are not making sense to others, but not always (I sometimes know).

!!!!

For Intersex Jam 2026, I made an informative zine. “Intersex Inclusion: A Crash Course for Creatives” is a quick primer on how to include intersex experiences in your creative works. The text-only version* is available for free, licensed under CC BY 4.0, and I encourage others to repost and use this zine in place of asking random non-activist intersex folks about how to represent our entire community with dignity.

* (it's supposed to be in comic form, but due to rampant computer crashes, I wasn’t able to assemble the artwork into a screen-reader accessible PDF in time for the deadline.)

Overwhelmingly, the most common question I see from allies to random bystanders who just so happen to be publicly intersex is “how do I include intersex people?” I know they mean well, but it gets tiring. I hold no enmity for them in my heart; in spite of that, I’m tired. I want to see folks like me being considered at all—without having to see random, non-activist intersex folks awkwardly struggling to rehash the same three points again and again because well-meaning but ignorant allies keep asking the same question of non-activists while prostrating and flagellating themselves over how they didn’t spawn into existence as a perfect ally. It’s such a demanding task that thinking about it makes me want to roll over and take a nap. Fortunately, I am an old dog incapable of learning new tricks; hence, I am back on my bullshit to provide a bunch of infographics loosely assembled into a zine. I made sure to pack it with resources and citations good for your nutrition, all with love from the universe. Take my hand. Let’s be inclusive of intersex experiences in our creative works, together.

[PT: Over 100 million children are homeless and/or on the streets /End PT]

That's the numbers estimated back in 2015, and regardless of whether they've grown or shrunk since then, the issue still remains that there are MILLIONS of minors on the streets.

Homelessness and street survival is an intersecting issue for people of all marginalized groups, and that includes the youth.

Homeless youth are very likely to be sex trafficked and targeted by dangerous people to be groomed into criminal activities or otherwise unsafe practices.

Many homeless youth are runaways, usually trying to escape abusive households.

Note for clarity: "Children" and "kids" throughout this post will be referring to teenagers as well, since minors of all ages are grouped together in these statistics.

---

What is homelessness and street children?

[PT: What is homelessness and street children? /end PT]

Homelessness is defined by a lack of stable housing. This includes living without shelter, in a tent, in a car, in a homeless shelter, couch surfing, or using public locations/transport for shelter.

"Street children" are children who spend a majority of their time on the street due to housing complications. Some of them are not considered "truly homeless", because they technically have a house, but this house is usually inaccessible or unsafe for them, and thus they do not reside in it much, if at all. Usually, they only spend the night there, but the rest of their time is spent outdoors.

When discussing the statistics of both these concepts, I cannot neatly discern between them, because so many of the studies use the statistics interchangeably. Street children have very few distinctions anyways, and thus trying to separate the two is usually not beneficial anyways.

---

What are the statistics of homeless youth and street children around the globe?

[PT: What are the statistics of homeless youth and street children around the globe? /end PT]

Around 30 million children in Africa are homeless/on the street.

There is no overall consensus on how many children in Asia (including The Middle East) as an entirety are homeless/on the street, however it is estimated to be quite high, with individual locations being given statistics (Bangledash having 445,000 homeless/street children, India having 11 million, Pakistan having 1.5 million, Indonesia having over 170,000, Iran having anywhere between 60,000-200,000, the Phillipines having 1.5 million, Turkey having 88,000, etc.)

There is also no overall consensus on how many children in the Oceania are homeless/on the street, however Australia estimates around 76,000, and New Zealand estimates around 33,000.

Around 400,000 children in the EU (European Union) are homeless/on the street. There is no overall consensus on how many children in Europe as a whole (not just the EU) are homeless/on the street, however individual countries also have statistics.

Over 1.2 million children in the USA are homeless/on the street. Over 40,000 children in Canada are homeless/on the street.

Around 40 million children in Latin America are homeless/on the street.

---

What ways do homeless youth and street children suffer?

[PT: What ways do homeless youth suffer? /end PT]

A higher risk of sex trafficking, rape, assault, and kidnapping. A higher risk of child labor/slavery. A higher risk of being poisoned or suffering from oral, throat, or gastrointestinal system damage (as malicious people often put poison, razors/glass/sharp objects, and other dangerous things into the food provided to the homeless.) A higher risk of sexual, reproductive, urogenital, and gastrointestinal disorders/infections. A higher risk of respiratory disorders. A higher risk of nutritional disorders, growth disorders, and starvation. Higher rates of substance use and addictive disorders. A higher risk of mental health disorders. Low or no accessibility to hygiene products or showers/bathing (which significantly increases risks of infections and diseases.)

And, of course, a higher likelihood of death and grave injury, due to weather conditions, untreated disease/injuries, hate crimes, overdose, and/or suicide.

---

What about intersectionality? How does that affect homelessness and street survival?

[PT: What about intersectionality? How does that affect homelessness?. /End PT]

Note: Whenever the discussion of employment comes up, we think it is important to remember that:

1- Unemployed adults can have children, and thus, the children in the equation will be effected.

2- Teenagers can also get employed in a majority of locations, and in many countries even minors younger than that, meaning their incomes could be contributing to housing as well.

The most obvious - being low income often risks loss of housing. Hell, being "average income" doesn't even afford housing anymore for most people, in the current financial crisis. Classism and homelessness go hand in hand, and the refusal to provide for the lower class their basic needs is the direct cause of homelessness.

Being a foster kid. Discussion:

Being a foster kid greatly increases the likelihood of homelessness, due to the foster system being notoriously abusive, and not providing minors with the proper funds, stability, and education necessary to survive in life. In the USA alone, 23,000 people age out of foster care a year. 25%-50% of those who age out end up homeless. Now imagine the statistics of that worldwide, of how many people are ending up homeless the moment they turn 18 (or younger, in countries where legal adulthood begins sooner)? Additionally, minors will often run away from foster homes, because it is unsafe for them there. They wish to escape the abuse. A depressing fact is that a majority of sex trafficked youth are from foster care, usually runaways who were living on the street to avoid abuse. (You can read our post about the statistics of foster kids here [link.])

Being disabled. (Note: Some of these statistics leave out emotional, behavioral, personality, or other mental disabilities, and also often leave out "small" physical disabilities, so the statistics may actually be higher if all disabilities were included.) Discussion:

We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in Africa and Asia, unfortunately. However, disabled people in Africa often suffer forced evictions and are more likely to be impoverished, and we did find statistics on specific locations of Asia (ie; 42% of homeless people [including adults] in Nagoya Japan are neuropsychologically disabled, 15% of homeless people [including adults] in Hong Kong are physically disabled, in South Asia 85% of disabled people [including adults] are unemployed which greatly risks homelessness, etc.) We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in the Oceania as a whole, however we did find statistics in Hawai'i, Australia, and New Zealand. in Hawai'i an estimated 62% of homeless people [including adults] are disabled. In Australia, an estimated 9.5% homeless people [including adults] are disabled, and 8.9% have an unknown disability status. In New Zealand, 4.1% of homeless people (including adults) are disabled. We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in overall Europe, however in the UK alone, 35-39% of homeless people [including adults] are disabled (and for comparison, only 20-22% of the overall UK population are disabled.) In Canada, there is no minor-specific statistics for disability, however 50-60% of the overall homeless population (including adults) are disabled. In the USA, 19% of homeless K-12 [pre-college] students are disabled (and for comparison, only 14% of the overall USA student population is disabled.) We could not find any overall statistics on the intersection of homelessness and disability in South America as a whole, however in Latin America, disabled kids are 15% more likely to not attend school (and those who do attend are more likely to drop out), which inherently leads to employment issues down the line (and thus, housing issues) Additionally, 1 of every 5 households in extreme poverty houses a disabled person. And in some locations, people with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed (ie; in Argentina 91% of disabled people are unemployed), earn less money in work (ie; in Mexico and Costa Rica, disabled people earn 20% less than their abled peers), and/or have no insurance (in Ecuador, 84% of disabled people have no insurance), which can cause or exacerbate housing issues.

Being queer. Discussion:

In Africa, we could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of being LGBTQIA+ and homelessness, however homelessness is highly reported by LGBTQIA+ people (especially youth.) We could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of being LGBTQIA+ and homeless in Asia, however we did find a few for individual Asian locations (ie; in Singapore 20% of LGBTQIA+ people [including adults] experience homelessness, in the Philippines 12% of people who are 15-25 are homeless, In Japan 4 in 10 LGBTQIA+ people struggle with housing, in India there is a hidden housing crisis within LGBTQIA+ people, etc.) We could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of being LGBTQIA+ and homeless in the Oceania, however we did find some statistics for Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, queer-oriented people [including adults] are twice as likely to be homeless than nonqueer-oriented people, and 1 in 5 trans & gender diverse people aged 18-25 suffered homelessness (unfortunately we cannot find a statistics for people younger.) In New Zealand, 2.6% LGBQTIA+ people who are 15 and above are homeless, and unfortunately there is not a clearcut estimate on minors under the age of 15. In Europe, 17.39% of LGBTQIA+ people [including adults] have been homeless, with 1/3rd of intersex people and 1/4th of trans people being homeless. In the USA, LGBTQ+ minors are 120% more likely to end up homeless. They make up roughly 30-40% of homeless youth (and for comparison, only 9.5% of the overall population are LGBTQ+) LGBTQ+ minors of color have an 83% higher risk of homelessness than their white peers. 44% of Indigenous LGBTQ+ youth, 16% of LGBTQ+ Asian & Pacific Islander youth, 27% of Latinx LGBTQ+ youth, 26% of Black LGBTQ+ youth, and 36% of multiracial LGBTQ+ youth have experienced homelessness. 38% of trans girl youth, 39% of of trans boy youth, and 35% of non-binary youth have experienced homelessness (compared to 23% of non-trans & non-gender diverse homeless queer-oriented youth.) 39% of intersex youth have experienced homelessness. In Canada, 25% of homeless youth are LGBTQIA2S+ (and for comparison, only 5-10% of the overall Canadian population are LGBTQIA2S+.) We could not find any statistics on the overarching intersection of LGBTQIA+ and homeless in South America, however we did find a few in specific locations (ie; 30-40% of homeless youth in Brazil, 30-35% of homeless youth in Argentina, 30-35% of homeless youth in Colombia, 25-30% of homeless youth in Mexico, 15-25% of homeless youth in Chile, etc)

Being a person of color. Discussion:

We could not find any statistics on the overarching intersection of race and homelessness in the Oceania, however we did find some individual statistics for Hawai'i, Australia, and New Zealand. In Hawai'i, 28-50% of homeless people [including adults] are Native Hawaiian. In Australia, 1 in every 3 Indigenous Australian is homeless. In New Zealand, 31% of homeless people [including adults] are Māori, and 6.6% of Pacific Peoples [including adults] (and for comparison, 17% of the overall New Zealand population are Māori, and 8% are Pacific peoples.) We could not find any statistics of the overall intersection of homelessness and being a BIPOC, however we did find statistics in the England, Ireland, and the EU specifically. In England, Black people [including adults] are 4x more likely to be homeless than white people. In Ireland, 15% of homeless people [including adults] are Romanian, and 6% are Black. In the USA, Hispanic high schoolers are 2x more likely to experience homelessness than white highschoolers. Black highschoolers are 2.25x more likely to experience homelessness than white highschoolers. Black and Hispanic people [including adults] make up 64% of the homeless population. Pacific Islanders [including adults] have the highest rate of homelessness in the USA. Native Americans [including adults] have the second highest rate of homelessness in the USA. In Canada, 10-30% of homeless youth are Indigenous and 15.4% are Black (and for comparison, 5% of the overall Canadian population are Indigenous, and 4.3% are Black.) We could not find any statistics of the intersection of race and homelessness in Africa or South America, unfortunately.

Other. Discussion:

In the USA, 17% of English learners (which are usually immigrants) in K-12 [pre-college] school are homeless (and for comparison, 10% of the overall student population are English learners.)

Being in areas of the world subject to war, genocide, political violence, and environmental disaster. Discussion:

16% of the population in Sudan had to flee their homes due to conflict. 90% of Gaza [including adults] are homeless right now. 46% of homeless people [including adults] in Ukraine became homeless due to the invasion costing them their homes. Venezuelan immigration has led to a disproportionate amount of homeless Venezuelans in South America.

---

Sources

[PT: Sources /End PT]

I need physical help for all self care and showering, I use adaptive cutlery or else I can’t feed myself, I’m also both bladder and bowel incontinent and will be wearing adult pull ups soon.

No I’m not babyish or gross for needing physical help, I have ataxia spastic triplegia and left sided weakness, this makes fine motor skills very difficult and also makes it so my bladder and bowel muscles are weakened.

I’m not even trans, I’m a cis woman who has short hair and a smaller chest and I sometimes prefer baggy clothes.. I’ve gotten the occasional weird comment but nothing like this omg 

I'll get upset about it, and she's the only one who actually understands. Pretty much every other person just tells me "but you're a man" "you look male" "then try actually transitioning" and the one I just got, my favorite (/j) "of course she gets sympathy, being called male pronouns deprives her of her womanhood, but of course a pussyfooting transtrender wouldn't get it"

And then I preceeded to get (they/them)ed. I don't use those pronouns either. I have (it/its) and a couple sets of neopronouns in my bio. At this point I might as well give including my pronouns in my url a shot.

they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!