Queer Neurodiversity

Even in a non-garbagefire year, the holidays can be difficult, especially if you’re LGBTQ and your family doesn’t know or doesn’t get it. And after a garbagefire year like 2016, it can feel even worse. 

That’s why Everyone is Gay worked with some of the coolest LGBTQ creators around to create Where The Love Light Gleams, an online LGBTQ self-care package that includes a comic, a crossword puzzle, a playlist, journaling and coloring pages, and a list of resources to help get you through. And even if you’re not anticipating any particular struggles this holiday season, everyone can benefit from some intentional self-care and reflective alone time! 

“While we work hard every holiday season to provide resources to our community, I also knew that after this election season many LGBTQ people would need our help more than ever before,” Russo tells Mashable. “Those difficult holiday scenarios have become much more fraught in a political landscape where we are being told that our equality does not hold any importance.”

That devaluing of identity, Russo says, extends to multiple parts of a queer person’s identity, including their race, religious beliefs and disability status. Standing together to support all members and identities in the queer community, she adds, is especially crucial right now.

“[The political climate] is strengthening our fight and our resolve — but it can also become very hard to hold our heads high,” Russo says. “In my experience, when facing these issues, there are no tools more powerful than self-care and community.”

Many of us make studyblrs to improve our productivity but, as much as we like to deny it, looking at pictures of notes + reading tips does not equal studying. So here are five ways you can use your studyblr to your advantage!

1. Find an accountability partner! 

Finding someone who reminds you to get stuff done is really easy! Just post about it and you’ll probably get at least one person who’s interested!

You can just check in with each other through the day and make sure both of you are making the most of your time!

2. Find a study buddy! 

Find someone who’s studying some of the same subjects as you and teach each other for practice or if you don’t understand something! The best way to go about this is to find a few studyblrs who are taking these classes and outright ask them! Don’t be shy, the worst they could say is no!

3. Post your bujo or planner or a cute to-do list! 

Personally, the thought of having all boxes checked off when I post a picture really motivates me to get stuff done.

4. Take the 100 days of productivity challenge! 

You don’t even have to post a picture (I sure as hell don’t), just write a little summary of what you’ve accomplished that day and set some goals for the next day. It’s a great way to keep yourself accountable.

5. Post studyspo after studying

Let’s be honest, there are probably studyblrs who take their studyspo pictures before they even begin to study. But that won’t really do anything for you. Instead, tell yourself that if you study today, you get to take a picture of your studying. If you study some more, you get to edit said picture. And once you’re done, you get to proudly post it!

Anyway, those are all the little ways I personally use my studyblr to be more productive. Feel free to add any other ways in which you use studyblr to your advantage!

Other masterposts

How To Stop Procrastinating

How To Stop Skipping Class

Skincare 101

Memorization Tips

Implementing a Study Routine

For all the procrastinators out there, here’s a list of tips that a fellow procrastinator has found very useful through the years to get her actually doing stuff.

Start studying from day one

I know you’ve heard this a million times, but seriously, before the panic of “I can’t possibly catch up with all of this’ kicks in. Once this happens, you won’t even want to try so you’ll just procrastinate even more. I know it seems overkill to study on the first day, but think of it this way, you’ve covered almost no material and it will take you no time. Also, it only takes 30 days to form a habit, I promise you revising every day becomes second nature after a while.

But I’m already in the middle of my academic year and I can’t possibly catch up!

I’ve heard that excuse a thousand times, from myself that is. So you can’t catch up? Well, don’t. If it’s a class where you don’t need to know the previous material to understand what you’re learning about right now, take it from that point and keep up with it. You can catch up on the previous stuff little by little when you have free time.

But it’s a cumulative class and I need to know the previous material to understand what the heck my profesor is talking about! 

Watch some youtube videos on the material or go to Khanacademy. You just need to grasp the basics, you can perfect your knowledge on those topics later on, if you have time.

I just can’t get myself to open the book 

First, what is it you need to do TODAY? Let’s say you need to study a unit that has x pages and you have three days ro study it. Today you will study x/3 pages. You get it, don’t just study aimlessly, give yourself a finish point. Then write down what you want to accomplish (it’s incredibly satisfying to cross things out) but don’t write more than 5 tasks (unless they’re really small ones) per day.

Now is when you find that you don’t actually want to do any of the things on that list, so what do you want to do NOW? Do you want to watch a youtube video? Read a book? Pee? What were you planning to do to procrastinate? Well you can still do it. That is, once you study a page (or x pages, whatever you feel up to). This can be repeated until you hit that finish point you stablished earlier. You can also add extra weekly rewards like ‘If I do all my studying this week, I can do x or I can buy y’ (think small stuff, x can be calling a friend to hang out and y can be a color pen). But remember, just as important as getting that reward if you do your work is NOT getting the reward if you DON’T do the work. I don’t mean like don’t indulge if you haven’t finished one or two tasks, but, if you’ve been slacking all week yet you get the reward anyway, what your brain understands “It’s ok, I don’t actually need to work”.

I just want to lie on my bed for a bit

Yes, studying on your bed is awful and you should avoid it. But you know what’s worse than studying on your bed? Not studying at all. If you’re like me and sometimes you just randomly get these urges in the middle of the afternoom to lie on your bed ‘for a bit’ and then you fall asleep, bring your study materials to your bed. DON’T lie down, just get into a slightly reclined sitting possition. I find that this kind of tricks your brain into thinking that you’re resting but you can still get work done.

I have to write a paper, not study

I was planning on telling you that I have literally no tips for writing papers and lab reports (these in particular are the bane of my existence, I literally feel such hostility towards them that I will refuse to even look at the document I’m sure it has nothing to do with being a failed writer) BUT luckily I’ve found something that kind of works. So, forget about your paper for a minute, open a text document, and just WRITE. You can literally write about whatever - your day, how adorable your pet is, or a random story that makes no sense whatsoever. Force yourself to write for about three minutes. Now look back at your paper. I find that once I’ve started writing, I am a lot more willing to keep doing it, even if it’s not about the same topic. This may not work for some people though. Also, write a SUPER rough outline or just bullet points of what you want to say like “Then we add HCl. Later decantation. Test for acid pH. Finally filter and evaporate”. Expanding on something is much easier than writing it from scratch.

Clean you desk the night before

I promise having a clean space to put your books on will motivate you the next day.

And finally, a little tip from a recent experience - YOU’RE GOING TO WISH YOU HAD DONE MORE 

Personally, every time “I can just cram for this” even crosses my mind, I remind myself of how stupid I felt last semester when it came to finals and how badly I wanted to go back in time and beat past me to a pulp. But also, I remind myself of how thankful I was to past me for every little thing that she HAD studied because it was one less thing to worry about. So, when you want to slack off, think of your future self thanking you for not doing so.

So, with this advice in mind, go hit your books right now and start becoming a better version of yourself!

Other masterposts

Memorization Tips

Skincare 101

Tips on Organic Chemitry

Okay, deep breaths. I know this is hard for you if you’ve always considered yourself neurotypical.

You might be thinking of the “Autistic screeching” jokes, that you’ve heard them used, that you’ve used them yourself.

You might be thinking “but I’m smart/social/normal!”

It’s okay. Unpack your defensiveness.

ESPECIALLY if you’re AFAB (assigned female at birth). So many Autistic AFAB people are never diagnosed, and I’m going to try to make sure you’re not one of them.

- If you are often “in fandoms” and you have hyperfixations with them - whether they change or not - that could be a Special Interest (SpIn for short), a term for an Autistic person’s fixation.

- If you consider yourself “smart but lazy” - Autistic people tend to be “smarter” than most neurotypicals, but often lack energy. This is sometimes dismissed as “a gifted person who just isn’t trying”.

- If you have “resting bitch face”, remember that Autistic people usually don’t express emotion in their face or body language, so it could be one of the key signs for Autism.

- If you are “sensitive towards light/sound/temperature” and often find yourself “overreacting” (and feel childish / have people tell you that you’re childish because of it), you could be experiencing sensory overload.

- If you “enjoy fidgeting” or just really like good smells/tastes/textures beyond normalcy, you could be stimming, which is extremely common in both people with ADHD and Autism.

- If you are “emotional because of other people’s feelings” or “unempathetic/unemotional when it comes to other people”, you could be experiencing hyperempathy/hypoempathy, especially if you tend to fluctuate between the two. Remember that being hypoempathetic doesn’t make you a bad person: you can still experience compassion/sympathy like anybody else!

- If you consider yourself “weird”, remember that Autistic minds work differently than Allistic minds, and that this could mean that you’re not just “quirky/odd/unusual”, you’re Autistic.

Don’t panic, the Autistic community is beautiful and a lovely place to be in. And remember that self-diagnosis is 100% okay, good, and valid.

Everybody can reblog this, whether you are Autistic or Allistic/neurotypical ❤️

He’s trying to force you to like normal things. 

Creates spells to help with sensory overloads, such as charming a pair of glasses to dim bright colours that hurt her eyes and charming a pair of earmuffs and earrings so it muffles loud noises 

Creates a spell to instantly make all her clothes soft to stop them from scratching against her skin

Has trouble concentrating 

Prefers being bare foot

Wears long necklaces with beads and small charms to fidget with

Has an agreement with the kitchen House elves who make her food that isn’t as flavourful/spicy as every one elses, and also her plate has an enchantment on it so the different foods don’t touch. In exchange for this she visits the kitchens once a week and shows them all the pretty things she’s found while walking

Collects random things she finds pretty, shells, rocks, sticks, leaves, feathers etc

Finds rocking soothing

Can stare into the Ravenclaw common room fireplace for hours on end looking for shapes in the flames

Likes clothing and fabric with tassels 

Runs fingers and toes through the folds in fabric for comfort

Doesn’t like eye contact

No sense of direction and often gets lost on the Hogwarts stairwells so Ginny or other DA members accompany her from class to class so she’s not late

Stares into space and gets lost in her thoughts a lot

Special interest is magical creatures and can memorise a large number of interesting facts about them 

Paints with her fingers and likes using many layers of paint so it creates a 3D effect to her art

Places her wand behind her ear or in her hair bun because she often misplaces it 

Likes spinning and twirling as a form of stimming

Cuts the labels off all of her clothing

This makes me so happy, to be honest. The woman who played the character herself acknowledging it’s okay for us to relate to Luna, especially if it helps us feel at peace with our oddness, gives me hope.

“I’m hoping to do some good in the world!”

Just show up.

I used to skip class because the whole thing was so overwhelming: I had to get dressed in something clean even though I never had the energy to do laundry, walk to school, sit in class for up to three hours, plus pay attention, take notes, and participate in discussion. In reality, I was being a perfectionist, and life would have been a lot easier for me if I had Just Shown Up. By staying home because of my depression and anxiety, I wasn’t giving myself the chance to do any of that. I was such a perfectionist that being a “bad” or average student was unthinkable, so I stopped being a student at all.

so what if no one else gets how the things you define as successes are victories because you have to

so you got to work - success

you used public transport - success

you went to the supermarket instead of ordering online and didn’t just buy things you dind’t want because you got scared - MASSIVE success