Autistic about most everything

The Timetables of History by Bernard Grun

I grew up with this book, which is frickin’ enormous, and it was endlessly fascinating to young me to pour over the side by side comparison of events taking place concurrently under different headings and in different parts of the world.

Or if you want something you can put on your wall, there’s this:

Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power Since 1500

✨️with a special focus on colonialism, militarization, automation, and enclosure✨️

the strangest fandom hobby is plotty fanfiction, the kind that requires research, because engaging in this hobby makes no goddamned sense.

it doesn’t even give anybody masturbation material, which is at least a logical and admirable goal that contributes to the betterment of society, or at least society’s solitary orgasms.

I'm very used to all my disabilities being invisible but I recently got myself a cane to help with fatigue and pain management. I only need it when standing for an extended amount of time (like waiting for a train or not having a seat on a train) or at the ends of particularly long walks. But obviously I still have it with me at all the other points of my outings, when I would be completely fine without it. And although I consider myself overall decently well unmasked, this has brought out a very strong insecurity in me. I'll put significant amounts of weight on my cane, I'll slow down my walking speed, I'll fumble very carefully to still lean on it when I need both of my hands for something at the same time, all at times when I would be very capable of going entirely without it. In other words I'll "play up" how much I really depend on it because I'm THAT terrified of being seen like I'm faking my disability. Even for a moment. Even just in the minds of passers-by if they don't say anything. When there's eyes on me I feel like I have to frantically justify that I deserve to use that cane. And it makes me mime being more disabled than I really am. I thought I'd be a lot more liberated than this. I didn't get it prescribed, I simply took advice from other cane users and bought a cheap one for myself for no greater reason than it making my life a little easier. I *want* to proudly speedwalk up stairs with it, lean it against a wall when I untangle my headphones, switch it from one hand to the other without breaking my stride, and then limp home with half my weight on it when the fatigue hits. But a lifetime of having to fight hard to overexplain and legitimize my mental disabilities is biting me in the ass now. Any advice?

I'm going to go entirely practical here: have you tried getting a carrying case or shoulder strap for your cane? Something that would allow you to sling it across your back when you are not actively using it?

I think that might make carrying the cane feel a lot less obtrusive, and might allow you to forget the reactions of strangers a little.

This cane is a tool that you use when you need, the exact same way any person might carry an umbrella or a pair of reading glasses, and I think treating it more like that could help you internalize that that's the case.

I also think that decorating the hell out of the cane so that it shows your personality and fashion sense also tends to really help. Make it something you are proud of and happy to have around you rather than something you might feel you need to apologize for.

- Some of it is just time. I stopped feeling so self-conscious as my cane became a more routine part of my life.

-Having a cane you like the look of can help with that as well- I found a lovely wooden cane that is just the right height for like thirteen dollars at a bargain outlet somewhere, and I love it. Stickers, painting it a fun color, things that make you like to have it on your person, make carrying it more enjoyable.

-It's possible I've been lucky, but I've never had proper issues with strangers. I'm a lot more likely to get a compliment on said cool cane than a dirty look, and I'm in my twenties and look healthy. Friends and coworkers might be more inclined to ask questions (and, honestly, treat you like you're more fragile than before when you explain, which does sucks) but they'll get used to it and it will become another part of you. People are always paying more attention to themselves than they are to you. If someone assumes you're going it for attention, they're probably the same type of person to assume that being trans or visibly queer is for attention. They're never going to be on your side and that means their opinion doesn't matter.

- Being visibly disabled is a lot like being visibly queer, in that you will stumble into your community in the wild. We're out there. When I first started using a cane and felt extremely self conscious I would use that to help me, seeing others but also thinking about the fact that being a visible aid user might help someone else who needs one decide to use it.

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

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