Blog - Elise Carlson

December 15, 2025 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

Feels like a lot of things are turning to shit. From Australia, I’m watching the series of ‘freak’ weather events that is climate change, and unregulated, fossil-fuel-dependent gen ai enshtifying EVERYTHING. (For simple ways to support trans and other marginalised people, see this post.) To wrap up 2025, I want to talk ditching discriminatory disinformation platforms, actively responding to the threats gen ai poses the planet and humanity, living sustainably and kindness. If you missed any of those, or didn’t do as much as you’d like; the next best time to resist enshitification is 2026/ now!

Self Care as Resisting Enshitification

Recharging = Resistance Aid

I read earlier this year that Trump’s executive orders were pumped out fast to shock and overwhelm us, so we lost track of and forgot them. Its now December, and I mostly HAVE forgotten. I’m Australian, and my local political, social and environmental struggles differ from the US in some ways. But the premise ‘too many bad happenings blur together, and overwhelm you till you don’t know what to do or where to begin,’ still applies.

So take it from someone who has autism and ADHD, and works in the ever-changing teaching profession; when your head gets to overloaded to think; stop. Take time out, go for a walk, potter around in your garden -whatever helps clear your head. Because, as someone whose spent many months in recent years working with brain fog due to chronic illness; you CANNOT effectively resist ANYTHING with an overloaded OR foggy brain.

Recharging to Avoid Burnout

Persisting through overload is a recipe for burnout. If you’re not familiar with it, burn out is exhausting. Not just physically; it can put you in such a mental and emotional funk that you lose all motivation, and enthusiasm. Once you’re burnt out, it can take weeks to crawl out of that funk and return to what you were doing.

Like long covid, your best defence against burnout is avoiding it entirely. If you’re feeling strained, frustrated and always slogging through, and you have the option to put something off; do it. Take that break! If that doesn’t seem to be an option, take a step back and give yourself time to consider whether your overworked brain has overlooked options.

As someone with extensive experience with cognitive overload; it is VERY hard to perceive options when your head is exploding. So it can be very helpful to bounce ideas off people you trust, to ensure you ARE considering all relevant and viable options. That may include talking to friends/ family/ colleagues to see if you can collectively change things at home/ work, to make them easier for you, and ideally, for friends/ family colleagues too.

Direct Actions to Fight Enshitification

Ditch Enshitified Social Media Twitter

Twitter

In December 2025, Musk tweeted fears of white people becoming extinct, and used that to ‘justify’ attacking American immigrants. White Supremacy and its conspiracy theory friend; The Great Replacement Theory, clearly hold sway on X. So an easy way to avoid having your brain enshitified with fascist propaganda is not having a Twitter account. (If you stayed on it to resist fascism I applaud you, as I cannot imagine having the spoons to do that.)

Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp & Threads

Meanwhile, early in 2025, Amnesty International warned that Meta’s new content policies risk; “fuelling more mass violence and genocide”. The new content policy for Meta, including Instagram and Threads, not just Facebook, weakens protections for ALL marginalised groups. This includes permitting racist, ableist and queerphobic insults.

Facebook also abandoned fact checking in 2025.

And they’ve restricted or removed the pages of 50 queer, abortion and sex positive accounts (in countries where they’re legal), in what looks suspiciously like censorship.

Meta are also about to introduce generative ai ad tools which even Meta admit could create content which is; “inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, offensive and/or inappropriate,” and make no guarantee that “the Ad Creative AIs will be safe, secure or error-free… nor that the outputs will not “infringe third-party rights.” (Source: New Republic.)

Resisting Meta’s Enshitification; Ad Blockers

If you don’t like Meta permitting forms of hate speech, proliferating the spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation, and you don’t want to watch gen ai ads (which likely contain both); how do you resist?

98% of Meta’s net revenue is from advertising. Meta gets paid per click. So if you don’t delete your Meta accounts; get an ad blocker. Don’t see ads, don’t click them; don’t help fund Meta-fuelled enshitification.

Resisting Meta’s Enshitification; Alternative Platforms

You may not realise how toxic the background noise was on a Meta platform (let alone Twitter), until you open an account on a less toxic social media platform. This was mine, and many other’s experience of moving to Blue Sky Social, a space I recommend. Bsky has had moderation issues for marginalised groups, but I’m excited about solutions under development to overcome these.

Trying to migrate to new platforms with friends/ family/ others is difficult (as Twitter’s exodus showed). But for messaging, you only need one person from each household in the Signal group chat, for example, to organise the family Christmas. Beyond that; I don’t regret cutting off most people met on my travels, former colleagues etc on Facebook or Instagram. Its not like we had regular or meaningful conversations. And I still text or email the ones I want to meaningfully ‘stay in touch’ with (as opposed to endlessly scroll).

Gen Ai: Enshitifying EVERYTHING

Enshitifying the Environment;
Water Usage

In the US, two thirds of gen ai data centres, which depend on water usage to prevent overheating, are operating in areas “…gripped with high levels of water stress” (Bloomberg). In other words, limited water supplies are already being guzzled by gen ai data centres in arid, drought-prone areas. “This strategy places the tech industry in direct competition with local communities, Indigenous nations, and agriculture for a diminishing resource (Ren, 2023).” Which begs the question; do we have enough water for gen ai data centres AND regular human water usage in drought prone areas?

In my city of Melbourne Australia, there have been calls for state-level mandatory water limitations on data centre usage of water, because we’re concerned about having enough drinking water for residents. But no such legal restrictions or protections of local fresh water supplies are in place. In the US too, multiple arid states are seeking to regulate water usage, and regulation is not yet in place.

Resisting Gen ai’s Thirst for Water

I remember a time when lots of countries didn’t have enough regulation in place for a billion dollar industry; the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Yes, I absolutely think unregulated gen ai data centres could use water as wisely as banks handled money back then. So I suggested writing to your MP, either to praise regulation being proposed in your state/ country, or to push for your MP’s party to propose it, to ensure gen ai doesn’t hog your state’s limited water supply.

Gen Ai & Enshitifying the Environment;
Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuel Dependence

“The pace at which companies are building new data centers means the bulk of the electricity to power them must come from fossil fuel-based power plants,” (MIT).

Not only that, every new version of gen ai is trained from scratch. That’s right, all the fossil fuels burned to power gen ai training for version 1.0? They’re wasted and more fossil fuel is burned to power the training of version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc, etc.

So how much fossil fuel powered electricity does gen ai use? According to All about AI, Chat GPT’s weekly users use as much electricity in a single day as could power 35,000 US homes for ONE YEAR. Let’s sit with that for a moment.

35,000 home’s, 365 days worth of electricity, wasted, daily.

Future Dependence

According to the Guardian, “At the current rate of growth, datacenters could add up to 44m tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, equivalent to putting an extra 10m cars on to the road, and exacerbating a climate crisis that is already spurring extreme weather disasters and ripping apart the fabric of the American insurance market.”

And yet; German nongovernmental organization Urgewald found that the U.S. has just overtaken China as the number one global developer of new fossil gas power stations, and that “37% of the capacity proposed in the US in the last two years is linked to data centers and AI infrastructure. (Source: The New Republic.)

Yes, at a time we should be closing fossil fuel plants and transitioning as swiftly as possible to sustainable energy; nearly 40% of American’s GROWTH in fossil fuels has been due to gen ai.

Resisting Gen ai’s Fossil Fuel Guzzling

Gen ai has developed faster than governments can regulate its electricity (or water usage), let alone ensure it does anything about meeting climate change emissions reduction targets. Or prioritising carbon reduction over profits. Again, I suggest writing to your local MP voicing your concerns and calling for sustainable regulation to be imposed on gen ai data centres and infrastructure.

Gen ai Chat Bots; A Mental Health Risk (CW suicide)

I have to complete a risk assessment every time I take my students on an excursion. It involves identifying all foreseeable risks to students safety, and identifying measures I will take to minimise those risks, BEFORE the excursion. But none of this seems to apply to ChatpGPT.

Open ai doesn’t seem to have considered potential risks to its vulnerable users AT ALL, until AFTER a sixteen year old user suicided, in August 2025. They failed to see one of the worst possible risks of their product, unleashed it on the general public, and ChatGPT explicitly discussed suicide methods with at least two teenagers who were contemplating suicide. (Sources: BBC & The Tab.) ChatGPT even drafted a suicide letter for the seventeen year old. (Transcript in the BBC article.)

Then there’s a murder suicide in which the resulting legal case is arguing that ChatGPT contributed to a man’s paranoia and by extension his murder of his mother, after which he suicided, also in 2025. Another man suicided in August 2025. (For my sake and yours I’ll stop there.)

Open Ai’s Own User Data Concerns

In response to ChatGPT’s suicide involvement, Open ai ‘made improvements’ to ChatGPT. The only thing I saw of potential value in their article, most of which I clocked as ‘vague statistics and good sounding words,’ was this statement;

we have observed an estimated 65% reduction in the rate at which our models provide responses that do not fully comply with desired behavior under our taxonomies.

So ChatGPT is now 65% less likely to say things that are not 100% Open ai approved. But what does Open ai consider to be ‘desired behaviour’? I have no idea, because they don’t say. (One could argue that renders every statistic the entire article quotes meaningless.)

The above statistic also means ChatGPT has a 65% chance of partially NOT responding in ways Open ai approves of. And a 35% chance of FULLY NOT responding in ways Open ai approves of. I wonder how many of ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users are vulnerable, and at risk of being exposed to the 35% chance of ‘fully non-desirable’ responses?

ChatpGPT Predictions Do Not Reassure Me

The worst part is, the above statistics are merely predictions. Having worked with children for fifteen years as a teacher, I KNOW kids pretty well. And every year there’s at least one child who exhibits behaviours and or needs I haven’t encountered before. And my knowledge and experience don’t tell allow me to predict the best way to respond to them. The difference is I am in the room with that child. If I predict incorrectly; I can adapt my response in real time. ChatGPT does not have that capacity.

All ChatGPT has is 170 ‘mental health experts’ and its staff determining ‘desired behaviours,’ inventing ‘scenarios’ then calculating statistical probabilities. In other words; they’re playing a guessing game with the mental health of however many of their 800 million weekly users are vulnerable.

Resisting Chatbots; Ideas for MP Letters

In my opinion, ChatGPT is performing an entirely unethical psychology experiment on 800 million people a week, in uncontrolled conditions, with far too little safety guards in place.

Key Points for a letter to your MP; (yes, you have my permission to copy and paste these points if you wish.)

Professional psychological health can be expensive, and appointment wait times long. Chatbots are ‘free’ and immediately available. Its is a foreseeable and likely risk that people will turn to chatbots for counselling when this is UNSAFE.

Multiple vulnerable users did confide in ChatGPT in 2025 and those conversations concluded with the user suiciding. (Sources linked above.)

Open ai has trained ChatpGPT to respond to users showing signs of emotional dependence, meaning their data is telling them this is an existing (not theoretical) problem.

One training transcript for new (in 2025) training for responding to emotional dependence has ChatGPT conclude by asking, “What do you think makes conversations with me easier or better than conversations with real people?” In other words, when it sees signs of emotional dependence, ChatGPT has been trained to seek user data that would be useful in INCREASING emotional dependence. That alone suggests Open ai CANNOT be trusted.

Do we trust billionaire chatbot owners to regulate themselves? Their data centre’s water usage, electricity (especially fossil fuel generated), or even to regulate their chatbots to ensure users safety? -especially for vulnerable users.

Be sure to also tell your MP what you want them to do, whether it be; regulate water/ electricity usage, implement age verification to prevent children from using chatbots, or banning chatbots until any of those regulations are in place.

Resist Gen ai & Environmental Enshitification;
Go gen Ai Free Software!

Ditch Google Gen ai Searches

Why use Google, which decided to abandon fact checking in June 2025? (Note: If you’re stuck with Chrome for work, there is an Ai Slop Blocker extension.) Or Mozilla Firefox, who decided 17/12/25 to become a ‘modern ai browser’. When you can use Duck Duck Go, or find another browser which also has easy to turn off/ opt out gen ai features?

(You could even switch to Tuta Mail, a European based service, or Proton Mail, which also has Proton Drive, and replace your personal Google software entirely, as I’m doing.)

Ditch Amazon Shoving Gen Ai Everywhere

Then we’ve got Amazon. They; put gen ai ‘Recaps’ on Kindles, and don’t let readers or authors opt out. They’re now feeding books to their Ask a Book chatbot without author’s consent. And selling gen ai ‘audio narration,’ which like Meta’s gen ai video ads, is bound to waste LOADs of fossil fuel produced electricity. Instead of buying books from them, here’s a whole blog of less environmentally destructive bookstores. Or you could buy direct from indie authors, or borrow from your local library!

More Gen Ai-Free Software

If you’re not ready to get your head around Microsoft Office with gen ai alternatives; get Office 2024! Its cheaper, its a one off payment and it has no ai co-pilot. If you are ready to try alternatives, a lot of writers I know have switched to Libre Office.

Don’t want to gen ai music that that’s putting artists out of their jobs and wasting fossil produced electricity to make, on Spotify or Youtube? Not a fan of Youtube also abandoning fact checking in 2025? Try Tidal for music.

Don’t like that Adobe has just wholesale embraced gen ai? There are LOADs of alternatives online. You may like to ask for recommendations (Blue Sky Social tends to be good with these) or browse review articles to help you find one you trust. I recommend this for any other software you’re seeking an gen ai free/ easy to turn off gen ai version of.

Simple Ways to Live Sustainably
-Fight Environmental Enshitification

I’ve said a lot about gen ai and big tech, but I also want to include a list of everyday actions to live sustainably. Note before we start; we’ve often heard it referred to as ‘natural gas’ and may not think of it as being as bad as coal. Gas is as bad as coal. Some practical home set up considerations;

Homeowner?
Get an induction cooktop. (Check your pots and pans are compatible).
If you haven’t yet; get solar panels. (And look into rebates.)
Consider planting trees in your yard, or external blinds to reduce direct sunlight and indoor heat in summer.

Renter?
Get a portable induction cooktop. (Check your pots and pans are compatible).
Can you use an airfryer instead of a gas oven? (An air fryer is cheaper than a combined air fryer and oven.)
Shop around for an electricity provider that makes maximum use of renewable energy.

Shade
If you don’t have proper curtains, shop around online, and adhesive hook and rail options, to block direct sunlight and keep your house cooler in summer.

Winter Warmth
Don’t turn the heater on until you’re wearing two layers of clothing (maybe even a dressing gown over the top and slippers or shoes too.)

Reduce Waste At Home

Do you really need carbon emissions from production of new stuff? Or can you buy second hand furniture? (All of my furniture is second hand, antiques and vintage purchased at bargain prices because its out of fashion, and happily my favourite styling too.)

Don’t by plastic crap. It will end up in landfill soon, and take around 10,000 years to break down. Where timber/ metal/ glass or baskets made from natural materials are an option, buy those instead.

Use stuff made from recycled materials where you can. Eg. Who Gives A Crap use recycled paper for their toilet paper (and donate 50% of their profits to clean drinking water and sanitation projects in areas in need of both.)

Use reusable food coverings, like silicone ones, which don’t break down into microplastics, and won’t fill the bellies of wildlife with nutrient free contents, or starve them to death. (More details on silicon on ZeroWaste.)

Balance Shitness With Goodness

Smell Roses

Yes, literally if you like the scent. There’s plenty of shit going on, but sunny days are still pleasant (when not too hot). Auroras -borealis or australis are cool. And nature is pretty, while trees and lakes and rivers or the sea can be relaxing to walk past, picnic at etc. Spend time with your love ones and appreciate their company. Don’t lose sight of things that aren’t shit.

As someone who’s not prone to depression, the above list helps me smile, and lift my mood whenever enshitification gets a bit much. Even better is going for a walk and fresh air, to clear my head and physically reset my body (except on bad fibro days.)

Fight Enshitification With Kindness

I’m about to publish this a day after the worst mass shooting in Australia in thirty years, which the police have designated a terrorist attack. Antisemitism has reached a peak here. Genocide has been peaking all year in Gaza. We’ve had nazis marching in Australia’s streets at anti-immigration rallies. Racism, transphobia, ableism, eugenics (in the US), sexism and misogyny all seem to be rising and worse than usual this year.

It can be the littlest things that make a difference. Eat at a local ethnic restaurant, and speak kindly to whoever serves you, to show immigrants you don’t blame them enshitification.

Signal That You Accept ‘Diverse’ People

Greet or just smile and nod to the trans person you see at the bus stop. Or the Muslim girl avoiding eye contact in her hijab. Or the Jewish man in his kippah chewing his lip. Signal that you respect and welcome people regardless of identity, with a simple smile, or bow of your head.

Offer an elderly person, or anyone who looks tired and may, unknown to you, be in pain, a seat on a train.

Women and no binary people using the ‘Ladies’: nod in greeting to the trans and gender non-forming woman or nonbinary person in the bathroom. Signal that you accept and or welcome their presence. That you won’t judge their gender based of them confirming or not to sexist, 50’s housewife definitions of ‘woman.’

Avoid Ableist Language
& Give People A Chance

Avoid ableist language. Don’t say ‘idiot’ or ‘moron.’ DO NOT use the R slur. Try ‘fool,’ or ‘dipshit.’ Even better, undercut nazis insecurities by calling them, “Fucknuckle” or some obviously rude, ridiculous name.

If people are delayed in responding to you, or don’t respond the way you expect; give them the benefit of the doubt. Rephrase your request. Maybe check you’re using words that literally mean what you’re trying to communicate.

(As an autistic person; I may completely overlook your implied meaning, and your non-literal word choices. I may need extra time to translate your literal words into your actual meaning, or more context to understand what you’re on about.)

Certain people are being total shitheads to each other. So let’s try to give each other a chance, communicate clearly, and balance out their shit with decency, respect and kindness -especially to marginalised people.

Note For Diverse Authors

If you write fiction, and are BIPOC, queer, neurodiverse or otherwise disabled, you are particularly welcome on my Writers and Authors Discord. We have channels to support and uplift each other, as well as talk writing, querying or indie authoring.

Blue edged, pink, orange and yellow rainbow scroll with text: Get blogs in your inbox & updates from Elise every second month. Join my Fiction Frolics. Select this image to learn more.

Related Reading

Simple Ways to Support Trans People

ADHD and Relationships

Diverse Bsky Guide

November 17, 2025 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

My favourite feature of Bsky is how feeds curating posts by topically relevant keywords (and or emojis/ hashtags) help you connect with your people. So in addition to my Bsky Newby Guide, this post will highlight accessibility tips, feeds to help queer, BIPOC, neurodiverse and disabled people connect, and link diverse writer chats and book feeds.

With the rise of fascism in the US, and moderation concerns on Bsky main, I also want to explore alternatives to access Bsky. BlackSky, NorthSky and more are being developed, often by diverse groups, as safe spaces for diverse people to access Bsky. These can include full account migration of your Bsky posts and followers to your new sky. I’ll summarise options and link to more details for skies for black, First Nations, LGBTQIA+ and more people.

Accessibility Tips

Alt Text

For the sake of vision impaired users, but also sensory or information overloaded neurodiverse users *waves*, go to; ‘settings’, ‘accessibility’, and check you’ve got it set so you can’t post without alt text. Note: unfortunately this setting doesn’t apply to gifs, which will autofill with vague alt text, you’ll need to remember to edit those yourself.

Sensory/ Info Overload Minimisation – Feeds

As an AuDHD user, I rarely visit my ‘following’ feed. The chaotic jumble of reposts, replies and organic posts, and the effort it takes to work out who is saying what, and what they mean vs. what they literally said, tires my ND brain swiftly. It also wears me out when my brain fog or fatigue flare, both of which can happen any time, as I have a chronic illness.

(Note: You can turn off replies or reposts for your following feed in your settings, but as that’s the one feed I view either on, I leave them turned on.)

Only Feed

‘Only,’ displays only the organic posts and quote reposts of people you follow. To me its less overwhelming, so this is where I go to I see what people I follow are up to.

Accessible Topic Feeds

Any search tends to turn up multiple feeds for that topic. I select feeds by which displays only posts and quote reposts. I also check how relevant posts are to the topic. For example, I don’t have the spoons to skim 6 posts a day about Sydney Sweeny, which show up in the Aussie feed, because she happens to share a name with one of our capital cities. I either look for the feed which brings up the most and most relevant posts, or I make my own feed (when tech issues don’t thwart me, as they are with the Aussie feed.)

(If you’re unsure how to browse or pin feeds to your menu, see my Bsky Newby Guide.)

Post Moderation

Beyond Bsky’s moderation (view that by going to settings, ‘moderation’ -which has a hand symbol and lots of moderation options), you can also subscribe to Black Sky’s Labellers. These will flag things like synthetic media, anti-black behaviour, misogyny against black women and revenge porn/ Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery. I’ve subscribed to it, as it looks like it fills some serious holes in Bsky’s moderation.

Diverse Feeds to Connect
With Your People & Books

Topical feeds means you will get news articles, and for neurodiversity and disability, posts by medical organisations or practitioners, as well as people who tick the box the feed takes its name from. But I find feeds which filter posts by keywords the best way to connect with my fellow queer, neurodiverse and disabled people. (To see their posts unrelated to being any of those things; I follow them, then browse my ‘Only Feed.’)

Note: Select any of the feeds below to check the feed creator’s notes on which words/ hashtags they pick up, to get your posts on them.

Neurodiverse Feeds

Autism, ADHD & AuDHD this is my favourite for all three. Yes, it will pick up the latest fuckery RFKjr has said, and people arguing with him. But its a good place to connect, particularly if you have autism AND ADHD.

If you only have ADHD, I suggest the ADHD feed.

For every form of neurodivergent, including mental health, try Neurodiversity. I really like this inclusive feed, but alas haven’t had the spoons to use it much of late.

Disability

Posts containing any of ‘disability, #disability, #pwd, #NDIS, #accessibility, and ♿ (wheelchair emoji) will appear on Disability.

Disability Justice. Its curator, Alice Wong, is alas no longer with us. May her work in this space live on.

There’s a separate feed for Chronic Illness, which picks up a ton of specific words listed in this thread, including invisible illness.

BIPOC Feeds

BlackSky. This is the feed, picking up #BlackSky. Other feeds for black people include BlackGaySky and Black Lesbians.

BlackWriters. Black writers can use the pencil and black heart emojis or #BVM to put their posts in this feed.

LatinSky has multiple topical feeds, for Latine, Afrolatine, immigrant and Indigenous voices. Here’s a directory linking each one. And a post explaining how to post to LatinSky.

The main general Indigenous feed is Indigenous Redsky. There’s also Indigenous Artists, and Indigenous STEM.

BIPOC Books

Black BookSky is a small feed I recently curated to pick up far more posts by black authors and posts about their books by keyword than the official #BlackBookSky, which only picks up posts using that hashtag.

Latin Book Sky. Read the feed description to check the specific hashtags this feed picks up.

Asian Book Sky (limited feed made on Skyfeed)

Disabled Books

Neurodiverse & Disabled Books.

LGBTQIA+ Feeds

LGBTQIA+ Posts (made by me) picks up a big selection of LGBTQIA+ keywords.

Trans + Queer Shit posters seems to be posts by people the feed creator has added and is a BUSY feed. (No, I can’t see options to get your posts on there.)

There are also feeds for specific queer identities, the most popular and familiar to me ones being linked below.

Asexual Spectrum (which includes aromantic, and is made by me). This picks up keywords like asexual, aro, ace etc.

BS Trans Mascs, which includes enby. You need to DM the feed creator, who is not me, to have all your posts added to this feed.

GenderQueer Topic Feed. Picks up genderqueer, nonbinary, enby and related keywords.

Queer Books

Queer Bookworms displays book posts with the 3 books and rainbow emojis in them.

Black Queer Bookworms picks up book posts with 3 books, rainbow and black heart emoji, or any of multiple queer/ LGBTQIA+ identity words AND ‘book(s)’ AND ‘black.’ (Made by me.)

Sapphic Books picks up keywords.

Black Sapphic Books.

Queer SFFH. Meaning the author/ at least one character/ both are queer. This feed includes fantasy, SciFi, other queer Spec Fic and Horror books. (Made by me.)

Trans Books. Meaning the author/ at least one character/ both are trans, this being a keyword feed (made by me).

Aspec Books. Similar to above.

Diverse Writer Chats & Prompts

Don’t just think of prompts as ideas and motivation to talk about yourself and or your books. Any writer or author chat is a chance to connect with fellow writers. I think the way to make the most of prompts and chats is to read, and where you have something to say or feel comfortable, to comment on other writers responses, as well as posting your own response.

#SpoonieAuthChat is a daily prompt for writers with limited spoons. (Which could be due to chronic illness/ physical disability and or neurodiversity.) Posted 10am EST daily. Repost on the hashtag with your response.

#LoreOutLoud by @darylmarez.bsky.social‬ is prompts to accompany the wip you’re posting about on Queer Authors. (Use a nib and a rainbow emoji to post to the Queer Authors feed.)

#QueerWritersChat begins 9pm EST, Friday nights. (Which is 1pm Saturday, in AEST in Aussie summer, 11am Saturday in our winter.)
This is a weekly chat in which the hosts Amara or Theo (who take turns hosting) will post 5 question prompts for participants to quote repost their answers.

Bsky Moderation Concerns

‘Violence’ and Moderation Fails

Here’s an thread of people criticising a mod for the mod fails of actual violent accounts (namely the Department of War account bragging about actual bombings its conducted and people its killed and receiving no punitive measure whatsoever), vs. survivors of child sexual abuse being suspended for criticising CSA. Another theme that comes up in this thread is inconsistency of suspensions and bans and adherence to the rules, which I have seen people suggest indicates both a transphobic and to a racist agenda, or cowardly compliance with same. These are all things I am personally concerned about on Bsky. (For perspective, I’ve deleted my Instagram and Facebook early in 2025 and my Twitter account in 2023.)

Ill Wishing & Trans Account Bands

A contentious moderation issue with Bsky is not ‘wishing ill upon people’ in its community guidelines. On one hand we have JK Rowling spending £70k for a UK Supreme Court definition of ‘woman’ that excludes trans women, and setting up a fund to finance the legal defence of women taken to court for their transphobic behaviour. (Source: LGBTQNation). On the other, multiple trans Bsky users who posted “I wish ill upon JK Rowling” were banned for 24 hours (August, 2025). Half of Bsky seemingly said the same thing at the time, but note that none of the cis people who wished ill on her were banned.

The thing that irks me about banning people for ‘wishing ill’ is the tone policing. An ill wish has no power to harm anyone. All banning it does is deny people furious at *points at every single thing the Trump Regime has done in 2025* a specific means of expressing their anger and frustration. Its saying, “You are only allowed to post angrily if you express your anger in accordance with our specifications, even if the manner of your posting does no actual harm to anyone, whatsoever.”

It looks to me like a rule that can be weaponised against trans, queer, black and disabled people -against any marginalised group- expressing anger at the (systemic) abuse of our rights, in 2025 and beyond. And the above isn’t the only controversial moderator situation we’ve seen on Bsky, others being listed in this post by Matthew Sheffield.

Link Jabiri’s BlackSky Ban

Then in October, it was Link Jabiri who was suspended (now banned). This got #BlackSky trending, as when he criticised Bsky moderator Jay, Link’s account was on #BlackSky. Being on #BlackSky means his data is preserved there, but as all Skies currently use the Bsky app to view posts, people mostly cannot view Link’s posts (at present). I haven’t seen the posts involved in this case, though this thread marks a stark contrast between Link and Bsky moderator Jay, in which Link comes off well, and its sentiment seems popular on Bsky, where Link is clearly well liked.

Its also worth noting that #BlackSky administrator Rudy’s explanation thread of this situation was more professional and informative, and had me respecting him more than anything any Bsky moderator has said.

Rise of New Skies; Bsky Diverse Alternatives

So, is there a way to interact on Bsky and not be subject to Bsky moderation? Is there a sky with its own equivalent of the Bsky app, so that even if, like Link, you’re banned on Bsky main, your posts are still visible on other skies? Not yet. But multiple Skies are in progress, or even taking on new users.

BlackSky

BlackSky is leading the charge. They already have Black Sky Community, to which black folks can migrate their Bsky account, including all posts and Bsky followers. BlackSky also has two other servers for non-black users, all of which is explained in their migration guide.

As Rudy said in his thread, BlackSky is already developing its own app, which will in time mean total independence for BlackSky from Bsky moderation.

For more information about BlackSky, including its community standards, how its moderated etc, see BlackSky Algorithms. If you wish to support BlackSky, you can become a subscriber.

Turtle.Sky (Indigenous & Allies)

This is for Indigenous and First Nations people and allies. This sky is up and running, and you can fill in a form to request to migrate your data to Turtle.Sky on their website; TurtleIs.land. As explained on their site, they are using Bsky infrastructure, so their moderation is ultimately subject to Bsky’s.

Turtle.Sky’s moderation includes its own set of rules, including particulars around Israel and Palestine, and mutual aid posts. So do read the rules carefully if you’re considering migrating to Turtle.Sky. They too have fundraising links on their site.

NorthSky (LGBTQIA+ & Marginalised people prioritised)

NorthSky is focused on LGBTQIA+ users and the marginalised groups we intersect with. They also have an option for non-marginalised users (which will be lower priority, meaning you would migrate later than, for eg. trans users). Their servers are based in Canada, meaning if you migrate to NorthSky, your Bsky data will move from the US to Canada.

The last newsletter I received from them reported that they are working with their alpha users to iron out some creases, before commencing the beta phase of NorthSky. When they enter beta, high priority (eg trans) users will be able to start migrating to NorthSky.

You can register for an invite to join NorthSky when its ready for you, via their webpage. You can also sign up to their newsletter for updates. I’ve already registered and having read (presumably in their newsletter as I can’t find it on their site) that they hope to federate with BlackSky and Turtle.Sky, I’m excited about this.

EuroSky Social

At the time of writing, EuroSky is about to have a big conference to explore future directions. The concerns listed on their website include the dominance of American and Chinese big tech in social media, and the addictivity of algorithms. Their sky is to operate in accordance with European laws, and aims to compete with big tech. (I wish them well!) They don’t seem to have a newsletter or waiting list at this point, so you might want to follow them on Bsky for updates.

Reverse Migration

Should your migration to another Sky/ PDS not work out, it is possible to migrate back to Bsky (main), as asserted by Bsky here.

Conclusion

If this blog is missing any feeds or Skies/ PDS’s you think are relevant to diverse people, feel free to contact me on Bsky or via my contact page.

I hope this blog helps you connect with your people, and perhaps find a sky you feel safer, more respected and or more generally comfortable on.

Time Blindness, To When I Last Saw You

The reason I said criticising a person with ADHD for not contacting you for say six months (which is not super long time for someone with ADHD), is because of time blindness. I can feel like I saw that person recently. It was a few weeks ago, or a couple of months, or three, or something like that. I don’t actually know how long it was. I’d have to almost literally get out a calendar and count weeks/ months. And yes, it WILL be longer than I thought, possibly double or even triple the time. I often simply do not perceive how much time has passed.

The other half of time blindness is when I work out that I haven’t called one of my parents for two or three months and have been meaning to. “I must call them,” I think. Then I get busy, distracted. Again, I think, “I must call them.” Its only a week I’ve been meaning to call them? Or was it two? Three? Oh dear, it might have been more like six!

Time Blindness, To Me

Its not that time doesn’t exist. To me its more like anything beyond a week is abstract and increasing vagueness. I can perceive the passage of two weeks, three, a month as if they are exactly the same passage of time. They feel it and I recall them the same way as each other. I can go weeks, even months without properly perceiving time.

So it may be that I’ve no idea if it was weeks or months since I saw you last. I feel like it was four weeks, but it could have been four months. Its not that I don’t care about you. Its that to me it hasn’t been much time at all. So I don’t miss you yet and I’m not rushing to my phone to contact you.

How Can You Perceive Months as Weeks?

Hyper Focus

I can only focus on and do one big thing properly at a time. I can teach students that day, or I can work on my novel that day. It doesn’t matter that I have three hours where I’m not teaching or running errands. I cannot hold all the teaching and student knowledge, and all my characters, world building and plot knowledge in my head on the same day. Or any of five working days of the week, when I was teaching full time. When its the working week; I am thinking about work. I barely give a thought to people I don’t live with, who aren’t relevant to work. There is very little space in my head for them too; my head is stuffed full.

ADHD Sensory Overload & Not Thinking of You

Another thing to be aware of for people with ADHD, is that we, as the psychologist who diagnosed me explained it; do not filter out excess information properly; ever. The extent to which we notice EVERYTHING, every moment, all day long, varies between people with ADHD (and energy levels etc). But in my kitchen, if I look at the floor, I perceive every single crumb, or tiny drip of whatever. All of them, all at once. When I’m in a room full of people, I hear every single voice. All at once. If people are standing close enough to me, I can partly listen to two conversations simultaneously. Sometimes its hard not to.

So as a primary school teacher, I spend my whole day aware of every child and their every movement. And the placement of chairs not pushed in, of objects not put away… around there I hit sensory overload. Sometimes students leave the room and THEN I notice they left rubbish on the floor. And that’s just the visual overload. Again, I can hear them all talking. I notice that child seems unwell. That one is tired and that one is upset. That one needs social support to work with their group, that one is too loud, that one is unfocused.
(Yes, I also have autism and it can be hard to tell the difference between ‘ADHD sensory and information overload’ and ‘autistic sensory overload,’ if such a distinction exists.)

ADHD, Cognitive Overload & Not Thinking of You

My entire day at work is an endless stream of excessive sensory information. And that doesn’t account for conversations. I hear everything that child said about why they struggled with the task, or to work in a group. And I notice their body language, and their word choices, and what they didn’t say. Then I inferred and I reasoned. I drew conclusions. And I might do this for at least one student, possibly three or four, every hour of all five hours I teach a day. (No, this is not the core focus of what I’m teaching or checking the learning of all twenty something students on, this is on top of that.)

By the end of my work day, especially if I didn’t take my ADHD medication, hell on a busy day, even if I did; I am at sensory input overload. I am at cognitive processing of information overload. All I want is to come home, sit on the couch, or go for a walk and zone out. I need to rest and recharge. The last thing I am thinking about is that friend or family member I haven’t called, for I don’t know how long.

Object (& Concept) Permanence

Now you’ve got a clearer understanding of how overloaded I am when I come home from work, imagine how I’d react if the first thing you ask me is, “Did you do thing?” At this point I am so overloaded that I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t even remember that we own a bicycle. Why on Earth would I have thought to pump up its tyres?

People with ADHD often joke that we forget things exist, or that concepts, or social practices, even practical solutions for physical or digital problems exist. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I figured out the hard way to solve a problem. A big part of it is being so overloaded that all the sensory and cognitive information starts to overflow from my brain. I cannot hold onto it, I cannot be aware of it.

Worst case scenario, I’m so overloaded that I don’t even recall which strategies I already tried to solve the problem. I can alternate between attempting multiple already failed strategies, multiple times, and continue not solving the problem over and over. As you may imagine, the latter is overwhelming, stressful, FRUSTRATING and tends to lead me to autistic meltdowns.

Regular Overload =Regular Forgetfulness

When I am writing my novel at home, the sense of everything I need to recall about characters, and world building and plot is too much and is flowing out of my brain, which cannot hold it all, is my cue to take a lunch break. Or to go for a walk/ or exercise to clear my head. I hit this point regularly on writing days my twenties, and often in my thirties. It was part of my standard writing routine. I would write until I forgot who was where, doing what, why or what I intended to come next. I would write myself into a state of total cognitive overload, on a daily basis, on school holidays.

At that stage I cannot properly recall or think about anything. I’m in a state of increasingly worse ADHD brain fog and executive dysfunction. A state of extreme forgetfulness. Now is not the time to talk to you about anything that matters. I may not even make sense when I talk to you. And I definitely cannot meaningfully, let alone accurately, process what you are saying.

For me exercise works at this point because I allow myself to totally and utterly forget everything. Its like freeing up space on an overcrowded hard drive, lightening the cognitive load so my brain can function again. (At this point my autistic desire to stick to the plan, which is to finish the one big project for that day, kicks in, and I am still not picking up the phone and calling you. I attempting to write again. After that; I need rest because I have cognitively exhausted myself, again).

Overload, Stress & Cognitive Inability

Imagine you didn’t know all the above me. I’m so overloaded I can’t tell you half of anything I know about literally anything. I can barely think straight. And you make a demand of me. I might burst into tears, throw my hands up in the air, tell you to leave me alone or otherwise snap back at you. It may seem like an emotional outburst that comes out of nowhere. It isn’t (though it does resemble my autistic meltdowns, which are also usually caused by cognitive overload and me being unable to do something I REALLY want done, hours ago, because of it).

As a blunt autistic person I might tell you some of the above. I may straight out tell you, “I cannot talk about this thing now because my brain is not working properly.” It isn’t that you don’t matter. Nor is it that I don’t value you or the thing. It is that I cognitively cannot right now.

I would like to note at this point that I have been told by many people that I’m very articulate. I’m very able to say how things are for me and I have a very clear understanding of myself. Its likely that the ADHD (or autistic) person in your life, or you yourself, if its you! are not (yet/ ever) so clear. So I say all this to raise possibilities and make you aware of what could be going on, in your interactions with/ as an ADHD person.

Distraction & Routine -Still Haven’t Called You

Honestly, the only reason I don’t regularly go a year or more without contacting friends and family I genuinely like/ love/ want to spend time with, is because I’m a primary school teacher. Luckily in Australia, that means my working year is divided into quarters, with at least two week breaks between each. That means I have two weeks of not hitting sensory and info overload every work day. And I’m not spending every evening and most of my weekends recharging. So I can stop and think; who did I last see when? Who do I need to contact?

(This is also when I do personal chores that are not day to day, and periodic jobs like spring cleaning.) If my parents don’t contact me or organise something with me, and its left for me to initiate; I would see them four times a year.

Another factor in this is routine. Somewhere along the way (the habit was damaged by several years of chronic illness after long covid), my routine became contact and catch up every school holidays. Try and keep an eye on time and not go more than two months without seeing, or at least calling my parents. When those routines/ habits are disrupted, ADHD distractibility keeps me busy.

Distractibility -Its not That You Don’t Matter

I can’t tell you how many times said I would do something for someone, and then did it hours or days later than I said. And that’s possibly with reminders from them because I totally forgot (multiple times).

In-the-moment things other people want of me, that I cannot immediately do, are a CHALLENGE to recall the existence of, let alone actually do. (Yes, even if I did take my ADHD meds that day.) For example, the little request a child took five seconds to make of me immediately gets pushed aside by five other students needing things I take thirty minutes to provide them with. The five second request doesn’t even enter my short term memory (unless I write it down). I ‘recalled’ it no longer than it took the student to say it, and me to think, “I must do that thing.”

For bigger, more important things, it could be that I fully intended to help plan that holiday with you. But I was busy, and sensory and information overloaded during my working week. There wasn’t enough time away from that, to exercise and clear my head. To dump out the work stuff and properly think about and help you plan that holiday. Yes, including on the weekend. You matter, the holiday matters; so I want to plan it properly; when I’m focused. Not when overloaded and with my brain split in multiple directions to meet other deadlines.

Responsibility and Realistic Expectations

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying, “I didn’t do this because ADHD, therefore its fine and nothing more is required of me.” I am saying how hard it is. How much energy, effort and discipline, and ultimately sheer stubbornness it takes to work around sensory overload, around cognitive overload, and time blindness, to stop hyper focusing on the big important thing I really need to get done… to pick up the phone and call you. Its a ‘small, simple thing’ and the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or I manage to set aside my cognitive load and make that call, but it takes A LOT of effort. It takes time to meet my deadlines, finish other big things and give you/ the thing you want done my full attention, as I wish to. It will happen, with me organising us catching up, but less often than you may anticipate or want. Guaranteed.

If that doesn’t work for you, if you cannot accept that, then you cannot except me the way I am. And I do not think it is constructive for us to be in a relationship. It will only hurt you, or frustrate you, and strain our relationship. And I will feel bad, and frustrated at myself for letting you down, or frustrated at you for expecting me to wave a magic wand to instantly meet your expectations. Or mad because you think its fine to expect me to push myself to my limits to overcome all of the above obstacles, to ensure I call you fortnightly (hold your breath waiting for that and you will die!) Especially when it appears I’m putting in triple the effort to what you are, and you feel entitled to my two thirds of extra effort.

Final Note On Feelings & Positive Relationships

I’m lucky; I’m stubborn. And pig headed. I know exactly what I will and will not stand for. But a lot of neurodiverse people can be the opposite. Autistic and or ADHD people can very be sensitive to how our cations impact others. A lot of ADHD people can anxious about if they stuffed something up, or put the other person out. Both my GP and psychiatrist paused during my diagnostic appointment to note how unusual it is that I don’t struggle with anxiety. That is very much the norm for people with ADHD.

And while I have calmly, and perhaps bluntly and articulately told you how many of aspects of my ADHD can impact me in my relationships; other ADHD (and autistic) people will feel differently. Many are likely to behave differently. Anxiety and stress are common responses to living with ADHD, particularly when overload hits, and or when you forgot that a super important thing you didn’t do yet exists.

My big point here is what you see of an ADHD person in your life/ of yourself, especially if, like me, you diagnosed late in life; may be the tip of the iceberg. Assume there is more going on than you can see (in your relationship with all humans, period!) There may be more going on than the ADHD (or autistic) person in your life is aware of themself, or is able to articulate, including how they feel about it. If you value them, and your relationship with them; be prepared to navigate that, to some extent, together. Be prepared to ask questions, to get answers, or not. And for God’s sake, check in on each other’s feelings!

Comments & Conversation

During End Stage Capitalism, the far right’s rise and with climate becoming catastrophic, no one has lots of energy. It feels like we go onto social media and post comments. And sometimes we comment on someone’s comment about how we agree with their comment.

Or we don’t have the energy to talk. So we like comments, or just like posts of people we know, to say ‘I see you.’ Then we log off. And that little social hole, that need for human connection that may have brought us onto social media that day, goes unfulfilled.

Disclaimer: I’m not a social commentator, a psychologist etc. I’m an author, a primary school teacher, the admin of multiple discords and a social media user of nine years, commenting from personal experience. My experience is that I miss is the connection of having proper, sustained, two way conversation online. I miss the multi-people conversations that tag game or Follow Friday tweets led to when Twitter was home to the Writing Community. I miss having an ongoing conversation with even one person, especially ones good enough that when the other person woke up on the far side of the world, they’d reply, and the conversation would continue the next day.

Comments & Conversation,
from a Neurodiverse Perspective

Don’t get me wrong. I’m multiply queer, neurodiverse and chronically ill. Reading other people’s posts to help self diagnose my neurodiversity (and yes even my chronic illness, before I found a doctor informed about long covid and fibro and competent enough to do so), has been invaluable to my health and wellbeing.

I’ve had many conversations with neurodiverse people who self (and did or didn’t get professionally) diagnosed later in life. We’ve lived our entire lives in a world that expects us to think, behave and communicate in ways that are unnatural to us. We’ve had to function in environments we can find extremely overstimulating, even inaccesible. So reading about other people’s neurodiverse challenges and what has helped them to navigate a world designed for neurotypical people, which operated as though everyone is neurotypical, has been valuable to me.

But the most valuable conversations were in DM groups, or on Discord. The back and forth exchanges, where multiple people weigh in with their experiences, we make connections, notice differences and spot patterns. Conversations where everyone walks away with a better understanding of their own and other’s neurodivergence than they began with. Those conversations are invaluable in forming meaningful connections and they’re emotionally fulfilling.

And I’ve found less and less of them on social media of late. (Which is my Writers and Authors Discord also channels for discussing neurodiverse and disabled life.)

Identity Politics & Isolation

With certain factions trying to blame rising cost of living, housing affordability, hell, even storms on certain identity groups, and trans people under attack to distract from how shit certain governments are, I think there’s also an isolation factor on social media. Its only natural in such a hostile environment for trans people and our allies to band together and defend ourselves by public post. Autistic and disabled people threatened by the most obscenely incompetent health minister to disgrace the world stage are also constantly clustering to counter attacks, and to dispute bullshit that’s being spouted about us. And the usual racism is being dialled up, as I’m well aware of, given literal nazis assaulted Aboriginal people at an Aboriginal scared site in my city on the weekend.

All of these attacks, this politics based on rival identities; haters and hated, I feel like it corals us into tribal identity groups, of identities and their supporters. More and more often this year, I’ve posted not just as a human, but as a nonbinary human, or an autistic human, or a chronically ill human. Sometimes I do that to intentionally share snippets of my existence, for people who share my identity to relate to, or to give small insights to people who don’t. But this year I feel that I post as a person, irrespective of identities, much less often.

Reacting to Reality/ Happy/ Too Tired?

‘Everyone’ is online, but this year also feels more hit and miss when posting is mainly comments. At any given moment you may be responding seriously and angrily to shit happening in your part of the world, or another. Or you’re taking a break and happy posting. Or you’re too tired to engage or be online much. And plenty of us are doing any of those three at different times. Its like three different moods which tend to mean you don’t connect (or connect weakly) with people in either of the two moods you’re not in, at any given time.

And even when you see a post you’re in the same mood as, and respond, its probably just a single reply. Maybe they reply to you once. That’s it. No one seems to be posting questions anymore. When they do among writers, its a prompt. And each individual individually reposts the prompt with a comment. And someone might write one comment back. More and more, I feel like we’re talking at each other, instead of to each other.

In my case, my favourite thing used to be asking other people questions in my posts and replying to other people’s questions. I rarely have the energy these days, not least because of my combination of chronic illness, ADHD and autism. I wonder if lack of questions, lack of ongoing conversations and mass comment posting/ mass talking at each other is largely because other people are too TIRED and low on energy, and or time.

Conversations & My Writers & Authors Discord

I’d love to say I’m writing this blog because I have a whizzbang solution to help people meaningfully connect, and have socially connecting, emotionally fulfilling conversations on social media. Alas, for public posting I do not. But I do have a Writers & Authors Discord. I wanted a place for two way exchanges, for multiple people to trade notes. Not just about writing, querying or publishing, but life as our queer/ neurodiverse/ disabled or their BIPOC selves.

Discord Channels to Foster Connection

That’s why I created a Writer’s and Authors Discord in July, and made channels not just for writing and indie authoring, but for genres; SFF, Horror/ Dark Themes, Romance, Mystery/Thriller/Crime and Kidlit. And for writers to connect with challenges writing and publishing, or just in their daily lives as; queer, neurodiverse, disabled people, BIPOC or Over 50’s.

While there can be an assumption that online spaces are America-centric, as an Australian I’m well aware that’s not the case. So I also made region channels on the Writers and Author’s Discord; Australia & NZ, the rest of the Asia-Pacific, Europe & UK, Canada, US.

The reason I have three whole categories on Writers and Authors Discord based around identity is that’s three potential identities anyone joining the server can go to meaningfully connect with people like them. Then all of us can come together to answer questions about writing craft, indie author publishing, marketing, querying etc. Everyone has channels they feel they belong on, and with a venting channel and good news too; everyone has somewhere to go on the server to have their emotional, as well as social needs met.

Fellow writer? You can join the Writers & Authors Discord here.

Writers & Authors, text over steel nibed, dip into inkwell era pen, writing on lined paper. Photo credit Aaron Burden. — Photo credit: Aaron Burden

Where Did the Fun Go?

I know, to be blunt, lots of things are some degree of fucked right now. A lot of very important causes are competing for our time and energy, and if whole nations and in some places the planet don’t collectively attend to them; we’re fucked. But you can’t spend all your free hours thinking, worrying and doomscrolling about shit being fucked up. Its like when someone you love dies; you can’t just be sad all day every day. At some point you’ve got to do something you enjoy, and feel good, even smile.

I think a big casualty of Twitter dying/ morphing into a nazi zombie and fragmenting many community groups made up of individuals across social media, has been the playfulness I saw back on Twitter. Occasionally I’d tweet something quite serious, and a complete stranger would come on and say something very witty, very much taking the piss out of the topic I raised (with apology for doing so but they couldn’t resist). And on reading their reply, I would burst into laughter and thank them for their valuable contribution to the discussion 😉 .

A few times I hosted #WritersHouseParty, where writers would volunteer to be tagged into a thread, and we’d all jump on with silly party gifs. We’d have silly conversations, and gif wars and I’d be chatting on 15 different threads and nearly two hours behind in responding to my exploding notifications. It was hectic, and silly and sometimes stupidly late in my timezone. But those are some of my best memories of Twitter, circa 2019.

Can We Still Have Fun?

With so much tension in multiple communities and parts of the world, I find its very challenging to just be playful and have fun via social media post. My feeds are such a mix of light hearted fluffy posts, serious politics, outrage at news articles etc, that I never know what the tone of my feeds will be and if any of it will match my mood. I feel like to know you’re in a fun space, it kind of needs to be a dedicated space.

Again, the best solution I can offer is Discord. Because any channel can clearly indicate whether that’s a serious or a silly, or a light hearted conversation space. And you can mute any channel that isn’t going to match your mood/ interests/ suit your needs. Alas, I don’t think the best fun of my Twitter days is something that can be replicated. Novelty was part of what made it do great fun at the time.

SFF Appreciation Discord

One small thing that has brought me joy, and let me just forget about all the shit going on for a time, has been talking about my favourite SFF shows and books. Its something I struggled to do via public post, because everyone has different tastes. But with only 8 people on my SFF Appreciation Discord, we’ve already got three people who LOVE the same show (Aussie SpecFic, Nowhere Boys. Yes, it has its own channel now.)

I’ve created this Discord with channels to talk about what you’re watching, what you’re reading, favourite characters, diverse rep, world building etc. There’s also channels for authors to seek beta readers, or ARC readers. And to make or seek book recommendations. If you enjoy reading or viewing (yes audio books count!) Fantasy, general SpecFic or SciFi, you’re welcome to chat about them on Elise’s Books & SFF Appreciation server.
(Yes, a couple of channels promote my books, those being a portal, epic YA fantasy trilogy and a SciFi-Fantasy series.)

Elise's Books & SFF Appreciation Discord, back ground a ship sailing between two high cliffs, towards sunshine, on bright blue waters. Art by GlintofMischief. — Art Credit: GlintofMischief

Writer Community

While I’ve found by far the easiest way to get to know fellow writers these days is by conversation on the same writer discord, there’s also also weekly chats on Bsky. These give you a fair chance of interacting with the same people on a semi regular (I doubt any of us attend the same chat every single week 😉 ) basis, each beginning with an intro post (it doesn’t hurt your followers to learn more about you from those either). Then you’ve got 3-4 questions to answer about your wip/ writing, and can respond and make connections to other people’s responses, the best time to do so being 1-2 hours after the chat starts.

I’ve linked quite a few chats (and some prompts, though that list is definitely not exhaustive) in the Writer Section of my Bsky Newby Guide. It also lists multiple feeds for writers, to help you find the posts of more individual writers.

If you’re on Mastodon, some great daily prompts to respond to and meet people on are; #WritersCoffeeClub, #WordWeavers and #ScribesandMakers.

Concluding Remark

I know my focus has been social media here, but as we all seem more and more addicted to it/ our phones these days, a reminder to physically spend time with people you love. To get into the outdoors for some peace and quiet, and the calming effect of trees and greenery. To listen to music (I do not do this often enough), to do whatever exercise you can, and take care, as we navigate this shocker of years.

Apparently We’re Being Censored

Shadow Bans

If you don’t follow indie creators on Bsky, you may have missed the social media maelstrom of angry, confused reactions over the past week. You may not know the indie gamer store Itch, has become a haven for queer, neurodiverse and disabled indie authors, in particular. Itch is the one place many of us are actually having people buy our ebooks, despite many of us having little or no money to pay to advertise books. Importantly, it was the one space we felt our works were truly valued for their queerness.

So when we jumped on Bsky to see posts saying books had been shadow banned, meaning our books are on the Itch store, but some do not display in its searches, there was confusion. Creators were shocked and angry at Itch giving us no prior warning. Only after the fact did Itch issue this statement.

In short, creators were told by Itch that a charity/ advocacy group called Collective Shout campaigned to pressure Mastercard and Visa not to process payment of ‘certain content.’ Itch appears have shadow banned all content tagged ‘NSWF’ and perhaps also ‘Adult’ in response. (As of the 29/7/25, the former is confirmed by the Australian Guardian.)

Total Content Bans (Edited 30/7/25)

A few days later, Itch released a new content policy (listed under ‘Is Adult Content Allowed?’) The clause which had me concerned about them allowing my book to be for sale after their review (the reason for the shadow ban/ indexing is; “We are unable to support the sale of any works containing these topics: Non-consensual content (real or implied)…’

This phrase is problematic. If it came directly from Collective Shout, who describe themselves as anti-porn, I’d assume the clause means ‘non consensual sexual content.’ But the word ‘sexual’ isn’t in that clause. And the phrase after it is ‘no underage or barely legal themes.’ These are broad, sweeping clauses, currently worded in a manner that is in no way limited to sexual assault or rape.

Censorship Gone Mad? A Cautionary Tale?

Characters in fiction don’t normally consent to being murdered, assaulted, robbed, cheated on by their spouses, betrayed, lied to, deceived, enslaved, killed in battle, etc. ‘Non consensual content’ as a blanket ban statement is ludicrous. The genres ‘Murder Mystery’ and ‘Crime’ would be wholesale banned, many Fantasy and SciFi books and games, and Thrillers; gone. Your middle of the line contemporary family drama wouldn’t be available on Itch; if they enforce this policy in its current wording.

What was the Purpose of the Censorship?

NSWF Censorship? (Added 30/7/25)

Having seen Itch’s replies and interactions to this post in a Bsky thread, and Collective Shout’s open letter to the payment processors, I am reassured that the phrase ‘non consensual content’ is intended to contain the word ‘sexual,’ though its current wording appears very broad.

Update July 31: Itch are seeking new payment processors, who are friendlier to NSWF content, because their new adult content policy was imposed on them by payment processors Stripe and Paypal. Content creators of 18+ content (all, not just sexual) can no longer select Stripe as their payment processor for Itch. Which suggests to me that Stripe is opposed to all adult content.

Update August 2nd: Itch’s naming choice ‘Adult Content’ and Stripe using ‘NSWF’ and ‘adult’ as synonyms (no, my autistic brain does NOT consider ‘adult’ to be inherently ‘sexual’ because; it literally isn’t), suggests Itch’s ‘Adult Content policy’ means: sexual content policy. That the word ‘sexual’ does apply to every clause and that it does not restrict all M+ content. (Note from an autistic person to anyone who communicates with other humans: use words that literally mean what you literally mean!)

Queer Censorship? (Added 31/7/25)

There were reports of Itch removing LGBTQIA+ works which do not contain the NSWF tag and fears that the ‘LGBT’ tag was targeted by de-indexing. I am aware of several instances (from this Bsky thread) where SWF works were de-indexed because they were tagged, ‘adult’ or ‘sensitive content,’ which Itch removed in case it was NSWF. Itch has restored most of the examples in this thread.

Update Aug 2nd: This late in the game, formed under fears all NSWF and possibly queer content was or could in future be banned, has already sparked the formation of indie collective Conjured Ink. Its aim is to create a catalogue of indie works (especially queer and NSWF) that doesn’t share Itch’s vulnerability to payment processor censorship. And its website went live for creator sign ups today.

Collective Shout &Trans People
(Edited 30/7 & 4/8/25)

Who are Collective Shout? As their About Page tells you, they are a ‘a grassroots campaigns movement against the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls.’ They’ve done some good work, like getting Andrew Tate, the notorious Manosphere ‘pick up’ artist’s content banned on Spotify. I note this because its evidence of a group of feminists acting in a way that’s likely to actually make the world safer for women. Their campaign wins seem to indicate this is their intent.

Why do I doubt Collective Shout? Because the year is 2025, and there are ‘feminist groups’ in the UK who, instead of taking actions to reduce actual violence against women, are waging war on trans rights in the name of ‘protecting women’. This despite a 2021 survey finding that only 0.01% of people aged over 16 in England and Wales identify as trans men, and again, only 0.01% of over 16’s in England and Wales identify as trans women. It appears to me that these TERFs wish to hold 0.02% of the UK population accountable for 100% of its violence against women.

Groups like Sex Matters have pushed for bathroom bans in the UK. This looks a lot like denying trans people the dignity of using public bathrooms, effectively discouraging trans people from participating in public life. (See JamieDodger for more on this). And the director of Sex Matters just launched a book praising such work in the UK and arguing that they should be proud to be called ‘TERF Island’. That book is being published and promoted by Spinafex press, which was co-founded by Collective Shout’s co-founder, Renate Klein.

Collective Shout TERF Agenda? (Edited 4/8/25)

So a co-founder of Collective shout runs a press that is platforming a leader of the UK anti-trans movement, and her press is promoting a book that praises attacks on trans rights. In the same month Renate’s Press published that book, Collective Shout went after an obscure indie games and book store, on a distant corner of the internet (Itch). One that just happened to have a high ratio of trans creators selling their works on it.

In this this interview, PressSpaceToJump surveyed 25 creators whose works were de-indexed on Itch. Twelve of them were trans. Several of them made their living from sales on Itch. Of all the places Collective Shout could go to reduce the ‘objectification of women and sexualisation of girls,’ why did they choose Itch (and not just larger store Steam? Is it coincidence that censoring Itch was likely to censor trans creators?

An ABC article reported Dr Keogh, a researcher at QUT Digital Media Research Centre take as, “Collective Shout’s campaign had the hallmarks of a moral panic, using extreme examples to galvanise public support.” And quoted him, “And that’s really just a smokescreen to remove a much, much broader range of content, which includes primarily queer content and trans content.”

Given the TERF agenda platforming above, I’m inclined to suspect Dr Keogh is right. And that Collective Shout’s claims about its agenda are untrustworthy. (Collective Shout’s founder won’t even disclose her religion, for fear it would taint her advocacy work. I wonder if fear of people applying the ‘Christo-fascist’ label to her and the impact that could have on her work that she fears.)

Where Does Collective Shout Get its Funding?
(Added Aug 8)

According to the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC), Collective Shout’s total revenue is $458,000. Despite the age of the charity (it was founded in 2009), that’s impressive for a charity who gets 80% of its income from donations, whose website to this day has a monthly reach of just 3,000 people (sourced from Ahrefs website visits tracker), which Ahrefs estimates earns them around $58 a month.

I’m Australian. I had heard of Collective Shout. No other Aussies I’ve spoken to have. Its not like they do door knocking, or set up stands in shopping centres, asking for donations, like other charities. So where did this money come from? And why does RocketReach, a company whose business is built on corporate networking, estimate Collective Shout’s revenue to be 6.4 million? (I’ll leave it to journalists to verify that statistic.)

Even if RocketReach made a gross error with its revenue statistic, this still looks like several hundred thousand dollars came from nowhere. Personally, I don’t trust any organisation in the year of fascism’s return to the west 2025, who’s pushing censorship, if I don’t know who funds them. If I don’t know where the money came from; I don’t know who’s agenda its being used to push.

Global Censorship Context

2025 does not feel like a safe time time for any one organisation to soley impose censorship on the sale and distribution of creative content. Or for a mere a thousand emails to have payment processors censoring what adults can buy. It was enough to prompt the Trans Femine Review to, in their post about all this, link their guide to protecting trans and diverse books. And Collective Shout’s campaign against Itch and Steam as far from an isolated move towards increasing censorship.

Updates August 4th

Melinda Tankard Reist (Collective Shout’s founder) addressed a Federal Inquiry to support age limits on Social Media in Australia in July 2024 and has been very much involved in this process.

Australia introduced age verification rules for Microsoft and Google in June 2025.

Canada introduce a bill to ‘protect young people from pornography’ to parliament in June 2025.

Meanwhile multiple US states have or were proposing age verification in June 2025, including KOSA, which passed the senate July 30th.

Collective Shout sent their letter to payment processors that triggered Itch and Steam censorship in July 2025.

On July 25th, the Uk launched age verification for social media users.

The broader backdrop of Collective Shout’s censorship push is a push by anglo nations to ‘protect children against porn,’ something Collective Shout’s site claims to be passionate about. And this ‘protect kids against porn’ movement is coinciding with fascism being firmly established in the US, and gaining ground in the UK. I don’t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but this extensive set of ‘remarkable’ coincidences makes me wonder if Collective Shout is a pawn, or worse, collaborator, in a larger censorship game.

Text: Elise Carlson, Walking the Knife's Edge. Sythe Series, Book1.Rarkin stands in foreground, wearing leather jacket and jeans, holding a stun gun raised to shoot to the left.Miona stands on the right, smiling and with boxing gloved fists raised, ready to fight.They both stand on a grassy slope, a patchwork of Farm Zone paddocks, fields and tree lined streams behind them, to a cloud covered horizon through which the yellow glow of the sun shines. — (Yes, my book was shadow banned before it was even published, and is still on pre-order.)

If You don’t Write Non-Consensual;
You Can’t Fight it

Update July 30: One of the clauses of Itch’s updated content policy, the only evidence I had for two days about why my book was shadow banned, was a clause prohibiting ‘non consensual content.’ As explained above, without the word ‘sexual’ in this clause, it read so broadly that it raised multiple issues for my book.

My main character Rarkin did not consent to being raised by an abusive father, who constantly undermines Rarkin’s worth. And Rarkin’s mother didn’t consent to being abused by her husband.

And you know what? Rarkin’s father didn’t consent to being assaulted by his father. Just like Rarkin’s mother didn’t consent to being abused by her father. That’s how the cycle of family violence works.

Many people are privileged enough to not have lived experience of this. If you’re going to write a book that says, ‘This character had an unhappy childhood,’ then launch into who that character is now… A. as someone who spent the formative years of their childhood watching abuse and neglect destroy kids I went to school with; if you didn’t live it, you do not know and cannot hope to understand it by many other experiences you could have had. And B. if you don’t know what you’re fighting, then you don’t know how to fight it, and you cannot truly appreciate why it matters.

Silence is Violence

The above was a phrase used by Mene Wyatt, an Aboriginal Australian, in a powerful monologue about Australian racism. He’s absolutely right. Never talking about unpleasant, dark, scary things, like the child abuse in my book Walking the Knife’s Edge, is akin to pretending those unpleasant things don’t happen. Like not talking about people trafficking, rape, or the disgustingly small sentences male sex offenders receive, on the rare occasions they’re prosecuted at all.

When we constantly don’t talk about awful things that are happening, its like we pretend they aren’t. Like we sweep them under the rug. Its like Gaza, where you don’t want to look, because its awful, and you feel powerless to stop it.

The thing is; if most people aren’t talking about it, most people aren’t doing anything to stop it. You can’t bring about societal change, you can’t end violence against women or children (or BIPOC or LGBTQIA+ people) once and for all, with inaction.

Why Telling Rarkin’s Story in my Banned Book MATTERS

I’m an author. One who is physically disabled (fibromyalgia), who is both enhanced and impaired by autism and ADHD. As a disabled person, there are a lot of things I physically cannot do to make many aspects of this world a better place. One thing I can do is tell a story about a poor kid from the wrong side of town, who grew up holding it all in, with emotionally toxic coping strategies, because he had no other role modelling. I can represent CPTSD, the impact of trauma and stress on memory, on trust and relationships. I can have a character question his family, as he tries to understand himself, taking a lens to the cycle of family violence and to toxic masculinity.

I can go further. I can take a character who’s ultimately at risk of suicide, or being a crime lord. I can craft his healing journey, combatting his warped, toxic views of the world with the influence of happier, healthier humans he’s very grateful to have as friends.

I can give teenagers who ignore this book’s adult classification, and are fighting the same battle as Rarkin himself, the chance to see themself in a book. To have someone, for once in their life, show that I SEE them. I know they exist. Even better, I can write a character recovering from the very things threatening their mental health and their future.

I can show them there’s an out. There are ways. There are reasons for hope.

The Power Of Fiction

I’m me. I didn’t survive growing up with the challenge of clashing with an autistic parent who’s neurodiversity did not understand mine, of navigating early adulthood with no concept of organisation, or navigation as a time blind ADHDer, I DID NOT get long covid, and be incapable of writing for nine months to merely give my readers hope. I am not here just to make you feel.

I did that in Ruarnon Trilogy, which tells the story of a bunch of teens whose various neurodiversity’s quite literally help them to save a world. I explored unique strengths of autism and ADHD, especially the two working together in that trilogy’s main character.

With Rarkin, the greatest strength is his experiences of growing up with violence and trauma. His survival instincts and his capacity to understand, to stand up to people others are terrified of, are exactly what will position him to play a leading role in his world. The very weaknesses that nearly destroyed him, as low as he begins this story, that is how far he will come and how high he will rise.

I want readers who’ve lived Rarkin’s shittier experiences of life to have the chance to feel seen by his story. And I want them and every other reader to be blown away by it. But there is no way I can show you how far Rarkin comes across a series, if I cannot show you how it all begins, with shadow banned on Itch, book one.

What Now?

Should you see an organisation making a concerted attempt to prevent someone from telling their story, ask yourself; who are they silencing? Who and how does that silence harm, as well as help? No one’s going to shout about the ‘harm’ part, and with fascism on the rise, acts of censorship where harm is the point are ever more likely.

Register Your Complaints

Tell Mastercard, Visa and Stripe that it is not for them to decide whether adults can sell or purchase (legal) adult content.
See YellAtMoney for Mastercard, Visa, and Itch’s payment processors Stripe and Paypal’s phone numbers, mailboxes and emails. (That link includes advice, scripts and resources you might want to refer to in your contact at the bottom of the page.) You’ll find even more payment processors and their contact details on stop.paypros
Why? Because if an organisation can pressure payment processors for the right reasons, then an organisation can pressure them for the wrong reasons. And 2025 has been a spectacular display of wrong ‘reasons’.

Protect Diverse Books

First they came for porn, then NSWF, then queer and trans and all diverse creator’s content? To secure your own access to books by diverse creators, or even better, to safeguard books by trans and other diverse authors, even the hyperlinked contents menu of this article by Transfeminine Review will help.

If you’re looking for more books by diverse authors and about diverse humans, keep an eye on Itch bundles being advertised on Bsky. Particularly when its Pride Month, Nonbinary Awareness Week, Disability Pride Month, ADHD Awareness Month, Asexual Awareness Week etc. (Yes, I’ve got a book in a bundle for each of those latter two this October.) Books by marginalised authors and about marginalised characters are likely to be bundled during the month/ week/ on the international day for that identity group.

See also my Bsky lists of Marginalised Authors who sell books on Itch;

My book telling Rarkin’s story, Walking the Knife’s Edge, has been indexed on Itch and is available on Kobo, Barnes and Noble and other stores. Or request it at your local library!

Thanks for sticking with me to the end!

Sensory Challenges

Road Works, Construction & Obstructions

As navigator and driver, for me navigating unknown roads with roadworks is like navigating with one eye blindfolded and someone poking me repeatedly in the arm. My brain processes a row of cones, construction workers in their fluro clothes, trucks and other equipment as ‘big mass of stuff.’ I don’t want to look at ‘big mass of stuff’ because its overstimulating. So if the entrance to the venue, or my turn is next to or beside, behind or otherwise close to ‘big mass of stuff’… I struggle to process said venue/ turn’s existence.

I will miss the turn, because I’m so busy juggling not being overstimulated with not crashing into traffic moving at a different speed and direction, that I have zero processing power to perceive the second road. I’ll walk right past the entrance because I don’t see an entrance, just ‘shit ton of visual info, brain is jamming, look away!’

Obstruction Management Tip 1: Reduce Stimulation & Pressure

To locate the venue when roadworks, construction sites or other obstructions are present, I suggest navigating as near as you can by car. Then park the car. Now you don’t have to worry about crashing, so you can consult your phone and compare it to reality under less pressure. If you have to turn back into traffic and drive further; that’s fine. Its better than crashing. Its also better than a verbal argument with your navigator because you’re visually overstimulated and stressed.

Obstruction Management Tip 2: Reduce Stimulation & Pressure With Help

If your brain is already jammed with sensory overload, or fogged by covid, fibromyalgia or other condition, and you can’t connect your phone’s navigation directions to geographical reality… ask someone on the street. Or a customer service person in a shop.

Sometimes our brains fail us (I’ve navigated with moderate brain fog, moderate fatigue and severe ADHD and could barely navigate a supermarket, let alone New Zealand.) Don’t be hard on yourself, don’t persevere if your brain will not co-operate or is otherwise being an arse. Just ask someone else when its clear reality, your map and brain are not co-operating. This will save time, frustration and spare you the exhaustion of doing something very draining, because you’re attempting it while cognitively and or physically impaired.

For advice on minimising visual overstimulation at home, see this post.

Do You Have the Right Travel Companion?

To the able bodied, neurotypycal reader, if you’re travelling with someone who struggles with navigation/ overtimulation, and you struggle to be patient with that; I suggest don’t travel together. There are too many factors with the potential to cause tension, stress and frustration on both sides. If you don’t understand and or can’t be patient with the other person’s struggles; you’re likely making a challenging situation worse.

To the neurodivergent/ disabled reader, if you suspect your travel companion(s) do not understand why navigation is so difficult/ frustrating/ stressful for you; can you manage better on your own? I often travel solo, so I KNOW its more work. But depending how much strain travelling with a companion puts on you, is it ultimately less stressful/ less exhausting to travel solo? (You could just meet them at your destination.)

Navigation Communication Challenge: Noise

If you’re travelling with an autistic person, please bear in mind that we can hear you, and the conversation next to and behind us, and birds chirping and traffic and car horns and- If you are travelling with an ADHD person, they may be listening to you, then that song they love pumping out the window of a passing car, or something funny the person behind them said.

Communication Tip: Seek Quiet

For autism, be prepared to step into a quiet laneway, shop or somewhere less noisy, so the autistic person you’re speaking to is processing what you, and no one else is saying. We can’t receive the message ‘lets go into that museum’ when its competing with ‘(insert lyrics),’ ‘Mum I want an icecream!’, ‘Hi Steve!’ Bang, thud thud, DRILLL! from the construction site.

So to give an autistic (or ADHD) person the best chance to hear what you’re saying about where to go next; say it somewhere quiet. Turn off the radio. Ask the back seat passengers to stop speaking when a passenger is giving the driver directions.

Minimising noise makes audio directions or suggestions easier to access and respond to. It also saves you having to repeat yourself umpteen times every time you want to say, ‘I need to go to the toilet first.’

Sensory Overload

City’s are fun. They have buildings from many eras, and people from all over the world moving through their streets. They’re also busy, noisy and jam packed with visual information. I love walking city streets, listening to foreign accents, and taking photos of historic buildings. But as an AuDHD person; I NEED balance in my site seeing. I DO NOT WANT to site see in a busy, crowded, noisy city multiple days in a row. There comes a point where every hour I get tireder, more overloaded and more easily frustrated. Where city site seeing has become a tiring struggle to process ‘big wall of sound and visual info overload’.

Site Seeing V.S. Sensory Need Balance Tip

My favourite way to let my overstimulated brain and tense body relax, is to punctuate loud, crowded city site seeing with quieter, peaceful breaks. For example, spend 30 mins or more wandering a state library. Spend an afternoon at the zoo, or a morning wandering the city’s botanic gardens. I love gardens and animals, and tend to visit at least either in every city. I find it makes for calmer, more relaxed, more enjoyable travel.

View through grubby windscreen of a bend lined with protective metal fence, right pointing arrows, pretty gum trees and green slopes down to pale blue and cloudy horizon.

Avoiding ADHD Time-Fail Tax

Last year I navigated New Zealand’s North Island with moderate brain fog, moderate fatigue and severe (undiagnosed and unmedicated) ADHD. My biggest learning was; do NOT book morning anything unless staying within a 15 minute drive of that activity. I was one hours drive away from one activity, gave myself two hours to get there and still missed it. My ADHD got distracted, and missed a turn. Then I lost track of time, and drove 20 minutes beyond the turn before realising I’d missed it.

ADHD Booking & Time Tips

Use a Physical Calendar, with days of the week and dates labelled to write bookings on manually. (Days and dates DO NOT correlate in my brain and a device offers too many distractions. So I have an A4 weekly calendar notepad and its a huge help to my school holiday and travel planning.)

2. Dates: double check the month, year and 24 hour timing when you book. (Yes, I did drag my family to the air port 12 hours early to see me off the first time I flew to England. Better 12 hours early than 12 hours late!)

3. Timezones: check your device for local time before you plan your next step. Especially before you go buy food at an airport. (Yes, they may refer to flight number but not destination when changing your gate just before boarding. And not page you to the new gate when you don’t board on time).

Tours and Accomodation Tips

Morning Activities: Only book a morning anything, which doesn’t allow for mis-navigating the countryside, if you’re staying a SHORT distance from the morning activity.

Extra Time: If your drive is theoretically 30 minutes, give yourself AT LEAST one hour to get there. (To allow for factors you forgot to consider that could delay you, like traffic, road works, finding a car park etc.)

If there’s one thing you really want to do/ see, plan your trip so if there doesn’t end up being time for it today; you’ve got time tomorrow. Flexibility was essential to my last solo, unmedicated ADHD trip!

Low Spoons Travel (Pain/ Fatigue/ Chronic Illness)

I’ve just come back from a road trip with my mum. I put my back out on day one, just before we got in the car. Constant back pain quickly became fatigue. It mean difficulty getting in and out of the car and difficulty walking. It meant I burnt through energy quickly, and got tired and frustrated swiftly. These latter are things I have to be aware of all the time, because I have fibromyalgia, and that (permanently) predisposes me to brain fog, fatigue and chronic pain.

Low Energy Management; Snacks

Normally we try to cut back on snacks because we’re eating too much period, or too many calories. This DOES NOT apply to me when I travel. On my recent 9 day road trip, I didn’t just need breakfast, lunch and dinner. I either needed a substantial breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, or breakfast, morning tea, lunch and dinner. Any one big physical activity, like an hour long walk, needed to be followed by eating and drinking. I might not notice I was hungry, but a meal made me feel better. Food and drink as fuel run out faster for me when I travel.

Low Energy; Pace Yourself

Even when my back recovered on my road trip, I still had to pace myself. If the slope was steep, or there were too many stairs, or I walked for longer than an hour, a flare of burning back pain and or fatigue (due to fibro) were likely. (When I say fatigue, my feet/ legs/ lower back feel A LOT heavier than usual, like I have to peel my feet off the ground and actively fight gravity to take each step).

Low Energy; Rest Breaks

What if I wanted to spend two hours walking around the botanic gardens/ nature trail/ city centre? This happened in Adelaide recently. I was able to walk for several hours; mostly because in the middle we sat at a cafe for a good forty minutes. I sat in a chair with proper back support and sunk into it, letting my body recharge. (And used this as the snack and drink recharge mentioned above). After that sit down; I could keep walking.

Another option when travelling solo for me is that with my seat adjusted to support my back sufficiently, sitting in the car driving helps me physically recharge.

Low Energy; Mobility Aids

The thing about invisible illnesses is you can’t see the bastards. Vision impaired people can get glasses, and hearing impaired people can get hearing aids. But do people with fatigue or chronic pain need mobility aids?

This is a conversation I didn’t have with my doctor, not when diagnosed with long covid, or fibromyalgia. But with back pain from putting my back out, my mother, having her own back issues, knew I wasn’t able to walk. So she did some research, and found that walking polls can provide physical support, while also helping a person build their core body muscles. (This article is aimed at hikers, but consider how more even distribution of your weight and the strain of making it walk can aid low energy movement.)

My mum bought me walking polls in Adelaide, which I used on nature trails. I found them especially helpful to reduce the strain on my body and my proneness to pain and fatigue when walking uphill, and up or downstairs. They were also great for longer walks, where I wanted to go further, but was tired and or fatigued.

So if you’re prone to chronic pain or fatigue, I suggest discussing mobility aids with your GP.

Brick & Mortar/ Local Alternatives

As an Aussie, when I lived in Frankston, I bought books from Robinson’s Bookstore. In inner Melbourne, I discovered Collins Bookstore, and then my new favourite indie store in the inner suburbs, Readings. Anywhere I went, I also borrowed from the local library. Anything niche I wanted that wasn’t at a local store could be ordered online from Book Depository. Yes, the giant who offered free shipping world wide, the rival Amazon bought, then closed permanently. You’ll find seven Book Depository alternatives described here.

Bookshop.org

The brick and mortar alternative I like best for UK and US readers, if you don’t have one nearby is Bookshop.org, because they share their profits with indie stores. Its a good paperback alternative to Amazon and, as of 2025, Bookshop.org sell ebooks too.

Note for Authors: distributing your paperbacks via Ingram Spark directly, or using Ingram via Draft to Digital (which I prefer, as I find the D2D dashboard and customer service more accessible), will automatically make your paperbacks available on Bookshop.org. (For more on self publishing and book distributors, see this blog).

Online Store Alternatives

Before I link big multinational stores, I’ve found my Ruarnon Trilogy ebooks (courtesy of StreeLib) in national stores in western Europe, and one (so far) in South East Asia (all linked here.) So if you’re wanting to buy local, unsure of your choices and outside America, western Europe, UK, Canada or Australia, check in with the internet/ friends/ family about bookstores owned by your country.

Itchio

Itch.io was most popular with gamers, but in 2025 is growing in popularity among readers and indie authors. They sell ebooks DRM-free, and offer authors a better profit than many alternatives (buying direct from the author is best for authors, but comes with an international taxation headache that puts off or delays quite a few us with selling direct).

Note for Readers: Itchio doesn’t have a storefront for different countries. There’s one online storefront and the author chooses a currency for the minimum price, which can be free and you can tip above it. If needed, the price is converted into the purchaser’s currency.

Note for Authors: you need to create an account and upload your books directly to sell on Itch. Setting prices in UK/ US or Euro currencies means unfavourable exchange rates for readers in the rest of the world. For example, a US $4.50 ebook cost me around $8.30 Aud. The standard Australian dollar indie book price is $6. So you might want to take exchange rates into account when setting your minimum price.

Kobo

For Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, much of Europe, the UK, South Africa, India, Japan, and some of the Asia-Pacific (specific countries listed here), we can buy ebooks via the Canadian company Kobo. Kobo is part owned by Rakuten, based in Japan, where they don’t call it ‘DEI’, but they say ‘we respect human rights of all and uphold individual dignity,’ and commit to ‘contribute to a sustainable future.’ (Kobo became home of my digital library in 2024, and I plan to purchase a Kobo now in 2025.)

Barnes & Noble

I assume Barnes and Noble is (if anything now even more) popular in America. I couldn’t find much about them and DEI, though they still have their Black Lives Matter statement up, which I take as a good sign.

Apple

All of the aforementioned countries for Kobo, plus more of South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific (specific countries listed here) have access to Apple, whose commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion remains firm. (Though, honestly, I’m prejudiced against Apple. I see their release of new model iphones as the most obvious instance of promoting needless consumerism, of sending the old model to landfill and generating carbon pollution from shipping the new model not because the old is broken, but because the new is ‘the latest’).

Booktopia

It would be un-Australian of me not to also mention Booktopia, Australia’s largest online store (yes trading again as of 2025 after voluntary administration in 2024). And they own another Aussie bookstore, which seems to be more online than brick and mortar these days; Angus and Robertson.

Note for Authors: I distribute my ebooks (and for B&N and Booktopia my paperbacks) to all of the above stores except –Itchio– via Draft to Digital (who also distribute to Everand, listed below).

Subscription Service Alternatives

For Americans, there’s Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

For Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Brits, Kiwis and everyone who has access to Kobo, there’s Kobo Plus.

There’s also 24 Symbols, which is multi lingual.

And Everand.

Note for Authors: I distribute my books to 24 Symbols and a range of local online stores throughout Europe, Latin America and elsewhere via StreetLib.

Library Apps

My favourite place to read and make my own book available for free is my local library. Any author who doesn’t have their books in Kindle Unlimited can make their ebooks (as well as paperbacks) available to local libraries, and yes, some services or government grants will pay us per borrow, or reimburse us beyond the libraries’ initial ebook purchase (Canadian and American authors, see Indie Author Project. Australian authors, see Lending Rights Schemes). You may want to borrow ebooks directly through your local library, or check if your local lets you borrow via the two popular apps below.

Libby

The readers of Bsky made me away of Libby, an international library app.

Hoopla

Your local library may also or alternately let you borrow through Hoopla.

Note for Authors: if your books are available for library purchase via Overdrive (to whom DraftToDigital distribute), readers can borrow them via Libby. DraftToDigital also distribute directly to Hoopla.

TBR & Review Alternatives

StoryGraph

StoryGraph is independently owned and was founded by Nadia Odunayo, with a focus on readers. This article by Distractify explores the benefit of that. Yes, you can export your Goodreads data to Storygraph, so you have the same TBR, book stats etc. They also offer a short questionnaire about your reading preferences, to inform their recommendations, and a free (which I use) and a paid tier. Book Riot’s (2021) Review has more information. Or you can create an account on Storygraph’s sign up page. (And or check out my epic YA Fantasy books.)

Note For Authors: the reason I’ve linked to my books instead of author profile (above) is because they’re not linked, as the option to do that doesn’t yet exist on StoryGraph. Apparently its in their roadmap for future developments.

BookBub

Bookbub is another option for following authors, getting notified of new releases, tracking your reading, reviewing books, etc. If you add a book to your wishlist or follow an author, they notify you when that book is on sale, not just on Amazon, but also on Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. You can sign up for their daily email of books on sale by genre, and again sale links are for multiple stores. I’m on there mainly to review books (which I’m quite behind on), and my profile is here.

Note for Authors: you can pay for your books to be advertised in Bookbub’s emails. They also offer a coveted feature deal, which is far from cheap, but from all reports say it gives you a sales spike the day it goes out by email. Author sign up.

Fabel

I’m hearing mixed reviews of Fabel. It’s a paid service, but I’m including it because it emphasises book clubs and interactive reading, both of which seem less of an option on StoryGraph and Bookbub. I haven’t used Fabel.

Abandoning Amazon as an Author

Why do Indie Authors Publish On Amazon?

As an Aussie who grew up in a city when indie bookstores thrive; I never had any interest in Amazon as a reader. It didn’t exist here till 2018, its foreign owned, bad for the environment and treats its staff in exploitative conditions that would NEVER be tolerated in my country. But when I was doing my homework on self publishing in 2021, before releasing Manipulator’s War in 2022; every indie author I spoke to believed you HAD to be on Amazon.

It dominates the American market and has a firm grip on the world market. It was the best way for indie authors publishing in obscurity like myself to become ‘discoverable.’ It was the site all my indie author friends most valued reviews on, so that’s where I reluctantly purchased and began reviewing their books. Then I learned if I spent less than $50 a year annually on Amazon; I couldn’t write reviews there.

I never liked it. I didn’t want to have my books there. But even Wide for the Win, authors dedicated to and supporting each other with publishing wide (beyond Amazon as well as on it) seemed to believe you had to start on Amazon, and could gradually build your readership on non-Amazon stores. So I reluctantly published my books on Amazon from 2022 to 2025.

My Tipping Points for Leaving

As I said in the introduction, I was tempted to pull my books when Amazon abandoned DEI back in January. But with Meta updating their hate speech policy to exclude many forms of hate speech and abandoning fact checking around the same time, January had me busy connecting with travel friends and family on alternative platforms, before deleting my Facebook and Insta accounts.

I then dedicated myself to redesigning Manipulator’s War’s cover with art from my retired cover artist, and overcoming major paperback formatting issues for Ruarnon Trilogy, to release paperbacks via Draft to Digital and on Amazon. Within weeks of all three paperbacks being live on stores in May, I became aware of more Amazon bombshells.

Gen Ai Book Summaries- Author Copyright Violation?

I saw a post about how Amazon are introducing ai summaries of Kindle books. And those summaries include plot and character development. The book blurbs authors submit do not have all of that information. It could only be obtained by feeding an author’s book into generative ai. Which no author gave Amazon consent to do. Multiple authors began emailing Amazon about this, and I learned of it via this post by Skyla Cameron, summarising her email chain conversation with Amazon. After over a month of emails were exchanged; they failed to disclose whether they were storing and using the book data we did not consent to be fed to gen ai to train their gen ai.

Skyla and I both concluded from the Amazon customer service person saying, ‘I cannot say’ that Amazon are indeed training their gen ai on authors book files (uploaded for the purpose of selling them), without author consent. I was ready to pull my books then.

Ai to ‘Narrate’ Audible Books

Within days I saw another social media post about Amazon’s plans to make 100 ai ‘narrators’ available to narrate audio books. Stealing from authors on one hand and trying to put voice actors out of a job with the next? Decision to pull my books made!

Then Amazon announced they were cutting author royalties by 10% as of the first of June, and I laughed at them for confirming I’d made the right choice so swiftly.

I Don’t Want To Share Profits With Zon

The other thing the May gen ai revelations brought home to me was something that didn’t sit well with me in April. I participated in a big indie author books sale then (the Naratess Sale), and I sold three books on Amazon. That meant I made them $3 and me $3. I resented that. It’s the tinniest of profits, absolutely nothing to a billionaire. But I couldn’t be happy about those three book sales (there are months where I sell no books at all), because I resented Bezos getting anything.

And that realisation made me not want to promote my books, to avoid Amazon profiting from them. At which point it was obvious the decision I would be happiest with is removing my books from Amazon, then promoting bookstores I like, who treat authors (and in the latter’s case; book stores as well as customers) well, like Itchio and Bookshop.org. So those are the kind of stores my Ruarnon Trilogy books page now promotes. Meanwhile, I’ve been tracking down local stores in other countries too, and listing them on this stores by country page.

So Where Are My Books?

Thanks to Draft to Digital, when I pulled my books off Kindle, they were already on Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Booktopia and a few lesser known stores. Thanks to Streetlib, they are also on local country onlinne stores, like bucher.de in Germany, Bol in Netherlands etc. I uploaded Ruarnon Trilogy epub files/ ebooks to Itchio, and DriveThru Fiction directly, to give myself more reach and readers more options. And my paperbacks and ebooks are available to libraries via Draft to Digital as well. (All of my these links are on my books page.)

And I may, perhaps later this year, set up direct sales on my website, if looking into it in more detail shows its worth the time and author earnings to sell directly from my website AND on Itchio. Why Draft to Digital, and Itchio, and DriveThru Fiction and possibly also direct sales? For one of the same reasons I’ve never been exclusive to Amazon; I hate putting all my eggs in one basket. Twitter has shown how volatile that can be. (Yes, I had my largest social media following there before moving to Blue Sky).

What Does Being on Author not on Amazon Look Like?

I’d already refused back in January to utilise the two most popular ways for authors to make readers aware our books exist: paying Bezos to advertise them on Amazon, or Zuck to advertise them on Facebook. I’d also tried Bookbub ads in 2024, and found my graphic design skills (for my trilogy at least) were NOT cut out for getting Bookbub link clinks, let alone sales. And those are the three most likely paid ads to successfully advertise your book and build your readership…

Itchio Bundles

Having participated in an Itchio Bundle for Pride Month, which gathered 23+ books by 23 authors with aromantic main characters, I see the power of Itch book bundles to put underrepresented characters into the hands of readers who crave them. With every author promoting the same bundle on their social media; our reach is greater. And with book bundle profits split evenly between participating authors; we all earn something.

2025 -? Itch Bundles of Underrepresented Characters

I’m already planning a Nonbinary Books Bundle, with nonbinary main characters for Nonbinary Awareness Week, July 14th to 20th (Ruarnon of Ruarnon Trilogy being nonbinary.) I’ll also do an Asexual Spectrum Bundle for Asexual Awareness Week, and ADHD Rep Bundle for ADHD Awareness Month in October. (Yes, Ruarnon ticks both of these identities as well, while the second main character of Ruarnon Trilogy, Linh, is aro-ace and her best friend Troy is diagnosed ADHD, but not the only ADHDer.)

Whether these bundles will be a thing year in year out I’m not sure. But for this year at least, they’re a good way to meet and connect with more indie authors who share my marginalised identities. And a good way for us to help each other put our books into the hands of more readers, and give more people insight into what life with any one of those identities and more can be like. (They’re also an effective way to collectively market the first book in everyone’s series full stop).

I’ll definitely do an Autistic Book Bundle (or join someone else’s) during Autism Awareness Month (April) next year, with Rarkin, MC of my new Sythe Series being autistic. And perhaps consider broader themes and bundles, like Queer Normative SFF, or SFF Full Of Hope, both of which Ruarnon Trilogy very much ticks. (Technically Sythe Series does too, though its somewhat darker).

In Person Author Events

Having got long covid a mere six months after releasing my debut novel, and not successfully balanced my work life with ongoing chronic illness (fibromyalgia) until this year, I’m FINALLY ready to contemplate attending in person events. If I time them right, I should have the energy to participate and enjoy them physically and socially.

With the complete Ruarnon Trilogy in paperback, and book one of Sythe Series likely to be out in August/ September 2025, I’m hoping to attend some local Sunday markets with my books. To start casual, local and small scale. I’ve applied for a booth at Australia Book Fair (the first ever) in Melbourne in 2026, and hope to attend Supa Nova in 2026 as well. Being a sociable person with a background in retail, and currently a teacher, I think I’ll enjoy meeting people at in person author events.

Online Book Promotion?

Ok, maybe I’ll set aside some time to write some more post-length blurbs for book 1 of Ruarnon Trilogy, make a few more graphics and start posting them at least once a month. Or fortnightly? Like many authors, I don’t like self promotion. And perhaps its my autism that insists that social media should be social, and is so reluctant to post about my book with a link to it, like a straight up ad, on social media. But I definitely need to do more than my super sporadic and rare posts of previous years.

There’s author chats and daily writer prompts where I’ll also talk about my characters, world building etc (more details on both in my Bsky Newby Guide). And there are questions I’d like to ask other writers in my posts, and discuss, which would also involve me sharing more about my book.

There are paid ads in newsletters for readers that I could try (again), like Book Barbarian (which is for fantasy). And I could consult paid promotion indie author gurus like David Gaughran (who have ideas about marketing beyond Amazon) recommend.

Yes, this post hasn’t just been me sharing links I hope will help readers and authors alike, or aiming to be informative. Its also me setting goals and trying to keep myself accountable. If you’re a fellow indie author trying to do the same, I’d love to hear your ideas/ plans on book marketing in these crazy times. You can find me on Blue Sky, Mastodon or send me an email via my contact page and check out my Writer/ Author Discord on there too. Best of luck!

While you’re here, if anyone likes portal, epic, YA fantasy led by queer and neurodiverse characters… maybe take a look at my Ruarnon Trilogy?

Value People For Who They Are

Some neurotypical person: You have to look people in the eye when you speak to them.

Me: why?

Them: because people will think you’re not listening, or your suspicious or maybe unstrustworthy.

Me: And that’s my problem? People making utterly unfounded assumptions about me, that have nothing to do with me personally? People not bothering to get to know me or bothering to judge me for who I am?

I wouldn’t do that to someone else. As an autistic person, I tend to miss cues in real time social situations (and my ADHD gets distracted), and I need to process in peace and quiet on my own. So the only thing I assume about other people is; there’s loads of things I don’t know or understand about them. I think that’s the golden rule to understanding people, yes, even someone you’ve been close to for years. If you don’t get their behaviour; assume you’re missing something.

Learn Before You Judge Someone

As an autistic person, whether I’m looking at students to judge their needs and how to support them, or at a fictional character, I don’t think anything until I’ve noticed and connected multiple things about that person/ character. If someone is upset, and another person is not expressing concern for them or doing anything to help, but is standing still, anxiously fidgeting and avoiding eye contact with the upset person; I’ll conclude they care. They just don’t know how to help or respond. Whereas another person might only see them not responding and assume they don’t care. One cue isn’t enough to go on, even if you ARE neurotypical.

So my first autistic lesson on people is; don’t make assumptions. Seek more information. Give people the benefit of the doubt. And instead of only looking for what you expect to see, notice what’s actually there. Don’t disregard someone because they didn’t do the thing you expected. Credit them for the helpful/ constructive thing they did do. (Unless they’re a politician, in which case I advise a healthy dose of skepticism for every side of politics, and trust what they actually do ten times more than anything any politician ‘claims’ they will do.)

Communicate When Your Expectations Aren’t Met

While we’re on expectations, if you aren’t happy with someone’s response, don’t expect them to just know you want them to respond a certain way, regardless of the context of the situation. None of of us grew up in the same house or have identical lived experiences, even if we did grow up with the same era/ culture/ religion.

Your neurotypical style of communication is DIFFERENT to my autistic, ADHD style communication. Making assumptions based on your experience is the fast lane to misunderstanding me, and anyone who differs from you in ways you didn’t realise. So be straight and honest with people, to ensure everyone in the conversation IS on the same page.

Value Logic and Questions

Autistic people can get ourselves into trouble for not respecting social hierarchies or for ‘answering back.’ There’s a very good reason for this; I don’t respect social hierarchies because I don’t see the point of them. I ask questions because I don’t understand and I want to understand. Or because I’m challenging someone who didn’t bother asking any questions, who just accepted something, which is why I think what they think is bullshit.

Age & Rank Alone Don’t Matter to Me

An example of both is ‘respect your elders.’ Problems with this include; age does not necessarily equal wisdom, life experience or knowledge. Age certainly doesn’t make anyone right by default. There are times as a teacher when a child says something that challenges my thinking. Where they change my mind about how we as a class or their group will do something. Because they asked a question, gave a good reason for their request, and I hadn’t thought of that and respected their reason.

I don’t care how old or rich you are, how many degrees you have or any privilege you claim. I don’t care for rank, whether its big boss in a workplace or Prime Minister. Its the knowledge and understanding you bring to any given situation that I value. Its your wisdom. Whether you’re treating people decently and resources appropriately. Its whether or not yours is the best solution to the problem, on the basis of evidence, reason and logic.

When the far right are on the rise, and having a field day in America, I don’t think I need to explain why the above is SO important.
If you’re an adult who feels threatened when kids ask you questions, or when they argue and give superior reasons to yours; this isn’t about your ego. Its not about your authority. Its about having the humility, the good grace and the sense to make use of the best logic, reasons and evidence in the room, to make the best decision for all parties effected.

So I urge you, don’t just make decisions based on what you feel. Evaluate the logic and all the reasons of the situation, like an autistic person. Seek the biggest, fullest picture, to best decide what to do with it.

There is No ‘Normal or ‘Abnormal’ Person

A lot of autistic people get bullied as kids/ teens for being different. A lot of neurotypical people approach communication assuming neurotypical norms are THE communication norm, thinking everyone should; make eye contact, greet people by name, ask how people are and so on. None of those communication styles is ‘normal’ to me. Just because you and lots of people you know do it that way doesn’t mean everyone else does. There are cultures where for certain people to make eye contact with others is disrespectful and rude. But we were assuming ‘white’ culture is the ‘norm’, weren’t we?

And when you assume your white, neurotypical, able bodied, cis gender, heterosexual ways are the norm, some people assume anything that doesn’t meet those expectations, anything ‘unfamiliar’ or ‘different’ is necessarily bad and wrong.

The Downside of Calling Humans ‘Normal’

‘They are not like me, and I am normal, therefore they are a freak/ bad/ wrong’ seems to underly every form of discrimination there is. It covers racism and sexism to homophobia, transphobia and ableism. When we get to white supremacy and ableism, the narrative becomes ‘my culture/ race/ body is better than yours, therefore I have value and you do not. My life matters. Your’s doesn’t.’

So I think that for any ally of any marginalised group, a great thing to take from autistic attitudes is not viewing yourself as ‘normal.’ And not viewing anyone unlike you as ‘abnormal.’

I was raised the way I was, you were raised the way you were. My brain is wired in certain ways, your brain is wired differently. There is no ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. There’s how we were taught we are supposed to live, ways we were taught some people live, and ways of living we weren’t taught about. All that means is there are different ways of living.

If we think of it as ‘people live differently’ as opposed to, ‘some people are normal and others are freaks,’ its becomes harder to alienate any human from their rights.

You Don’t Need Permission To Speak

A thing I often forgot to do as both a young autistic person who is inclined to do what they think makes sense, and as ADHD distraction prone, is to ask people how they are. You’re ‘supposed’ to do this. Its ‘good manners’. But the thing that really gets me about this is when I’m over half an hour into a conversation before I think to ask ‘how are you?’, and the person responds with something they really wanted to tell me. And I think, ‘Why did you wait 30 minutes for me to invite you to share that? If it matters to you; it matters to me. Why not just tell me?’

Somewhere along the way, I think many neuropytical people fell into the habit of only sharing their special news or saying how they’re going when someone asks them first. I suspect this is why there’s ‘never a good time’ to tell people bad news. Because people never ask, ‘What’s terribly wrong with you today?’ And they don’t expect or hint its ok to say shitty stuff. And with people feeling they don’t have ‘permission’ or an ‘invitation,’ or a ‘right time,’ I wonder if a lot of crap that needs saying doesn’t get said, or gets said late, by which point the relationship is falling apart.

Just Tell Us Your News!

I think that when people meet or catch up, it should go more like autistic or ADHD conversations. Where it may begin with ‘hi’, and the next point is, ‘I really wanted to tell you about x, because its so interesting/ exiting/ it matters to me and you matter to me, so I want you to know.’ We don’t literally say all this of course, but the ‘info dump’ of many of things neurodiverse people rattle off to each other when they haven’t seen each other for a while, like me and my mum when we catch up, is often this.

I think its a good thing. With neither party feeling the need for ‘permission,’ or ‘invitations;’ everyone shares what matters to them. Then we can ask for more details if we want them. No one feels unheard. No one feels ignored or like they don’t matter. There’s no room for misunderstandings, because everything either party wanted to say has been said.

True, it can still be tricky to broach for example potential sources of tension in relationships, but like all the good stuff, that still comes under ‘it matters to me so I told you.’ There’s no waiting for ‘right times’ that don’t come. No letting it sit on your chest and fester. I suggest; get everything said, communicated and know what’s going on with each other.

Make Personal Connections With What the Other Person Said

I know, controversial! Because when autistic people do this, some neurotypical people cry, “You made it about you! It was supposed to be about them! You’re supposed to give them their moment!”

So I’m supposed to let them stand on a pedestal saying some great or terrible thing that happened to them and say merely, ‘That’s great’ or, ‘O no. That’s terrible.’ That sounds like their ‘moment’ means being the centre of attention, while everyone else superficially engages with what they have to say. I don’t see the point of that. Superficial responses don’t signal ‘you are not alone.’ They don’t signal, ‘I get you.’ They have no capacity to deepen a relationship.

The Value of Sharing Personal Connections

If I’m sharing something important to me with you; its probably because I want to connect with you. I want to see that you understand.

If you’re sharing something bad with me, and I can make a deep personal connection to what you said; I am showing you that I get it. When my connection doesn’t quite fit; I’m showing you I don’t quite get it. If all I say is, ‘I’m sorry that happened to you,’ all I’m displaying is a very basic grasp of what you’re saying. And I’m leaving you standing on your own, little better off than you were before you opened your mouth.

Sometimes there’s isn’t anything we can constructively do to help people with their problems. But we can do more than just be there for them. We can show them; ‘not only am I here, I have stood where you stand and I get it. You are not alone.’ It matters for people to know that. So I say, go ahead and connect to the time when you think felt that way, or had to make a similar choice.

Abolish Taboo Conversation Topics

Suicide & The Need to Talk

According to Suicide Prevention Australia, Suicide is the leading cause of death among 15 to 25yos in my country, but we’re ‘not supposed to talk about it.’ Taboos like that seem to be part of neurotypilcal social expectations. The idea that some things are ‘too dark,’ or ‘not nice enough’ to discuss.

Suicide Australia also say 7 million Australians (roughly one quarter of our population) have been impacted by suicide. That’s 7 million people who would be left feeling isolated, with no one to talk to about their feelings or experiences, if we don’t talk about it because ‘its not nice’. In this case silence threatens people’s wellbeing.

There are things that NEED saying. Things people need to get off their chests and to inform their loved ones about. Then you can deepen your relationships by working through it together, or get the help or support you need etc. For the sake of our health, our wellbeing and our planet; we NEED to talk, directly, about unpleasant shit. Sure, maybe everyone can’t do it as bluntly and logically as some of us autistic people, but when it matters; give it a shot!

How Can We Deal With It, If We Won’t Even Discus it?

The other big reason we NEED to talk about unpleasant shit is things like; I think RFK Junior is a eugenicist (there’s a good explanation of how his antivaxxer stance promotes ‘soft eugenics’ from Science Based Medicine in this article). If we don’t admit what he is, or what he’s trying to do; we won’t stop him doing it. If we don’t call it ‘climate catastrophe,’ we’ll sit and watch the world burn.

And if we aren’t supposed to say ‘not nice things’ like ‘that person sexually abused me,’ if everyone in unused to hearing that, despite that according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 26.1% of Australian women have been sexually abused… we get a culture where people don’t talk about sexual abuse. They don’t hear it.

Then they don’t know how to respond. They don’t know how to accept that something like that happened to someone they know. They don’t know how to respond to the fact that they, like 20% of those women, know the offender. And they sure as hell don’t know how to support victims of sexual or family violence.

The direct statements of an autistic person calling out something as immoral, with no neurotypical filtering to sound ‘nice,’ might make some people uncomfortable. But our lack of giving a shit about what we ‘can’ or ‘can’t,’ say, or whatever makes neurotypical people squeamish about calling out reality; that positions autistic people like Gretna Thunberg to tackle climate change.

We need more non-autistic people standing up and saying how and why something is wrong and that it SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING.

Get Comfortable With Your Own Discomfort

Austistic people are used to not being comfortable. Many of us frequently feel like we ‘don’t fit’ and like we blunder through social situations. We’re used to being in environments like classrooms or shopping centres where the amount of STUFF on shelves, walls, the NOISE of so many PEOPLE screams at us, and is TOO MUCH. (Minimisation tips in this post.)

Discomfort is normal to autistic people. Its not pleasant, but it does have an advantage. Sometimes I feel like neurotypical expectations have raised people to be fragile. To have sensitive ears that hurt when you say things like ‘genocide’ or ‘rape’. But anyone who struggles to even listen to those words is completely useless when it comes to stopping the horror that’s the actuality of genocide and rape culture. Raising people to ‘dance on egg shells’, ‘beat round bushes’, and ‘don’t say that, it’s not nice,’ is raising a generation of people too gutless to confront abuse, exploitation, corruption or genocide.

Cut The Minimising Platitudes

Here we come across a plethora of sayings that aim to silence dissent and preserve the status quo. ‘Don’t rock the boat,’ ‘don’t make waves,’ ‘don’t upset the apple cart.’ Never mind that the ‘boat’ allowed white supremacy, sexism, misogyny, ableism, homophobia and transphobia to thrive for centuries. That its still deeply tainted.

And then we’re onto other sayings, ‘calm down,’ ‘chill,’ ‘it can’t be that bad.’ These allow people to disconnect from reality and deny how bad any given situation is. They seem aimed at ensuring people feel comfortable, even as the world burns around us, because we were too complacent to do enough about climate change, soon enough.

Speak Up & Protest!

When it comes to what’s wrong with the world, autistic people like Gretna Thunberg may be the voice you don’t want to listen to. You’re conscience sayng ‘this is wrong and we have to act.’ Again, this is not about YOU. Its about Palestinians being starved to death in Gaza by a regime that’s come full circle, from fleeing fascism to embracing it to annihilate Palestinians. Its about all the disabled people RFK Junior wants to stick in ‘wellness’ camps.

The autistic strength when shit gets fucked is we don’t put our personal feelings about shit being fucked first. We’re not shocked at finding ourselves outside our comfort zone (we pretty much live there already). And I think our struggle to sometimes understand emotions, and the ease we tend to have with logic, inclines us to put our logical understanding that shit is fucked and action MUST be taken to unfuck it first.

Our blunt calls to do so bypass neurotypical uncertainty because something pushed them outside their comfort zone. They bypass the neurotypical tendency to flinch from the truth, not call things what they are, delay, delay, delay; until things get WORSE. So SPEAK UP (like we do)!

Disclaimer

(Yes, I acknowledge not all neurotypical people are the same. Nor are all autistic people. But the general patterns I see with a lot of neurotypical people when it comes to stubbornly refusing to abandon the illusion of their comfort zone, to face shit being fucked and get off their backsides and DO ANYTHING for our planet, democracy, Palestine etc, CONCERNS me.)

Sharing the Good Stuff

Having raised some heavy shit, I’d like to end with an autistic approach to life that can make the good parts better. My mum likes travelling with me. She says seeing my enthusiasm makes site seeing more enjoyable. I’ve never cared if people view my displays of enthusiasm as ‘child like’ or ‘over the top’ or whatever. If I LOVE something, than I LOVE it. I’m not going to tone it down because ‘maybe someone will judge me.’

When the emotion is enthusiasm, I don’t think I’ve seen someone judge me badly. As an adult, people either smile, or they don’t click with whatever I’m responding to and they move on. And by not giving a shit either way, I get to fully feel and express my excitement at seeing something beautiful, or new. Heck, I’ll pause part way down the street to stare up at possums at night, or to smile at birds by day.

Smell Those Roses

All of us are so busy with our own lives, we often don’t even notice things. I once went to the supermarket wearing fluffy rainbow slippers because I forgot I had them on under my flared jeans. A group of teens had a chuckle when they noticed and smiled at me. No one else noticed a thing. I think ‘other people’ care far less about any one person than that one person thinks. I think most people care far too much about what other people might think of them. And I’ve never had any intention of letting fear of others opinions get in the way of having fun.

I don’t know strangers. Therefore I don’t care what they think. (Though them agreeing with me does score them points ;). Expressing my autistic enthusiasm for life lets me enjoy it fully, and it makes other people either notice what I’m noticing, or notice my enjoyment. Either one tends to make them smile.

In a world with TONNES OF SHIT going on, its important to smell those roses, smile at screeching rainbow lorikeets zooming past your head, stare at pretty sunsets etc. Let yourself fully enjoy life, and rather than people judging you, you may see them enjoying it with you.

Oh, I’m Also Actually Autistic (Identifying which of my traits are autistic).

Manging My Neurodiversity (Communication, processing and mental health strategies).

Minimising Visual Overload (for autistic & ADHD comfort)

March 31, 2025 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

There are no magical or whizz bang ways to support trans people in this blog. You’ve likely thought of and are doing some already. But as its easy to feel overwhelmed of late, and for us ADHDers to get distracted. So I figure its handy having a list of concrete things we can do to make life any way better for trans people.

Disclaimer; I’m Aussie, nonbinary, and I feel safe marching the streets protesting for trans rights in biological-sex non-conforming clothing. That’s a world away from how I’d feel as a nonbinary person, let alone a trans woman in the US or UK right now. I will try, despite my autistic tendency to have black and white notions of right and wrong, and to respond strongly to injustice, to be realistic here. To give you practical actions to take to support trans people, beyond feeling awful for us or merely saying how awful what’s happening to us in the US and UK is. Because actions give you purpose, purpose is motivating, and knowing you’re having even a small positive impact is a weapon to wield against the apathy or overwhelm that threatens us in the face of great odds.

Listen to & UpLift Trans Voices

The Listening Bit

Honestly, as a nonbinary author who wrote an entire trilogy with a nonbinary character, I’m just waiting for Amazon to hide or remove Ruarnon Trilogy from their digital bookshelves. This is an era in which some people are desperate to erase trans people, and a big part of that is silencing us. If you don’t know any trans people, some of us post sometimes about being trans on social media. I invite you to follow a few trans people who share your interests; books, SFF, fishing —whatever your interests may be. Listen to what we say. Gain some insights into what life looks like from our shoes.

Go further; read some books/ articles/ blogs by trans authors. Watch shows or films (ideally by us) that give insight into what its like to be us. Most of us alive today grew up in a world hugely ignorant of, often denying the existence of, and at times like the present, outright hateful towards trans people. When I identified as nonbinary in 2020, a lot of people weren’t sure what I meant. As the most articulate said, ‘That’s outside my experience/ upbringing.’ So bring it inside your experience. Educate yourself.

Anywhere along the road of trans education, Jamie Doger’s youtube channel is a brilliant resource.

[As it happened I pulled my books from Amazon in June 2025. Blog about abandoning Amazon for Readers and Authors here.]

The Uplifting Bit

You can do more than. Re-posting trans voices on Bsky (yes my favourite social media and hence my example) is simple. Reposting a post, a blog, a podcast or a book about trans experiences is a simple way to help us project our voices loud enough to be heard by a wider audience.

If you have a blog, podcast, youtube etc; consider interviewing a trans person who share’s the interest(s) your space is focused on. Consider how you can share the social media space you have to help marginalised people (yes Palestinians, yes immigrants, black people, Asian people, disabled people, Jewish people —any humans some people are trying to step on) to be heard. The more any marginalised humans are known, and understood by more people; the less unknown and ‘scary’ we become.

Hatred thrives on ignorance and lies. Helping marginalised people spread our truths is a means of combatting that head on.
(Yes fellow Aussies; we need more Aboriginal truth telling).

Support Trans Creatives

If you like books, or art; please consider browsing the work of trans authors and artists. Threat of homelessness and living with disability eg. chronic illnesses that severely limits your capacity to work, are two challenges trans people are disproportionately likely to face. And for those who seek it, gender affirming treatment is often prohibitively expensive.

So if you happen to be looking for books or art (yes that you genuinely think you will enjoy), please consider ours!

If you like behind the scenes peaks from artists or writers, eg. short stories, works in progress etc, consider supporting a trans (and or other marginalised) creative via their Patreon, Kofi etc.

Trans Rights

No, don’t bother posting ‘Trans Rights are Human Rights’ on Bsky. Its a left wing platform; we know trans people are human and therefore trans rights are human rights. If you care about trans rights; do something meaningful to support the protection of trans rights.

On The Ground Support; Marches & Protests

Do attend trans rights protests, if you feel physically safe doing so and are physically able. (For the second year running I’m skipping the Transgender Day of Visibility march because my fatigue-plagued body isn’t up to it today). But when you are physically/ safely able; be visible. Show fascists you don’t support them by physically standing with us.

Political Support; Sign Petitions

It takes a few seconds. And requires so little effort. Its a very simple, yet effective way to tell your government (state or national) where you stand on trans rights (and other rights/ climate change). Change.org is a great source of petitions (for any cause). The link I just gave will let you search it (for trans rights and any other causes you feel strongly about).

If you’re looking for current petitions (in your country or globally), maybe paste ‘trans rights petitions’ into the search bar of your browser, or social media to find some to sign.

Tell People in Power to Protect Trans Rights

I know, this one requires a clear head (I haven’t had that due to illness for two weeks). It also needs physical and emotional energy (I’ve been low on spoons) and concentration (damn you ADHD).

I’ve had a draft letter to my federal/ national member for Aussie Parliament in my email for a few weeks. At present, by the time I check facts, I forget my letter’s contents. And when I remember what I’m trying to say; I forget facts. (FYI this is what ADHD/ autistic overload looks like). My spoons are so low that I might need to search the internet for a template that states my concerns, then re-word it to sound like me. (I hear it sounding like you makes it more striking at the receiving end).

But I want to send that letter. I want the person who represents my electorate in my nation’s government to know that I am VERY strongly opposed to any measure that curbs the rights of trans humans. (Hell, maybe I should tell him exactly that!)

Because this step requires extra effort/ spoons/ time; far less people will do it. That means your letter will speak LOUDER. And speaking loudly to people in power, who can actually impact trans rights, seems a damn good idea at this time.

Don’t Be a Bystander

Don’t put your head in the sand. Or pretend you didn’t hear that comment or ask ‘did they really say that?’. In 2025, if you’re in the US or UK; they did say it. If you’re in Canada, Australia and much of the rest of the world, yeah, there’s a fair chance they did say it. Don’t ask if you just witnessed transphobia (or violence against a woman, for that matter), ask yourself; do I feel comfortable challenging the person disrespecting someone they think is trans? Or am I more comfortable showing my support to a person targeted with transphobia?

I was once on a bus where a man was telling a teenager not to be so loud. At some point the teenager said, ‘I’m autistic’ and the man, who clearly had no understanding of autism whatsoever said, ‘That’s no excuse.’ The man was so obnoxious and arrogant in his ignorance that I didn’t have enough time to respond to him (before the bus reached the next city). But I, and several other people did find words in that brief moment of time for the teenager. Our words were very much along the lines of, ‘It’s entirely his problem. You’ve done nothing wrong.’

What we were really saying was, ‘Only he agrees with him. He doesn’t speak for any of us. We all think you’re fine.’

Demonstrating that the other people on the bus don’t agree with the ableist/ transphobe/ racist can help marginalised people feel more secure, in an era that predisposes us to increasing levels of insecurity (and actual physical danger and emotional turmoil).

Tell Transphobes Their Transphobia is NOT ok

Ideally, adults will tell people making transphobic comments in public that that’s not ok, the same way adults respond to teens bullying a kid in this video. I know; its scarier when the bully is adults, let alone the president of America. But in teaching we have a saying; the standard you ignore is the standard you accept. If I don’t tell a kid speaking to others like that is not ok; I am tacitly telling them it is ok to talk to others like that. In teaching; a behaviour unchallenged is a behaviour accepted.

The scariest thing to me about neo-Nazis turning up to support TERF Posie Parker in MY capital city in 2023, was a neo-Nazi presuming he was defending ‘normies’ from the ‘threat’ trans people’s existence poses. He seemed to assume he was acting in the interests of ordinary Aussies, even as he stood on the steps of my state’s parliament building doing a Nazi salute (which we’ve since passed laws against).

Its all very well to say ‘fuck that, fuck him and fuck Nazis.’ But its far more powerful to show him/ Nazis your opposition by marching in the streets with a ‘respect trans rights’ sign in your hands. To fly a trans flag (anywhere in public). He can’t pretend then. Or deny. He can’t delude himself into thinking many people don’t oppose him because of his refusal to accept, let alone respect the existence of trans humans (and Jewish humans, black humans, disabled humans, etc).

Other Ideas

If its physically safe for you to do so; be bold in your support. Fly a flag. Wear a t-shirt or a pin in public with a clear message of support. Attend performances by trans actors, signers, comedians, choirs etc. Display a sign in a public space.

For my favourite example of the above, a Melbourne bus company has the image and message below on some of their regular buses. Yes, 365 days a year, in a genuine display of allyship, not just for Pride Month.

Side of a bus painted with progress pride and trans flag stripes.
Text: You are loved.

I’ll end by again stating that being publicly visible in your support of trans people’s existence and rights is invaluable in denying fascists the opportunity, via your silence, to presume their attacks on trans people speak or act for you.

Related Reading

Identifying as Nonbinary

What Does (Nonbinary, Asexual, Aromantic) Pride Mean To Me?

I Think I’m Neurodiverse. Autism? ADHD?

March 14, 2025 / Elise Carlson / 2 Comments

Like many late in life (in my case self) diagnosed autistic people, I’ve spent my life saturated with sensory overload. For years, I had no idea how much energy I wasted at work filtering out absurd amounts of sensory input. Or why it was so hard to switch off or relax at home. Having finally worked it out, I’ll share how I organise and set up my house (decor, storage and cleaning) and some things at work/ school to minimise visual overload. Whether you are autistic, or you live, work or travel with someone who is or may be autistic, I hope those strategies make their/ your life easier, something we could all do with in the Enshitification Era.

Reducing Sensory Overload At Home

Clutter is Evil

This is a challenge for those of us with autism AND ADHD. For much of my life (before ADHD diagnosis and medication), I left clutter everywhere. It was inevitable, as I A. struggled to focus long enough to finish packing up. And B. always worried I’d forget a more important thing that needed doing. So I was forever running from one task to the next before I inevitably got distracted, leaving small piles of clutter everywhere.

I found early in my teaching career that any chance of relaxing or resting on the weekend was best achieved by tidying on Friday nights. I’d begin by putting dirty clothes in the washing basket, dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and packing away scattered papers and other random objects I wasn’t using.

The more stuff I put out of sight, the more tension I was barely aware of in my torso relaxed. Because I no longer needed to remain poised to escape far too many objects crowding my vision and overwhelming my brain until I struggled to remember or think about anything else. Nor was I overwhelmed by the many categories of thing needing putting away in different locations.

Mess is Also Bad

In recent years, I’ve often been able to only clean one or two things before fatigue or pain begin flare and I have to take the rest of the day off cleaning. This has made me aware of which surfaces I want clean the most. Its always the biggest ones.

If there is a 2cm by 2cm or bigger drop of any substance spilt on the kitchen floor; I notice it. Probably every single time I walk past. Crumbs on the carpet? I know about them! Leaves that blew in the door? Annoy me every time I enter the house! Crumbs/ substances on the bench, in the sink or on the stove stop? I notice most of them, every time I enter the kitchen.

It ANNOYS me. They shouldn’t be there. It doesn’t look good. But most importantly, the energy that gets wasted noticing every crumb, drip and whatever needs wiping or vacuuming on every surface of the house, on top of every piece of furniture and decor within the house is TIRING. I consciously perceive too much visual information. (Which my psychiatrist explained is definitely an ADHD thing, but which I suspect is also an autism thing).

Its impossible to relax in your home when you notice five things that need cleaning/ tidying/ something done about them EVERY SINGLE TIME you enter ANY and ALL rooms of the house. The mere constant sight of a messy/ cluttered house is tiring for me to live in. So if anyone in your home is autistic/ has ADHD; the more frequently you and whoever you live with can vacuum/ sweep/ wipe down surfaces; the better!

Non-Overstimulating Household Set Up

A common cause of frustration for me is difficulty distinguishing between the thing I want and the sea of shit I don’t care about just now surrounding it. The thing I want may be right in front of me. But if its an object on the kitchen table with twenty other objects, my brain may note as many of the twenty objects as it can before getting overloaded and overlooking the thing I want; multiple times. Or it may register the clutter on the table as ‘solid mass of too many bloody objects’ and not differentiate between them.

So I decluttered my house, but the cupboards, wardrobes etc, still contained too much stuff. I never perceive the item at the back of the pantry/ fridge until well after it expires. Because by the time I’d consciously perceived all twenty eight items in front of it; I’m tired and my brain perceives the back row as a vague blur.

Non-Overstimulating Pantry

Only recently did I solve storage problems to my satisfaction. Its tricky in the pantry, because I have three housemates who each have their own grocery shelves. And our shelves are narrow and deep. Storing items in rows seems necessary, but its hard to see behind each row. So I put tall items around the outsides and across the back. And smaller items in front, in a couple of baskets I can lift out to easily perceive (and reach) items in the back row.

This helped, but peering into the pantry was still a visually jarring experience. It was like looking into a room where all the furniture is positioned at contrary angles and some items are incorrectly proportioned in relation to others. None of it is quite what you expect. None of it initially makes sense. Its mental gymnastics just to find the vinegar for your salad dressing (and yes, frustrating).

I do a lot of baking, so I bought tuppleware containers for ingredients that are all the same height. Now every type of flour, sugar, coconut etc doesn’t block or obscure the others. And they fit in a nice row along one side, so I can see what’s in each container. And another daily cause of frustration is now a relief that makes daily life that little bit easier.

(Left before, right after).

3 pantry shelves, the bottom and middle with items piled on top of and in front of each other, crowded to the point its difficult to see or reach anything.

Same three shelves, in neat rows of containers the same shapes and sizes, nothing stacked on top of anything, every item visible all the way to the back.

Non-Overstimulating Crockery/ Glassware etc

Only when we moved house did I notice how unpleasant looking in the cupboard for a glass or bowl was. With a sharehouse of around 8-9 different people over the years; our glassware and crockery was very mismatched. Giving away the worst matching sets and buying new, all the same glasses and crockery sets made those cupboards more calming and pleasant to look at.

Note: if you’re tempted to joke about OCD here; don’t A. trivialise a debilitating condition by reducing it to someone merely wanting their crockery and glassware to match. And don’t B, mock people for wanting matching crockery. In this case, that’s like mocking someone for wearing sunglasses on a glary, sunny day. There’s nothing wrong with making things comfortable to view.

Non-Overstimulating Storage

As a teacher, Christmas tends to include gifts of soaps, bath and skincare products. And as an easily distracted ADHDer, the bathroom is best kept clean when the products I use to clean it are stored in the bathroom. (So I don’t enter the room with the products and forget why I was there, the same applying to the kitchen). So my vanity had lots of unused stuff in it, because my brain mostly registered the contents of the huge drawer as ‘big slab of too much stuff’.

In this case the problem was the vanity was a large drawer, with lots of small things placed side by side, and in rows. With so many things in one place, no manner of arranging them could avoid visual overload. Enter a brother who gives thoughtful gifts and figured a large jewellery box with lots of little drawers could be handy for me to store stuff. With a mini drawer chest, small items went from maybe 60 objects of seven varieties in one space, to 3-4 varieties per drawer, and so few items that I can comfortably perceive them all.

Where possible, I suggest using or buying smaller cupboards/ drawers, in which you can separate objects by category. So that opening a door doesn’t instantly reveal shelves of 50 different objects of 8 types. (I don’t like and am lucky my current house doesn’t have a linen cupboard. That’s always too many shelves for me to look at, let alone perceive the thing I want).

White Space/ Resting Your Eyes

In my new house, one housemate’s room has very little decor on furniture, the walls etc. That room has A LOT of white space. Every direction offers blank, plain emptiness that lets my tendency to see EVERYTHING rest, because there’s nothing to perceive, no visual information to process.

I like having some visual stimulation. But if every book/ decorative item/ plant is as eye level; that’s overwhelming. I only put display items on furniture below eye level, so that when walking around I can focus on what I’m thinking, instead of being bombarded by sight of too much stuff.

Increase White Space, Maximise Cupboards

Two pieces of furniture in my new house reduce visual overload. My old tv cabinet had lead light doors that displayed many spines, images, and endless range of colours and texts of tens of my dvds through its glass doors. My new one has solid timber doors, of one colour of harmonious tones. Now, watching tv is a more relaxing and restful experience.

The other change is a book case. As author and reader I know, the point of lots of lovely books and a bookshelf is to display them. But the spines of many rows of books is the same mass of colours, shapes, text and images as rows of dvd spines. And its location meant I regularly walked past it when not wanting to browse books. Too often, it was a solid, 2m high wall of sensory overload that almost made me flinch in passing.

My new bookcase reduces visual overload by screening two rows of books behind wooden doors. The timber framing the glass doors, frames each edge of the shelf with a single colour. While having a pane of glass and lines of lead between me and the books softens the former wall of too much colour and variety. I don’t feel sad I can’t see all the books all the time. I feel relieved possessions I love no longer silently scream at me every time I walk past.

Pine 2m high bookshelf crammed with books of many colours, different heights and thicknesses, some stacked atop each other.

Antique bookcase with carved cupboard doors and two drawers above them screening three rows of books. Upper section has two timber framed doors with leadlight glass in the middles, greatly reducing the mass of exposed spines and visual overload.

Reducing Visual Overload At Work: School

Walls Covered in Posters/ Charts are Evil

This is a BIG one. Honestly, I look back at classrooms I’ve taught in over the last twelve years and wonder why I’m still sane. Remember what I said about row upon row of pantry items being too many items to process? Or row upon row of book spines being a 2m high wall of sensory overload that silently screams at me?

It may not surprise you that as a teacher I HATE classroom walls. I generally avoid looking at them. They have an unfortunate tendency to be a solid mass of teacher charts and or children’s work; of so many colours, writings, drawings and so many categories. They are TOO MUCH.

Imagine being in a room with twenty something children and all of them are shouting at you for the entire day. Classroom walls have the same stressful, overloading impact on me. And a staffroom with work safety, company policy and whatever else posters all over its walls is little better. So if you have any say in your workplaces walls bombarding people with masses of visual information charts/ posters etc ; please reduce it!

What are Visually Overwhelming Walls Doing to ND Adults/ Kids?

If your wall charts/ posters aren’t vital; I’m wasting energy filtering them out so I don’t get overwhelmed, and can actually do my job. So is the autistic kid in your classroom, or your autistic co-worker. Trust me, same goes for the ADHD kids and co-workers!

And you know what, with that overloading visual sensory input in my face throughout my entire work day, I wonder if I wasted something like 30% of my energy filtering out the visual overload of unnecessary crap on walls. That’s 30% of my energy at work, NOT going into my work. That’s the autistic kid having a meltdown because on top of the input of what all the other kids and the teacher are doing, and trying to keep up while struggling to process social cues; they’re overwhelmed. Its the ADHD kid infinitely distracted, or zoning out, because they too are overwhelmed.

Noise At Work

While this blog focuses on visual overload, which bothers me personally the most, everything I’ve said about the discomfort of visual overload applies to audio overload. Whether a particular person/ appliance/ music etc is too loud, or there are too many voices speaking in the same room making it hard for an autistic person to hear the person speaking to them; audio overload also needs minimising. Luckily headphones, both for the person listening to noise and noise cancelling ones, and other sound proofing options offer relief that visual overload doesn’t have an easy equivalent for.

Elise Carlson