Transgender Day of Visibility

Discrimination is something that too many people face in their daily lives. The extreme level of discrimination that transgender people deal with worldwide, can, and has, cost lives. I will never truly understand what it’s like to be transgender, I won’t pretend I can. I know what it’s like to feel completely separate from the world, and that was tough enough.

Our hope is that this post helps someone feel seen. Helps someone that has been rejected for being them, feel included and accepted. Jeni and I, identify as human rights activists because we believe in human rights for all. A level of protection for all people, regardless of skin colour, religion, personal identity, background or birth gender.

Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility. A day for transgender people to feel seen and accepted for the individuals they are. It’s a hard road, I have absolutely no doubt, but if you can ... be true to you.

There is a quote that says “It’s better to have loved and lost, than to never have been in love at all”. I think it should be “It’s better to fight for a life you love, than never to find that life at all”.

We see you ❤️🫂❤️

Image description: Three people on a balcony overlooking a nature themed background. The colours of the people represent the colours of the transgender pride flag. The text “International Transgender Day of Visibility” is also representing the colours of the pride flag.

All our best and love

Ross Fraser and Jeni Dern

Mylifeautistic

Written by – Ross Fraser

#NewLifeAutistic

#mentalhealthadvocate #together #community #actuallyautistic #autismacceptance

Learning Literacy

I am going to start this post with the image description, as it’s required to explain this post. In the image is a piece of lined paper with a pen at the bottom. Four of the lines have been highlighted and numbered (1 to 4), with the words “MY NAME” in the middle. The top three rows are used for vowels and the bottom three for consonants.

I stated before that my ability to read and write was so limited, that I had to learn again from scratch aged 32-35. What I haven’t done is explain how I learned to read and write. I went to the library to take out loads of picture books. I would then copy the text over on to lined paper, but written in the format above. What this does is it visually separates the consonants and the vowels. Dyslexic people can go off pattern recognition, the words shape, rather than the individual letters. Plus some letters/numbers can look like others which doesn’t always help. For example, Q, O and 0, or b, p, and d, which is the same symbol, but just in different positions.

What the format above does, is to adjust for the way our minds can read the words. It breaks up the consonants and vowels, in a way that can be quicker and easier to read. Plus it’s a technique that doesn’t take long to pick up and apply. Vowels go at the top ¾ of the line, consonants go at the bottom ¾. I used four lines in this image for clarity. Personally I found that this was a lot more effective, and it made reading and writing, not only quicker, but clearer too because I wasn’t missing words.

All our best and love

Ross Fraser and Jeni Dern

mylifeautistic

Written by – Ross Fraser

#NewLifeAutistic

#mentalhealthadvocate #together #community #actuallyautistic #autismacceptance

Warmer Days

Winter to me is six or seven months. It begins in August and if I am lucky it ends in March or April. It doesn’t mean that the pain goes away in the warmer months, just that it becomes more predictable. It also means a reduction in the amount of time that I’m losing consciousness. Frankly I am looking forward to that by now. Having a hypersensitive condition means that everything has to be taken into account. This is what keeps me housebound/bedbound, it’s impossible to predict everything. 

I try to keep on top of the pain as much as I can. However it’s a battle each day, and there are many days that the pain wins. We managed to get into Aberdeen recently to order a rise and recline chair on finance. I have suspected for some time that I probably need one. My wife and I realised with sensory processing heightened and comfort being a high priority, I had to try the chairs before buying. We ordered chairs (desk and recliner) when we moved in here and it was a costly failure as neither one was actually suitable. We eventually found one that works, but unfortunately it's a bit of a wait as it wasn’t available until mid-may.  

On a positive note, I have managed to stop smoking, something I’ve been trying to do for some time (a couple of years at least).

We are going to be putting some of the money towards getting some art materials, and the chair. In time we will get a corner desk and desk chair for the bedroom too. In the meantime I am playing a load of videogames (so there may be some videos posted in the near future) and waiting for better (and warmer) days.

All our best and love

Ross Fraser and Jeni Dern

Mylifeautistic 

Written by – Ross Fraser 

#NewLifeAutistic 

#mentalhealthadvocate #together #community #actuallyautistic #autismacceptance