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David Howl 🦇

@shinydh.bsky.social

570 followers 860 following 2K posts

#ActuallyAutistic. Hobbyist composer with sensory hypersensitivity who sometimes writes accordingly and sometimes feels too anxious to write the sounds that don't set this off. He/him Profile pic: an iridescent-winged bat suncatcher

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · Oct 20

*waves bat wing*

Those who gathered at the birdsite to talk about classical music might remember me. Bat as in "I hear too much, like the dark, have nocturnal tendencies, and flap," all of which are by-products of how being #ActuallyAutistic manifests for me 🦇

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 12h

Been doing so for years as it is...

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 13h

It's offering me comforting extra darkness (and cool enough weather to return to wearing Stimmy fleecy clothing), so I'm happy 🖤 #BatuallyAutistic

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Reposted by David Howl 🦇

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 1d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Reposted by David Howl 🦇

Rat Fascal @mrpsb.uk · 1d

"Windows update is commited to helping reduce carbon emissions" fucking is it, what about Copilot?

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 1d

And presumably could be made to look all some other colour too! Grey as the basis for *lighting* to bring the colour makes sense to me but most people don't even do that...

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 1d

If we're going to get Oops! All Grey thrust upon us at least have it in Shiny Metallic Game Show Set

A loft room with a large projector screen at one end and a dark grey crushed velvet couch at the other, with a starlight ceiling, grey carpet, and walls that are a mixture of plain grey and a mosaic pattern and are ringed by blue LED strip lights.

Reposted by David Howl 🦇

K (Any prns) ♿ @halakal.bsky.social · 2d

I think it's also important to note that meltdowns in black women may look different because it is not *safe* to display signs of your "average" meltdown. Suppression of, avoidance, and isolation during a meltdown is taught/learned.

🦋 Phenomenally Autistic 🦋| Ayanna Sanaa Davis @ayannasanaa.bsky.social · 2d

Autistic meltdowns in Black women ♾️

A purple spotted background with black bubble letters with text that reads : Autistic meltdowns are not tantrums, they are neurological responses to sensory, emotional or mental overload

A purple spotted background with bubble text with the text that reads : But in Black women they often look different & are deeply misunderstood

A purple spotted background with black bubble letters with text that reads : Stereotypes can create blind spots: most people picture meltdowns as yelling, crying or visible distress, this image is based on WHITE male presentations of autism Black women often don't fit that mold & we face serious consequences because of it

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 2d

And they love Israel specifically over a shared hatred of Muslims...

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 2d

They are *entirely* fine with this arrangement. As they put it themselves elsewhere online: "There's more of a dampener in our relationship from fluctuations in the weather (both of us are prone to overheating, summer cuts into our cuddle time) than the fact we don't have sex." 💖

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 2d

Both of us are autistic and in my case that makes me both very tactile and very easily squicked, and it's honestly hard to separate that out from sexuality lmao - my feelings about attractive people of any gender tend towards this GIF lol

a group of people standing around a red car with the words " i don 't know but but look how shiny "

Alt: A scene from Friends with Joey (?) inside a red convertible car, with the caption "I don't know, but—but look how shiny!"

media.tenor.com

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 2d

As an ace person with an allo spouse myself I'd add that it is so, so very contextual and you absolutely can have a loving relationship without sex. (Although I absolutely did assume, when I first realised I wasn't aromantic, that any partner I'd find would need another to provide what I can't...)

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 2d

Sex-averse ace with a bi spouse here, but they aren't bothered at all - turns out that Oops! All Cuddles is necessary and sufficient for both of us, and for either of us to cheat on the other would require one of us leaving the house for a start 😂😂

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

British Broadcasting Conservatives strike again

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 3d

The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester

BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview

The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show

bylinetimes.com

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

Or alternatively Harris would have taken over seamlessly with a successful invocation of the 25th Amendment or a preemptive Biden resignation. If the Trump threat had been properly neutered perhaps Biden wouldn't have felt the need to try and go on longer than his body would realistically let him...

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

Far easier to imagine Polanski being the guy in that scenario. I'd have said Sultana had she not hitched her wagon to specifically Corbyn...

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

Or even just being in a better position to *find out* these things, including and especially from the comfort of home? I was already citing climate change to try and talk family out of a rare foreign holiday in 2001, and I'd have found it much easier to pull data on specifics even a decade later...

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

A4: For a long time it was a bit "if I had one" and even as I hit adolescence I made most of my friends online at a time (early-mid 00s) when that was still very much seen as weird and/or dangerous. (LJ tags were my portal to interest-based location-agnostic community; once that opened...) #AutChat

#AutChat Mod @autchatmod.bsky.social · 3d

Q4: What is/was your social and emotional life like as an autistic/similar youth?

Do you see your boundaries or relationships changing as you grow? #AutChat

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

Whether I'm "actually ace" or not is immaterial because, funnily enough, my SPD shapes how I relate to intense multi-sensory experiences 😂 And fortunately my (bi, autistic) partner also finds Oops! All Cuddles both necessary and sufficient 💖

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

A3: School was simultaneously the place I thrived (as a stereotypical academically-inclined autistic nerd kid) and despised (sensory triggers everywhere). University shifted the balance a bit but lectures were still sometimes a challenge, especially the Absolute Unit first-year classes #AutChat

#AutChat Mod @autchatmod.bsky.social · 3d

Q3: What are your experiences around education and learning as a young person?

If you go to school or study independently, what supports and accommodations help you learn?

What tips do you have for other young people who are in school right now? #AutChat

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

I also didn't date, was bewildered by the whole idea, and even when someone (that I knew off IRC...) told me at 20 "you might just be asexual" it simultaneously explained everything and nothing at once 😂 #AutChat

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David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

A2: Notable for being deferred - didn't start university until 20 and at least the second of my "gap years" was unwanted - but immensely fulfilling, outside of some mental health and dietary challenges, once it truly got under way #AutChat

#AutChat Mod @autchatmod.bsky.social · 3d

Q2: What is/was “transition age” (~17-22 years old) life like for you? Has your school, work, or living situation changed over this period? If you’re not transition age yet, are there things you are excited about or worried about as you anticipate this life stage? #AutChat

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

A1: Helped a lot by my early diagnosis! But my spiky profile complicated things in that I craved adult company over my peers as a kid, and then struggled to gain autonomy or even know I wanted it until that dam burst, late but quite explosively, at 16 #AutChat

#AutChat Mod @autchatmod.bsky.social · 3d

Q1: What is your experience of being an autistic/similar youth? Do/did you experience youth-targeted ageism? Has that interacted with ableism in your life? #AutChat

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

A0: David, early-diagnosed autistic who may or may not be otherwise neurodivergent 😂 #AutChat

#AutChat Mod @autchatmod.bsky.social · 3d

Q0: Introduce yourself! Say anything you like about yourself or your interest in #AutChat or in today's topic, autistic and similarly neurodivergnet youth.

Quick reference for this week's #AutChat questions (please wait till they're posted to answer):
autchat.com/autistic-and...

Where: Twitter’s #AutChat hashtag. Questions posted by @autchatmod. When:> Sunday September 27, 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT / 8pm GMT / 9pm GMT. Thank you to @GeorgeT_UK and @huffietina for their input during q...

autchat.com

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

And the corollary to that is that a small percentage of an absolutely gigantic number is still enough people to be able to get noticed online, especially if that group is organised enough to (say) get trending hashtags rolling (which seems a very safe assumption in this particular case!)

David Howl 🦇 @shinydh.bsky.social · 3d

"Being a fandom critic and being hated on for it" is actually one of the few fandom experiences I've ever truly shared, which is actually kinda wild when that fandom was a *game show* fandom