It’s the middle of the night in the UK and I just can’t think what to write. My brain is fuzzy and thoughts both sluggish yet tigger-ish. I’ve just finished reading Leena Norm’s Bargain Bin Rom Com, her first collection of poetry, and loved it. I knew I would. Her YouTube videos got me through some tough 2020 moments, and then through the past two years too. I support her on Patreon, granted I can’t afford much, but I appreciate her work and wanted to support it.
I was also curious about her community on Facebook, The Gumption Club, which you gain access to when you support her on Patreon. It’s one of the loveliest communities I’ve ever been a part of. I digress – her poetry book is brilliant and I thoroughly recommend it. I especially loved the poems ‘Silent Night’, ‘Meet Commute’, and the last in the book, ‘[the sound of ripping paper]’.
This morning I attended a Zoom with Mencap adult autism service about autism and employment. It’s part of a series of workshops I’ve been attending since they assessed me earlier this year. They’re mostly for awareness and to suggest tools, resources, and support systems. Next week is the last one, Autism and ADHD which I think might be one of the most useful for me.
Having said that, I’ve learnt a lot over the last few weeks. It has fine-tuned my understanding of myself and the difficulties other autistic people face. It’s made me look a little closer at my needs and what I do and don’t struggle with (at least not at this point in my life).
Today we went over the Equality Act 2010, our rights, support available, reasonable accommodations, Access to Work, and other useful resources. Being deaf, I already know a lot about some of these things, but it was useful to go back over it all. Since I’m currently freelancing, I have more control over what projects I take on, and how I do them, but if I ever needed Access to Work it was good to know the conditions I’d need to meet to apply for it.
I’m watching a kind of parody romantic anime series on Netflix at the moment, ‘Romantic Killer’, which is honestly very melodramatic but it pokes fun at common anime romance (and J-Drama/K-Drama romance) tropes. The main character is into gaming, cats, and chocolate so extremely on-brand for me! It’s good fun if you like romance and comedy (and cute things).
Sometimes I go on Facebook and it advertises stuff to me. Recently it’s been showing me things from places like Wolf and Badger (nice clothes, trinkets, bags, and jewellery), and Cider. I’m not likely to buy anything from them because Wolf and Badger have beautiful things but they’re a little too expensive, whilst I’m not sure of Cider’s ethical credentials – they don’t use eco-friendly materials (a lot of poly blends, very little cotton or wool), and they likely greenwash.
I’ve been trying to buy less and buy from places that don’t harm the planet or the people who make the clothes. I can’t always afford to do that, but I still no longer buy from the worst offenders. A read I recommend is Consumed by Aja Barber as an intro to clothing consumption, colonialism, and the climate.
It’s just that advertising is like a shiny thing for an ADHD brain, so yes, I did click through before realising what I was doing. My trick these days is to make liberal use of wish-lists or to put things on a bookmark and if I’m still thinking about that thing days or weeks, or maybe a month later, then I might consider it.
Usually things only come on my radar when I’m looking for a specific thing these days though – like a replacement or something I’m missing. So it is a little frustrating that I still get caught out by advertising when I definitely don’t need more stuff! It’s a work in progress.
It’s definitely time for me to turn in for the night. Sleep well for any night owls still awake in the UK at this time and also to other people earlier or later around the world!
This post is part of NanoPoblano, a Cheer Peppers production! If you’d like to see what other people are writing and sharing, please click the image below.
Cats and Chocolate 
Hi Lizzie, thanks for this interesting post, so much to think about. I am also trying to make more thoughtful consumer choices, and to consider greenwashing, also to generally consume less and to try not to waste anything. It’s great to hear that you’re finding the Mencap resources helpful.
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Yes, it can be hard sometimes but I’m trying to make changes and replace things that don’t need to be plastic and so on. I’m very lucky to live in a borough with the Mencap service. I’ve heard it’s a bit of a postcode lottery for autistic adults in other areas.
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