Okay so I'm like, ridiculously new to the site, but this site has soared (minor pun intended) to be one of my favorite websites right away, and for just something really small but really meaningful to me.
I'm a nonbinary/genderq lesbian, and I'm also neurodivergent (ADHD + possibly autistic). To be able to talk about this on the forums is something that's already made me shocked (in a good way), but there's also something else.
When I was the bio for one of my first dragons, I was nervous when I wrote in that she was a lesbian. I was worried that when I'd hit "save," I'd get a popup telling me that I used offensive language. When none of this happened, I felt a huge weight lift from me. I was able to not just be myself, but to write characters who were like me, all without who I was being labelled as something banned simply because disrespectful people use who I am as an insult.
I felt similarly when I realized that I wrote another dragon to be autistic. (he's a fae - like how being monotone can be a symptom of autism for humans, he instead is the opposite, he over-expresses his emotions, while expressing anything at all is pretty odd for a fae dragon!) I felt the same pang of fear, especially since "autistic" is even more of a taboo word in the virtual world. I again felt so happy when I was able to let him, and by extension me, be himself.
Again, it's really small, but this has made me beyond happy. I feel not only welcomed here, but celebrated, and that means so much when who I am has been treated as something to hide & never speak of for so long.
I'm a nonbinary/genderq lesbian, and I'm also neurodivergent (ADHD + possibly autistic). To be able to talk about this on the forums is something that's already made me shocked (in a good way), but there's also something else.
When I was the bio for one of my first dragons, I was nervous when I wrote in that she was a lesbian. I was worried that when I'd hit "save," I'd get a popup telling me that I used offensive language. When none of this happened, I felt a huge weight lift from me. I was able to not just be myself, but to write characters who were like me, all without who I was being labelled as something banned simply because disrespectful people use who I am as an insult.
I felt similarly when I realized that I wrote another dragon to be autistic. (he's a fae - like how being monotone can be a symptom of autism for humans, he instead is the opposite, he over-expresses his emotions, while expressing anything at all is pretty odd for a fae dragon!) I felt the same pang of fear, especially since "autistic" is even more of a taboo word in the virtual world. I again felt so happy when I was able to let him, and by extension me, be himself.
Again, it's really small, but this has made me beyond happy. I feel not only welcomed here, but celebrated, and that means so much when who I am has been treated as something to hide & never speak of for so long.
ESFJ-T 
