Welcome to Fractal Seeds
The substack devoted to all things disability, technoscience, and social transformation
It’s not an AI. I’m Just Autistic.
On July 19th, 2023, I received an email from an acquaintance with whom I was exchanging information. At the end of that email, the person wrote:
It was early, and I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at. At first I wasn’t sure that the sender was serious. Maybe it was a joke and I was too tired? In my rushed state, I quickly fired off a simple response:
I was so bemused by this interaction. It was very strange to be accused of using AI to draft very simple emails exchanging very simple information. It was even stranger since I am a scholar of disability and technology and I have often writen about the odd associations people make between autism, roboticness, and AI.
So I tweeted about it, and despite the rotting carcass that is The Bird Site, by the next morning, 9.5 million people had seen the tweet. It now has over 11 million views and over 20 thousand retweets.
I was lucky in that the response was largely positive to neutral. I did not have to spend the next week of my life fighting trolls or worrying about my safety. In fact, most of the unsolicited DMs I got were to inform me that my website was broken.
I knew this, and I’m working on it. I’m moveing stuff around and building up new databases of things but it’s not at the top of my list. So I’m spinning up this substack to give me a more stable internet presence in the wake of Twitter’s … molting situation and my own inability to mess with my website right now.
And then what happened?
Just before “The Tweet”, I had launched the 3rd in a series of webinars I give on managing executive function for neurodivergent burnouts. I have been hosting these events as a service to my neurodivergent community and as a means of raising funds for a personal friend who struggles with housing and food precarity. In the past, these events have kept my friend and her children housed, fed, and enabled transportation to and from the hospital where her youngest child sees specialist care.
This time, thanks to my accidental virality, over 800 people registered for the event, and 160 people donated over 3000 dollars to keep this family housed. Donations are still open, and I greatly appreciate sharing this link among your networks.
Nearly 250 people attended the webinar, more than 3x the number of guests I’ve ever had. If you registered for the event, you have already recieved access to the recording. Soon, I will host that recording here for others to enjoy.
What is a Fractal Seed?
Later, I will make a post explaining where the title of this space came from and what it means to me. For now, know that this is a space where I intend to share resources related to disability, technology, and social transformation. Essentially, I believe that disabled people live in practices of world hacking. I think that we can change the world together.
Many times after I host an event, people will ask me if I have a discord or if there is some other place where people can come together in community around concepts like “Abolishing Shame” and the “Magic of Friendship”. I am not capable of effectively and justly moderating a community like that at this time, so instead I will use this space to share updates about my research on technology, disability, and policy. I will also share upcoming events, as well as follow-up content from those events.
While I can’t host a community, I can host a transit hub. Here is a place for you to gather and mingle as you transfer to the next station.
What’s Next?
In the next few days you will find a post about the recent webinar that I hosted, including a recording with corrected captions. I will also complete an introduction to the namesake of this space. I will share general summaries of some of my research in disability justice and technology policy. Soon, I will even have Plain Language translations of my research to support accessible scholarship. I will also announce future events here. In fact, I am already planning a workshop specifically for paper writing. I am, as you know, a Neurodivergent Burnout, and I will not be committing to regular posting schedules at this time.
A number of you have already pledged contributions to this space, should I choose to monetize it in the future. I have no plans to do that. However, if I do ever monetize this space it will be for the benefit of some cause, such as housing security for other neurodivergent burnouts, in keeping with the tradition of aid behind the events that inspired this space.
Stick around and in this space you will find:
Wholesome content on managing executive function supported by research, experience, and testimony from other Neurodivergent Burnouts.
Commentary and research on technology, policy, and impacts on disability justice.
Commentary on accessible and justice-driven pedagogy.
Reports about how other disabled people are organizing for a more just future.
Did you attend the webinar? What did you think? Please let me know in the comments below, or reach out to me on social media (Twitter, Mastodon, Blue Sky) @FractalEcho.