#yes autism is a disability. i started this train of thought three hours ago and could not stop until i wrote this.

[rubyroboticalt]

right so my hearing ass heard about qsmp sign languages and HOO BOY STRAP IN because i have linguistics autism level 1 and am conversational in asl. are you ready? Good.

there are a half dozen sign languages that are somehow derivative of langue des signes française, french sign, abbreviated as lsf. starting with asl, american sign language, which mr gallaudet based on lsf. i, as an asl speaker, can somewhat understand lsf videos, this is a concept called mutual intelligibility and will be important later. língua brasileira de sinais, brazilian sign, abbreviated as libras, is likely derived from portuguese sign (lgs) and lsf. okay, so that is two sign languages derived partially from lsf, taking vocab and grammar and evolving separately after splitting apart. all three, libras, asl, and lsf, have a degree of mutual intelligibility. pidgining between them is likely to be an exchange of vocab, using the most common sign between all the speakers; or whatever sign is taught to another speaker first.

there are more sign languages than just those three! asl has parented other sign languages. lengua de señas peruana, peruvian sign, abbreviated as lsp, is derived from asl. lengua de señas puertorriqueña, puerto rican sign language, abbreviated as prsl, is a derivative of asl. lengua de señas argentina, argentinian sign language, abbreviated as lsa, is also derived from asl. it will be abbreviated as lsar in this post. there is a degree of mutual intelligibility between asl and each of these three languages, though the degree varies. given that the lsf-derived sign languages also have some mutual intelligibility, it's likely that the six sign languages all have mutual intelligibility. how much will vary from language to language and speaker to speaker.

this is still not all of the connected sign languages! algeria has langue des signes algérienne, abbreviated as lsa, and as lsal in this post to distinguish from argentinian sign. seven total sign languages that are somehow derivative of lsf (thanks, colonialism), and that share a degree of mutual intelligibility.

spanish sign language, lengua de signos española, abbreviated as lse, may be related to lsf, but mutual intelligibility begins to break down between lsf-derivatives and lse. the breakdown of mutual intelligibility becomes complete with mexican sign language, lengua de señas mexicana, abbreviated as lsm. lsm does not have any mutual intelligibility with its relatives lsf and asl. this is where the pidgin begins to become unintelligible with lsf-derivatives, though lsm may share intellibility with other latam signs like lsp, libras, and prsl.

the big kicker for the qsmp signed pidgin becoming something taught, something learned from the other residents, is when you add british sign language to the mix. bsl is completely different from lsf, asl, lse, and their derivatives. it has different vocab, different grammar, different alphabet, the whole shebang. there are exactly two brits who log on frequently, and one joined late. the discrepancy in speakers between bsl and lsf-derivatives is massive. instead of contributing grammar, the pidgin likely picks up vocab from the bsl speakers, and applies it to the fairly-standard lsf-derived grammar.

of course, we must consider the eggs, who are canonically mute and literally use sign items to communicate. this is where the pidgin the adults sign becomes a creole, as a creole forms when a pidgin is the first language taught to a child. and that is where lengua de señas de qsmp becomes a creole, when it is taught to an egg to communicate.

so thats how i think the qsmp would form a pidgin sign language combining all of the signs from the countries the current islanders are from. and i havent even touched asian countries that have been teased, or korean sign because tina is korean. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

#qsmp theory #qsmp posting #qsmp brainrot #i am so autistic about this you have no idea #category 5 autism event here i didnt even dig into the linguistic origin of each sign and how who logs on most would affect the pidgin #ruby is disabled #yes autism is a disability. i started this train of thought three hours ago and could not stop until i wrote this. #choo choo motherfucker its the special interest

[thewidowstanton]

Romy Bauer, aerial snow globe contortionist, Circus Starr and Gandeys Circus

Romy Bauer was born in Blackpool to Kim and Max Bauer and is a seventh-generation circus artist. Having first appeared in the ring as a tiny child, she now specialises as an aerial contortionist and performs inside a clear perspex globe, while snowflakes fall from the cupola. She is currently taking a break from touring with Carol and Phillip Gandey’s Circus Starr, which has been providing free entertainment for disadvantaged and disabled children for 30 years, while also raising money for local charities.

Romy joins a huge line-up of international artists in Gandeys Circus Halloween Spooktacular show at Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Dudley from 20-29 October 2017, before returning to Circus Starr. She chats to Liz Arratoon.

The Widow Stanton: Tell us about your family background. I know your mum was a trapeze artist… Romy Bauer: I was born when mum and dad were working at Blackpool Tower Circus; my dad is Swiss and my mum is English. My grandmother on my mother’s side, Madge Summerfield [pictured below], used to do aerial as well; she did corde lisse, and was also a trapeze artist and did bareback horse riding. My grandfather, Holley Gray [also pictured], had the world record in plate-spinning and did juggling. Back in the day he was on quite a few TV adverts and things like that. My grandmother’s parents were tight-rope walkers.

On the other side of my family, my father did a Risley act with his sister and his mother, and she also did a foot-juggling act. That was my grandmother’s main act. My dad had done a few different acts with his sister; he did slack wire with the bouncy rope, and he did that with my mother as well after they met. His sister, Christine, did a cradle act with her husband and they actually have their own show now in Spain. It used to be Circus Tonelli and now it’s called Circus Las Vegas.

Have you got any siblings? I have a sister, who’s 14. She’s still at school at the moment so she hasn’t really started any training. She’s more into the singing side of stuff.

Do you remember your first time in the ring? Yes, I was about three or four, and it was in the foot-juggling act wth my grandmother. The whole family was in it; my dad, my mum, my dad’s mother, my auntie Christine, her husband, and her son, my cousin Tony, who’s in Spain with the rest of my family. So it was a really nice big act. At the end of it my grandmother used spin me and Tony round on her feet in little chairs at either end of a pole. We were so small; she used to do it with my dad and his sister but we were a lot lighter for her. [Laughs]

Did you go to an ordinary school? I first went to Brereton Primary School in Congleton for a few moths of the year when we weren’t working, and they used to set me coursework that I’d do through the year. It was lovely. They used to have a travelling teachers’ association and they’d come out to me every few months and check my progress, but it was very different with secondary school; they didn’t offer that. So I left the circus then and finished all my school stuff. I went to college for a little bit and studied fashion and textiles, I worked in Starbucks for a little bit but didn’t really enjoy it as much, and then I came back to the circus.

Do you make your own costumes? I like to as best as I can, and generally try to keep them unique. I adapt costumes that I buy, or my mum tends to make them for me. [Laughs]

Was it inevitable you’d follow your parents into the circus? Yes, but it was important that they gave me other options; I had paths to choose from. And when I was younger I also did a lot of training with contortionists and aerialists so I had the base of everything if I did decide I wanted to go back to the circus. I think I got the best of both worlds and I got to make my own mind up. I’m very happy with my choice. 

Who trained you in contortion? We had a Mongolian couple, called Zorig and Nima, who did an act on the show when we were young, and they used to train me. I’d go for two or three hours every day as well as doing my school work. As I got older, Said Debbach trained me in all the aerial stuff I do now.

Were you naturally flexible? I had a good base of flexibility but obviously as you get older, you don’t keep it forever; I had to keep it up. If you start before you’re 14, you tend to be very flexible and if that’s what you choose to do, you have to focus on it. Even when I was at school, I thought, ‘Oh, I still have to keep up my flexibility in case I do decide to go back’. It was something I had to work on.

I expect your schoolfriends were pretty impressed by you… Yeah, they were, [laughs]. I used to do cheerleading as well, just to keep me, you know, interested in all the physical side of stuff, because it does tend to slip away in secondary school. Your thoughts are of the future and you’re just kind of focused on school work and socialising. [Laughs]

Do you do any other aerial acts? Yes, I do aerial hoop and I’m training static trapeze at the moment. It’s gonna be a contortion static trapeze, so I’m really looking forward to that. It’s pretty; I’ve been looking at some tricks on the internet and just trying them out. I need to spend some time with Said to get it really good.

So what drew you to aerial initially? There was always something about it when I was young, I always wanted to… but obviously my mum and dad wouldn’t really… They’d let me have a look at it, but they wouldn’t let me go too high because of safety. You know what parents are like! But there’s always been something that’s just wowed me about it. We used to have a Russian artist on the show called Victoria Antipova, who does aerial rope… You just look like you’re flying and you’re a beautiful star in the sky… I just always wanted to do that.

What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to someone starting aerial? That they need strength, definitely, and not to be scared. If you’re scared then you will automatically get something wrong. You have to be positive all the time. If you think, ‘I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall’, you probably will, so don’t think about it. And don’t go ridiculously high if you’ve never done it before. Stay low, get the basics, get a feel of it, and then you can start to go higher.

Where is the main strength in your body? I have mainly core strength. Because of the contortion I can’t be overly strong because I have to remain supple. I got my muscles from my dad so my natural physique is quite muscular but they’re not that useful really. [Laughs]

You’re usually with Circus Starr; what can you tell us about it? It’s a non-profit charity organisation and we give disadvantaged and vulnerable children the chance to see a live show where they can feel comfortable in their environment. We have a lot of children with autism and we have an app called The Show and Tell App. It gives them like a preview of the show, so in their heads they can get an idea of where we’re going, what it looks like inside, what the people look like, what will actually happen.

And we’ve just started a thing called The Touch Tour and audio description in our shows. We open before the show for the partially sighted and blind children and bring out all the props and wear our costumes so they can come up close and feel what they are like. Some of them can see really close up so they can get an idea of what’s going on. During the live performance they have an audio describer from VocalEyes describing what’s going on and because they’ve just felt the props they can understand what things look like. It’s really lovely; really lovely, and a very important thing to do. Sometimes we visit the local children’s hospitals. Working for Circus Starr is amazing and makes you see everything differently.

Have you worked abroad at all? I’ve worked in Spain and I worked in Hong Kong with Gandeys for four months two Christmases ago with Royalles British Thrill Circus. That was amazing. It was such a different culture. I loved working there. It was very, very nice, but after four months I found the food very difficult. I was a vegetarian a few years ago and I’m a bit funny about meat. It’s not for me. [Laughs]

Did you ever appear in the Gandeys’ wonderful show, Cirque Surreal? Yes, we did it at the Lowry in Manchester two years ago.

You must like working for Gandeys having stayed so long… When I was four years old my parents started working for Gandeys so I’ve basically grown up here. My dad is still with the company and is the tent master and general manger of the shows. Sometimes he’s managing The Ladyboys of Bangkok, most recently he’s been on Gandeys Circus. Phillip and Carol are like my adopted parents; they’ve always looked after me and made me feel welcome. Carol frequently introduces me as her fourth daughter, so they’re family to me and I just love it here. There’s no reason for me to look anywhere else because everything I’ve needed is here.

If not circus, what else might you consider doing? I really haven’t thought about it but I think I’d enjoy doing fashion. I’d probably try to make some costumes and sell them on. I’d be interested in that and might do it when I retire from the ring. That would be lovely and I’d still feel involved in shiny stuff; it would be very shiny! [Laughs]

Can you pick out a few highlights from your lifetime in the circus? Well, when I was younger on the show, that was amazing! I got such great experience here and I had a friend with me, a young boy, and we used to play all day, in the fields or in the park and that was always fun. We’d go to so many different places, which was amazing. Hong Kong is another big highlight. And performing again after having such a long break at school was the best feeling as well; just to be back in the ring was amazing.

Romy will appear in Gandeys Circus Halloween Spooktacular at Merry Hill Shopping Centre car park in Dudley from 20-29 October 2017, before returning to Circus Starr.

For Merry Hill tickets click here

Circus Starr tour dates

Romy on Facebook

Twitter: @romybauer @gandeyscircus @CircusStarr

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

See our interviews with other artists from Gandeys Circus: Nikolay Karakolev and Las Chicas Morales

#romy bauer #circus starr #gandey's circus #carol gandey #phillip gandey #merry hill shopping centre #dudley #aerialist #snow globe #kim bauer #max bauer #interview #circus interview #circus

[exceptionallyautistic]

Late night musings on having WED/RLS, ADD and being Autistic.

I’ll start out by explaining what Willis-Ekbom Disease*/Restless Legs Syndrome is for those that don’t know. To skip this start reading after the “—–”. 

WED/RLS is a chronic neurological disability that, according to the American patient oranization, Restless legs syndrome foundation, is the most common neurological disability you’ve never heard anything about. it affects roughly 1 in 10 people in the US alone and it has been suggested that so much as 10% of the world’s population of Caucasians (no known number that i know of for POC) may have it. The symptoms vary from person to person both in sensation and intensity, but a general guide of symptoms is:

 dysaesthesias** and, or, paresthesias*** in your legs.

above sensations may also be present in arms.

an irresistible urge to move your legs or get up and move around.

primarily is pronounced around late evening/during the night and early morning, but can show up during the day for some when you sit still too long.

the quality of life deteriorates dramatically and can be compared to the quality of life in type 2 diabetes patients - age diabetes, COPD - severe lung disease, or hypertension - high blood pressure.

sleep disorders that can lead to severe disturbances in many other functions of the body.

despite being one of the most common neurological disabilities it’s often overlooked or misdiagnosed, which results in unnecessary suffering. the knowledge of WED/RLS is very poor even among doctors. Unfortunately, it is still the case that, during medical education, you are not actively trained in WED /RLS. To get this education you must take your own initiative as a doctor. Improper treatment may result in very poor quality of life for the victim, as some drugs may aggravate the WED/RLS symptoms. Once the diagnosis WED/RLS is set the symptoms can be eased, and in some cases even quite effectively treated.

————

I belong in the moderate to severe category with primary WED/RLS. whereas secondary is when it’s caused by anything from Iron and B12 deficiancy to pregnancy and spinal cord injury, primary is when the cause is unknown and is thought to be genetic. I don’t have a clear thought as to when it started appearing, but i avoided going to my doctor with it until roughly two-three years ago. having a thankfully amazing doctor he immediately realized what it was and diagnosed me. i cant stress how greatful i am that in this i never had to go trough the horror stories i’ve been told of by other people with WED/RLS.

before i got my WED/RLS diagnosis, however, i finally broke down and went to a psychiatrist for what i thought “only” was suspected severe depression and anxiety. not even a year later i have the diagnosis Autism and ADD along with a sense of newfound feeling of not being alone and broken (although the underlying depression and anxiety was/is still there i felt and still feel less alone in it). 

so, as some know both autism and ad(h)d often result in executive dysfunction. this is especially not a good thing to have, as you might understand, coupled with something such as WED/RLS where emotions are already running high between the sleep disorder(s) and active pain and otherwise uncomfortable ongoing sensations. it’s caused me plenty of times to not have the regulation ability to not be verbally/textually aggressive toward others when i get frustrated. but most of all the lack of a self-monitoring ability is the most difficult, and frustrating, thing i’ve ever know. while the constant forced moving (and the frustration that comes with it) quickly drain any energy/spoons i have, the ever present insomnia limits the amount of daily energy/spoons i have in the first place. then there is the sensory and social issues that require their share of energy/spoons. and the everyday activities such as eating, showering and even doing things like watching tv or reading a book. not to mention the sensory overloads, - may they be autistic, ad(h)d or anxiety in origin, or as a result of the WED/RLS - meltdowns and or shutdowns. some days, hours or minutes i go non or partially-verbal because my brain doesn’t have enough energy to be able to construct thoughts and then turn those thoughts into cohesive sentences. and some days, hours or minutes my brain can’t process spoken language - or a delay occurs. suddenly it’s as if we’re two foreigners that speak different languages with no common ground. and a little while later it might just as suddenly switch on and im seemingly answering you randomly. or adding a new comment on a topic that’s been passed several times. and more often than not i cant for the life of me figure out right then and there why im experiencing these things. and so my frustration build. emotions bottle up. the vicious cycle of sensory issues and executive dysfunction start all over again as the night draw to a closure and im finally allowed some sleep. 

now, don’t be mistaken; i absolutely love being autistic! the way i experience the world differently. the way i can be so devotedly passionate about the things i love, the way my hyperlexic mind lets me decode language so fast and effortlessly, even if it is at the expense of having a difficulty with verbal and auditory language. the way my brain is logical thinking. the way repetitive movement can feel so peaceful and just so RIGHT. the way certain sensory input will have me be in autistic “heaven” after almost always living in a discordant with the world. and i mourn the fact that allistics/neurotypicals will never get to experience that side of spd. so yes, autism isn’t always fun to deal with, nor is ad(h)d, but unlike WED/RLS there is things that make up for it. 

so in the end im truly happy that i am the person that i am, and that my disabilities have given me the opportunity of a unique perspective in this world. and despite, or more accurately because of, all those negative things i find that there is such vibrant colours and beauty to be found all around me.

yours sincerely,

exceptionally autistic Charlie.

* WED is the new name for RLS in some places, such as my country; Sweden.

** dysaesthesias: singeing, aching and or preassure/tightness in/on your body *** paresthesias: pain that may feel like: numbness, tingling, shaking, burning, pressure sensation, touch sensitivity, aching, tension, throbbing, hugging, radiating, nagging or irritating. 

#actuallyautistic #autism #spd #rls #wed #actuallyspd #actuallyrls #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #disability #disabilities #actuallyadhd #adhd #add #thoughts #personal rant #late night musings #musings #exceptionallyautistic #depression #anxiety #actuallymentallyill