A Brief Introduction

Hi there! Thanks for visiting Queerly Different. My name is Matthew and I’m the creator of this site and the associated social media accounts. I have no idea if anyone is going to read this or anything else that gets posted here, but I thought it might be a good idea to use my first post on this site to give you some background about myself and the aim of Queerly Different.

Queerly Different is a human interest website and blog for LGBTQIA+ people living with disability and for anyone who has an interest in queer and disability related issues. On the website and social media platforms there will be news, commentary, personal insights and resources related to sexuality and gender identity, disability and mental health. As well as sharing stories of interest from established media outlets, Queerly Different will also feature its own original pieces. As an occasional freelance writer (albeit one who has been lying dormant for the past few years), I have a particular interest in sharing people’s lived experience as a way of raising awareness about issues. A database of useful resources is also currently being compiled on the website to help anyone trying to find services that meet the intersecting needs of LQBTQIA+ people living with disability.

Image courtesy of Reddit.

To give you an idea of my “credentials”, I’m a neurodivergent queerling who has been formally diagnosed with autism, depression, emotional trauma, general anxiety and an eating disorder and self-diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Avoidant Personality Disorder (AVPD). I was formally diagnosed with autism less than three years ago at the ripe old age of … Actually, let’s not go there! Ha Ha! Let’s just say that I am very well into my adult life. My other formal diagnoses came around the same time as my autism diagnosis, while I have only self-diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, BPD and AVPD in the past couple of months.

I am a huge advocate for being open when it comes to issues such as mental health and, as you can see, I am quite open here with how “broken” I am. However, in the real world I am very much a closed book and my struggles tend to be a private affair. I guess, in some respects, Queerly Different is an outlet for me as much as it is intended to be a resource for other queer folk living with disability.

My personal experience of being diagnosed with autism and my struggles with mental illness were the catalyst for creating Queerly Different. As an older, queer person living with disability and mental illness, it can be lonely and a real challenge to find information, resources and services that meet the needs of someone who is both queer and disabled. More often than not, they will meet the needs of one or the other, but rarely both. And if you’re an older person, the lack of appropriate services is even more acute.

I’m not sure where this initiative will go or what (if anything) it will achieve, but I hope that it helps to raise awareness about queer and disability related issues, while also being a source of news, information and maybe even the odd bit of entertainment for those who happen across Queerly Different.