Laurel Stix
Albany, NY
“I think that online presence is a really great way to help. I have some immunocompromised and chronically ill friends who have been really at the center of spreading information and making physical protests safer for people like me.”
Ryan Roach: How do you identify?
Laurel Stix: I would say that I primarily identify as queer and I mean that both in the sense of gender and sexuality. I like people, humans, you know, they’re pretty great. Sometimes I joke that I’m an amorphous gender blob, but it’s a joke that kind of has some seriousness behind it. I mean, gender who’s she, you know? Non-binary is an umbrella term that I would say fits pretty well. As far as community labels I would say that I’m neurodivergent as an umbrella term and Autistic specifically with comorbidities like sensory processing issues, ADHD traits, that type of thing.
RR: What has your experience been like during the pandemic?
LS: I mean, it’s about as basic as it gets to say that it sucks and it’s been really hard, especially because I’m Autistic. I’m really reliant on my routine for stability. And my routine just got slashed one day. I kind of went way off the rails as far as knowing what my life looked like. So that was really rough, but actually my social network didn’t disappear as much as I feel like a lot of my peers might’ve because I’m involved in a lot of geographically widespread youth communities. So my closest friends and I all know how to communicate digitally.
RR: Moving forward, how would you like to see the government and society start responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?
LS: I’d love to see a restructured or completely revolutionized healthcare system because that’s been a huge issue right now. It’s always been an issue, but as far as seeking care, things like even tests have been out of people’s economic capability and that’s really, really not something we can continue doing. So if there’s only one takeaway from this, I want it to be that everyone deserves care regardless of their economic status.
RR: Over the past few months, media correspondents and politicians have continuously talked about “vulnerable” populations, yet rarely invite anyone from these communities to represent themselves or their communities. Why do you think that is?
LS: I think that politics tend to be a lot of posturing, more than action. So it makes sense to me that politicians would say, “Yeah, we care about these vulnerable communities.” But that’s a self-centering narrative that they’re saying, “Yes, I care about them. Look how great I am for doing this.” So when it comes time to reopen the economy, it’s like, well, I’m going to look good if I reopen the economy and to get people back to living the life that they’re used to and talk about neurodivergent or immunocompromised or chronically ill or disabled communities just kind of goes out the window. People are used to forgetting about us and a return to normal means continuing to do that rather than centering our voices in this.
RR: In addition to the pandemic, the United States has experienced uprisings across the country in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police. Uprisings in physical spaces are not always accessible to all folx. Have you been involved at all with the uprisings over the past few months? And, if so, what has that looked like for you?
LS: I think that, especially with the advent of the internet, protesting has gotten a lot more accessible to the various communities that ordinarily couldn’t access it. Things like protests for me, they can be overstimulating. They can be really dangerous for immunocompromised people, hard to access for disabled people. Sometimes your body just doesn’t work the way you want it to be present physically. But I think that online presence is a really great way to help. I have some immunocompromised and chronically ill friends who have been really at the center of spreading information and making physical protests safer for people like me. So when I go, I bring a lot of water, snacks to keep my blood sugar up, and ear defenders or ear plugs to make sure I don’t get overstimulated by all of the noise around me. And I think that there is a lot of focus on showing up physically because it’s important, but I’ve also seen a move recently toward this idea that protest and revolution aren’t a one lane highway and we have room for everyone, which I think is really true and should be acknowledged more often.
RR: Is there anything that we missed or that you would like to share with us before we end the interview?
LS: There’s something a friend said to me recently that I think circuits Instagram, especially every so often, but I want to reiterate that it’s okay to not be okay. And to reach out for support. If you’re in one of the four groups that have been talked about today, or just in general, it’s okay to reach out for support. And I would encourage that because everyone needs it and we can all help each other.