I'm presenting at the Los Angeles area Pagan Community Retreat on April 20! It's again a presentation based on my year of research on the neurodivergent community and on literature regarding changeling folklore as a historic/literary record of neurodivergent people throughout history for the book Heavy Metal and Disability: Crips, Crowds, and Cacophonies. The pagan community retreat event will be in-person only, but in June I'll be doing a virtual book release for Crips, Crowds, and Cacophonies, so stay tuned!
Here's the description of my workshop at the Pagan Community Retreat:
Faeries, the fair folk, the fae, the kindly ones, hidden folk; whatever you call them (or don’t), faeries inspire many of us, and are part of the practices of many pagans. One figure in particular, the changeling, a faery believed to have swapped at birth for a human, especially appeals to those of us who feel isolated from and marginalized by society. Historically, those identified [by others] as changelings were treated horribly by their families and society, in ways that unfortunately mirror modern forms of ableism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. Yet changelings, and faeries at large, have more recently become potent symbols of inspiration and even self-identity amongst many queer, trans, and/or neurodivergent pagans, including the Radical Faerie movement which began in the 1970s, and many of the activists who helped grow the Neurodiversity Movement in the last 2 decades.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/207985359040073/?ti=ls&_rdc=1&_rdr
