Author Archives: gmcdavid

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About gmcdavid

Retired IT professional with a wide range of interests. Married. Three sons, two with autistic-spectrum disorders and the third being transgender with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. From Chicago but now living in the Twin Cities metro, Minnesota. Episcopalian. Carleton College (BA 1972, physics) and Stanford University (MS 1974, Applied Physics; MS 1976 Statistics).

Ballastexistenz

Ballastexistenz is a blog by an autistic person. The title is explained in her about page. I found this via Monastic Musings, the author of which wrote

“I know that she has contributed to my understanding of what it means to be human in a way that no non-disabled person could.”

That is what being one of Tom’s parents has forced down my throat given me: A far greater understanding of what it is to be human, that I could not achieve otherwise. The experience has been, and still is, incredibly painful, but it has made me a better person, and for that I am grateful.

Irish for “vegetarian”

Last night, as part of a general reshuffling at Gaeltacht Minnesota, I was moved into the next class up. I was going over my new instructor’s notes when I found this gem: The Irish word for vegetarian is feoilséantóir. Feoil means “meat”, while séantóir means “renegade”, “denier”, or “apostate”. So in Irish a vegetarian is a “meat renegade”!

(Yes, I did confirm this with my Irish dictionary)