About Me

Hi, folks. I’m Síle Ekaterin Liszka. My pronouns are fae/faer or she/her. I’m:

  • deafblind,
  • autistic/ADHD,
  • agender trans-feminine,
  • a asexual/pan-romantic lesbian,
  • therian,
  • a median system (see the system reference for more information),
  • a little, and
  • an arctic fox kit.

Like many autistic people, I’ve always had a sense of justice, and that has been one of my guiding principles. Not in the legalistic sense you find with a lot of liberals, where right and wrong is whether you violated The Law™, but in the more fundamental moral sense. Not all that is legal is just, and not all that is just is legal.

I have been using Free software in one way or another for my entire computer-literate life, having grown up in a Linux household back when computers at home were still a very new concept and rare to encounter. It is my considered opinion that Free software is an important part of social justice work, and yet there is a significant lack of marginalized voices in Free software, especially in majority-white countries like the US.

I have been a member of the National Federation of the Blind since 2016, and have served in the past as the secretary, a boardmember at large, and vice-president of the Tulsa chapter in Oklahoma.

I am a volunteer with Microsoft’s Technology Education and Learning Support (TEALS) program, which aims to provide computer science education in high schools across the US, serving students who would otherwise not have access due to race, gender identity, disability, etc. I work with blind teenagers, particularly.

I enjoy reading and have been an avid reader for several decades. My favourite authors include Lois McMaster Bujold, whom I grew up reading; Seanan McGuire; CL Polk; Jim Butcher; Mercedes Lackey; and Alan Dean Foster. My favourite trope is ‘found family’, but I generally like urban fantasy, ‘soft’ scifi, cyberpunk (emphasis on the punk; I ain’t no neonliberal), mysteries, and the like.

I don’t watch a lot of TV or film, unfortunately; my attention span, especially over the past decade, hasn’t really allowed me to focus on media unless I’m watching with someone else to help me keep on track. Shows I’ve enjoyed in the past include Firefly (despite its flaws), Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist (particularly Brotherhood), The Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, and Leverage. As for films, I love Apollo 13, Down Periscope, Serenity, Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness, Zombieland, most Will Smith flicks, The Matrix, and more.

At the moment, my brain doesn’t want to let me get in to games much (executive dysfunction and inability to focus), but I can fairly reliably play Jupiter Hell. I’ve enjoyed the Civilization series, Master of Orion 2, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Mario Kart, roguelikes, and, with god-mode, first-person shooters with single-player campaigns. I don’t particularly enjoy PvP gameplay beyond Mario Kart or Civ, however.

I’m interested in a wide variety of knowledge domains, but I have a particular interest in psychology. I’m working toward becoming a therapist, as there aren’t enough autistic, trans, or disabled people in that field, and there certainly aren’t enough folks with an understanding of how intersectionality can exacerbate the issues people face in daily life. I have an AA Psych already, I’ve just been taking a break due to my dad’s passing, the pandemic, moving to Oregon, and making sure I’m actually capable of achieving my goals.

Trivia:

  • ‘Síle’ is Irish and, by way of the French ‘Cecilia’, ultimately derives from Latin ‘caecus’, which means ‘blind’. The English spelling is ‘Sheila’, which is also acceptable. Please do not omit the acute accent over the I when spelling it the Irish way, however; it’s important.
  • ‘Ekaterin’ is my favourite character in Lois McMaster Bujold’s ‘Vorkosigan Saga’. It also honours Catherine the Great, Ekaterina Velikaja, who invited my German ancestors to settle what is now Ukraine.
  • ‘Liszka’ is a diminutive of ’lisica’, the Polish word for ‘vixen’.