Mostly life has dealt me an excellent hand, and I have few complaints. But for what it is worth, I am also affected by three different forms of dysfunction, which I mostly try to ignore and mention here mainly so I do not have to keep repeating myself.

I am Partially sighted

In 2020 I discovered that I have a rare and inoperable type of benign brain tumor that presses on my optic nerves, meaning I can only use about 40% of my visual field. So when I say your fonts are too small, I really do mean it.

There is no cure, and I will need to continue being treated with the magic of science until the AI agents find one. Many approaches to adapting to sight loss rely on hearing to compensate — which is slightly inconvenient, because…

I am partially deaf

I inherited a gradual hearing loss that became noticeable in my mid-30s. I use hearing aids, although quite a lot of the time I use Apple AirPods Pro, which are about 75% as good as proper hearing aids, cost roughly ten times less, and integrate much better with Zoom calls. They are also easier to track down when misplaced, which is fortunate because…

I also have ADHD

This is my favorite minority affliction, because unlike the other two, ADHD has some fairly substantial upsides as a scientist.

On the other hand, there are times when I genuinely do not know what day, month, or occasionally year it is, since time blindness and hyperfocus appear to be two sides of the same coin.