Instantly slamming the cup on the table, Shaniquah stood ready, feeling a tingling in her body as she gained a couple of inches in height becoming 5ft 7. Next her once curvey body became flatter and flatter as her Afro-American but receded slightly and her breasts slimmed down to A cups. Looking rather androgynous didn't stop there however as her hair shifted, forming a rather medium-length bob which was rather curly and could be mistaken for a boy or girl's haircut from the back. likewise, her clothes shifted to fit her form, loose-fitting jeans, cut at the ankles, with rainbow socks and a pair of converse. While her top changed to dungarees which had an assortment of LGBTQ+ badges with the neuroatypical badge on center display.
Taking a moment she found her vision getting blurry until Lastly, a pair of thick lense glasses appeared on her face, finishing her physical transformation.
Her head hummed for a moment, as Shaniquah felt her senses heighten, she could hear the chatter outside clearer, she could smell the flowers in the plant pot on the other side of the room. It was overwhelming for her almost as she stumbled a little getting her balance. She found herself getting distracted by all the activity in the room, how had she not noticed so many things as she skipped up and down the isle taking everything in.
"So how do you feel," The store clerk said in a raspy voice, unsure what was going to happen
Shaniquah paused for a moment, to turn around, someone spoke to her but she just froze up, not knowing how to respond, it was as if all of her social decorum and knowledge had evaporated. The simplistic motions of conversing and reading people felt so difficult and impossible to her. Looking at the store clerk blankly, she began to panic inside as she felt she had to respond somehow.. just unsure what was correct, she began overthinking and thinking till her thoughts were interrupted.
"uh.. oh right, you maybe find it a bit hard to take in, I guess just nod if you're not in pain "
Well I'm not in pain she thought to herself, so she began nodding repeatedly, waiting when he'd tell her to stop.
"Okay that's good you can stop now," The clerk said, if he had to guess she landed quite far into the spectrum, displaying non-verbal behavior when stressed.
Realty had changed of course, now that Shaniquah was Autistic and non-binary had meant that life and school had been a constant struggle, having not spoken until her 7th birthday, she was developmentally behind her peers of similar age. Finding herself in remedial classes throughout school and during high school, they even had talks that she should be sent to a specialist school, that is better equipped to deal with special needs students. Her parents, stretched on energy and money did their best, but how far can two minimum wage workers, who suffer from generational poverty go in this modern world.
Luckily she had one friend who looked out for her, but most of the kids at school just avoided her, figuring it was easier to just ignore her than deal with an autistic non-binary lesbian.
Looking at her shoes, Shaniquah slowly lifted her head till she was looking at the chest of the clerk, finding it hard to make eye-contact.
"Th..Thank you, I'm good now.. " She said faintly, pinching herself for stuttering slightly at the beginning, and began overthinking the situation again.
"Alright well let me know if you need anything else, have a nice day" The man said, before turning away to go into the back.
Shaniquah breathed a sigh of relief, that was a taxing interaction, but she handled it ok enough she thought.
After spending 8 more minutes, inspecting and touching every item in the store just once, Shaniquah felt calm enough that she could leave, as she absentmindedly skipped out of the store to her friend.
"Oh there you are, so feel oppressed enough? or are you still looking to remove more privileges," her friend said, a little surprised how serious shaniquah had taken it.
struggling to maintain eye contact Shaniquah looked off into the distance behind her friend as she replied
"Yeah, I don't think theirs any..." she began to say before her eyes spotted a middle-aged lady pushing herself along in a wheelchair, minding her own business. she looked disabled from the waist down.
"Earth to Shaniquah" her friend said, waving her hand in front of her face which caused shaniquah to jump back in fright, she hated physical contact on her face.
After briefly staring at her feet again, she spoke up
"Wait I still have one obvious, major, unjustifiable privilege," she said as she felt a strong urge to correct this.
"I'm still an ableist but I can fix that" She said impulsively as she went back into the store..