Beatrix Butnicu 🦆🪻

@beatrixbird.bsky.social

150 Followers 264 Following

Autistic autism researcher PhD student at The University of Sheffield Laser-focused on cool things: monotropism, neurodiversity paradigm, birds & video games Multiply neurodivergent & disabled #DisabledPride She/they Views my own

Megan Peneton Rest in Peace 2025 #MillionsMissing #mecfs #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #pwME
Beatrix talking a selfie indoors at the event, wearing large sunglasses, a cap with headphones over it, and a fluffy light-coloured jumper. Curly hair frames her face. The background shows warm lighting and the industrial ceiling of the venue.
A dimly lit event space with tables and chairs arranged café-style. A large projector screen at the front displays the Café Autistique logo and the text “Autism research discussed in a relaxed café atmosphere. The talks will begin shortly.” Overhead industrial ceiling fixtures are visible.
Alt text: Two African grey parrots sit in adjacent metal cages. One has a pile of metal rings, the other has a single walnut. Between them is a small hole in the divider. The image illustrates a study where parrots passed rings through the hole so their partners could trade them for treats. Post text: Scientists taught African grey parrots to swap metal rings for treats. Then they paired birds so one had ten rings and the other had none. The ring-rich parrots started passing rings through a hole so partners could “buy” walnuts — even with no reward for themselves.
Screenshot of a tweet from user @_grimm (@ExileGrimm). It reads: “What’s the dumbest beliefs you had as a child? When I was 4–5 I swore that bird seeds grew birds, thus the name. When my parents asked me to prove it to them, I planted a pile of bird seeds. The next day there were loads of birds where I planted the seeds, showing I was right.”
Pink smiling unicorn t-shirt with real sunglasses hanging as if under its eyes, curly purple hair strands and a multi colour polka dot scarf. The unicorn is my embodied metaphor for Monotropism, the horn (attention tunnel) coming out of the prefrontal cortex and converving into a singular point of focus, which often feels ike magic.
A huge moth that can easily be mistaken for a hummingbird flutters through purple valerians in search for nectar. Text on screen reads Hummingbird Hawk Moth in my garden 🦋
Copper-coloured leaves with lots of little raindrops on them.
Dish rack where a big white tray with colourful bird prints is sitting
Am I the Asshole? Am I the disease? Am I killing myself softly, or thornily, for lack of a better world? Am I the world? No longer a fool, but a tired old hermit that's seen too much, that's seen enough? Am I the immune system? Too much when not needed; Not enough in the hour that counts? Am I a ticking time bomb? Succumb to my disease, my demon in the doorway? Take out my own allies When I feel as alone with them as with my foes? Am I the asshole? The same hurt, misguided person that makes hurt, misguided people; The bitter reactionary I fight today? Am I the lesson I cannot teach? The hurt I want to spare the ones who are outliers even to outliers carried in my marrow, breaking through my tongue. Not a truth the libraries could hold but one I live before I learn. @ Beatrix Butnicu, 2025
Judgement Tiny tears Make up an ocean And I hate Going to the beach. Give me a mountain and I’ll move it. Give me anything but the sea. How do I sail through foggy waters? How do I walk the plank in a storm? How do we fix a cracked foundation? How do we stay? How do we stay afloat? “You’ll stay, because I said so.” “You’ll stay, because girls don’t rock the boat.” “You’ll stay, even if I have to make you.” “You’ll stay." And that’s all she wrote. “I don’t want to stay in the basement.” “I don’t want to be muted and maimed.” “I don’t want to sit at an empty table.” “I don’t want to be covered and ashamed.” “Shame is a child,” said the Lady. “To muffle and to mould." The girl raised her teapot. “Treat me like a murderer, and I’ll murder you cold.” @ Beatrix Butnicu, 2025
A teapot and a poem. What a lovely way to pass the time. Loud cries. Loud claps. They sear through me like the crack of a thousand whips. Loud claps. Loud cries. The world is too much. I am not enough. Then I become too much And the world is not enough. Alone. Naked. Cold. Don’t leave me here! Don’t look! But don’t leave me! Alone. Naked… I am here, child. I am here. For you. Take up as much space as you need In me. BALLOON! My soul is immense. I am nothing and everything. I am nowhere and everywhere. I am here with you. A teapot and a poem. What a lovely way to pass the time with you. @ Beatrix Butnicu, 2025
Old English headstone with angel bas relief surrounded by autumnal rainy nature.
Autistic person with sensory armour like headphones and golf cap standing peacefully with eyes closed and a smile against an old English brick wall. Above her head is a natural bouquet of bellflowers growing out of the wall. Used as metaphor for neurodivergent mental health and cognitive flourishing.
Beatrix in a modern goth Victorian outfit in front of Sheffield Hallam University.
Top of bookcase with a brachiosaurus toy and some fake plants. A rectangular window-shaped light creeps through on the wall on top of the bookcase encasing a big verdant shadow of the plants.
Beatrix in a lecture hall at the speaker station wearing sensory armour and a black galaxy shirt with the intro slide behind her saying Can I Have Your Attention: Developing an Experimental Measure of Monotropism. There's a big painted eye graphic with a pink heart in the pupil that gives birth to a rainbow beam of light in the dark. This is meant to show the interest-baded attention tunnel in Monotropism.
Window view of red Valerians
4 panel comic. A school child is overwhelmed by the bell ringing, the background chatter and the scraping noises students make. His head is full of all this noise and can't focus on the math teacher's instructions. The last panel says, "it's not defiance, it's sensory overload". Below the comic says, "Some kids experience sensory overload in noisy environments. They're not ignoring you - they're overwhelmed. Calm, quiet, and understanding can help them feel safe."
Warning: loud birds! ~85-125 db. Autism & Monotropism. Extremely sensitive autistic does magic trick.
Image depicts a first slide containing the title of the presentation: Neuroinclusion in Employment, Higher Education & Research.