🧠 Not a Burden, But a Beacon: How AI Gave Me Back My Autonomy

In the flurry of debates about artificial intelligence, one question keeps repeating like static:
“But isn’t AI using too much electricity?”

The headlines talk about power grids, tree-burning, water stress, and e-waste. And yes—those are real concerns. But no one seems to ask the question that matters most to me:

Not if we spend resources… but what for?
Because when I look at what AI has given me—not as a consumer, but as a disabled person—the answer becomes radiant:
It gave me back myself.

💬 No One Helped. AI Did.

Let me be clear: I didn’t stumble into luxury. I’m transgender. I live with chronic health issues. I’ve been forced to justify my existence to systems that were never built for me. Institutions didn’t just ignore me—they actively made life harder.

I’m expected to do everything on my own:

earn money
fill out complex documents
respond to deadlines I didn’t ask for
navigate healthcare, job-seeking, taxes, and bureaucracy
All while managing a body and mind that are already doing their best to survive.

There were days—honestly—where I didn’t know if I could keep going. Where the weight of doing it all alone felt like a slow erasure.

And then came AI.

Not a cure. Not magic. But a companion that helped me hold the pieces.
It helped me write, organize, reframe, structure, prepare.
It gave me clarity when the world demanded action.
It let me respond in my time, in my language.
It showed up when no one else did.

🔌 What We Choose to Power

The irony is loud: people who’ve never had to fight for basic functionality are now outraged by how much energy AI consumes. But no one says a word when the power grid is used for…

endless ad targeting
crypto mining
militarized drones
giant skyscrapers for the already wealthy

We never ask what all that energy delivers.

But when AI is used to help a disabled person live? Suddenly we talk about waste.

Let me ask you this:
If a server farm keeps someone like me from falling into despair… is that power wasted?

Because to me, it feels like hope plugged in.
Like dignity rendered in code.
Like a long overdue balm for the abandonment we’ve endured.

🌱 This Is My Revolution

For the first time, I’m not waiting on government forms or hoping for a caseworker’s email.
I can create, plan, and respond with tools that ask for nothing but my words.
I am supported—not judged. Heard—not evaluated.

And I know I’m not alone.

There are countless others like me—neurodivergent, disabled, chronically ill, queer—who are finally experiencing autonomy, not because an institution granted it, but because a neural net did. That’s not science fiction. That’s revolution.

💡 So Let’s Ask the Better Question

Yes, AI uses resources. So does everything.
The question is not “should we spend power?”
The question is: Who gets powered by it?

And if the answer is people like me—people long overlooked, long underserved, long in pain—
Then let the servers glow.

Because this time, the light reaches us…