I had been diagnosed, in my post-arrest psych evaluation, with mild Asperger’s syndrome, as well as the possibility of fetal alcohol syndrome. We discussed both as possibilities for incapacitation, but felt that each was a stretch. Bringing up the stress over my gender identity would help some on this front, but wouldn’t get us all the way there; it didn’t feel like enough to comprise a defense by itself. Besides, we worried that pervasive transphobia would mean that disclosing my gender would actually work against us.
