Neurodiversity, Society, and Humanity

This blog entry was originally written to address the topics of Autism and being an Autistic human being - and the challenges, emotions, and dilemmas I've noticed are related to the topic of Autism.  However, there are more universal themes at work within this piece of my writing that I hope help to send this message across perceived divides of varying experiences and conditions of living.

A Warning - There are references to hurtful actions, as well as ableist and other discriminatory paradigms and actions in this writing.  Since the broader topic of my Autistic experience, and experiences as someone with acute sensitive reactions to his environment, dealt with some of these topics, I have mentioned and addressed them below.  The rest, I have been made aware of by doing research of my own, or by others who I have met that have similar experiences.

I hope, though, that those who can read this without being triggered, will take a stab at doing so.  The  topics here weigh on my mind and everyday life, and are very important for me to address - and for that matter, are topics that I am sure have relevance in the lives of many others similar to myself.

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Neurodiversity, Society, and Humanity

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I have seen many of us,
Watched many of us,
Observed many of our experiences,
And read the writings of multiple people who struggle as we do.

We try to find a way in the world
With our different brains, our own, supposedly unusual, neurological qualities,
As we navigate cultures and structures
That seem to be made in ways foreign to our own methods
Of operating, learning, and growing...
Structures designed without people like us in mind.

These places in society, that we struggle to find peace and acceptance in, can be heavy and stifling...

Within the walls of the buildings,
Among the sensory disruptions, flashing lights shine,
Horns and machinery clatter in a chaotic din,
And crowds gather and disperse in ways that confuse and overwhelm us,
As our senses and our minds are assuaged by the norms of cultures
That were not aware of us and, in becoming aware of us,
Dismiss our grievances as ridiculous.

I have heard many of us,
Listened to the sounds of the spoken voices,
And recognized that what would be harmonious
Is instead being dismissed, ignored, and thrown out of tune.
The voices of people who are not the "norm" are ignored by those privileged under accepted labels.
In the major forums and discussions supposed to be dedicated to them,
To us,
We are present, and have answers to the questions,
But the answers are not what the people of the main society desire to hear,
And our research, our merit, and our understandings,
Are dismissed.

It is difficult to focus, to learn, or to sustain one's self in a place that seems to strip at one's stability like the winds of a  tempest - hostile and unpredictably it blows, howls, and stops only for a moment, before picking right back up.

I have perceived and felt many of us,
Acutely felt the stress, the anxiety, the pain, the questions
As if they were heavy, dark, yet tangible sensations in the atmosphere around me.
And felt, too, the continuous disappointment and roiling frustration
When our voices are ignored and dismissed as irrelevant to our own experiences.

I have seen and heard of many so-called "charities" and many self-proclaimed "experts"
Raise their voices
To encourage that we support "cures" - eradications - of our own minds,
Or go though "therapy" to "correct" our "abnormalities," to "refine" our "behavioral problems,"
Or take hurtful medication unrelated to our experiences.
Thankfully, this is not always the approach taken.
Yet the pattern of blatantly being spoken over is persistent,
Its damage, clear and evident.
I have seen others dehumanize our very identities and lives.
And through this, our perspectives and our wisdom is often blocked and stopped
From reaching those who do not know our realities, but would listen.

Those who would listen because they would recognize how true the words are.
Those who also have felt oppression's heavy weight and sought to cast it off.
Those who also see society's flaws, its dividing fissures, its ruts, and trenches.
Those who are also suffering, and who want the trenches filled in, and the attacks from one to another to stop.

We, as people, must move beyond stigmatization and judgment.  We cannot hide behind anger and pretend that it, or our hurt, justifies hurting others.  The pain does not need to perpetuate itself like this through any of us.

And there are many ways to perpetuate the pain against those of diverse minds...

• To label someone "mentally ill" and use language that portrays them as if they, a living, breathing human being, are better off seen as a disease - a "bacteria" that needs to be removed from the "greater body" of a system, such as the cultures, nation-states, societies, and frameworks that we were born into and surrounded by upon birth;

• To hinder someone's confidence and self-assurance by calling them 'incapable,' when they would instead benefit, and become more capable, through receiving others' support and care - rather than others' blatant scorn;

• To refuse to entertain the notion that disabling conditions can also arise from a society that does methodically disable, hinder, impede, and restrain the people within its systems that it does not welcome with open arms.

• To close and bar one's mind to the possibility that those with differently constructed or developed minds and/or sensory experiences can be similarly and equally happy, and have unique and beautiful experiences that should be treasured and reveled in - instead of pitied for not being "the same" or chastised for not meeting "other's standards," let alone sought to be "cured" of their "impediments."

• To believe that there is, or ever was, a single "normal."  This label is superfluous and unhelpful in a world that is build on the natural quality and reality of diversity.

• To remove from the public's eyes, and to shun, those people whose uniquenesses are deemed to not be "normal" enough, and systematically maintain as much separation as possible between these "atypical" people and people who are "normal" - in an attempt to limit access of those who don't fit a society's norms to their freedoms to find resources, make connections with others, and create and sustain for their selves and each other the feeling of happiness.

• To label a human, in any way, as not human, or less than human - and to treat a human in ways that are not humane.

Let us end the pattern of calling people with constantly different sensory and neurological living experiences "ill" and thinking of them as broken.  As our families, our friends, and our communities are not broken, so, too, we are not broken.  In fact, no human is broken; we are not missing any parts of our whole true selves, just as those believed to be 'normal' are not. If anything, we are functioning in our own beautiful way that helps to provide a valuable and rich diversity of perspective to the world.

And we are not struggling at every moment of our lives because of our uniqueness; indeed, we may struggle at times, but everyone does.  Struggle is part of the Human Condition that affects all people.  That we struggle at all, to any extent, and that those who genuinely invest in supporting us and walking alongside us also struggle, does not make us, or our supporters, less than anyone else.

Instead, such struggle arises when powerful groups of those who are considered "normal" do not ask what they, and society on the whole, are failing to accept, respect, cherish, nourish, and honor about all people that is innate in the very nature of any group of human beings.

Let us not keep mistaking the rich characteristics, the valuable experiences, and the very real conditions of people for a curse; these are things we should honor in every moment that we can.  It is a gift, a boon, and a great thing to have a life, and to choose one's own path in living without restraint from others - and the right to this should be honored in all people.  Regardless of our differences, we still are here, and will continue to be.  We, like all human beings, are here to cherish others, and in turn, be cherished.  Not hatefully hurt, not coldly shunned, not methodically dismissed, and most certainly not killed.

Yet we see that the patterns helping all of these latter, hurtful things occur still exist in the greater society in which we have been born into.

No single society has the right-of-way to declare a natural portion of the human race 'not worth keeping alive.'  No number of votes, no amount of power, no means of coercion or manipulation can ever justify any form or practice that helps lead to erasure of a population of people.  Just because some people choose not to accept others, and the diversity that is implicit within their very life and very existence, does not mean that that choice to not accept them is justified, or even remotely justifiable.  That is not to say that one should not be given time to accept others - but this pattern has continued far beyond any fair or good share of time.

It is time that we all moved to change those patterns of hurt, those patterns of pain, those patterns that smite and torch our and others' human dignity.

It is time to embrace people for who they naturally, really, truly are.

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Please share your thoughts and comments below - but keep comments respectful to human experiences and human diversity.