XPOST: Reddit – Why I support #neurodivergence and #neurodiversity in the #actuallyautistic discourse

Well, trying to be even-handed, there are layers to unpack in this thing because:

1. There is the usual process of individuation from the parent into the self,
2. There is the experiences of the autistic experience in the larger, dominant allistic culture and society,
3. There is the disconnect between how one is “permitted” to individuate without attack, bullying, and othering by the larger, dominant, allistic culture and society,
4. There is the set and series of known group dynamics and both anthropological and sociological lenses through which to discuss the ongoing battle between conformity and non, along all the usual vectors and through countless additional lenses of personal identity and experience,

This autistic human, with whom I have enjoyed engaging on Twitter (once upon a time, long ago) and elsewise, usually holds salient and well lensed discussions around sometimes polarizing or uncomfortable topics and seems to manage it far better than I usually manage.

I think that there are differences within autistic humans that both emphasize the reality of neurodivergence as well as make the pertinent point of demonstrating that the focual lense must be difference affirming, not difference shaming.

And as we live in a world where cultures and societies have spent thousands of years honing their figurative and literal swords forcing and enforcing conformity and attacking, bullying, and systematically oppressing, repressing, and suppressing significant populations who, through no fault or flaw of their own, simply cannot meet them.

It is not and has never been the fault or flaw of the human who cannot (or will not!) conform.

It is the fault and the flaw of the cultures and societies and systems who refuse to balance their own bias and bigotry, supremacist and racist preferences who need now to conform.

But unlike their history, which demands conformity in service to their pockets and their preferences and their sense of security in power, we are now demanding conformity to demonstrated ethics, replicated science, peer-reviewed medicine, and formally dis-interested research (increasingly hard to find, isn’t it??).

And by ‘we’, I mean all of us who are not and never will be conforming.

By any and all defined human rights, this is a logical, reasonable, and rational stance and, in it, it differs not from any other with far less foundation to make attempt.

The idea that there is some objective norm is dead. The NT and the mainstream just don’t know it yet. Because they are ignorant. And they usually just aren’t ever that interested because, well, THEY are comfortable and secure and safe from the ugly that being NT and conforming grants, such as it is. *shudder*

There are no rules but those that standardize and uplift the human right of agency, autonomy, and the primacy of their authority over their own lived experiences.

If you cannot START from there, you may as well save your breath.

This is my take on what and why I’m supportive of #neurodivergence, #neurodiversity, #actuallyautistic, #selfdxisvalid.

So those are my thoughts. Clearly subject to extremes in valuation dependent upon the lenses in use.

/bow