Walk On Podcast Episode 52 : The Beauty of Neurodivergence
I’m pretty sure everyone I’ve ever loved has been neurodivergent. I am drawn towards brilliance and non-conformity, and people who fidget a lot. I find complexity and multitudinousness and a life lived free from social constructs fascinating. And, more importantly, I don’t feel as far away, as misunderstood, as obviously inhuman as when I am around more neurotypical folks.
I say more neurotypical and not just neurotypical, because I understand that if something occurs on a spectrum, that means there are infinite ways to be that thing. That means that more people fall on that spectrum than don’t, statistically speaking. This is how I have come to the conclusion that the construct, the idea, the standard of “neurotypical” is yet another impossible-to-be perfectionism-upholding weapon of the white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy. This is why you see soooo many people relating to content about neurodiveristy and seeking out official diagnoses and treatments for struggles they never had a word for, before.
This isn’t some sPeCiaL-sNoWfLaKe agenda to feel special. Actually, it kind of is a special snowflake situation, in the sense that, like gender, like sexuality, like perception in general, like literal snowflakes, each person is a unique expression of humanity with a totally personal relationship to experiencing life???? And none of us can know what the color purple is to anyone else unless we hear each other out??? And receive each other’s stories without the projections and expectations of our own?? Open-hearted?? Open-minded?? Willing to learn??
When we function under capitalism, there is a necessary-to-the-system scarcity and competition that keeps us at each other’s throats. Divide-and-conquer is a technique used in all abuse dynamics. We continue upholding unmeetable expectations by enforcing them on one another and we can choose to stop at any time.
Moving through life in a neurotypically-designed society can feel, to the neurodivergent, like we have our experience set to hard mode. Every system, process, requirement elicits feelings of being a burden, being a failure, and lots of unnecessary struggle and suffering. Take away the expectations and booby traps of the white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy, though, and what we find is the utter awe-inspiring, world-changing, outside-the-box beauty of neurodiversity. Let's co-create from this place. Listen here.
