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Reframing the Conversation
I was sitting in the park near to where I live now, an almost-brisk morning in September. I've been thinking, unsurprisingly, for a while about where I fit into the world. This conversation touches multiple levels, from the personal to the national to the universal. And it all depends on which "I" I'm talking about.
Today, I was thinking a bit more broadly, about the "I" that is neurodivergent. I've always enjoyed that word - "divergent." It's nice to say, and has, for me at least, connotations that I find overwhelmingly positive. Divergence is evolution is progress. So to claim for myself neurodivergency is a badge of honour. It means that I think in novel and interesting ways.
But then I had this thought. What if I'm not neurodivergent? What if we're not neurodivergent? What if it's actually the people to whom we are referring when we talk about neurotypicality? The people who, yes, can navigate contemporary society with an ease that eludes us, can order their lives around the needs of the workday, the schoolday, can save and spend and sleep without anxiety biting constantly at their heels. The people who don't tend to think about killing themselves every day. What if they're the divergent ones, and it's not a good thing?
And here's my "evidence:" look at the world around you. Around us. It is a slow-motion disaster happening right before our eyes, an ecological, social, moral, and economic crash that is going to fundamentally alter the future of our species on the planet. And neurotypical people are people who can look at that, exist in that, and feel like they're okay. To me, that smacks of self-delusion. I honestly feel like being able to exist in this world and feel okay about things would, in actual fact, be completely insane. If more people looked into the world and felt the overwhelming despair I feel when I see anti-drag protests, clear-cut logging, coal-fired power,...hate...
So what if we reframe the conversation a bit? What if the things that many neurodivergent people feel that are classed as socially inappropriate are actually completely appropriate reactions, on a psychic and physiological level, to the experience of our environment? What if it's the neurotypical people who have diverged from a useful neurology into one that is not environmentally-sustainable?
Yeah. That's what I think about in the mornings when sitting next to a peaceful little pond!
#deepthoughts #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ADHD #PTSD #Depression
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