As long as life is framed as a competitive social game failure is guaranteed – because then the suffering of others is simply another great busyness opportunity. A few weeks ago the authors of this article had the wonderful opportunity to hear from from a neurodivergent community in Iceland. We agreed to look for ways of ongoing collaboration.
Genesiz was diagnosed as autistic at age 3, before she was adopted, but that was hidden from her. Those years of disconnection were an erasure of her identity.
Human minds can develop amazing capabilities, but at the same time, our cognitive capacities are limited. To ensure we understand each other, we must know our limits, and we must co-create safe spaces for engaging in de-powered dialogue.
As events beyond human control force us to pay attention to the much richer metaphors of living systems, Autistic people are rediscovering the beauty of collaborating at human scale, and co-creating beautiful works of art as an antidote against the emergence of social power dynamics and the competitive logic of hate and violence.
Inspired by the legacy of Dr. MLK, Jr., nonspeaking student Swarit Gopalan writes powerful poetry about his mighty dreams for Nonspeakers.
Ash Banks provides readers with a nuanced and culturally-responsive guide to identifying intentionally predatory behavior, setting boundaries, and protecting oneself.
Sebastian Rubino reviews the long-awaited book, I Will Die on This Hill, by autistic advocate and parent, Jules Edwards, and allistic ally and parent, Meghan Ashburn.
Relationships between Autistic people are often more intense than relationships between culturally well adjusted neuronormative people. Healthy Autistic relationships include intensive collaboration on shared interests, overlapping areas of deep domain expertise, and joint exploration of unfamiliar terrain. The intensity of Autistic relationships is based on our ability to hyperfocus and our unbounded curiosity and desire to learn.
Many Autistic people have suffered some form of abuse throughout their childhood from their caregivers. Broken trust is at the core of Autistic trauma. There are no shortage of leverage points for healing from Autistic trauma. Our main challenge consists in progressing the neurodiversity movement in the face of headwind from powered-up established cultural institutions.
Terra Vance walks readers through an event that her child experienced differently from other children– from the margins, like a failed audition in being human that illuminates the heartbreaking inevitability of masking and exclusion.
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