While cleaning out my room I found a paper that my therapist gave me some time ago to deal with obsessive and intrusive thoughts. Sorry the paper is a little crinkled and stained, but I figured I’d post it in hopes that it will help someone like it helped me.
I see a lot of talk about how neurodivergence evolved and stayed in the gene pool because it was somehow ‘useful’ to our ancient ancestors. While I don’t necessarily disagree with this theory, I would like to propose an alternative. A theory that we already have physical evidence for. Humans just love each other and care for each other. Don’t you think that a species that cared for it’s people while they recovered from broken bones, or nursed their elderly well beyond their ‘usefulness’ would leave a member out because they didn’t make eye contact, or couldn’t stay focused on a particular task, or whatever other trait you associate with neurodivergence? I really don’t.
Sure, maybe it was useful to have someone around who didn’t mind making arrowheads all day, or who knew absolutely everything about all of the local flora and fauna, or who keyed in on every little distraction. At the end of the day, though, these people weren’t kept around because they were useful, they were cared for because they were loved.
I’m sick of seeing posts about Yemen that don’t mention the source of the crisis. There is a REASON why there is a famine going on and most of the infrastructure for clean water, housing, medical care, etc has been destroyed. The reason being that Saudi Arabia, with United States support, “intervened” in the Yemeni civil war after the Houthi movement ousted the former president following the Arab Spring. The famine didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the result of a naval blockade. The lack of clean water, healthcare, and housing didn’t come out of nowhere either. The country’s infrastructure was bombed to bits because Saudi Arabia and a coalition of eight other Sunni-majority states, with logistical support from the US, UK and France, are treating this as a proxy war with Iran which, like the Houthis, is Shia. This is genocide. It is intentional. They are TRYING to kill the Yemenis.
Went to the Aboriginal artifact exhibit in Chicago. And it’s interesting. How many blankets and masks and totem poles say ‘unknown source’, because every five seconds my mom would stop and point to something and say. “Pauline’s grandmother made that,” or, “That belongs to Mike’s family, I should call him” because. It’s all stolen
Hug them tight
Please make this go viral.
It is so important I don’t even care if you delete what I write here, just help it be seen.
She is only 14 and autistic! Please share this so hopefully people from the area can see it and keep their eyes open. It's been over a week, her mom is worried sick.
Excellent thread.
hey fyi there are things i really like about my autism. most of the best things in my life and my favorite things about myself are very much related to my autism & my experiences as an autistic person.
it’s just…more than 1 out of every 54 people is autistic. that number is going to go up as we get better at diagnosing it. there are tens of millions of us. we exist everywhere. autistic people are members of every community, and we’re not going away. being on the spectrum comes with a lot of struggles (many of which are preventable, the result of lack of social accommodation), but it shouldn’t just be seen as something in need of treatment. we’re not something in need of fixing. there are a lot of really good things this world wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the contributions of autistic people–contributions made because of, not in spite of, being on the spectrum. so please stop boogeymaning and othering us. acknowledge our disabilities & need for accommodation while also being aware of the positive things we bring into the world.
talk about this more, please