Does Neurodiversity mean never having to say you're sorry?

Yesterday I posted this admittedly provocative question on Twitter:

Does Neurodiversity mean never having to say you’re sorry?A World Cafe topic I suggested for the Genius Within may sound facetious but takes some unpacking. Cd lead to lively discussion

WARNING!

What follows is a self-indulgent tour around my brain. 

To jump to more philosophical reflections, jump to 

So, finally! 

Oh, you're still here ...

Being impulsive*, I wasn't quite sure what I meant.
And being oppositional, I was somewhat conscious that I was being provocative and about to anger people left, right and centre.

So, I'm sorry.

OTOH, being Neurodivergent, I could rephrase that as :
Being a creative risk-taking brainstormer, I put it "out there" being confident that interesting results always follow if you make a bold move.
Being an innate devotee of the Socratic method (was Socrates an early Aspie?) I am more interested in the pursuit of truth than popularity,

So I'm not really sorry.

I have just learned to "mask" for the sake of not being totally ostracized.

And besides, I'm actually Autistic in the original etymological meaning of the word, i.e. absorbed in myself and my inner processes. Not to be mistaken for the hashtagged #ActuallyAutistic, which I have come to dislike for reasons explained earlier in this blog

Then again, I am sorry ...

because I know I bore people with my single-mindedness about my inner processes, and I am always ... well, sometimes ... apologizing and asking - "Am I boring you? Please stop me if I'm going on too much"

But then I'm not really sorry, 

because if I wasn't a creative and oppositional seeker of truth in the teeth of the conventional wisdom of disability studies in the 90s and its social constructionist fundamentalism I would not have had the determination to forge ahead with the concept of a Neurodiversity Movement, which some of you say has changed your lives.

"For the worse!" I hear some cry.

I'm not sorry about that either. 

It was in the Zeitgeist anyway. I was just the unlucky person who happened to be positioned with the right mindset in the right period of history in the right geographical location in the right academic discipline to channel what was already out there.

So finally!

It's a question that humanity have been debating since recorded history and well before.

Free will vs Determinism

The problems of evil

We're not going to resolve it in 240 chars on Twitter

Not even in a blog post

But it's a fascinating pastime to try. 

NeuroWars??? What NeuroWars?

There are no NeuroWars as far as I can see.

There are however, fringe skirmishes in the borderlands.

On the one extreme, we have a handful of “Rainbow People”  who,  it seems to me, want to define “Autism” as whatever it is that they like about themselves. And who want to expunge the word “severe” from the lexicon.

Rising up against them in inevitable reaction, come a handful of "Angry Young Men" (OK, not all men, and maybe not all young, but I couldn't think of a better phrase) who storm against the idea of Neurodiversity. Again, just my perception, they seem to want to leverage the real hardships associated with autism for their own emotional need for recognition. 

Each feels silenced by the other. But they are both factions of the Neurodiversity Movement whether they like it or not, part of the evolving dialogue.

Although both have sides have given me a hard time, I am grateful to them because they define the boundaries of the discourse and help me to critically examine, refine and clarify my thinking.

We all need recognition. Most of us have suffered exclusion,  humiliation and disadvantage as a result of our misunderestimated (sic)* neurodivergent traits.

It's not surprising that our coping mechanisms range from rainbow-washing to storming. But...

There can be no rainbows without storms

nor light without dark

Most of us occupy the centre

We simply want more understanding, acceptance and accommodation of
the absolute wonder that is human diversity.

Both sides imagine they are fighting for a bigger share of the same small piece of pie.

That pie is imaginary, folks!

Our Western nations are actually immensely wealthy, creative and adaptive. There is enough for everyone as long as everyone gets a fair share.

We can work together to add more ingredients and make
a Bigger and Better Pie!

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 * Misunderestimate (v): to underestimate someone because you misperceive them

What a fabulous word! 

As a lover of neologisms, I reckon this perfectly sums up how neurodivergent people have been viewed for far too long. Without a doubt, George W. Bush's greatest contribution to posterity.