Empire of Normality
Neurodiversity and Capitalism
by Robert Chapman
This is a priority read for me!
I’m looking forward to how Chapman explains the emergence and rise of the pathology paradigm and its entanglement with the fundamental logic of capitalism. Specifically how the medical and scientific definitions of illness, disability, and normality have grown in response to economic and ideological developments.
…the need to offer a positive account of mental illness—one that does not define the essence of mental illness exclusively as the absence, lack, or failure of the power of reasoning…
On the Importance of Conceptual Contrasts Madness, Reason, and Mad Pride
Awais Aftab
@actuallyautistic I am #actuallyautistic and I think most of my family is #neurodivergent. That's why I viewed it as the "normal" or "typical" way to be until puberty more or less. I wonder if there's a context in which the so-called neurotypical are a minority and feel marginalized.
I've been thinking about my #neurodivergent work-life balance blog, https://unscramblet.chickenyogi.com and writing from the lived experience of an #AuDHD individual w/ 20+ years working full-time, now transitioning to a healthier way to find income and wondering if this is content people are interested in.
What are your biggest challenges? Would a group to connect and share be helpful? Would you be interested in mentoring?
Since my diagnosis, I have realized the main reason I never considered that I was autistic is because every depiction of autism I ever saw was so far from my own experience. But if anyone wants to understand it better, seek out books written by autistic people instead of those discussing it from the outside.
@unabogie@actuallyautistic I suffered another of those people who dismiss us with “all on the spectrum” crap yesterday. I tried to explain there is no spectrum. To help her understand I asked her to imagine a giant bell. The dome of the bell is all the #NT majority.— the further from the centre the less “typical”. The rim of the bell is the #neurodivergent population, those most. But as you go round the rim they aren’t all degrees of divergence, they’re all different in different ways.
Which flavor of #neurodivergent is inability to feel belonging to any group? I think, I finally got why I don’t get that #gender thing. Basically, a gender is just another cohort, with some assumed properties. A group one feels belonging to. And I have never felt as a part of any group. I never fit in. Each cohort is supposed to have certain properties, and I just never have all. I just feel like impostor in any, including any gender/sexuality groups, including #agender#queer#nd#AuDHD
Autism is not a problem. Here's a list of things that are:
Inaccessible learning environments
Reduced life expectancy
Sky high sucde rate
Increased self-medication
Inaccessible and ableist healthcare systems
Unemployment and poverty
Discrimination
Increased rates of victimisation
High likelihood of mental health concerns
Gatekeeping of services
Higher rates of institutionalised parent carer blame
This is not an exhaustive list. You are welcome to add your own contributions.
The point I am making is this; research priorities should be to improve the lives of Autistic people here now, and those to come. Research into why we exist and how to prevent it does no good for our community.
Congratulations! Your book was the catalyst for #neurodivergent sociologist me, that made it all fall into place. I am forever grateful. (For my parter who is not an autistic obsessive whose special interest is how people make sense of their lives & how diagnoses constructed by #SituatedActors operate as explanatory stories within hierarchies of power, the book that 💡 him was ‘Growing Into Autism’ by Sandra Thom Jones.)
🧵 1/3 I’ve been out of commission a couple days due to flu. Feeling better and heading to see family for a bit. Needed to get a couple of errands done. Gas. Meds. A bit of groceries. No biggie.
But it’s Friday before Christmas. Of course. Everyone and their third and fourth cousins are packing places like CVS and Safeway. Parking lots filled with confused people are annoying. Deep breaths.
🧵 3/3 I wonder if we could get vests or lanyards, like service animals, that clearly indicate no one should speak to us unless spoken to. Maybe? I’d wear one.
🧵 2/3 And then there is the table out in front of the store. With the loud cheery person obnoxiously trying to get my attention. I forgot my mace at home.
The only thing I could come up with in the moment was to face them, close my eyes, and slowly shake my head without breaking stride. She still tries twice more. Sometimes I really hate NTs.
My psycholgist mentioned Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) yesterday. They suggested I look it up and see if it resonated with me. After a quick search, I feel it may help understand some of my experiences but I'm not sure. Most resource I've found were written for parents and talked about what PDA looks like in children, from the perspective of the adults around them. The language used was very pathologizing and stigmatizing. To me, the collection of symptoms that characterize PDA seemed like possible trauma response for autistic people, and I dont know if it makes sense as a "sub-type" of autism.
I was wondering what are the thoughts of the actually autistic community about PDA. Does it make sense as a specific type of autism? What are the experiences of PDA like from the perspective of autistic people, including adults? Is the research that proposed and is produced around the concept of PDA any good? (as in actually wants to improve the live of autistic people as opposed to just classify and stigmatize all the ways we are "broken").
I also would appreciate recommendations for relevant resources (podcasts, articles, blog posts, books, etc) about PDA, in particular those produced by and for autistic people.
Something I've love to dive deeper into is how many AFAB or genderqueer individuals have been dx'd with Borderline Personality Disorder rather than Autism due to their past trauma?
Yes, I know they overlap. I've done the research including getting out my "Abnormal Psych" textbook.
But I also have some personal theories and I'm curious to hear from other self dx'd autistics misdiagnosed by mental healthcare. TY
I remember getting this 5 star review from Dr. Nick Walker. Nick has been one of the leading minds of the neurodiversity movement for over two decades. Her conceptualisation of neuroqueer theory has been groundbreaking.
My book is available in most territories, but do let me know if you have difficulty finding it 😊
The phrase "burnt out former gifted kid" has always given me the ick, but there are unique challenges/issues/traumas related to that experience that tend to come up in #autistic discussions and I've never encountered a good description.
Proposal for a slightly less icky alternative:
✨ burnt out former high achiever ✨
When minority groups are facing a decline in their well-being due to real problems that affect their group, no amount of positive thinking will make that go away.
It is completely unreasonable to ask people to think positively about their lack of privilege in a situation.
I've been thinking about gamifying the process of making new friends in my city. Kind of like a #LARP but your character is just yourself, and you earn points for showing up to small group events. Extra points for helping organize gatherings and coming up with creative ideas for people to get to know each other better.
...I've been thinking about this for over a year, maybe someday I'll have enough energy to actually start it.