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Neurodiversity vs Mental illness
Apr. 1st, 2019 11:48 amSo, for various reasons, I’ve decided to post here about MH stuff instead of FB and make FB a more impersonal place/more of a conversation about non-touchy things as I’m not convinced most people want to have my deep and meaningful thoughts thrust on them via FB.
And I’m putting up a bunch of stuff about the neurodivergent model vs mental illness model discussion because it sort of happened on FB today and I think went to a maybe not ideal place and so I took the post down there.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/abcs-child-psychiatry/201510/is-autism-mental-illness?fbclid=IwAR3PTVkVT3f1hUM_Gm6d9jTEx5JRIswnYD0p9KzTJ6FFURIUp0GauUDTKhs
This is the link I started with. I found it because I’d been reading around to try and deal with some of my feelings of discomfort around the whole ‘I’m not unwell, I’m neurodivergent’ conversation. And having now had more of a conversation with some proponents of it, I think I now feel even worse about the subject, and it’s thrown up a bunch of really uncomfortable thoughts about who I am, why I am, and how I feel about my own brain.
The basic summary, as given to me, is that the neurodivergent model says:
“People who are bipolar would generally have better lives if nobody was bipolar. People who are autistic would generally have better lives if everybody was autistic.”
I’m trying hard to not comment too much on the latter part of that although I’m always reminded of the Slatestarcodex article on this - https://slatestarcodex.com/.../against-against-autism-cures/ - which offers both a counter and also sparks an interesting comment on a problematic dynamic in activism where the highest functioning within a specific group often become very dominant voices within the conversation whilst maybe not entirely getting some of the issues others have. Certainly, it’s a reason I’ve stepped back from many many conversations about MH and disability because I’m painfully aware that I am incredibly lucky and don’t have a lot of issues other have and I feel as a result maybe shouldn’t be commenting on what you can or can’t do with a MH condition. But that’s an aside.
But I am feeling weirdly angry and defensive over the ‘bipolar people would have better lives if nobody was bipolar’. I don’t know why, but I really am, and I feel like it is an accurate summary and also a summary that to me feels like ‘it would be nice if people like Sally didn’t exist’. And so I’m trying to break it down.
( Read more... )
And I’m putting up a bunch of stuff about the neurodivergent model vs mental illness model discussion because it sort of happened on FB today and I think went to a maybe not ideal place and so I took the post down there.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/abcs-child-psychiatry/201510/is-autism-mental-illness?fbclid=IwAR3PTVkVT3f1hUM_Gm6d9jTEx5JRIswnYD0p9KzTJ6FFURIUp0GauUDTKhs
This is the link I started with. I found it because I’d been reading around to try and deal with some of my feelings of discomfort around the whole ‘I’m not unwell, I’m neurodivergent’ conversation. And having now had more of a conversation with some proponents of it, I think I now feel even worse about the subject, and it’s thrown up a bunch of really uncomfortable thoughts about who I am, why I am, and how I feel about my own brain.
The basic summary, as given to me, is that the neurodivergent model says:
“People who are bipolar would generally have better lives if nobody was bipolar. People who are autistic would generally have better lives if everybody was autistic.”
I’m trying hard to not comment too much on the latter part of that although I’m always reminded of the Slatestarcodex article on this - https://slatestarcodex.com/.../against-against-autism-cures/ - which offers both a counter and also sparks an interesting comment on a problematic dynamic in activism where the highest functioning within a specific group often become very dominant voices within the conversation whilst maybe not entirely getting some of the issues others have. Certainly, it’s a reason I’ve stepped back from many many conversations about MH and disability because I’m painfully aware that I am incredibly lucky and don’t have a lot of issues other have and I feel as a result maybe shouldn’t be commenting on what you can or can’t do with a MH condition. But that’s an aside.
But I am feeling weirdly angry and defensive over the ‘bipolar people would have better lives if nobody was bipolar’. I don’t know why, but I really am, and I feel like it is an accurate summary and also a summary that to me feels like ‘it would be nice if people like Sally didn’t exist’. And so I’m trying to break it down.
( Read more... )
