You sir are absolutely correct. My youngest son is 23 years old now and he has autism. Neuro divergence is an umbrella term for people with autism,adhd, dyslexia,ocd,tourettes, and other learning disabilities. But the word by itself is definitely not a medical label. It's just a way to respect and understand how people's brains are wired differently. I call it an ability not a disability.
I view disability as something done to us by an unaccomodating society. The problem isn’t us, it’s the barriers placed in our path. This is one of the things I teach my mentoring clients.
Disability is not simply something we have in our bodies. It is something that is done to us by the world around us. People like to pretend disability only lives in the medical file in the diagnosis code in what a doctor says is wrong. But our actual suffering, our exclusion, our exhaustion our isolation come mostly from the way the world refuses to accommodate us. That refusal is not passive. It is an action. It is a choice. That choice is what disables. A person who uses a wheelchair is only limited when a building refuses to have a ramp or an elevator. A neurodivergent person is only difficult when a school or workplace demands that they act speak, learn, or focus in one narrowly defined acceptable way. A person with chronic pain is only lazy when productivity is valued more than humanity. We're not broken for needing different ways of doing things. What's broken
is a society that insists there is only one normal and punishes everyone who falls outside it. Disability is not a personal failure. It is a social structure built on convenience for the majority, ignorance for the minority, and silence for everyone who is suffering because of it. If society were built with understanding that humans vary disability would not disappear but the harm of disability would shrink. Access would be standard not special. Support would be routine, not a fight. Accommodation would be assumed not begged for. We aren't asking for charity. We are asking for recognition and redesign. We are asking to exist without needing to justify our existence. We are asking for a world that understands that difference is not a flaw. Disability is not what is wrong with us. Disability is what happens when a society
You sir are absolutely correct. My youngest son is 23 years old now and he has autism. Neuro divergence is an umbrella term for people with autism,adhd, dyslexia,ocd,tourettes, and other learning disabilities. But the word by itself is definitely not a medical label. It's just a way to respect and understand how people's brains are wired differently. I call it an ability not a disability.
I view disability as something done to us by an unaccomodating society. The problem isn’t us, it’s the barriers placed in our path. This is one of the things I teach my mentoring clients.
Disability is not simply something we have in our bodies. It is something that is done to us by the world around us. People like to pretend disability only lives in the medical file in the diagnosis code in what a doctor says is wrong. But our actual suffering, our exclusion, our exhaustion our isolation come mostly from the way the world refuses to accommodate us. That refusal is not passive. It is an action. It is a choice. That choice is what disables. A person who uses a wheelchair is only limited when a building refuses to have a ramp or an elevator. A neurodivergent person is only difficult when a school or workplace demands that they act speak, learn, or focus in one narrowly defined acceptable way. A person with chronic pain is only lazy when productivity is valued more than humanity. We're not broken for needing different ways of doing things. What's broken
is a society that insists there is only one normal and punishes everyone who falls outside it. Disability is not a personal failure. It is a social structure built on convenience for the majority, ignorance for the minority, and silence for everyone who is suffering because of it. If society were built with understanding that humans vary disability would not disappear but the harm of disability would shrink. Access would be standard not special. Support would be routine, not a fight. Accommodation would be assumed not begged for. We aren't asking for charity. We are asking for recognition and redesign. We are asking to exist without needing to justify our existence. We are asking for a world that understands that difference is not a flaw. Disability is not what is wrong with us. Disability is what happens when a society
refuses to make room.