a message from a neurodevelopementally disabled mentally ill person,
mentally ill people without neurodevelopemental disorders or learning disabilities have every right to claim the labels neurodivergent and neuroatypical.
a mentally ill person is not neurotypical unless they so define themself as one. not all mental illness is something that happens to people, some people are born mentally ill, but both experiences are valid.
defining neurodivergency as being only available to people who were “born this way” or people “don’t need to be cured” merely creates a hierarchy within the neurodiverse community as well as erases people with personality disorders. not to mention that there are neurodevelopementally people that do desire to be cured as well as mentally ill people who don’t want to be or simply can’t be. the assumption that mentally ill people need to be cured is ableist within itself and discourages people who find identity in their mental illness from also finding comfort or pride in it.
i experience my psychosis as a neurodivergence in the same way that i also experience my adhd and autism as a neurodivergence, and i think that’s okay.
the word neurotypical itself used to be used to describe non autistics before allistic came into play. things change, and however we (people with mental illness, neurodevelepmental disorders, personality disorders, and so on) can band together is a victory. we can’t afford to isolate even more people from neurodivergent and neuroatypical spaces. we need to look out for each other.
please reblog this.
(Source: paranormalprophet-blog)
