13 Sep Transpersonal Psychology: Neurodiversity
While I enjoyed the width and breadth of the voices and stories we read for this threshold, perhaps I was most moved and fascinated by Nick Walker’s amazingly well-written piece. This immediately brings to light one of my (previous) prejudices: I was surprised to find out that an autistic person could be such a skilled writer, because out of my ignorance I had assumed that language skills are not something “they” have.
“Unfortunately, the society in which we live is rife with ignorance, prejudice, and harmful information concerning autism and autistic people.” (Walker, p. 90). It has been an embarrassing process to discover the stereotypes I have accepted without question in the face of this articulate, vibrant human being.
I was greatly moved by his poetic description of autistic life as “a great blooming, buzzing confusion,” and how he was bullied and rejected for the crime of not being normal.
It was fascinating to learn about the autistic characteristic of the avoidance of eye contact and the differing responses he received from White and Black cultures.
Turns out that Nick Walker is one of my five thousand Facebook “friends”, and although we’ve never interacted in any way, I had noticed out of the corner of my eye that there seemed to be something inexplicably charismatic about him. And this is another of my prejudices being exposed: I wouldn’t expect a neurodivergent person to be charismatic or, frankly, attractive.
After all, spectrum disorders are classified in the DSM as mental illnesses. I had read about “their” struggles with social interaction and the need to learn social skills, and assumed most find happiness as computer nerds and in professions in which they can work alone. I always assumed neurodivergent people were more intelligent than me, it’s just that they didn’t know how to apply their intelligence in the mainstream world.
Of particular interest is Walker’s writings about somatics, and his journey toward “recovering the dance of my autistic self.” Autism apparently leaves one profoundly alienated and dissociated from the physical body (although I would argue that mainstream culture encourages this alienation for everyone without taking anything away from the particular struggles noted). He writes about how the discipline of aikido helped him, and yet how he experienced a loss of vitality from repressing his stimming. When he allowed his body to move in its unique way, he could discover “the beauty of our autistic dance.”
I had heard recently that many if not most trans people are on the spectrum, and Walker confirmed it. When I watch the optional video hosted by Don Hanlon Johnson, it was jarring for me when this muscular, masculine man stated that his pronouns are “she” and “her.” I am quite comfortable with gender fluidity, however, I found myself feeling slightly repelled. In spite of this, I still found his physical presence charismatic and compelling, the sort of person you can’t take your eyes off. Perhaps we could even say he has star quality.
To further my understanding for this paper, I went online and explored support groups and communities available to neurodivergent people: chat groups, Linkedin and Meetup groups, nonprofit agencies and the like. The Linkedin groups appeared very similar to those for neurotypical people offering help in navigating the business world and networking events. I even joined a chat group that welcomed the curious, but no one else ever came on.
I was glad to have this opportunity to confront the stereotypes and my own prejudices concerning people who are neurodivergent. Reading all these stories so different from my own in this threshold has increased compassion, warmth in the heart, and openness to life in all its variety.
© 2023 Catherine Auman
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