Mati | The Autistic Coach on Nostr: I believe in the neurodiversity movement. I believe in the tenets that the concept of ...

I believe in the neurodiversity movement.

I believe in the tenets that the concept of neurodiversity promotes.

But let me tell you about a so-called “ND space” I attended recently, and why it left me shaking.

See, as a group facilitator I don’t get to be a participant often.

Believe it or not, coaches, counsellors, and therapists need spaces to be too.

I was excited that I found a potentially interesting and supportive place where I can stop working for an evening.

The group began with this statement by the facilitator:

“Autistic humans need to learn to take up less space in ND spaces”.

Said unironically. By a facilitator calling themselves “ADHD + HPI + HSP”

It was violent.

I immediately felt sick to my stomach.

The same facilitator also said that believing in neurodiversity means rejecting neurodivergence as a disability.

That we aren’t disabled.

That we are more than “simply broken disableds”

This is a gross misunderstanding.

It’s ableist nonsense.

It’s typical co-opting that I’ve seen plenty.

The reality?

This person was clearly AuDHD.

But avoided naming autism because of stigma.

Their distaste for autistics showed quickly.

Because of ableism.

Instead of honoring autistic presence, they erased us.

We are all too used to this, unfortunately.

The space quickly devolved into trauma dumping.

People piling on, fueling each other.

The facilitator did nothing.

That is not safety.

That is not community.

Neurodiversity does not mean autistic humans must shrink, hide, or mask to belong.

It does not mean denying that we are disabled.

This is autistiphobia.

Autistic voices told to take less space.

ND spaces co-opted by people who resent our presence and miss the fucking point.

A rhetoric almost never coming from autistic humans, but from those invested in our erasure.

Neurodiversity is expansive.

It includes all who aren’t neurotypical.

Probably most people.

Autistics, ADHD, Schizoprenia, Bipolar, Dyslexia, Downs, AND SO MANY MORE

But if autistic humans are pushed aside in “neurodiverse” spaces, then what you have is not neurodiversity.

It is ableism in a new costume.

ActuallyAutistic group (npub10v4…s27h) #ActuallyAutistic