Thank you for sharing this. As someone with autism, I often struggle explaining the neurodivergence and disability nuance. I love going back and reading the theory.
Many people have impairments, things that impact their way of navigating life and require them to do things differently than others. When those people are forced to exist within a society that restricts or devalues the adaptations those folks use to navigate their environment it can be disabling to those who are impaired.
In this way we separate that which is often an intrinsic piece of identity— people are autistic for example— from the cause of disability (social and systematic limitations that become barriers to inclusion in significant ways). This is helpful because it both allows us to acknowledge that disability is a very real experience being navigated by millions of people (an acknowledgement critical to accessing aid for adaptation in many cases) and also it allows us to recognize that the barrier is not intrinsic and not reflective of the individual’s worth or value to the broader society.
For those curious about this differentiation I’d joyfully suggest looking into disability advocacy from a non-western lens as other cultures don’t all interact with what we think of as ‘disability’ in the same way Americans do.
Thank you for sharing this. As someone with autism, I often struggle explaining the neurodivergence and disability nuance. I love going back and reading the theory.
I'm glad it helps ❤️
I have found it helpful to frame things this way:
Many people have impairments, things that impact their way of navigating life and require them to do things differently than others. When those people are forced to exist within a society that restricts or devalues the adaptations those folks use to navigate their environment it can be disabling to those who are impaired.
In this way we separate that which is often an intrinsic piece of identity— people are autistic for example— from the cause of disability (social and systematic limitations that become barriers to inclusion in significant ways). This is helpful because it both allows us to acknowledge that disability is a very real experience being navigated by millions of people (an acknowledgement critical to accessing aid for adaptation in many cases) and also it allows us to recognize that the barrier is not intrinsic and not reflective of the individual’s worth or value to the broader society.
For those curious about this differentiation I’d joyfully suggest looking into disability advocacy from a non-western lens as other cultures don’t all interact with what we think of as ‘disability’ in the same way Americans do.