I reckon that what touched me the most about last week's lecture was the discussion we had on neurodiversity. Though I could never put an exact word on this subject, I learned that this was, in fact, something I had thought about greatly in my life. I have always felt immensely comfortable in our education system, for some reason it just worked for me. From what Erin explained in class, I seem like a perfect example of neurotypicality.
However, to me, this has always seemed so random. How could I be so comfortable in this world of school, readings and essays, yet members of my own family struggled so very much with the same elements? This made me think a lot about, of course, the ways we all learn very differently, although I did not yet have the right vocabulary to describe this situation. Now that this class have given me some words to describe it, it was drawn to think to reflect on many questions; mainly, can we all learn the same things, albeit in different ways? Can there be limits or exception to what we can learn? Are their deficits one cannot overcome in order to learn?
My example comes from personal experience. I have a 28 years old cousin who's a non-verbal autistic. However, he has never learned to write. In my youth and still to this day, I felt somewhat confronted by this situation, wondering how his life would have been different had he been capable to write and therefore have a manner to make himself understood. This first class made me realise the issues of society in general in these fields. Contrary to what most doctors have told my family, maybe it is not my cousin who lack the capability to learn how to make himself understood, but rather society and medicine that still like the tools to be able to understand and communicate effectively with him.
In summary, if that was not already very clear, this first class gave me a lot to think about, and I felt that I needed a few days to ponder on it before I was able to put my thoughts in order to write this.
However, to me, this has always seemed so random. How could I be so comfortable in this world of school, readings and essays, yet members of my own family struggled so very much with the same elements? This made me think a lot about, of course, the ways we all learn very differently, although I did not yet have the right vocabulary to describe this situation. Now that this class have given me some words to describe it, it was drawn to think to reflect on many questions; mainly, can we all learn the same things, albeit in different ways? Can there be limits or exception to what we can learn? Are their deficits one cannot overcome in order to learn?
My example comes from personal experience. I have a 28 years old cousin who's a non-verbal autistic. However, he has never learned to write. In my youth and still to this day, I felt somewhat confronted by this situation, wondering how his life would have been different had he been capable to write and therefore have a manner to make himself understood. This first class made me realise the issues of society in general in these fields. Contrary to what most doctors have told my family, maybe it is not my cousin who lack the capability to learn how to make himself understood, but rather society and medicine that still like the tools to be able to understand and communicate effectively with him.
In summary, if that was not already very clear, this first class gave me a lot to think about, and I felt that I needed a few days to ponder on it before I was able to put my thoughts in order to write this.
It is indeed a terrible moment when we realize how we might contribute to the force of neurotypicality. In the autistic movement and the wider movement for neurodiversity, an important slogan is "presume competence." In underscoring that racism and neurotypicality are always and have always been interlinked, what we are trying to think through is this very question of who gets to set the conditions of existence.
ReplyDelete