My experience

A photograph of the ursa major (aka the plough aka the big dipper) constellation and a shooting star in the night sky behind a beige brick house. I was ecstatic when I got this photo, I was taking a picture of the constellation which I thought looked so clear above the house and I saw the shooting star in the view finder and then couldn’t believe I’d actually captured it!

A 2021 photograph of ursa major (aka the plough aka the big dipper) and a shooting star in the night sky behind a beige brick house.

I was ecstatic when I got this photo, I was taking a picture of the constellation which I thought looked so clear above the house and I saw the shooting star in the view finder and then couldn’t believe I’d actually captured it!


Warning: contains discussion of mental illness, racially motivated violence

I’m not anonymous. I'm not impartial. I'm seeped in how and who and where and why and when I am.

The neurodiversity experience of people of colour is wildly different from that of white people. Disabled people of colour are overwhelmingly targeted for violence by the system, including police violence. My brother has had several psychosis episodes, but because he is white they have ended in hospital rather than the morgue. I wish to the universe that this continues to be the case - I worry about him living in a country that is so trigger-happy.

This is just one of many big differences between people’s experiences with neurodiversity. Another one is that I can afford not to work, so my incapability to do so has a distinct effect on my life compared to those who feel incapable but must do. I can afford the accommodations I need, like pre-prepared food and a car.

I’d love for my writing to still be helpful in some way for the neurodivergent community but mostly I write because it’s helpful for me. I think we grow when we show who we truly are, even if only to ourselves.

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