The perspective that 12 yrs brings.

[De Leonist]

When I first heard this song. I was in my early twenties I had been off any kind of medication or treatment for about 5 years. Things were going well, comparatively speaking. From ages 10 to 17 I had been struggling with my diagnosis of Autism and ADHD. The meds they put me on at the time were fairly new and affected me in fairly significant ways. Some of them positive, to me though it was mostly negative. The side-effects were intense and the docs failed to tell me that these drugs were more or less designed around using Neurologically Typical, Neurologically Mature, adults as the basis. Don't know if they ever told my father this. My father was the one who sought the answers early on as to why I was so different. He was eventually given some when I had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. When I consider how quickly I was diagnosed I become fairly confident in the idea that I was probably amongst the first of my generation to be diagnosed with it. The doctors gave a pretty grim outlook on my future. But than, they always tended to do that back when it came to a diagnosis of Autism. Sometimes they were right, many times they were wrong. I've met my fair share of people on the Spectrum who are independent and working jobs they like. Most of these people aren't anywhere near rich but they have found fulfillment in what they do. Accord to the doctors many of their parents consulted these same people were supposed to end up institutionalized or maybe flipping burgers if they were lucky.

I tell ya the older I get the more convinced I become of the fact that Autism isn't just a deficiency in social skills or a disposition towards geekiness but quite literally a different way of viewing the world. From how our minds process the sensory information around us to how we prioritize things and the values that become important to us. Don't get me wrong though I'm not saying we're some sort of different species here. But rather that the degree of difference between and an Autie and a Neurotypical is considerable enough that I think many who attempt to spread awareness of it amongst the general population perhaps downplay that difference more than they should.

Anyway, I'm done behaving and I'm done faking. I'm also done with doing nothing while in my very own country people like me are being abused, neglected, exploited, and out right murdered every day. Because lets be honest here. While we may not have the history of discrimination and deliberate oppression that many other marginalized groups have the fact is that it's considered "tolerable" for that shit to happen to us. It's "okay" if we're treated like shit because we are THE QUINTESSENTIAL OTHER. We are different where it really has an affect, the mind. So yea we're people, but not really. So it's okay that politicians throw us under the bus for political convenience. It's okay that employers hire us and than pay us less. It's okay that so many of us suffer needlessly. Because while we're people we're not people like them. An even sadder fact though is this. Most of them aren't even aware that they have this bias.

[Tobin S.]

1. People usually do not readily know it when you have a mental illness.

There is no outward difference that tells people that you have autism and I have bipolar disorder. It may be so in extreme cases, but for most of us, we view the world through the prism of our abnormal states of consciousness in silence. We may be a bit odd or a little eccentric, but people don't think of us as having any real problems when it comes to our brains.

You have to be very strong if you are going to wear that disease on your shirt sleeve. Those who do are worthy of the greatest respect.

The underlying problem to the whole deal is ignorance. Education of the general population is the key to mentally ill people breaking through the barriers that hinder their progress. All I think I can do is tell people how it really is. Some of us have a greater platform than others, but each of us has it within our power to enlighten people on the subject.

If you choose to stay silent on the issue, I certainly don't blame you- that's for those of us who don't have the desire to speak out on the issue. It's certainly an easier path to follow in many ways.

[HereSince1628]

2. In simple elements...education requires a trustworthy source of information

and a student willing to acquire trustworthy information.

Generally speaking, both are less available than might be desired relative to understanding of mental disorders.

Instead, what exists for the general population is a nebulous cloud of untrustworthy information and people who acquire their knowledge of that flawed fog by making associations between its colloquial terms of mental illness and their effectiveness as pejorative adjectives.

In other words education about mental illness doesn't typically take place for the general population. It's something that comes up in special circumstances...such as formal education settings or under motivations caused by the proximity of an association with someone (including self) with a mental disorder.