Dragon Quests: Disability Pride Month
On Dragon Quests and Disability Pride Month
Dragon Quests
So, what is a Dragon Quest?
A dragon in this context is a social justice issue. There are so many issues in our world and sometimes that can be quite overwhelming. Imagine staring up at the sky and seeing a bunch of dragons. Maybe you want to fight them all. Maybe you want to run and hide. Neither of those choices would necessarily help you out in the long run.
That’s where a Dragon Quest comes in.
A Dragon Quest is the single dragon that you focus most of your altruistic energy on rather than spreading yourself too thin. This will hopefully be able to successfully fend off the burnout related to the terrifying amount of social justice issues that plague the world.
To do this, you can choose one issue that you want to make a difference on and find a community to help fight that dragon. This can be as big or small as you want. Maybe your dragon is fighting for clean water in your neighborhood. Maybe your dragon is connecting advocates with resources. Maybe you are a mental health advocate. Whatever your dragon is, find a group or organization and work together to fight the dragon.
Being focused on one dragon does not mean that you should ignore all of the other dragons. Help out others when possible, but when it comes to decisions on your time and energy, you now will know where to start.
My Dragon Quests almost always revolve around disability topics. This often looks like advocacy through public speaking engagements, volunteering with groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and sitting on a couple of relevant committees.
This can be scary because it means that I out myself as a disabled person and must trust that people will respect me nevertheless; which is not always the case. Yet, I can see my efforts in fighting this dragon can make positive changes and that keeps me going.
Another way I am active in pursuing my Dragon Quests is through vulnerable and relevant LinkedIn posts. The following are posts I’ve made on my LinkedIn in the month of July:
Disability Pride Month
I live with nine diagnosed disabilities; therefore, I am disabled.
I have both physical and mental impairments that substantially limit many of my major life activities.
My disabilities are invisible and I mask them very well, which was not always the case. I grew up in and out of hospitals just trying to survive. Now I am a public speaker on disability topics and a law student.
Yet, I spend much of my energy attempting to ensure that people know I am disabled without inconveniencing or bothering them. This hyper-vigilance is exhausting but seems necessary in professional settings, as I have had many experiences of ablism and general rudeness thrown my way because others felt inconvenienced by my symptoms. It’s often easier to hide the pain from others because asking for help has made things harder in many situations.
July is Disability Pride Month.
I ask you to consider doing three things this month if you are not already doing them:
1) Stop treating disability as a bad word. Every time I see or hear something like “You’re not disabled, you’re differently abled” my heart aches. (This is a direct quote that somebody has said to me). By creating that difference and separation it shows the recipient of your words that you feel they need to distance themselves from their disability. This is something that few (if any) people with disabilities can do without health repercussions.
2) Incorporate disability topics into any Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative that you find yourself part of. Many DEI initiatives have frequently left out the topic of disability and it is important to start to bring more awareness and resources to this group.
3) Follow more creators with disabilities on the various social media platforms that you spend your time on.
Why does “neurodiverse” mean minority when “diverse” means the entire group?
Does anybody know how to ask Merriam-Webster dictionary how to update their definitions of a word?
I have been seeing an increase in people using “neurodiverse” and “neurodivergent” synonymously and I think that is causing more harm than good.
Even Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of neurodiverse is “having, relating to, or constituting a type of brain functioning that is not neurotypical.”
Yet, that should be the definition of “neurodivergent.” But neurodivergent is not in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.
The word “neurodiverse” has been driving me mad. In large part because compared to the popular use of the word and that definition, my understanding is wrong.
But is it? I know it’s a bold claim to state that the dictionary may be incorrect, but neurodiversity wasn’t coined until 1998 by Judith Singer and since then it has evolved into a social movement, and like all early stages of social movements language and meanings fluctuate.
I have some questions for you to consider. But first, here are some important definitions to keep in mind. (The quotes are from Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Neurodiversity: “individual differences in brain functioning regarded as normal variations within the human population.”
Expanded — Neurodiversity is a nonmedical umbrella term that includes everyone as we all have different brains and the differences between our brains are not to be looked down upon but rather celebrated and accommodated.
Diversity: “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements”; “an instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities: an instance of being diverse.”
Diverse: “differing from one another”; “composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities.”
So, is neurodiverse synonymous with neurodivergent?
Or rather is neurodiverse used similarly to diverse?
I know this is just semantics, but the way we use language matters. By treating neurodiverse as synonymous with neurodivergent it, in my opinion, takes away from the idea that neurodiversity means everyone and not just the minority. Additionally, by excluding neurotypicals from neurodiverse we are falling into an us-vs-them trap.
So, a better definition for neurodiverse would be something like “a person or group with brain functioning that differs from others.”
The answer to my first question is this: Merriam-Webster enters words into the dictionary on the basis of actual usage. The best way to get a word in the dictionary is to use it and encourage others to it.
The increase in articles and authority lends validity to a large difference between how “diverse” and “neurodiverse” are used. I singlehandedly cannot change this definition, but for other neurodiversity advocates, please take the time to think about what you mean by "neurodiverse."
Thanks for your time and attention.