In order to identify ourselves, we have to remind ourselves what we do, where we came from, and who we are. The poll question on the side column of this website expresses just that. It has been asking you to figure out how you would want to identify yourself. Identity is important for our own Humanity and it is defined by diversity since we all identify ourselves differently. Identity is important!
Many able-bodied people try to define people with disabilities including Autistic people without the expressed consent from Disabled people themselves. This is unfair and does not express the meaning of someone’s life. Mostly, many people try to instill person first language on the disability community as well as pitying us to separate a part of who we are from our own humanity. Telling others how to identify themselves is not a right of any one to do to the disability community nor to any body else. It does not allow any one to identify themselves properly. Instead, it expresses the interest of eugenics to society like the Nazi’s did to many cultures in the 1930’s and early 1940’s.
Society is beginning to change, but we need more progress, a lot more progress. Society encourages eugenics as a means to decrease diversity. People don’t need this to be encouraged, but the mainstream media, corporations, and organizations like Autism Speaks does this all the time which influences the government who controls society. When are the majority of people going to understand that we have many different ways of identifying each other and that each label is a part of who we are? No one has a right to tell a person that they can not identify themselves in such a manner. Most people believe in the Medical Model of Disability which expresses to so many people that society needs to use person first language. However, to be able to truly identify yourself, you should be able to first accept everything about yourself including anything disability related.
No one should feel that their disability is seen as less than Human, after all we have many markers in our genetic make up which defines us as well as the fact that disability is a part of the human experience. There are many disabilities and mental health conditions that disable Humanity at any point in time, autism being one of many disabilities. It’s important to accept your own Humanity about what you can do and what you struggle doing on an everyday basis.
We identify not only ourselves, we also identify other people, animals, material things, and the environment we live in. We acquire different things in our life, but most importantly we always acquire different disabilities throughout our life. So, why does many people become ashamed of what makes them Human? Society has trouble comprehending and accepting every culture or religion that instills itself inside the world. We have different cultures and religions because everyone lives a certain way that creates their own unique way of life. No one has a right to tell any one that their own unique way of living and identifying themselves is wrong. People live in so many ways! In fact, if you watch the movie “Nell” with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson from the late 1990’s, you’ll see an excellent portrayal of the fight to live your life the way you know how to and to be able to identify yourself.
The problem with society is that their is too much discourse and in a lot of times, violence, because the majority of people argue over what culture is better, who should be leading, and the amount of money people have trustfully earned for themselves to create a better society. Because of the discourse, people begin hurting each other or themselves. Accepting yourself and other people will create a better society where we begin living peacefully. By allowing everyone to live their life, we begin to embark on our quest to fulfill our missions without trying to take from others, without identifying other people with a different marker to identify themselves with, and/or without trying to hurt others including the youth who are the next generation. We need to start delivering a message that Humanity is a precious commodity and that we are all here for a reason. The children of today are our next generation for tomorrow, so we need to teach children that Humanity respects, accepts, does not hurt each other, and earn a living trustfully. No matter what, if we do it right, the children of today will create a better society where no one hurts, no one crosses another’s boundaries without permission, and everyone respects any one, otherwise society will not tolerate it!
Every culture is different which is why we have a whole world to live it in. No one can decide in the world to create a society in which diversity lacks. However, we have billions of people in this world who have a mission to live their life the way they know how to, and no one can make any one in this world feel like they are any less Human.