I was introduced to a new term yesterday: neurodiversity. The establishment wants to use it to describe people who interact with the world in different ways such as people with autism. The idea is to say that there is no one correct way of thinking.
I am very offended by this term. I have a disorder plain and simple. I don’t know if I have autism. I know I have OCD. However, the simple fact is that my brain works differently than most people and it has made life a challenge if not difficult for me. Yet, the establishment wants to take that away from me with terms like neurodiversity. When terms like that are used, it implies that we all have different ways of seeing the world, we all are neurodiverse. The problem is that simply isn’t true. A majority of people have no problem navigating the world with their senses and their brain. There’s a minority of people who have a challenge dealing with it because we have different sensitivities. It doesn’t make us less than the rest, but it does make us different.
Unfortunately, I see that happening in other sections of our society. We celebrate ethnic diversity and gender diversity. Soon, we won’t have anything to be able to identify ourselves by because we will have whitewashed away all the differences amongst ourselves. I think the idea was best illustrated in the recent superhero movies when they suggested that everyone was special and had the power to be a superhero. The problem is when everyone is special, no one is special. When everyone is neurodiverse, there is no diversity. When everyone is gender diverse, there is no gender. When everyone is ethnically diverse, there are no ethnic diversities.
Somehow we have lost our way believing that being different is a bad thing. No wonder there has been a rise in hate groups and hate crimes recently. We are teaching our children that everyone should be the same. And yet, that isn’t God’s message. God created each and everyone of us uniquely. He has a plan for each of us and His plan is perfect, even if it doesn’t seem like it. I have faith in that because I realize I can’t see the big picture like God can. There’s a reason for everything, ever for my brain to work a little different than everyone else. So, it’s okay that life is a little more challenging for me. It’s okay that my senses get overwhelmed sometimes. I know that I am God’s perfect creation, even if I am different. I can love and accept myself as I am, and I don’t need anyone to take who I am away from me just so that I can feel good about myself or worse so that they can feel good about my being different.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
