Tag Archives: choices

Citizen’s Vulnerabilities and the Rights of All in this Society – Part 2 of 3

A Collage of my family life cycle: Hope you enjoy the picture!
Image Description: On the Top Left, Brandon's long term relationship, Jessie, next to it is Scarlett Arrow painting in Colorado with finters, next is my mother in Aruba, next is Scarlett smiling in the camera over the summer with purple flowers, Center is my parents smiling in the camera at dinner in Aruba, next to the left is Brandon being himself at a microphone at Eric and Merrill's day before the wedding party in Denver, below Brandon on the left is a solo picture of my Father, below my father is a picture of Eric, Merrill, Mom, and Dad at Scarlett Arrow's baby shower before she was born, next to that is Me, Brandon, and Eric while Eric is a proud new Father at Scarlett Arrow's birth, next to that is me riding Molly last year (my next lesson is Thursday).
There is a light blue border, there is a yellow background and some water seen in some parts of the image as well..
A collage of my family and I with my niece Scarlett, my sister in law Merrill and my brother Brandon’s long term relationship, Jessie

Our society created the mindset of the perfect mind and body back when Francis Galton created the word eugenics and the world decided that between Darwin’s evolutionary theory his creation of the word eugenics, that everyone became instantly obsessed with the human genome. To perfect the body and mind is to deny disability and separate from the imperfect human body to create a monster master race of the human genome that everyone will strive to be. This monster master race that everyone has been striving for since the late 19th Century, created the thinking that Hitler wanted to first exterminate people with varying degrees of impairments to eventually exterminating certain races, religions, and other peoples in the Holocaust who he thought society could do away with. I am sorry to say, but the world, created the way Hitler would eventually think about how the human genome, race, and religion. We couldn’t control how some people would interpret this thinking even today. However, this is not the only thing we need to take responsibility for, we also need to take responsibility for many other things throughout history both in our private lives and in the public.

Everyone seems to not understand that trying to perfect a human genome is trying to perfect something that is constantly changing, and constantly moving around in our bodies just like the universe is constantly moving. We are human beings so I understand why many people are obsessed with perfecting (and perfected) bodies and minds. However, perfecting a body and mind, is a very fine line between what we think is autonomy and what we think we need to depend on others for. As we are Human beings who live in this world, we are connected to each other regardless of the way we identify through race, religion, sexuality, gender, or disability cultures. The way we represent ourselves is independent of being human because being human really means that we need to support one another regardless since we all go through the same trials, tribulations, and rewards in life.

Supporting decisions and the way we as individuals experience life is important. The person centered approach most are beginning to learn now, is something that is a part of human nature since the beginning of time. Yet, we have in the past, and in some ways still do, only respect the decisions some people make while others we feel could not make decisions at all and could not think on their own. We need to give everyone the tools to decide and think about what they want  on their own. This thinking convinced many people that their decisions are illogical and not right. Making decisions for one’s life depends on the kinds of decisions we are making. Some decisions we can decide on our own, but many other decisions we need support from people who can help.  In the end, the final decision is ours.

Whenever I make a decision, it not only affects myself, but it also affects everyone around me in society and that’s when difficult conversations persist. These decisions affect us individually in many different ways. If a child rebels against their parents decision to change who they are, then the child and parents must take responsibility for their actions. Deciding on changing the way a person is, also changes the way everyone else feels about themselves. It is important to attribute every decision I make to the way I think about others and life. When I think about who we are as a people, I think about where we came from, and the people in our life that affect what we think. What we think sometimes can hurt who we are and/or other people.

A Poem Called “It’s My Life, It’s my Choices”

It’s My Life, It’s my Choices,

by theamazinJ

Choices matter,
choices are personal,
choices make sense,
people may be concerned,
people may not understand,
people feel obligated to personal choices,
a personal choice is a personal choice
and nothing more and nothing less.
Personal choices help growth
whether we like it or not,
personal choices are sedimental,
personal choices are not your choices,
personal choices are the choices of the individual who makes them,
personal choices help with self-care,
personal choices help with setting and maintaining boundaries,
personal choices give everyone their own dignity and pride,
deciding on things on our own and learning
is everyone’s right and everyone’s distinctions
from another individual,
because everyone matters,
because everyone chooses their destiny,
because everyone has their own way of doing things
to decide what they feel is right at the time,
everyone makes mistakes or chooses based on their own feelings.
To be an activist,
one must know what they want,
know what they don’t want,
and fight for everything they do want.
An activist is strong willed,
an activist fights for what they believe in,
an activist uses evidence to base on their beliefs,
an activist is not influenced by others,
an activist learns everyday what works and what doesn’t,
an activist grows with the people they respect
disregarding the people that hurt them,
an activist’s life can be tough
especially when people hate what we say or do,
an activist’s life can be even tougher
when what we say or do is often put down or shut down,
but an activist must stick to their mission,
must stick to their beliefs,
and continue to support evidence for their beliefs
gaining more and more support from others.
An activist makes hard choices.
Sometimes those choices can hurt others,
and sometimes those choices can eventually change the world for the better.
Martin Luther King,Jr made choices as an activist in this manner,
Rosa Parks as part of that too,
Malcolm X made choices in similar fashion,
Ed Roberts the same,
The Black Panthers even more,
Harvey Milk too,
and yes, even Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman as well.
The list goes on and on all throughout history,
finally, its the choices we make that matter to what we believe,
its’ the choices we make that make us who we are,
and it’s the choices we make that allows our activism to succeed or not,
if there is no evidence and support, our activism failed,
however if we continue to push through and learn from what we know about ourselves,
We become part of the greatest activists who ever lived before.
It’s our choices to forgive ourselves and others that matter
to understand and learn from the past,
sometimes the choices we make is everything no matter what.
An activism moves forward without looking back.

A Poem Called “Passing”

Passing,

by theamazinJ

It’s a struggle,
I pass or at least try to pass,
It’s a struggle,
I am from autistic culture,
my mind sees all sorts of things
in this world,
my body moves in all different ways,
my voice box is different and monolithic,
my speech is radiant and unique,
my words become silent from misunderstanding,
my life is a constant battle to pass in society.
My speech speaks with very few listeners,
my movements paint with very easy ease,
my life is a constant battle to please everyone to pass,
did Frederick Douglass want to pass for the white man?
did Rosa Parks want to pass for the white woman?
Did Mozart care about what others thought when making music?
Did Andy Warhol care about what others thought of his art?
Did Andy Kaufman care about what his critics thought of his comedy?
Does Bill Gates care about what others think of what he wants to do for the world?
Does Hillary Clinton really care what anyone thinks of her?
Autistic culture is different from non-autistic culture,
disability culture is different than living without disabilities in the able-bodied culture,
black culture is different from white culture,
jewish culture is different from christian culture,
muslim culture is different from jewish and christian culture,
witch culture and other polytheistic cultures are different than monotheism,
LGBT culture is different than heterosexual culture,
females are different than males which are both different than other genders,
the binary system is broader than one would actually think,
the binary gender, the binary able-bodied culture, the binary religion,
the monolithic sexuality, the way everyone thinks is black and white.
everyone feels, thinks, speaks, and moves differently,
we need to respect each other for who we are all born as,
and we need to respect the way we all move in the world.
Yet, black and white thinking is among us all,
it’s among everyone who feels everyone in the world needs to pass
rather than be the other, rather than be a person who is who they are,
It’s fighting for the rights of people with disabilities to live our life
the way we are and fighting for universal design for inclusion in the world,
It’s fighting for black culture, indigenous culture, other people of color, muslims, Jews, polytheistic religions, and women
to be able to live life experiencing whatever way they are and whatever way they see the world,
because universal design is not just for disability culture,
it’s for everyone to live inclusively together,
without the social construction created hundreds of years ago,
living life with a more different unique social construction embedded with individual human nature
and understanding of each other,
passing is difficult for many,
passing is difficult when we cannot be accepted and respected the way we are,
the broader human culture needs to understand each other,
the broader human culture needs to accept each other,
and the broader human culture is a part of neurodivergent culture
as well as part of the culture of the norm,
if we are truly going to live a neurodiverse culture
than we need to be accepting when someone chooses to pass for norm or chooses their neurodivergence,
choosing to be whoever and whatever their brain is like in speaking, moving, and thinking with their bodies,
we choose everything by and for ourselves, we choose what we want to accept, we choose what we even want to do everyday,
the most important thing is:
We choose how we feel about ourselves and what we think of ourselves
because in the end,
it’s our choices that create us,
it’s our choices that allow us to think binary or not,
it’s our choices to accept others or not,
it’s our choices to respect everyone or not,
it’s our choices to create a new social order or continue the binary social construction
that has been around for hundreds of years,
it’s our choices to move forward in evolution or just pass,
it’s our choice to live or to die,
and it’s our choice to be the person we are by fate or by destiny of who we individually strive for
with respecting everyone.

A Poem Called “From Self-Determination to Autonomy”

From Self-Determination to Autonomy,

by theamazinJ

It’s a choice,
we own it,
we take responsibility for those choices,
every situation, every decision we make, we own
from what we want to do every time, every day, and for every thing we want.
Every choice has consequences and dignity of risk,
every choice has rewards,
every choice is what makes us real,
every choice is what makes us learn,
every choice helps us grow,
alone with choices,
alone with what we have done every day,
alone with the idea of responsibility.
No one can control another no matter what
especially with any choice an individual citizen wants to make.
It’s called dignity of faith,
it’s called presuming competence,
and most importantly,
it’s called believing that the person can think on their own
without influencing them that they can’t.
Building the arts into the decision,
creating our own destiny,
building up our own self-direction independent from others
with the support from those who will support us
no matter what, and ignoring the backlash,
ignoring the people who don’t understand until they actually do.
Awareness is the first step for everyone in knowing what to do
and be aware of who we are,
giving dignity of respect for every citizen regardless of impairments,
the ability to understand who they are as a person,
learning about themselves, and understanding the world around them
from their points of view.
When we organize to form agency of thought in a congregation of governmental thought,
we do it to organize ideas, missions,
and knowing the best way to support each other without building walls surrounding each other.
Many thoughts go too deep, many thoughts think too closely to the status quo,
and some thoughts think outside the box.
A citizen means everyone who lives in a state, a country, together united as one,
a citizen listens to other citizens and understands what everyone goes through,
because it is about autonomy which leads to interdependence which leads to self-determination
into a self-directed goal.
Many people don’t understand what autonomy does for any citizen,
and may think autonomy is not having supports.
Interdependence is about autonomically having a direction the citizen wants
with whatever works for that citizen and the supports that citizen gets,
the importance from self-determination to autonomy.
Because in the end,
it’s not only believing in ourselves,
it is believing in the citizens that reside where we are, where we live, and what we are doing,
believing in every citizen from around the world, disabled or not,
to grow, to find what works for them, to be educated, and to build support around that.
That’s what self-determination and autonomy really is!

A Poem Called “Vulnerability”

Vulnerability,

by theamazinJ

I am vulnerable
just the way you are.
I am insecure
when my safety is of concern.
I am unsure of myself when
I am always wanting to be liked,
and everyone takes advantage of that.
I am a victim of bullies and abusers,
throughout my whole life by various people in various situations.
I am a very likable person,
and everyone do love me very much.
I am easily taken advantage of,
by how I am wanting to be liked.
I have become an activist,
and know when to say yes and when to say no.
I know what choices I want every time all the time,
and everyone tries to pull me into their choices and ideas.
There is a difference between activism and self-advocacy,
and there is a struggle between the two.
The vulnerable qualities of being an activist is,
not being able to work with everyone ultimately working alone.
The vulnerable qualities of being a self-advocate is,
being told we don’t know as much as non-disabled people and being patronized.
The vulnerability we have from our disabled peers
no matter what part of the disability community,
not being respected for a voice independent from the rest of the crowd
and being ostracized for having that voice.
The vulnerability of the autistic community is,
being a shell being pushed around by every organization
that already exists.
The vulnerability of what we believe is,
changed to what many others believe within any organization.
The vulnerability of our mind and what we think,
is changed by what anyone thinks.
The vulnerability of denying the thoughts changed by someone else,
is the vulnerability of being liked by who you want to be liked by.
The vulnerability of anyone spinning a thought to a conspiracy theory or lie,
only makes us even more vulnerable and scared.
These vulnerabilities make all of us feel scared, crazy, or less than others,
but not everyone is liked by everyone and not everyone can understand each other.
Vulnerable states we are all in everyday,
create in-fighting within our minds and out-fighting between other people.
Everyone thinks they may be thinking their own thoughts,
when everyone is only thinking of what the previous person thought to them.
The vulnerable states we are in everyday,
give us a sense of reaction to be in solace,
to give what we have without expecting a reaction,
without expecting a positive or negative opinion,
and without expecting many to relate or be consumed by
what we put out there.
The vulnerable state we are in everyday,
is expected and must be accepted.
No one can control what others think nor what others say,
no one can really control anyone,
and feeling controlled is being in a state of fear.
We cannot fear what we cannot control,
We can control our own fear,
and once we control our fear,
we become less and less vulnerable to others
and more and more vulnerable as an activist
without getting involved with any one’s thoughts
and without getting involved with any organization.
Because in the end,
an organization becomes organized
from the vulnerability and fears many people have,
how many people want to belong,
how many people fear being alone,
and how any organization uses that fear against us.
The real result we want is,
having our own voice regardless of anyone else
and not allowing our voice be manipulated and controlled
by any organization or person.
The less we fear from anyone,
the more we become vulnerable to ourselves
as an activist.