{"id":2205,"date":"2013-04-19T07:30:08","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T11:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/tsparents\/?p=2205"},"modified":"2013-04-19T07:30:08","modified_gmt":"2013-04-19T11:30:08","slug":"conditional-corner-we-are-all-neuroatypical-x-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/tsparents\/conditional-corner-we-are-all-neuroatypical-x-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Conditional Corner: We are all neuroatypical X-Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conditional Corner is a series that runs Fridays on TSParentsOnline. All stories, including this one by Vrinda Pendred, were originally published at Conditional Publications<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

OK, who watched X-Men 3: The Last Stand<\/em> and felt like, in many ways, it was the story of their life?\u00a0 Not with me?\u00a0 Let me explain.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell: The authorities have discovered a new drug to “cure” the mutants of their “abnormalities.”\u00a0 Mutants queue up in the thousands to receive this “cure,” but Magneto does everything in his power to sabotage it.\u00a0 Magneto believes the mutants are special for their “unnatural” abilities.\u00a0 He thinks they should revel in their differences.\u00a0 He takes this view to the extremes, sadly\u2026but each time I\u2019ve watched the film, I couldn\u2019t help thinking how much it was like the struggle of living with a neurological condition.<\/p>\n

There are “cures” out there, and they are unarguably a godsend for people who can\u2019t function in life without them\u2026but for those of us who \u2013 if properly motivated \u2013 could<\/em> find alternative means of dealing with these conditions\u2026do we need<\/em> a “cure?”\u00a0 Are we that damaged, or do we just have different types of brains that lead to different thinking styles, different ways of feeling and responding, different abilities (just like everyone in the world, really)?<\/p>\n

They called it “The Last Stand” \u2013 I know where I stand on these issues, but where do you?<\/p>\n

I suppose I\u2019m a bit more like Professor Xavier: I believe in allowing the \u2018mutants\u2019 to make up their own minds on this subject, rather than tricking and bludgeoning them into agreeing with my perspective, as Magneto did.\u00a0 But for what it\u2019s worth, I like to think that there are darker sides to these conditions that we should fight.\u00a0 It\u2019s wrong to sink into them until they consume us and we lose ourselves.\u00a0 That<\/em> is illness.\u00a0 Some people can\u2019t help falling prey to this illness, because their brains won\u2019t allow it, and I appreciate they need the drugs.<\/p>\n

But for the rest of us, perhaps we\u2019re overmedicating \u2013 and not just with prescriptions.\u00a0 Perhaps we spend too much time feeling shameful about our brains being a little bit different, and we forget that all<\/em> brains are different, that there is no such thing as a normal brain.\u00a0 Perhaps we forget that our brains have made us who we are, through chemicals, neurons and the life experience they have given to us.<\/p>\n

Do we really hate ourselves so much that we\u2019d risk losing our personalities (those drugs are definitely mind-altering \u2013 I speak from experience) just to remove symptoms that are often only so bad because others around us don\u2019t accept them?<\/p>\n

I have said for years that if the world accepted our differences, we could find a way to live comfortably enough with a vast proportion of our symptoms.\u00a0 This was the inspiration behind my story The Royal Bank of Scotland<\/em>.\u00a0 To add to that story, perhaps in such an acceptant world, we would also feel less afraid to seek help for the symptoms that aren\u2019t so easy to manage, because there would be less stigma involved.<\/p>\n

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