In the last century, we've seen many paradigm shifts, such as the decline of systematic racism and sexism, which I'll classify as the physiodiversity paradigm, which is based the idea that people who are physiologically different are of equal value. It should be noted that these changes in ideas do not exist in a vacuum; they are the result of a long history of earlier ideas. Maybe the motivation of physiodiversity diversity was a reaction against social darwinism, I don't know, but it came from somewhere. What I'd like to focus on is not the physiodiversity paradigm, but the neurodiversity paradigm, which is not merely an extension of the physiodiversity paradigm, but an entirely new way of looking at the world. I say it is the next great paradigm shift, but that's not because it's something that going to happen in the future: it's because it's something we are undergoing right now, and we can't deny it's presence. The ultimate effects of the paradigm shift cannot be known until after it completes, but it is happening.
To understand the neurodiversity paradigm, you must understand the old paradigm it is replacing. In the past, neurodiversity was seen as the divination from the norm rather than as an inherent part of society. What destroyed this model was Darwinism, and that can be seen as the first roots of the neurodiversity movement. What Darwinism did is it showed there is no such thing as normal: things were not created to some standard, there is just natural variation, and variations that survive, and does that don't. This didn't lead directly to neurodiversity though, as it first lead to the replacement idea of social darwinism, which is that while there is no "normal", there is a single most desirable mental state which evolves. This later lead to eugenics, where people sought to intervene to create the desired mental state. True neurodiversity really formed as a reaction to that idea, though even after eugenics became taboo it still took decades for neurodiversity to become popularized as eugenics merely got supplanted with psychiatry, a more positive idea, but still ultimately based on the idea of enforcing mental conformity to some ideal.
Where neurodiversity really started to shape society is with the LGBT rights movement. It needs to be understood that LGBT rights are inherently part of the neurodiversity paradigm, not the physiodiversity paradigm, even though the physiodiversity paradigm likely gave it the needed leverage. See, at the beginning of the LGBT rights movement, homosexuality was classified as a mental illness. This is actually a step up from how it was seen in the past, where is was a voluntary sin, and this it's reflection of the post-eugenics paradigm and Darwinian influence on psychology. What the LBGT movement represents is the shift from homosexuality from a deviance to a biological disposition to an aspect of neurodiversity, which reflects the the change of homosexuality from being seen as a voluntaristic behavior to a mechanical aspect of biology, to a harmless personal characteristic. For the latter to occur, the religious narrative about homosexuality had to stop being influential, as from a Christian perspective homosexuality really is a mental illness, and this is also largely in debut to a Darwinistic worldview as it contributed a lot to the loss of Christianity's influence on Western culture as natural evolution was the last nail in God's coffin as alluded to by Nietzsche. But for the final step to occur, it required a post-Darwinian worldview, as homosexuality DOES interfere with reproductive success, so it represents a shift from a Darwinian worldview to an individualistic one.
The parallel's between the LGBT and autistic right movements exist because they are ultimately part of the same movement. The autistic communities place in the neurodiversity movement is not starting it, but defining it, and since defination has been one of the largest players in the movement. The artificial division is still made between the neurodiversity movement and the LGBT movement, but LGBT movement is really a subset of the neurodiversity movement that emphasis the aspect of the mind which is sexuality. The autistic rights movement specifically is fundamentally different from the LGBT movement because autism is diagnosed as a disability which actual disabling effects, but there is no reason to assume that disability is inherently an aspect of neurodiversity. Indeed, if autism were a label born from the neurodiversity paradigm rather than the psychiatric one, the way it is used would be much different, and it would include more people who are not disabled. But because of the existing link between autism and disability and the key role of autistic advocates in advancing the neurodiversity paradigm, the movement is also advancing a paradigm shift regarding disability. Whether that actually comes to fruition is to be seen.
While neurodiversity is in debt to Darwinianism, we need to move to post-Darwinian worldview to fully realize neurodiversity, and we also need to move beyond the hedonistic individualism which allowed the LGBT movement to blossom. By that I mean we need to move away from a mechanistic view of humanity to one the views humans as agents with inherent worth, regardless of their neurology. This is an important part of the disability component, fighting for the inherent worth of the disabled. We play a key factor in bringing this to pass. In the past, psychiatry was dominated by scientists with no personal connection to the disorders they studied, they were just interested in psychology. Later on people who had family who were diagnosed were drawn to society, and started changing the industry from the inside. Oh, has it changed. Now the people with the diagnoses themselves are infiltrating the industry as they now have the means to be accepted within it, and we are having an effect. The extent of that effect is still be be determined, so the real question is are we doing all we can to make a difference, because we can make one. We can change the world, because we already are. If it becomes the world we want it to become is in our hands.
25 Oct 2016, 10:18 pm
