Let go of binary distinctions, the me-you, us-them, dualistic view of everything so that the actual world can come into view for you and you can catch a glimpse of the in-between places.
Those in-between, or liminal, places, are not inside or outside the world as you understand it, but among and around it. Liminal places are neurodivergent habitat.
We neurodivergent people are like the picture that emerges in the autostereogram. Do you remember the Magic Eye pictures? They appeared to be abstract patterns but when you relax your gaze, you see beyond the noise to the three-dimensional figure hidden there.
You might be looking right at us, but what appears to you is layer upon layer of noise, blocking you from seeing the real person right in front of you.
Remove the noise and the picture is crystal clear. What picture? Our personhood.
We can all shed our illusions and share some clarity about who we are and what we need to do to come together. We may well find that the best way to start is with empathy and compassion.
I say start with love and by that, I mean fierce love.
The Tibetan Buddhists say that all sentient beings alive or in any realm are “all-mother sentient beings.” The Buddha taught that many times, throughout countless lives, all beings have been our mothers. Every being throughout the universe is thus to be honored and treasured as any good mother who loves her children.
There may be neurovariance in this iteration of our species as human beings, but we are still a family. Once we decide to come together and build a more neurodiverse world, you better believe we can and will do it.
It only takes heart.
Stick around, you won’t believe what happens next.