emma

“In turn, they began to argue that perhaps the problems they all experienced had less to do with their brains being brokem, and more to do with societal failure to accommodate their neurological differences. They thus started to argue for what one 1997 report from the New York Times described as a form of ‘neurological pluralism’. This emphasised the need for the behaviours and processing styles of atypical people to be accepted and supported rather than framed as medical pathologies to be controlled, treated, and cured.”
― Robert Chapman, Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism

“I believe God crafted the sound of a woman’s scream,” she says, “to pierce the heart and to test our humanity, whether we still have it or whether we have left it behind. “But there are men for whom a woman’s scream is as a fist that bounces off armor. I have thought to myself, What choices does a woman have for vengeance, for justice? For we cannot simply pray. I can’t stomach my mother’s prayers. We cannot afford to wait and be still. I won’t live this way—not anymore. So when I spoke to God that morning, I decided, if I am to scream, let it be in battle. There is no chance for peace except at the point of a sword.”
― Katherine J. Chen, Joan

“What would I gain by being a man?" she says. "A cock, a deeper voice, hair across my chest. I would not become stronger. I am already strong." And, she thinks, I would inherit several weaknesses of man's nature: his lust, his boundless aggression, his desire to tame all that he touches--the beasts of the field, the earth, women. For a man cannot see anything in the world without wishing to wear it like a trophy on his back, to call himself master over it. To her, this is what it means to be a man.”
― Katherine J. Chen, Joan

“Through the neurodiversity lens I began to wonder, for instance, whether since the very start, I had been disabled by a neuronormative society. This, I came to see, had hindered my learning, my development, and my prospects right from the beginning of life. I also began to understand my trauma and mental illness as stemming from not just relative poverty and parental neglect but also a structurally ableist world.”
― Robert Chapman, Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism