Spicy title, I know, but please read on. I’m not using the phrase “mental disability” like an ableist liberal would. This isn’t an insult, it’s an examination of psychology and appropriation.
Spicy title, I know, but please read on. I’m not using the phrase “mental disability” like an ableist liberal would. This isn’t an insult, it’s an examination of psychology and appropriation.
Idk, I don’t really agree with the “ASPD = apolitical” argument. I’ve been diagnosed with ASPD, and I think that it actually makes me more politically involved because I don’t inherently have the same respect for laws and conventional morality, which allows me to more easily visualize changing the societal systems we live under. Also, the lack of remorse means it’s easier for me to continually break rules I consider unjust, such as societal rules on gender expression. Lack of automatic empathy means it’s also harder for me to be manipulated by a boss, IMO.
Obviously I can’t speak for the entire ASPD population but for me, being “apolitical” would just be endorsing the status quo of society, which is unacceptable.
Overall it was an interesting and thought-provoking read, thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I would like to clarify that I don’t mean ASPD people are apolitical in their choices. Only in their instincts. Lacking the instincts for politics, your every action in relation to politics is purposeful. In some ways you have far more choice than a neurotypical. You have the negative freedom to make your own political choices without your instincts interfering. But, on the other hand, you lack the positive freedom of instincts to help you in politics.
You have the potential, I should say, to be apolitical in a way a neurotypical could never hope to match. A neurotypical doesn’t get a choice, they have to be political. The least explicit politics they can manage is centrism, while still having tons of implicit politics. You could go far beyond that. I’d like it if you didn’t, though.
Yup! In a lot of ways having ASPD is analogous to not having guardrails or safety interlocks on your brain. It won’t warn you via automatic empathy if you’re about to do something messed up, so you have to check your actions and analyze yourself much more. Interestingly, most people with ASPD who are relatively “successful” (not in prison, etc) heavily use our prefrontal cortexes much more as a compensatory mechanism similar to how blind people can get really good at hearing.
I have NPD, so I understand a lot of that. What I’m missing is an ego. My parents didn’t give Me one. I had to make My own, and it’s crap. It kept on falling apart every time it suffered a little knock, so I made it huge with lots of redundancies. Problem is, a lot of neurotypicals are personally offended by a big ego. They think My internal thoughts are an abuse against them. My NPD wouldn’t be a disability if everyone else could just get used to My private personal coping mechanisms.