I
am not a label. I know this sounds like a common sense thing to say.
I realize that we are constantly imbued with messages that tell us
that we are each individuals and that we need to rise to the
challenge of individuality in this society. The thing is though, it
is most definitely, NOT a common sense thing to declare, for if it
was, we wouldn’t constantly be seeking to label and control others
based on who we perceive them to be due to a few arbitrarily assigned
words. That we think we can do this with any degree of efficacy is in
itself an absurd proposition.
We’ve
all been labelled throughout our lives. Here are a couple of mine:
aspergers, nerd, geek, dork, loser, epileptic, asthmatic,
introverted, socialist, and the list goes on. Some of these, I’ve
been assigned by others, some of them I have claimed for myself.
Regardless, despite where they have come from and the associated
emotional baggage that comes with all of them, none of them tell the
whole story of who I am as a person. Each word attempts to paint a
whole picture of who someone is while lacking ninety percent of the
puzzle pieces needed to complete the image. Doing this to
someone...ANYONE...is dangerous because you are reducing the beauty
and complexity of a full, sentient human being down to a few
descriptor words at best. How can that do anything but remove
someone’s sense of agency and self worth in the process?
Rather than use this piece as merely a polemic
about the dangers of labels, however, I’m going to actually SHOW
you, dear reader, how incomplete a picture they present, by using my
own life as an example. Rather than assign me or anyone else a label,
let’s instead try to remember some of their worth as a human being.
Instead of thinking of me merely as a case of mild, high-functioning
Aspergers, consider the fact that I have experienced terrible
bullying and yet still manage to approach life with a positive and
happy attitude, or that I am an accomplished writer, with a Master’s
degree in History and a Bachelor of Education. When you call me a
dork or a nerd, remember that I am also a loving older brother to
three younger siblings, with whom video games were often a source of
bonding. Even in terms of the positive labels I’ve embraced, they
only go so far. Instead of leaving it at calling me a socialist,
recognize that I’m also a neurodiversity activist, a supporter and
ally of the feminist and LGBTQ movements and a full believer in
sexual positivism as a force for good in our society. Basically,
instead of counting me and countless others as mere numbers, members
of the faceless masses of humanity, take a moment to get to know us.
Everyone deserves the chance to be known as a human first and
foremost.
To
label someone is to attempt to squeeze someone into a box they were
never meant to fully fit in to begin with. It is an attempt to reduce
the boundless wonders, talents, failings, triumphs, ugliness and
flawed beauty that is any one member of the human species to a single
descriptive word. It is, quite frankly, an insult to each and every
human on this planet.
It
is high time we started doing better. The time has come for us to
start embracing each other as members of the human family, not merely
words.
I
know we can do it.
Yours in Diversity,
Adam Michael
