I am an autistic, ADHD, 2e, queer human. I am also a parent, a spouse, and a long time meditator with a special interest in Buddhist studies and psych0logy. At the moment I have a very strong interest and fire around the word decolonizing. I cant find a way to talk about who I am with out this world. This word, this concept, has taken a long time for me to understand. It seems to create more divide that I wish it did when its actually such a unifying term. to me, it stands for, who am I when I am not defining, assigning and comparing my self and other’s worth to a standard, to a hierarchy of value. Its hard to talk about who I am with out talking about all the things I thought I was supposed to be based on these ideas, these assignments. And then all the things I didn’t know I actually was bc of them. I was 38 before I came out of the closet, I was 39 by the time I was diagnosed as autistic. I was 40 by the time I realized I had Bipolar disorder. Even writing this brings back the old straight jacket that I didn’t even know I had on. As I was going through this midlife awakening I had a close childhood friend ask me “why do you need so many labels, cant you just be your own kind of weird” (coming from a place of always having loved me exactly for me). My answer was that I wouldn’t need or want these labels if I didn’t have to fight for the legitimacy of these ways of existing. Because she is a thoughtful human and an activist in her own right she responded with awe and appreciation at the wide spread applicability of this. I don’t think about being queer or neurodivergent or any other label of identity when i’m home with the kids and wife or playing with the dogs, or in a special interest deep dive. I am just me. But in the world that assumed that my ways of being simply weren’t, or were broken or flawed, I wear these labels, these identities, as an act of fierce self love. And in like, I aspire to help others find whatever truths of their suchness happens to be. We all already are, under the assumptions and standards. We all deserve this freedom to be and to be valuable as is.