Dont Go There

Lets see... Title a post, "Dont Go There" and then do....go there I mean.

Two days ago I was writing about learning to use my *indoor voice* and today it may seem that Im shouting again. As much as I continue to feel that debates (in all the context that I see) have a part of representation missing, me becoming a representative within these debates would not serve anyone. Still something has to be said somewhere.

First of all, what Im saying is not due to my lack of education of the subject. I have considered that possibility alot. Thats not it.

This is not a position that any disability or civil rights movement has ever survived without. Certainly many felt that it was not the right approach but dominant veiws, positions, and what ultimately become routes, are not exempt from the expressions that describe alternatives. They will (as they all ways have) *only* survive with the alternatives being expressed in one way or another.

While what Im saying is a road less traveled, it may have too often been seen as an exit when to do so was ultimately excluded by those who didnt want to consider it.

Heres what Im seeing as the difficulty: I cant and wont be able to carry off the responsibility of what is included in revolutionary veiws or ideals. I respect revolutionaries but I cant be one. At least not unless I give up on the very ideals that would make my position revolutionary in the first place. I wont do that. Im not trying to have it both ways. My way will have a practical place and a way for me and others to use it *when* we can better define it. You know what I mean?

You see leadership is decribed in societal norms that are too confining to the typical common person. Therefore someone who express's what is seen as a revolutionary idea will be labeled a revolutionary idealist and be subjected to the same scrutiny, that in my case would be contrary to the same revolution that I feel is important.

Movements need leaders and the ideals of a movement must be debated and subjected to scrutiny. While the autism advocacy movement cant afford to exist without remembering the history of the civil rights movement and the disability movement that has gone before it, there are new things to consider about the year of 2006 and how the landscape of lots of things have changed. Also, how autism as a spectrum is defined now, creates new challenges of more creative ways to define advocacy within this diverse environment.

Scrutiny, debate, refinement of objective, and even movement leaders are not only important they are necessary within the context of: Most people not ready for anything that doesnt include these standards. This cannot be dismissed. But the disability and civil rights movements did not revolve just around just its leaders. At least they have never been confined to what the majority of the public sees. It took many people who were just speaking up and challenging conformist's ways. This was going on in places without T.V.s and computors and it is continuing in places where people still dont. The question is how will the internet change to include more and more people. It must or fall prey to every movement of exclusion that has gone before it. Exclusion designed as inclusion. The oldest tool of exclusion known to human kind.

Disability and civil rights movements have not in anyway met their objectives but we must think about how they have existed and grown. They were not always subjected, to computor protocol, intellectualism, and they certainly didnt occur by leadership making all the decisions about how to challenge the discrimination. NO!!!! The changes came about with lots of people challenging discrimination in lots of different ways in every day life. (one more time for old time sake) Get it? Come on. Think.

Parallel positions are only alternate positions of power, if power is the ojective or the means to it. Neither is necessarily the case. At least not in the way that term is most often used.

Exclusion by inclusion. The computer age is not just liberating. We must remember how its creating its own conformity that must be challanged. Thats where I and others like me come in. Just like many environments that people like me dont fit into....WE ARE HERE FOR A REASON! The internet revolution must not play such a dominant role that it doesnt include those who werent cut out to be revolutionaries. No movement of its kind has survived such restrictive paths. It may seem that way to the majority but thats not anyones history. The history books have never recorded all the revolutionary ways that occur more silently in the midst of AND in the aid of the larger objective.

I cant be a leader, a debater, or even a revolutionary amongst other revolutionaries. Its not just that I dont want the responsibility of what comes with that, nor is it that Im just not ready for it. I cant take my place within the sequence of a line when Im looking for a more plural parellel and advocating for others who are like me. We can respect those who do take that position and even add to the cause but we are the cause.

Protocol and intellectualism can continue to help define standards, fight injustices, change policies and ultimately promote awareness. But never at the expense of those who cant and/or wont follow any conformity or very few standards. We dont all have to do that to have a place.

Telling things that I know will always come at a price. It has already cost me and others who know a big price. Many of us have been held hostage for what we feel we must report. But like many others, we are not interested in being spotlighted or attacked for our insistance on not being quiet. It will help others. However, I can never sell what I dont have.

What I am suggesting to approach on this blog page is not that revolutionary as it is something that is usually catagorized as revolutionary. Many people feel as I do and want to approach things as I do and I can make it possible but not by becoming the very thing that we are trying to avoid.

Part of it is that we dont have the skills to approach the task that we are told we must in order to overcome our " position".
Part of it is that the ideals of position are the very thing that we feel got us here in the first place and we know that others would pay the price as we did to get past where we are. We are not willing to pay a price that would be contary to the very goal we are trying to attain. What good would that do?

Did I "go there"?

I have already presented my goals for this page and will cotinue to try to do so. Any questions that help me do that are appreciated.

Again a diversity movement cannot survive seeing all expressions of diversity as being in oppostion or an attempt to redirect movement. That has never worked.

As promised(1 s) about traffic (2 Fs): The human heart is capable of creating roads to include all diversity. Its not overly idealistic to believe that such compassion can create the resources to build them. Its the only truly practical solution there is.