NEURO CRITICAL and GENDER CRITICAL

NEURO CRITICAL - understanding Neurological Reality and Neurological Differences between Brains // GENDER CRITICAL - understanding Biological Reality and Biological Differences between Sexes

NEURO CRITICAL - Understanding Neurological Reality and Neurological Differences between Brains

GENDER CRITICAL - Understanding Biological Reality and Biological Differences between Sexes

WHAT IS NEURO CRITICAL?

Understanding Neurological Differences between Brains

Acknowledgement that Brains Matter

Builds the foundation for all neurological understanding, education, advocacy, rights, eg. Autism Advocacy

People cannot change brains

Neuro Affirming Care affirms that you are your neurology and doesn’t try to “fix” it, instead it embraces acceptance 

This is called Neurological Reality

This is not Neurophobia

Evidence based

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A conversation between a Neuro Critical person and a Neuro-denier:

What’s the difference between an Autistic person and a Narcissist? 

“Nothing! You’re not allowed to talk about differences, that’s neurophobic! You bigot!”

What about the differences between Autism and Schizophrenia? You know, so you can treat them with the correct support or medication? Is it okay to be Neuro Critical in these circumstances? 

“No, you right wing monster! You’re not being progressive!” 

Am I allowed an Autism-only space where I am free to associate with other autistic people and be free from stigma? 

“No, for god’s sake are you not listening!? People who are not autistic reserve the right to invade those spaces and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

***

Oh shit, looks like all the Autism Advocates are about to be in big trouble! Turns out they’ve been pedalling a false narrative that autism exists and is somehow different to things that are not autistic. Oops! All that research gone to waste! They best start denying everything they know before they get found out for being bigots! STOP AUTISM ADVOCACY! It’s not inclusive to people who are not autistic! 

People who advocate for Autism are what we call Neuro Critical, and this means they believe there are differences between brains and that you can’t change brains and that brains matter in certain circumstances. EVIL BASTARDS! They must be stopped from spreading this hateful rhetoric! Join me in the latest Social Justice Movement by spreading the word that Neuro Critical = Neurophobia. Let’s not allow them to spread hate and misinformation about brains! It’s bad for society and we don’t need to accept the brains we’re born with, nor should being born autistic matter - it doesn’t! I don’t recognize your autism at all! That would make me neurophobic wouldn’t it? Duh! 

*****

Imagine if we told autistic people that people who understand the difference between autistic ppl and neurotypical ppl (Neuro Critical) is akin to hate? Autistic ppl wouldn't stand a chance at forging connections with other people in society if they thought neuro critical was hateful and bigoted. Nor would they be able to advocate for autism if it was classified as Neurophobia to talk about autism and exclude neurotypicality from autism research or autism-only spaces. Neuro Critical in this sense builds the foundation that enables Autism Advocacy - highlighting the neurological differences between autistic and neurotypical so we can provide tailored, appropriate support when and where necessary. (OMG, such a confusing concept, it must be phobia! It's just like those transphobic Gender Critical’s talking about biology and stuff!). 

Autism Advocates need to join in the conversations and not shut down Gender Critical Autistic Voices, especially if that is because you are misinformed about what gender critical is. (Does seeing this comparison between NEURO CRITICAL & GENDER CRITICAL help you see how perfectly ordinary it is and based in reality, not phobia?)

We should be engaging with each other and having meaningful discussions, respectful arguing of points and nuanced perspectives that allow for open dialogue and curious minds to come together and learn.

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You may be wondering why I left the word IMMUTABLE out of this?

Gender Critical talks about the immutability of sex. This is not the same in brains. 

“No, the brain is not immutable...but is instead a dynamic organ that changes throughout life. This process is known as neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to adapt, evolve, and grow throughout life. 

The brain's ability to change is due to its ability to grow new nerve connections in response to sensory stimulation from the environment. This process can be seen in many ways, such as when someone learns a new language, recovers from an injury, or adapts to a new environment. 

The brain's health can also be improved by making certain lifestyle choices, such as: Eating a healthy diet, Getting enough sleep, Exercising regularly, Relaxing the mind, and Building a network of friends and family.”

Brains, unlike sex, are not immutable. Brains are neuroplastic which means they can change, such as they can repair themselves after injury/trauma, we can learn and expand and create new neural pathways etc. However, we cannot for example stop being autistic. Nor can someone turn into an autistic person. Nor should we ever deny a patient's autism when helping them. We ARE autistic neurologically and THAT cannot be changed. My words on this image are in reference to neuro affirming care for autistic ppl which works WITH your autism, not against it. Autism therapies used to be based on helping you be more neurotypical (as in, less autistic aka conversion therapy) which was harmful to autistic ppl. This is not talking about therapy for things like overcoming trauma, unlearning bad behaviours, help with OCD, etc, which we can help to change through therapy and with the helpful reality of our brains being neuroplastic to allow these changes with practice. The only way you can help your brain is by accepting it, understanding it and working with it and appropriately pushing it to get better. We wouldn’t deny a depressed person is depressed, we would seek to understand their depression and help them learn new ways to get through depression and build new neural pathways to a healthier mental health. We wouldn’t deny an autistic person is autistic. We work with reality and grow and expand from there. Gender affirming care goes against biology and affirms we are not our biology - which is harmful. At no point ever has a person biologically changed sex. They are not plastic like brains with the ability to change like that - just like you can’t change from autistic to not autistic. If a schizophrenic person took medication to stop their symptoms, they are still schizophrenic, they haven’t changed.