Autistic people – The cultural immune system of human societies
Channel: Autistic Collaboration
Date: 03/04/2022

The formation of worker owned cooperatives offers an alternative life path, especially for autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people, because it counteracts commodification and it limits the systematic exploitation of neurodivergent people.

A NeurodiVenture  is an inclusive non-hierarchical organisation operated by neurodivergent people that provides a safe and nurturing environment for divergent thinking, creativity, exploration, and collaborative niche construction.

In Te Reo Māori the NeurodiVenture concept translates to Neurodivergent whānau. Indigenous languages like Te Reo Māori have important words for concepts that have been suppressed by colonialism.

Whānau : extended family, family group, a familiar term of address to a number of people – the primary economic unit of traditional Māori society. In the modern context the term is sometimes used to include friends who may not have any kinship ties to other members.

Whānau is much more than the Western notion of “family”. It is a deep connection, a bond that you are born into that no one can take away from you.

Takiwātanga : Autistic ways of being, takiwātanga literally means “in their own space and time.”

Most Autists are not born into healthy Autistic families. We have to co-create our whānau in our own space and time. 

In many indigenous cultures children with unique qualities are recognised, are given adult mentors with similarly unique qualities, and grow up to fulfil unique roles in their local community, connected to others with unique knowledge and insights, perhaps even in other communities. If we are embedded in an ecology of care, we can thrive and share the pain and the joy of life.

Without the support of an Autistic whānau, Autistic life feels like a life in continuous emergency mode.

Jorn Bettin, Autistic Collaboration Trust, Aotearoa
Karen Timm, Neurodivergent Infinity Network of Educators, Canada
Matty the @ExistentialAutist, United Kingdom

This presentation is part of the Intersectional Infinity Summit, March 27 to April 2, 2022 (https://sites.google.com/ddsb.ca/intersectional-infinity-summit/home).