Indigo child

[[File:WPonIC.jpg||thumb|right||250px|Even Wikipedia can't stand this bullshit.]]
{{newage}}{{altmed}}{{hatnote|Not to be confused with "In dingo child", which is what your child might become if you misplace it in [[Australia]].<ref group=note>Apparently, "indi'''n'''go child" [http://www.google.com/search?&q=indingo+child&nfpr=1 is a common misspelling].</ref>}}
'''Indigo children''' are people whose "[[aura]]s" are indigo in color. Allegedly, they are somehow [[Extraterrestrial|aliens]] or part alien or something. And they aren't on the [[autism|autistic spectrum]] and don't have [[ADHD]] or anything like that, so stop saying that about my precious Indigo baby ''right now''.

==Origins==
The term "indigo child" comes to us from self-described synesthete and [[psychic]] Nancy Ann Tappe, a reader of "auras":

{{quoteBox|The Indigo label describes the [[Subtle energy|energy]] pattern of human behavior which exists in over 95% of the children born in the last 10 years … This phenomena [''sic''] is happening globally and eventually the Indigos will replace all other colors.<ref>Nancy Ann Tappe, [https://web.archive.org/web/20040330135424/http://www.sentienttimes.com/04/feb_mar_04/color.htm Understanding Your Life Through Color]. Archived from sentienttimes.com, 4 March 2004.</ref>}}

The concept was further fleshed out by businessman {{wpl|Lee Carroll}} and his 
[[imaginary friend]]
 supposedly [[Channelling|channelled]] [[spirit]] guide Kryon. According to Carroll, the indigo [[children]] are some sort of next step in human [[evolution]]. However, as we blues and violets are unable to recognize them for their true potential, they end up getting classified as attention-deficit instead.

Should you ask any modern adherents of the indigo child movement, they'll deny all of this. None of them are quite sure where the name originated, but it definitely did not come from a bunch of [[New Age]] [[cranks]] and their invisible [[guru]].

==Identifying indigo children==
It used to be that indigos were easily identified by analyzing their auras. As the theorists no longer believe this, they've had to come up with some new criteria. Lee Carroll lists the following traits:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/19991127183552/http://indigochild.com/ The Indigo Children Website] [[Hay House]] published them all.</ref>

*They come into the world with a feeling of [[monarchy|royalty]] (and often act like it).
*They have a feeling of "deserving to be here", and are surprised when others don't share that.
*Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell the parents "who they are".
*They have difficulty with absolute authority (authority without explanation or choice).
*They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.
*They get frustrated with systems that are [[dogma|ritually oriented]] and don't require creative thought.
*They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (nonconforming to any system).
*They seem [[psychopath|antisocial]] unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like [[consciousness]] around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other [[human]] understands them.
*[[Education|School]] is often extremely difficult for them socially.
*They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did").
*They are not shy in letting you know what they need.

So, indigo children are entitled, self-important, antisocial, tactless, disorderly, bratty, rigid in thought, ''very'' rebellious, and have issues with empathy. Clearly, the indigo generation will herald [[objectivism|a new golden age]]. A less modern mind might see this list as attributes that could be subjectively applied to almost any child with equal accuracy, suggesting very little predictive power. What {{wpl|Forer effect||?}}

Indigo children have had time to grow up into indigo adults and were neither extraordinary nor changed the world.{{fact|joke}}

==Crystal children==
Important new arrivals are the [[crystal]] children. There is disagreement over exactly what a crystal child is. 

Crystal children ''"have a [[Crystal woo|crystal-colored]] [[aura]]"'', whatever that means. Anyway, crystal children are more peaceful than indigo children, [[magic]] happens around them, they like to play with crystals, and they may start talking late but communicate [[telepathy|telepathically]]. Like indigo children, crystal children have heightened [[psychic]] abilities, so it goes on. Crystal children have been around since about the start of the 21<sup>st</sup> century and will change the world when they grow up. Alternatively, there have always been a few crystals around; [[Jesus]] was one of them, that's why the word Christ is like the word crystal (a claim that makes linguists facepalm, since the two words are etymologically unrelated and just happen to sound alike ''in English''). Sources agree there are more of them now,<ref>[http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-crystal-children.htm What are Crystal Children?];[https://web.archive.org/web/20050527081221/http://www.angeltherapy.com/article1.php Indigo, Crystal and Rainbow Children];[https://web.archive.org/web/20040506015108/http://www.byregion.net/articles-healers/Crystal_Children.html The Attributes of a Crystal Child]</ref> and it's totally not because the idea's trendy in New Age circles at the moment.

There are also [[rainbow]] children; again, people can't agree exactly what a rainbow child is. Some say rainbow child is another name for a crystal child. [[Doreen Virtue#Indigo crystal and rainbow children|Doreen Virtue]] disagrees and claims rainbow children are different and even more special than crystals. Others say rainbow children are the children of crystal children.

==Fictional precedent==
The concept of a generation of human children transitioning into a "next stage" of human [[evolution]], complete with psychic powers, has its roots in mid-20th century [[science fiction]] related to superhumans and telepaths. For instance, the description of Indigo children and their so-called "destiny" to be enlightened alien wunderkinds is awfully similar to what happens in the renowned 1953 science fiction novel {{wpl|Childhood's End|''Childhood's End''|,}} by [[Arthur C. Clarke]]. Other examples of this trope include John Wyndham's ''The Midwich Cuckos'' (which is a more sinister take on the idea), Olaf Stapledon's ''Odd John'', Theodore Sturgeon's ''More Than Human'', and arguably Marvel Comics' ''X-Men'' franchise. One wonders whether [[plagiarism|someone read it and decided to lift the idea]] in order to sell it to insecure parents who want to be told their children are special and unique.

The most notable difference, however, between this kind of woo and the sci-fi stories that very clearly inspired it is that the downsides and troubling implications to having such powers as well as the social commentary and themes depicted in these narratives (the "utopia" from ''Childhood's End'' leading to humanity being ruled over by aliens who literally resemble [[demons]], ''More Than Human'''s gestalt superhumans being abused and marginalized from society, ''Midwich Cuckos'' as a possible allegory for the Cold War and fears over parenthood<ref>https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/midwich-cuckoos-politics-of-parenthood/</ref>) are entirely absent and instead replaced with empty, feel-good rhetoric about "cosmic love", "lightworkers", "expanding consciousness", and other New Age gibberish.

More darkly, the idea being popularized in Japan during the 1990s in the form of the psychically gifted "Newtypes" in the anime series ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' and its numerous sequels was exploited by the [[Aum Shinrikyo]] cult in their recruitment efforts, much to the chagrin of those who worked on the series.<ref>https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2020/02/23/yoshikazu-yasuhiko-confirms-he-is-working-on-a-new-anime-project-related-to-first-gundam</ref>

==Effects==
===Burden upon the kids===
Telling kids that they have [[supernatural]] powers could result in confusing or scaring them, or making them think they're better than everyone else.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228097582_From_Changelings_to_Crystal_Children_An_Examination_of_'New_Age'_Ideas_About_Autism From Changelings to Crystal Children: An Examination of ‘New Age’ Ideas About Autism]</ref>

Indigo children, encouraged by their parents, may begin espousing frightening [[paranormal]] beliefs. For example, one small "indigo child" said she didn't like it "when [[Satan]] tries to come in my head."<ref>[https://www.houstonpress.com/news/alien-ated-youth-6586269 Alien-ated Youth]</ref> A boy named Boriska Kipriyanovich, claiming to have been a Martian in a past life, told people that 2009 and 2010 would be years of horrible crisis.<ref>[https://sites.google.com/site/cosmicchurchoftruth/posted-articles/indigochildrenboriskaindigoboyfrommarspredictsmammothcatastrophesin2009 Indigo Children: Boriska, indigo boy from Mars, predicts mammoth catastrophes in 2009]</ref> While some kids are mature for their age, they're still kids, and these scary beliefs aren't exactly good for them.

===Disability denialism===
{{cquote|The view in medicine is that ADHD is a defect. It's a disorder. If you're a parent, the idea of 'gifted' is much more appealing than the idea of a disorder.|||David Cohen<ref>[https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005-05-31-indigo-kids_x.htm Indigo kids: Does the science fly?]</ref>}}

Claiming to have an "indigo child" can be one way to deny that a child has a disability like [[autism]] or [[Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder|ADHD]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/fashion/thursdaystyles/are-they-here-to-save-the-world.html Are They Here to Save the World?]</ref><ref>[http://skepdic.com/indigo.html Indigo child]</ref> They may use evidence of a high [[IQ]] as proof that the child is not disabled.<ref>[https://listverse.com/2015/10/12/10-bizarre-aspects-of-the-indigo-children-movement/ 10 Bizarre Aspects Of The Indigo Children Movement]</ref> (Apparently nobody told them that people with ADHD and/or autism can be intelligent too.) Why acknowledge that they're neurodivergent when you can instead pretend they're capable of telepathy and seeing the future?<ref>[http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/3822/ Indigo Children See The Future]</ref>

Furthermore, portraying the disabled as mystical saviors of the human race also has uncomfortable parallels with the {{wpl|magical negro}} stereotype but with a ableist sci-fi twist, where instead of a relationship defined by racial difference (I.E. the friendly, wise black janitor with no backstory or purpose other than to help the white protagonist), is one centered around ability (An "indigo" child diagnosed with Autism acting as a spiritual guide to their neurotypical parents towards cosmic enlightenment and understanding). In effect, both concepts ultimately use supposedly “positive” attributes to dehumanize those on the very bottom of society as overly mystical beings, as way of making marginalized people appear less threatening (but otherwise subservient) to the privileged and powerful.

Recognizing the positives of conditions like autism and ADHD isn't necessarily a bad thing. But denying that the conditions exist, and refusing to pursue diagnosis and support, can leave kids without the help they need.

==Notable believers==
[[Jenny McCarthy]] used to believe that she was an indigo and her son was an even more evolved crystal child. She even ran a website &mdash; ''Indigo Moms'' &mdash; that served as a meeting place for parents of indigos and crystals. The site vanished in 2007, around the time Jenny got her degree from the "University of [[Google]]" and decided that her "crystal child" was [[Vaccine hysteria|vaccine damaged]]<ref>The Wayback Machine sees all &mdash; [http://web.archive.org/web/20061203045246/www.indigomoms.com/index2.html The last version of Indigo Moms]</ref> and his autism is definitely ''not'' due to genetics the way he had supposedly been a "crystal" by virtue of genetics.

[[Andrew Basiago]] claims to have been an indigo child.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091113085916/http://www.projectpegasus.net/andrew_d_basiago Project Pegasus website]</ref>

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120516011723/http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&obj_id=73891&filter=discussed Are you a normal person or an indigo, crystal, or Rainbow child ?] This has an apparently unstandardized quiz; there is no chance to answer questions with 'None of the above'. Also, there are a lot of typos ... Orthography Police beware!

*[http://www.indigotest.org/indigo-child-test/ 23 "questions" that apparently determine if you're "indigo".] This one has no typos.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Autism woo]]
[[Category:Ableism]]
[[Category:Mental health woo]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Parenting]]

Categories: Autism woo, Ableism, Mental health woo, New Age, Parenting