My reason for being Depressed is that I was born, I am not "faking it".

In fact, most of the time I am faking being happy. Telling someone who is mentally fragile to just take pills is silly to me. Telling a Black person in America is failing to recognize the generational trauma inflicted throughout history (note: A combination of medication, therapy, exercise, and building a strong emotional support circle is what has helped me throughout the years).

In 2016 Katie McMurray, STH founder, began to open up and ignore the societal barriers that she was experiencing raising a son who is autistic. For many years it was a lonely journey, as it is for many. With this piece, she hoped to build a community of support and inclusion. She posted this on her personal social media and was overwhelmed by the love and responses. 

She shares it here in hopes it will help others know they are not alone. 

“I know why I have spent my time trying to hide autism, because my son doesn’t fit the box society has put autism in. No one with autism does.”

Amelia #actuallyautistic, vulnerably explains her experience with therapists, who had good intentions, but missed what was needed. "We avoid labels like ADHD, OCD, Autism, PTSD like the plague. It enforced, that even you, see them as a badge of everything I can't do." 

Rather than badges and labels of deficits, they can also be those of empowerment.

You or someone near you is likely to be neurodivergent. Thank goodness for that neurodiversity. My life would not be the same without it, and neither would yours. For most, it’s better because of it.

What is neurodiversity?