I found the reading this week entitled, “How We Find Ourselves;
Identity Development and Two-Spirit People” by Alex Wilson to be very enlightening.
Wilson discussed two-spirited people- a topic that I really had not known much
about- and how society fails to accept those who are different. It was so sad
to read about the injustices and discrimination that the Indigenous American
culture faces at the hands of the government. In the article, the Five Stage
Minority Identity Development Model is discussed which basically outlines the
stages in which a minority develops their identity. The creator of this model,
Susan Barrett, created this to “encompass the experiences of all others,
including those of us who have been “othered” because of racial and sexual
identity.”
After reading through the different stages and learning how
being considered different causes you to have these complexes and suffer
through unnecessary shame and feelings like somethings wrong with you it made
me question how much simpler everything
would be if we would just stop trying to make everyone the same. This relates
to Rosie King’s TED talk, “How autism freed me to be myself.” In her talk, she
discusses the benefits and downfalls to having autism. While there are some
hard things about having autism, she says she wouldn’t change it because it
allows her to be creative and be able to communicate with her brother and
sister who are also autistic. This got me thinking about what I might be missing
out on by trying so hard to conform to society’s standard of acceptable. As
someone that struggles with mental illness, the decision to take medication was
initially made with the hope that it would allow me to live a safe and fulfilling
life. But, in my opinion, the real goal for them was to fix whatever was “wrong”
in my head and make it so that I was “normal”. Who decides what is normal
though? Similar to Rosie King, before I took medication- I was able to escape
the real world with my imagination and feel free from society. That said, I
could not sit through a class, or even make it to class sometimes because of it
and eventually decided to just drop out of high school. While medication made
it easier to feel “normal”, it took away a big part of who I was. Yes, it
allowed me to better function in society, graduate, and be more productive, but
it also took away my ability to see things differently. It is understandable to
see why medication might be necessary for some people but it seems like a lot
of these mental illnesses are exacerbated on those who are different by making
them feel like something is wrong with them. I feel like it would be best to
find some sort of balance for people who deal with these issues instead of
being so quick to medicate them. It all seems to go back to the fear of the
unknown. People are scared of what they don’t know.
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI find myself thinking about Native Americans and the injustice that they face on a daily basis, as well as other marginalized groups all the time. There was a thought that occurred in my mind during this weeks assigned readings and I should have wrote it down because I cannot remember it, but it seems like it relates to your post in a way and I am trying to figure out how to best put it in words. I like your comment, “This got me thinking about what I might be missing out on by trying so hard to conform to society’s standard of acceptable.” This reminded me of when I was 13 years old, I was diagnosed bipolar, then when I was 18 years old before my firstborn, I was diagnosed with Manic Depression. After my third pregnancy, I spoke with a social worker at the hospital and expressed my concerns of depression as I was dealing with a lot of stress in my life, due to past and current trauma at the time, all while trying to do the best that I can do, being limited and self-insecure as I felt I was. She said that I should not label myself bipolar for something that was almost 15 years ago which was probably due the witness of domestic violence. I decided not to not see a doctor or take medication because I was unsure about it, I didn’t want to feel like there was something wrong with me, I felt like it was all in my head and I had to take control of my life to make it the way I want and need to be for myself and my children. I had taken medication before in my teenage years but, it was not really working efficiently due to some circumstances. I still wonder if I should take anti-depressant medication but I am afraid to. I am now realizing how I am so different than everyone else and I feel like there is something wrong with me sometimes due to the world around me that I feel like I do not fit in in so many different aspects. If I feel like this is because of my current life situation and uncertain worldviews due to all of the chaos in this world that is so heartbreaking and overwhelming, along with the restraints that I feel in my life, I can only imagine what marginalized individuals experience who face much worse discrimination and oppression due to injustice. I have a moderate hearing loss and it affects my life in different ways, which I feel like distorts my reality in some way and is intimidating, but I do my best to keep up with everything around me. I decided to stop pressuring myself about being so for sure and certain about my life and everything in it, what I am doing and going to do so that I could be on the same track with everyone else. I have made it this far and still face insecurities but I am still learning how to accept that I am different, and what that means, to be me. I look at the world around me and see differences everywhere. I despise anything that is harmful to the meaning of life but I have tried to come to understanding reality as for what it really is. “Who decides what is normal?” is a good question. To feel abnormal is not a good feeling and there needs to be a better approach and method to serving those who are different.
Hi Joanna!
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your blog, you made the point of how much simpler things would be if we stopped treating everyone the same, and you are completely right. I feel like people have this predisposed idea of treating people “equally”, and by this I mean that they want to overlook what makes you different from the rest and treat you as if your differences did not matter. This way of thinking should be applied in one’s day to day life as a way of being mindful to others and respecting someone’s differences. I appreciate you opening up about your mental illness and sharing your story!
I enjoyed reading about the Five Stage Minority Identity Development Model, because I feel like I could heavily relate to it. Coming from a religious Latinx background, I knew that I could not be open about my sexuality in my environment. Growing up I was shown to turn my back against LGBTQ+ community, but I never felt comfortable with it. I was even more uncomfortable when I would see how my family would react towards others who were quite open with it. When I would be around other members of the Latinx community, mostly older ones, they would remind me a lot of my family so I would continue keeping to myself. I attended a high school that was all minorities; I remembering discovering that most of the girls on my soccer team were queer. That is when I realized how free I could be around those who come from similar backgrounds as me and immerse myself in the positivity. I took pride in my culture as well as my sexuality, and allowing those two to blend has allowed me to be my own person.
Joanna-
ReplyDeleteThe article “How We Find Ourselves; Identity Development and Two-Spirit People” really stuck out to me as well. Before reading it, I didn’t know much about what Two-Spirit people either. It makes me so sad that I didn’t know about this group of people, because that means that aren’t represented proportionately. Also, it means there problems aren’t being recognized and they aren’t being integrated fairly into our society. Also, it makes me so sad that there are models with different phases someone goes through while experiencing and discovering themselves as a minority. It isn’t right that we can study something like that. It shouldn’t exist.
Thank you for being brave and telling us that you have a mental illness, not all people have the courage to do so. But I wish so badly we lived in a world where it was simple enough that we could accept everyone and not make anyone feel different, or less than us. But unfortunately, we live in a society that needs to have the definition of “normal”, and because of that, we are failing to create a lens that sees everyone as equal. I took a class this summer called Individual Differences. It discussed different mental disabilities and illnesses. Like the TedTalk about autism, I learned a lot about something I thought was black and white. We need to start educating the younger generations to know about mental disabilities and integrate students living with them into regular classes so that the stigma between students in preap/ap classes and students who aren’t is taken down. Although that is a bit different than mental illness, it is a start to begin seeing everyone equally, starting at a young age.