Opinion: We need awareness days, weeks and months
Written by Klatonia
Autism Awareness Week took place two weeks ago. I did not write anything for the occasion in part because I saw the very positive response it received on Europeia’s forum. I mistakenly thought that it represented the state of mind of the rest of the world.
Oh, dear Hermes, was I wrong. Every time a day or a few days are dedicated to raising awareness to anything but medical issues, I read things like this. Tell me if any sound familiar.
“Why do [insert targeted group] get a [length of time] dedicated to them?”
“Giving [targeted group] a dedicated [length of time] just keeps them isolated and ostracised; we would help them integrate better by not singling them out every year!”
And my favourite:
“What kind of egalitarian society gives minority groups dedicated days to celebrate their differences?”
Just copy/pasting them from my personal social media makes me gag a little.
So why do we need dedicated days, weeks and months for minority groups? Allow me to answer this question here on our forum, just in case we have some close-minded people who need a drawn-out explanation.
My name is Klatonia. Except for something akin to a burn-out a few years ago, my health is pretty good. If my family history predicts anything, I’ll have to watch out for high blood pressure and cancer when I get older. I have never read anywhere that there should not be awareness days for heart disease or cancer. Ever. EVER. I do not know why, but let me try an explanation. It is because it can affect any one person at any moment in one’s life. Yes, lifestyle “choices” (we could debate the accuracy of the term) can increase your chances of developing X or Y disease. More and more, we as a society (at least in the West) have begun to recognise that mental health issues are more or less out of a person’s willful control. With mental as well as physical illnesses, we readily accept to be reminded of their existence once a year. I think I can say without being cynical that it is a great opportunity for fundraising and lobbying.
Autism, because it is usually diagnosed early, is treated rather kindly in public. Well, it is treated like a disease. Which, if you think about it, it is not. It is not the populational neurological standard, but it is not a disease, either. I have read an awesome alternative term to "disease": neurodiversity.
My name is Klatonia. I am a cis white male in my 30s living in North America. As far as I know, I have no “mental issues” on the level of ADD or anything on the ASD. I did not choose to be born in the West, I did not choose to be born white, or cis, or a male, or neurologically “standard”. It is not something I could control with the right lifestyle choices or precautions. It is who I am.
The reason there are awareness days for people who do not fit the societal standard is simple, really. Add up every dedicated awareness days, weeks and months: Black History Month, LGBTQ+ History Month, Aboriginal Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility, Autism Awareness Week, and the many more I do not have on the tip of my tongue right now. Add every day that relates to a group that has been marginalised and oppressed in the past, like… I don’t know, International Women’s Day, for example. Let’s say they all add up to five months worth, or 150 days. That’s a lot, right? Why does a society dedicate 150 days out of every year to raising awareness for issues that only concern minorities, sometimes very tiny ones?
Because the cis white neurostandard Western males like myself get the other 215 days in the year.
Because while propping up disease awareness is acceptable, a lot of people still feel threatened when the issues of minorities and oppressed societal groups are brought up.
Because until the definition of what is “normal” includes every shade of the human rainbow scale, everyone needs to be reminded that we still treat some of neighbours and friends and colleagues and fellow human beings as “deviant” and “substandard”.
Because the goal is not to assimilate everyone under one homogeneous identity, but rather to celebrate the billion ways we go through this unique experience called sentient life.
And because, finally, the cis white neurostandard Western males like myself have done such a poor job of welcoming and supporting those who do not fit our homogeneous view of humankind, that I think we deserve regular reminders that the fight for equality and human kindness is never over.
Lest we forget how differences have fuelled the worst humans have to offer.
Lest we forget how bridging those differences has also brought out the best humans have to offer.
Last edited:
