I'd been hoping to finish this for Neurodiversity Celebration Week but I failed.
So this is just a rough first draft. One day it will be a children's picture book or perhaps a comic strip. The inspiration comes from reading some of Max Lucado's children's books - particularly You Are Special . I so long for and work for a world where there are neither stars nor dots. It may be a children's book but it transformed me from trying to get rid of my dots and gain stars. In neurodiversity terms, it helped me be me and not 'mask' my autism for approval and acceptance.
Anyway, this is my fable. The boxes mark each page of the one-day picture book.
I'd love you to spread the apples and oranges analogy. I've found it the easiest way to explain the concept of neurodiversity to apples and oranges. It helps others to understand what it means for me to be autistic in a world where clinical diagnosis is still only about what we can't do and ways in which we are 'defective apples'. I have also found it helps autistic people realise they are not broken or damaged.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1 The fruit bowl
In the beginning there was
a fruit bowl. It was full of delicious fruits.
Different shapes.
Different textures.
Different colours.
Different smells.
Different flavours.
They all had a place in
the fruit bowl. Together they made the most amazing display and delicious
dessert.
Somehow, over the
centuries, the fruit bowl changed shape until only the apples really fitted in.
The fruit began to forget
the old fruit bowl.
Over the generations, the
apples started to think they were the only real fruit.
After all, the fruit bowl
was designed for them. They belonged. None of the other fruit did.
After a few more
generations, all of the fruit began to believe that the only fruit were apples
so everyone must be an apple – even if they were spikey, long, tiny or embarrassingly
bright orange.
Everyone knew what a good
apple looked like. And everyone knew that defective apples didn’t fit in. They
didn’t really belong in the fruit bowl, although most fruit knew you had to be
nice and pretend they did.
Some fruit tried to
pretend they were good apples. They hid their orangeness. They never let anyone
see under their skin.
Sometimes they worked so
hard at hiding their real identity that no-one guessed they weren’t an apple.
Sometimes they even fooled themselves
into thinking they were apples.
Others had no chance of
fitting in and pretending. Everyone knew they
were defective.
Chapter 2 The rebellion
One day some of the
oranges dared to reach out to other oranges. Together, they decided that enough
was enough.
They were fed up with pretending
to be apples.
They were fed up with
being judged against the standards for ‘a good apple’.
They were fed up with the
daily choice of coping with a fruit bowl designed for apples or being excluded
from it.
They were fruit. They
belonged in the fruit bowl as much as the apples.
They began to explore what
it meant to be an orange. They began to value their shiny orangeness, their
citrus aroma, their juicy sweet tartness under the skin.
Some of them began to feel
sorry for the apples. They wanted to find a way to help apples understand the
richness that comes from a diversity of fruit.
Others were too angry and
wanted to take over the fruit bowl for themselves.
Sometimes the oranges
disagreed so much they fell out with each other.
These oranges started to
meet other oranges who still thought they were defective apples.
They shared the story of
the fruit bowl and the joy of realising they were oranges.
In time, more and more
‘defective apples’ began to realise their true identity.
And that’s where the real
adventures started.
Chapter 3 Living as an orange in an
apple-shaped world
The oranges quickly
realised that all the fruit – except the apples – faced similar challenges.
How do you learn to be yourself?
The oranges found it
helped to spend time with oranges who were already confident in their
orangeness.
How do you become a confident fruit who loves themselves?
Most of the fruit found
they needed help to heal from growing up thinking they were defective apples.
How do you thrive in an apple-shaped world?
That was the toughest
challenge of all!
The fruit often fell out
about the best way to do this.
Some said you should just learn
to fit in.
Some wanted to take over
the fruit bowl and teach the apples a lesson.
Some created a special
corner in the fruit bowl where their kind of fruit could thrive.
Some fruit worked with
other kinds of fruit to create a fruit bowl where all fruit belonged.
While the rest of the
fruit were tackling these challenges, what were the apples doing?
Chapter 4 Being an apple in an apple-shaped
world
Now the apples had their
own problems.
Even apples grew up
feeling ashamed that they weren’t perfect apples.
They felt they didn’t
really belong.
They felt they weren’t
good enough.
Most of the apples never
told anyone how they felt.
They just felt sad inside.
As the other fruit got
more confident, some of them started to talk to the apples.
They said that apples are
not the only fruit.
They told the apples that
apples aren’t even the best or most important fruit.
Some apples got angry.
They told the other fruit
that they were just bad apples.
Some apples listened.
They began to wonder if
the other fruit were right.
It was scary to imagine
their apple-shaped world changing.
Only a few apples had the
courage to accept that they were just another kind of fruit.
They asked the other fruit
if they could join them.
They said they were sorry
about how other fruit had been treated.
They asked if they could
help the other fruit to make the fruit bowl a place where all fruit belonged.
The angry apples got even
angrier when they found this out.
They started being nasty
to the apples who listened.
Chapter 5 Into the unknown
This chapter is still being written.
As the concept of neurodiversity spreads – the concept that
there are many kinds of fruit, not just apples – people are starting to react
like the fruit of this fable.
The non-apple fruit – sometimes called ‘neurodivergent’
because they diverge from a mythical ‘norm’ – are starting to form coalitions
and movements where they can tackle the challenges of being non-apples in an
apple-shaped world.
The apples – sometimes called ‘neurotypicals’ because apples
are still the standard against which all fruit are measure – are slowly
recognising that other fruit are not just defective apples.
I am autistic, officially labelled as such in 2022 at the
age of 57.
I am an orange in an apple-shaped world.
I am on a personal journey of repairing past harm, working
out what it means to be an orange, and looking for ways to co-exist not just
with apples but all the other fruit in the fruit bowl.
I invite you to join me in writing the next chapter.
