the kindest demon

I am honestly surprised that there is not an autistic-spectrum FONSFAQ for 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth, and I do not think I have the time or energy to host one myself.

I do, though, want to discuss how nonlinear thinking affects the way in which I write, and how the process of translating conceptual, vaguely verbal ideas into coherent written structures works, at least for me. In some ways, this applies to everyone; in others, it does not. Some people tend to be able to convert the ideas more quickly than others; for others, the translation time is quite slow, and there can sometimes be a significant "latency period."

When I have something to write, I start off with concepts that are connected in my mind, like "selfhood," "plurality," and "gender identity." (I use these examples, because that is the content of the paper I am working on, at least in a broader sense.) It is a whole being filled in with its parts: general to specific. The concepts are there; it is a matter of translation, reinterpretation, and conversion to change "Noëlese" to coherent, readable thoughts to share with others. The thoughts exist in cognitive groupings that make sense to me, and can be organised into an essay, but they would be more difficult to follow for someone other than me (or some of my headmates) unless I reorganise them. For instance, the paper that Kerry and I are writing has already been "finished," conceptually, in our head, but there has been a significant amount of "latency" involved.
( The remainder is under this cut. )

"I've heard mentions of neurodiversity and/or neural-generated and I wouldn't mind reading your viewpoints or thoughts on that subject. It's not an area I know a great deal about."

Neurodiversity is the concept that "atypical" forms of brain-wiring should be treated as valid and acceptable in society. This would apply to autistics, plurals, and other people whose brains do not work "typically." Ideologically, it is based on the same principles as ethnic and gender diversity: that is, it is not problematic, necessarily, to diverge from the norm. Rather than pathologising and labelling, we should understand those who experience things a bit differently to be full people, with rights, feelings, wishes, and wants, and the ability to achieve self-determination in society. Even if that difference causes significant struggles—in our case, this brain is autistic, and we also deal with significant anxiety and depression—that does not mean that the emphasis should be on stamping out differences, or curing "defective" and "faulty" people. Rather, it means that society should recognise those differences, and work round that which is difficult without ostracism or rancour.

Neurally generated plurality is, broadly, the concept of plurality being a neural concept, rather than something that is spiritual, theological, or anything similar. That is, the people in a plural system may have arisen through the development of separate sentient, conscious entities within a brain, rather than experiencing walk-ins, ghosts, or other spiritual experiences that people may view as being related to their plurality. I am...largely nonspiritual myself, and feel that I was "neurally generated." This does not make it impossible for people within such groups to have "fictives" or other similar group members: many of us view our form of plurality as being neurally generated, and some of us do have "outsourced" histories. An explanation for that may be "subconscious affinities," or the idea that the brain, for some reason, connected to a particular universe, and it was the story or background with which the person identifies. It is a matter of identity formation within the brain's subjective space, rather than explaining it through other methods. I do not believe that this is the explanation for all forms of plurality: I know that many of you see things differently, applying spiritual, trauma-based, or other philosophies to how your groups came into being.

I have a new layout! It is by fania, who has made beautiful layouts at LJ and is now making them here as well. I enjoyed my old one, but it was a ported LJ S2 layout. This one is native to Dreamwidth. It is nice to see more and more people create lovely styles for Dreamwidth. Kerry would make one, but she has not had the time to sit down and properly make a layout.