Awareness

Enlightened Isn’t Necessarily Believing

It’s Actually A Path To Understanding

I thought about this long and hard before I decided to write this piece. In hindsight, perhaps I should just keep thinking about it instead of writing it. But then those of you who read my work have learned not to be utterly amazed at what comes out of my head.

Shocked most times, but not amazed.

A few days ago, I read a wonderfully insightful comment on a piece I’d written about learning to write with your outside voice. It was from a writing sister of mine who reminded me that not every writer in this world can use their outside voice when they write.

Similar to the aforementioned paradox, I’m torn between feelings that your idea of “finding your outside voice in the craft of writing” falls somewhere between “a brilliant light bulb literary moment of instant clarity”, to “a wee bit of a disturbing feeling of unintended disclusion of diversity.”

Let me explain. Whether it be an “inside voice” or an “outside” voice, what we are referring to is spoken verbal communication, which contain many properties.

These vocal properties include pitch, intonation, speech rate, loudness, cadence, rhythm, melody, among others. Many people with Autism (myself included), in addition to all the social challenges that we face, we also struggle with verbal communication in and of itself, especially when it comes to prosodic dysregulation in controlling pitch and volume.

Despite the challenges of verbal communication for those of us with Autism, it is my belief that we can and do achieve all the qualities of what it takes to be a great writer without the need for a great outside voice.

And we do this by compensating with superior written communication skills, extreme hyper-focus, and an intense attention to detail — among other things.

Me? Simply gobsmacked.

I was totally blown away by the articulation of issues I’d never really thought much about — autism and exclusion of diversity. Yes, I will say my exclusion was unintended, but it was still an exclusion of a diverse body of writers who struggle with voice and tone simply because of their autistic states.

In retrospect, I’m glad I wrote the piece because, had I not, I would have never received this comment from an excellent writer in her own right. I would have missed a fantastic moment of enlightenment.

Now, what’s interesting to me is that in my humble opinion, enlightenment isn’t necessarily believing. Do I think that someone with autism has absolutely no outside voice? No.

However, and I really want to stress this point — for someone who struggles with autism each day, what they say and how they say it often isn’t how they think it.

But many of these wonderful writers learn to compensate for their current outside voice by turning inward and using their writing to speak for them.

They do because, for many, it’s the only way to get the thoughts, the dreams, and the feelings out in an expressive manner. Their written word is how they’re really thinking; what they really want and need to say.

Full transparency here. I’ve taken the use of my outside voice for granted. I never thought about what it would be like if I couldn’t read my writing aloud.

I never thought about creating something in my head and not being able to bounce it against my outside voice to see if it flowed as I wanted it to or made the impact I wished it to.

What if I only had an inner voice?

More often than a lot of us do, someone with autism must rely on their internal voice, the one that allows them to communicate emotions, feelings, and passions. The voice that helps them, even with the struggles they have, to pour out beautifully creative work.

If anyone reads the writer’s comments above and can’t feel the message she conveyed, can’t sense the patience, the non-condescending tone she used to make her point, then maybe they need some enlightenment as well.

The title of this piece tells us enlightenment isn’t necessarily believing in something, but it is a path to understanding. The words from my writing sister did a lot to send me further down the road of understanding, and I, for one, am grateful.

There may be times I stumble off the path and end up in the weeds for certain, but as we all know, the road to understanding, truly understanding our Human brothers and sisters, is often fraught with gotchas.

There will be times I fall. There will be times I write something without thinking of the impact it will make because my words are sometimes self-gratifying in nature.

And I’m sure someone among this vast writing community of ours will be strong enough and willing enough to enlighten me, mentor me, and offer a differing opinion. Present the other side of the coin.

It’s how I, along with my fellow Humans, grow — one enlightened step at a time down the path of understanding.

Thanks So Much For Reading

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