Humanity is always the platform.

Some years ago now I became familiar with the the metaphor of autism being a different operating system. It was put out there as autism being like a mac in a windows world. I remember thinking at the time that perhaps this was not the best analogy and that perhaps unix or linux was more likely a better metaphor than max or OSX was.

My thinking around this was that mac has become much more mainstream and expected than unix or linux has. Linux is still very much a niche corner of the personal computing market. Regardless of numbers or marketshare and whatnot any operating system requires an architecture or platform on which to run. No matter how good your operating system is it is always contingent on the hardware or platform on which it runs.

In terms of the personal desktop and laptop environments the platform or architecture on which operating systems run are generally an intel based central processing unit supported by suitable motherboard and ram memory units to enable the operating system to run.

Shifting focus now, imagine if we think about humanity as the platform or architecture or hardware on which the operating system — or neurology — runs on top of. Regardless of whether one’s operating system is neurodivergent or neurotypical one is still running on an underlying system of humanity.

I think this is an important point. Often neurodivergent folk — disabled folk in general really — are dehumanised, they are considered to be somewhat less than. Somewhat less than when drilled down really comes down to meaning less than human. This is clearly seen when the bodily autonomy of disabled persons is routinely ignored. This is seen when disabled folks rights to privacy are seen as less than the right of parents, caregivers and professionals to display these disabled folks lives across public forums.

In short society regularly places the humanity of disabled folk contingent upon how they impact the lives of those around them. This is most horrendously seen when disabled folk are murdered by their caregivers and community responses are not outrage at the murder but calls for understanding and sympathy for the murderer who must have had such a tough time having to live and care for the disabled person.

When we fail to uphold the inherrent humanity of every human person regardless of their ability or disability we start on a process of dehumanisation of actual human persons. We take it upon ourselves to judge and categorise which humans actually have the right to be treated as having inherrant humanity and by extension having actual human rights.

Autistic people, other neurodivergent people, physically disabled people, otherly disabled people. We all have something in common we are all actual human folk, and as such are entitled to the same human rights as non disabled folk.

When we see humanity as the platform, the basic building block upon which our physical abilities, our intellectual prowess, our neurological systems are built then we start from a place where humanity is valued in each and every person. If we fail to do this, then, I would contend that we ourselves have begun down a path in which our own humanity has been compromised.

If humanity is the platform we see personhood built on then the operating system which is working on it becomes transparrent to us actually viewing the humanity of the underlying person.

I am an transgender autistic lesbian woman and I am a human person. My human rights, just like any other human persons should not be negotiable. Not by plebiscite, not by judging my financial contribution, not by judging my social contribution not be any of that. No not at all.

Every human persons human rights should be non negotiable.