TooMuchPressure

To celebrate autism acceptance month, I’m going to post something positive about autism every day through April.

Allow me to introduce the Japanese classical composer Hikari Ōe:

Ōe was born in 1963 with a herniated brain, autism, epileptic seizures and visual impairment. The doctors described him as “severely disabled” and strongly urged his parents kill him, claiming that he would become a vegetable otherwise. His parents (including his father, famous author Kenzuburo Ōe) refused the offer and Hikari Ōe survived the birth thanks to surgery.

Ōe didn’t speak a word until he was 6 years old when he identified a specific birdcall on television as that of a water rail bird. After buying him a record with tracks of various birdcalls, Ōe’s parents noticed his talent at memorizing specific sounds, so they hired a private piano teacher for him. While Ōe still doesn’t speak much to this day, he quickly learned to express himself through classical music. In the following years, he learned to play both the piano, flute and violin expertly.

He began composing his own music when he was just 13 years old and released his first album when he was 29. The album sold over a million copies and won Japan’s top prize for classical Japanese music. All his later albums would become commercial successes as well, both in Japan and America. 

You can hear his first album on YouTube. Give it a listen, it’s beautiful:

While his music in itself is worth celebrating, there is a specific reason I wanted to talk about Ōe in particular.

Whenever anti-neurodiversity people try to argue against neurodiversity, one of their main arguments is usually the good ol’ functioning label. “Think of the severely autistic!” they say, as if being “severely” autistic means you can’t be happy or successful.

I wanted to share Ōe’s story because it goes direcly against that toxic ideology. Despite being “severely handicapped”, Ōe went on to live a highly successful, happy life. After his birth, he became one of his fathers biggest influences for all his later books. Absolutely nobody can argue that the world would be better off if the doctors had killed Ōe at birth like they wanted. His existence changed both his parents lives and the world of classical music for the better.

It doesn’t matter if people are “low-functioning” autistic or “high-functioning” autistic. We’re all human beings and we all deserve respect. Even the most “severely handicapped” like Ōe can often go on to do incredible things.

Happy April to all autistic and neurodiverse people! I hope you all have a wonderful month.

Poseable Miniature Birds, by Katie Doka on Etsy

There are so many awesome things about you that deserve more room to breathe and flourish than double binding will allow. 

Your validity is not determined by how flat you are.

Your worth is not measured in the circumference of your chest.

You deserve to breathe. You deserve belly laughs, and the ability for your lungs to expand enough to sing really bad karaoke or blow out birthday candles or take your dog for a walk. You deserve oxygen, and unbroken ribs, and unpunctured lungs. You deserve to live like the bad ass you are, and you can’t if you can’t breathe (I know this from experience!). 

By double binding you are restricting the glory of who you are and all you can be to this idea that validity, joy, and worth are only for guys with flat chests. It’s a lie. You don’t need a flat chest to be valid. You don’t need a flat chest to own your truth and be true to it. The idea is a lie. You don’t deserve its consequences (physical and emotional). The truth of your validity and awesomeness is so much better, so please bind safely and keep breathing into the bad ass that is you.

No flat chest is worth a flatline.

Thankfully, I stopped double binding before breaking any ribs, despite doing it for a quite a long time, but I know that double binding has damaged me INSIDE.

I used to double bind almost daily because of dysphoria and it got to the point, I really did need to have a break. I couldn’t bind at all and thankfully, at this time I was going through mental health issues so I didn’t leave my house in need of having to wear my binder, but I was in pain; my back, my chest, my ribs, everything hurt. I remember for about 2 weeks I stayed in bed but I remember even lying down would kill me. I’ve never been to a doctor about it, but I have eventually healed.

However, even now, my back, chest and ribs can still hurt if I bind for about 1-2 hours. My body really can’t take it any more and there will also be times that even without binding, it will play up.

Just because you’re not using an ace bandage, or tape, does NOT mean that double binding with a chest binder, a small sports bra, a small binder or a mixture of both is safe and won’t harm you, because it’s far from safe.

Bind safely, one binder is enough and remember that chests are not 100% flat.

You really need to listen if you are doing this because I know that if I saw a message like this sooner, I probably would have stopped.

Your rib cage isn’t really a system of bones the way any other bone is. Its not anchored to other bones through joint systems. Its connected by a series of elastic cartilage segments or fused to your sternum or spine.

This elasticity is great for your lungs because it means your ribs can expand so you can take deeper breaths, but it also means your ribs are extremely vulnerable to warping under continual pressure.

Tweet by Avery Edison, @aedison: 

CAPITALISM: Get a job. Get a job or you’re worthless.  Get a job. Why aren’t you getting a job? Get a job. Get a job already.  Get a jo-

WOMAN: Fine, I’ll do sex work. 

CAPITALISM: Ew, no, not that job!

WOMAN: Why not?