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Southeast Asian countries are:

Indonesia

Malaysia

Brunei Darussalam

Timor-Leste

Singapore

Thailand

Laos

Cambodia

Vietnam

Myanmar

We’ve been thinking, the response to being dehumanized are often divided into “no, I’m still human!” and “fine then, I’m nonhuman and I’m proud, deal with it”. We understand why nonhumans tend to be the latter, but we seem to go with the former. To us, both options are correct. To us, maybe the difference is caused by our species identity because most of us are human.

Nonhumans would challenge the norm that only humans deserve respect. Obviously we can’t say for sure if other people see it the same way too, but the “I’m still human” side, at least when we say it, challenges the norm of what counts as human in the first place. At least when we see it, these are two sides of the same “we deserve respect too” coin.

The ways we’re human can vary. Most of us are close to standard human save from a few things like being someone that most people consider a fictional character. Some are born nonhuman but has lived with/as humans for long enough to see themselves as human too. Some others are born human, but forced into nonhumanity in some fashion and it barely changes how they identify on the inside. In general, we tend to be tied to humanity in some way and it’ll feel wrong for at least the majority of us to completely divorce ourselves from it.

For the human alterhumans, especially ones with complicated stuff going on with their species identity.

When making these, we had our own system members in mind. Those who are human, but not quite “standard” human in a way. Those who, for any reason, don’t consider themselves nonhuman despite experiencing shifts that would be considered normal for nonhuman kin identities

The power of naming

We don't claim that every multiple system/household is a happy loving cooperative one. What we do question is the *identification* of "real multiples" with the characteristics or symptoms of a psychological disorder. We go further: we question by what right or authority doctors and therapists are given sole jurisdiction over the definition of "an individual".

This is one reason our clan encourages use of the word "plural" rather than "multiple". "Multiple", even standing by itself, brings to mind MPD/DID, "multiple personality disorder", "dissociative identity disorder", which are specific diagnoses created by the medical/therapeutic community. "Plural" is a much more neutral word, more commonly heard in the context of grammar than psychiatry. (The other reason, of course, is that plural can be construed to have a broader meaning, applying to anyone(s) anywhere on the continuum who experience themselves as plural in some way. )

The power to name is the power to define reality. I/we claim the power to define and describe our own reality. We do not cede it to external authority figures, however impressively credentialed they may be.