The Productive Pessimist

  Recently, I read a poetry 'zine, " The  Wisdom of the Punk Buddha " by Sam Marsh. It was, in general, a good collection of reflections, which I agreed with overall. But, like so many "radical positions"...Sam had a fixation on the "obligation" to "be a healthy punk". Every where you look, those who proudly prance around shouting about ho w counter-culture they are align themselves very strongly with the dominant culture when it comes to "You must be healthy! Being healthy is completely within your control! If you aren't healthy, you don't have the necessary self-control to succeed in our fight!" And that is ableism. Yes, yes - "Oh my god , is everything an 'ism, these days?!" No, everything isn't. But insisting on health in order for people to be seen as "committed enough", "capable enough", insisting on "being healthy" as a pre-re quisite to being seen as a va...

Recently, an article was circulated through the UK media about "neurological issues affecting Gen Z", which were 'blamed' on "excessive reliance on noise-cancelling headphones". These 'neurological issues' are actually known as Auditory Processing Disorder, or APD. What Is APD? Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a difficulty in the brain being able to distinguish background noise from speech, but with hearing tests returning "normal" results. This is a tricky issue, because some people in the early stages of hearing loss will struggle in exactly this way, however their hearing test may come back as in a 'normal range'. As with all medicine, sometimes doctors fail to pick something up that could be managed or may be part of a wider issue. However, where this is relevant to neurodiversity is that these issues combined with a normal result hearing test, are a hallmark for Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). APD can occur for a va...