Hey there! First off I'd like to say I love your blog and particularly your syllabus, I've been on a deep dive the past few days because there's so much in-depth yet very well organized discussion of topics that can be a bit daunting to research when you don't know where to start. And I apologize, too, for the lengthy ask (it kinda got away from me).
There was this passage in your post about Black queerness, in the section about white queer people comparing their struggle to Black struggles, about how those expeeiences can't be equated because the discussion of sexuality comes much later than the discussion of race, and the pain of white queerness comes from being robbed of a "normality" that was assigned or assumed of them from the moment they were born, an assumption that isn't extended to Black people regardless of their cisheterosexuality.
Now, this notion reminded me of a common experience related by many autistic people, about how even from an extremely young age, everyone around them seemed to inherently feel and behave as if they were abnormal, other, and just plain wrong as people. Of course, I don't mean to equate autism or neurodivergence to blackness, either; but I wonder if, on this particular experience, there could be any similarities or parallels to be drawn between the two.
Aside from that, do you have on your syllabus anything on Black autism or neurodivergence? I've read stuff from other people on the subject (particularly on Oppositional Defiant Disorder and ADHD being significantly over-diagnosed to Black boys), but since I've been deeply enjoying your explanations/compilations I thought it was worth asking.
(I should clarify: I am neither autistic nor Black. This comes from an outsider's interest on a possible topic of discussion, not an autistic person wishing to feel closer to blackness, nor a Black person drawing from their own point of view)
Sorry for the long ask! Don't feel obligated to respond, I know tumblr has a long history of treating anyone with an intent to educate like an on-demand browser. Thanks again for all the resources you provide!
This is a lot, I hope I can address it all:
1. There are people far smarter than I who could have that conversation about the intersection between autism and Blackness. But I feel like you answered your own question 😅 I have more to say, but I don't feel like I have enough grounds to speak on it at the moment.
2. At the moment, I do not. My next lesson will be on Black childhood. It is on my list, though. Sorry! Psychiatry DEFINITELY has a history of antiblack racism, just as every other science. From drapetomania to suggesting that Black protestors were schizophrenic for doing so... Oh yeah. That's something I am excited to get into.
