To the people who don't quite fit in:
I don't care what you are, what labels you use, what terminology you think is right. And if someone else uses the same label despite feeling differently? Hot take, but that's totally fine.
We need each other. If we fight each other, then how can we fight the people who think we are lesser?
I believe the correct term for myself is "fiction kin", "therian", or "shifter". Sometimes, I call my different minds "alters", because they all have different personalities and their own memories. That's just the term that feels right. I'm not trying to invalidate others who use the term "alters". I'm using what feels right for me.
Think about how much it hurts to be invalidated. To be told your feelings don't matter, that you're insane, that you belong in a mental hospital, that you need medication. When all you're doing is what feels right. That is what we need to fight against. Not each other, but those who believe we're doing it for attention, those who think we're wrong for simply existing like this.
I'm the spiteful one of my body, but even I see that this infighting has to stop. You can educate someone on the correct terminology, but if they feel like they identify with certain things, then what good does it do to push them down? We'll never be accepted if we can't even accept each other.
And if this gets me hate? Fine. See if I care. I'll be busy trying to help people figure out who they are instead of hating them for thinking they might have found someone who feels the same way they do.
Sincerely, Glaceon.