By Darian Senn-Carter, Ed.D.
Centering Well-Being in Disability Justice
For much of my life, I believed survival was the goal. I thought if I could just push through the discomfort, meet expectations, perform at a high level, and stay ahead of the demands, I’d be okay. I saw exhaustion as normal. Overextension as necessary. Burnout, well, that was just the cost of excellence. As a Black, member of the LGBTQIA+ community, late-diagnosed Autistic, man, I didn’t always have the language to explain what I was carrying. However, I carried it well, until I couldn’t anymore. I had been surviving in silence, until the diagnosis that changed everything. My autism diagnosis didn’t shock me. It felt like remembering, removing a veil or filter, stepping fully into my truth, and honestly, a bit like arriving home. A long-overdue recognition of truths I had always known. In that moment after intense processing including grief, I stopped wondering what was wrong with me or what I could improve, and started reclaiming what had always been right.
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