Yup, this is why, being not only neurodivergent/chronically ill but Black as well, while I can have a lot of privilege in this area, I do not fit into most people's idea of a smart person (at least, not consistently). And I need to let go of wanting to bc that idea is also trash. https://twitter.com/forest_cryptid/status/1264029714676510721

Marginalized spend so much time going, "Just because I'm x doesn't mean I'm not smart".

It's a type of respectability politics and it's gross. It falls apart as soon as intelligence is no longer a thing you can perform.

The systemic abuse of people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities is honestly one of the deepest running things in this society. And because of that, it's one of those things no one wants to truly address either.

They're not people to y'all. They're the people y'all will clamber over to gain privilege by pushing them down.

As a Black disabled person, it's not just that I'm not smart. I don't want to be. There's nothing I want to prove to you that my brain can do cause at some point, I won't be able to do it anyways. And I'm not gonna play this respectability politics game.

Right now I can write this thread. Next week I might not be able to. I struggle to do simple tasks. My memory sucks. Sometimes I struggle to hold a conversation. Sometimes I struggle to do even the simplest math. Sometimes I can't read.

Why should I try to hide these things and promote whatever strengths I have in the moment and push other people down just to become that person I pushed down the very next week?

More than that, why should I aspire to fit the white man's ideal of intelligence? Why would I want to validate that? Why should I want this very temporary privilege they might give me if they can take it away at any time?

Anyways, idk how to end this thread. I just want us all to seriously interrogate this within ourselves cause a lot of what I see people doing is really messed up.