I write a lot about how psychosis is its own sort of magic: a gateway to prophecy, and to other dimensions.

I want people to realize that THIS IS HOW PSYCHOSIS WAS SEEN IN ALMOST EVERY CULTURE WE KNOW ABOUT, BEFORE CONSTANTINE AND/OR BEFORE COLONIZATION.

Did you know that the outcomes for psychotic people--measured by how well they integrate into society and how happy they are--are better in reverse proportion to how colonized their society is?

The U.S. I believe is at rock bottom with regard to outcomes for psychotic people. Hi! We fucking suck!

It mostly seems to be because of how people are taught to feel about their own, and others', psychosis.

I feel this shit so hard in my own life. The fear that can sometimes make my episodes scary is based entirely in the thought that "something is wrong with me" and "if anyone finds out what's happening right now, they will treat me horribly".

In other, less-colonized societies, people with psychosis are still often taught that they are prophets, healers, or other things--valuable members of society with a gift.

And so they take on this role instead of ending up homeless, unemployed, shunned, addicted, or worse.

The book I currently have entered in Pitch Wars, and which is based both on personal experience and on the experiences of some people close to me, I was originally kind of trying to tell this story. But I took out those blatant elements, because it is not my story to tell.

You don't get more colonized than a white U.S.-ian whose ancestors are from Norway.

I've seen documentaries on this phenomenon, always by white people, who seem to have exploited the experiences of largely nonwhite psychotic people all over the globe in order to make this point.

I know that there's someone out here who is telling this story, who has the depth to tell it.

But I will soldier on with my stories about how psychosis and magic are one and the same thing.

I get shit from some disabled people for this. I mean, whatever.

It took me a long time to realize my psychosis isn't a bad thing. Ableism is the bad thing, and the decades of ingrained fear can make dealing with my visions really difficult.

Your experience is your experience. But it's mostly non-psychotic people who argue with me.

I've been told I'm playing with the "magical crip" narrative.

But I will KEEP telling my stories about how I am not broken: I am different. And I have something to offer the world that non-psychotic people never could.

All of us are the way we are because of millions of years of evolution, or because we were created this way--either way you look at it, none of us are mistakes. We are alive because we are specifically suited to this world.

We are alive because we have something to give, and something to learn.

Colonized society is set up to keep marginalized people out, keep us down. And yet, here we are.

We are not broken. We are not mistakes. We are not lesser. Not a single one of us.