I read on Twitter (@BBCTwo) this morning, that Chris Packham has Asperger’s. He has long been a hero of mine due to his media work with wildlife, and his raising awareness and protest against the Malta migratory bird slaughter. As for his having Aspergers, this is welcome news to me. Its surprising but not really. It’s a personally brave act for him to come forward and one that is definitely needed in our current times.
I guess the perception we have of people with mental disorder is far off the mark. I have ADD, and ADHD, and I have to work very hard to manage it and I do mostly. I was diagnosed at 28 and was on medication for 6 years. I now can manage it but it does make thing tougher. I know I have a unique mind and thoughts and often have to edit myself for what I consider “bad” tweets and posts. These are generally just too deep, obsure and high in terms of logic and understanding, and are just too much in general. It used to bother me, but then I realized that yes, that’s my mind and the reason I have to work so hard is because of it, but that its also a gift. Many of those with mental disorder often are great and special people. I wonder how many greats of life were so inflicted.
Having a mental disorder, especially an undiagnosed one makes us loners or alone because we don’t fit it and people, our peers, are not shy about letting us know. This is been the story of my life in many regards. I am not autistic and am very happy that someone as successful and “normal” as Chirs Packham has come out about his disorder. We need to be a world that understands disabilities or different abilities of all kinds and not force any more gifted and brilliant children into sad and hard lives, failure, just because they are cognitively different.
Living in a world of severe austerity and cutbacks of funding, services and supports for the disabled, a status quo increasingly harsh, conformist, average and mean, a Trump world with instant and constant dismissal of the “losers” of society, we need people like Chris Packham and others to come forward and show the world that ability and sameness doesn’t have to define us and so called losers, the bullied, outcast and misunderstood, are often the ones with the most to give to society and life.
For more information on Chirs Packham and the documentary about his Aspergers please visit here:
