For Pete’s sake,
do not put me on a pedestal,
for I am too weary
to descend such lofty heights
after playing a match
I did not choose to participate in.

I do not want a tin foil medal
itching and pulling 
at the nape of my neck
or an extra tacky, plasticky 
gold star
that mysteriously appears 
two days later
stuck to the bottom of my sock,
digging into my sole.

Although I do admit a penchant
for pretty sparkly things,
this is not winning.

Still, I would rather take
a hundred of your shiny 
stabby stickers
than hear you whisper 
the dreaded r-word:
resilience.
Eyes will roll.

Sooner or later you will haggle
for my voice—
"How did you triumph 
against such odds?
What's your strategy?
How much for an inspiration formula?
Can you throw in a pithy slogan 
and a slide or two?
We’ll give you the t-shirt!"

I am the example,
the quirky illustration,
the endearing anomaly
that walked into the door frame
and came away with a weird
success shaped bruise;

I am the advocate,
the teacher,
the baker,
the candlestick maker
who accidentally left the candles
too close to the fire.

But I was not made to hold your glare.

I was born into this rigged racket
and just wanted to be. 
I am trying to be.
Let me be.

Love, Pete x

This week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week and the theme is 
“From Awareness to Action: Making Organisational Change Happen.”

Real action isn’t about praising us for our resilience, grace, or our ability to keep pushing ourselves through closed or impossibly heavy doors. It’s not well-meaning individual accommodations to help us survive; to be present whilst our actual presence is erased.

It’s about designing systemic and cultural change. Creating spaces where the door is already open; spaces that don’t require us to break and bend just to get in, leaving the best of ourselves at home.

This Neurodiversity Celebration Week, let’s look beyond knowledge and awareness and start to ask- what would our environments look like if we stopped demanding inspiration and resilience, and started creating spaces and cultures that were safe for everyone to simply be?