{"id":510,"date":"2025-07-29T22:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/29\/i-advocate\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T22:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:57:09","slug":"i-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/29\/i-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"i, advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If you\u2019ve been following my neurodiversity journey<\/strong>\u2013as I articulate the experience of a person with autism, ADHD, aphantasia, and proprioception hyposensitivity from the inside, along with the other ways i share myself\u2013and you\u2019ve found that the insights I\u2019ve shared connect with your experience, or contextualize something you suspected, realize that sharing these insights is one of the ways I care for my community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And realize that, as a person with no degrees or qualifications<\/strong> as an advocate other than my lived experience and my inborn gifts, what I share makes no sense in the context of capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find that a person like me is a valuable part of the community,<\/strong> and worthy of support, realize that, within the context of 21st century American capitalism, there’s not much support for people like me, or for the people I advocate for, who often don’t have the gift for articulation that I share with my community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could institutionalize myself:<\/strong> pursue an advanced degree that legitimizes my advocacy in the context of capitalism, and in doing so, would need to unplug myself from the community that I move through, and in doing so, become another victim of capitalism \u2013 saddled with huge debt, and most likely unable to find an official advocacy position that would pay off that debt in my lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I choose, instead, to move through my community<\/strong> in the ways I’ve been moving, because my community moves me to do so, and that’s how I show up. That’s how I care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find this valuable, I’m asking to be allowed to continue<\/strong> advocating for your sensory and cognitive gifts, to continue recontextualizing valuable predispositions that have been pathologized. I’m asking to be adopted. I’m asking for your care. I’m asking for your support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In asking for your support, I’m not asking to be the CEO of Spotify,<\/strong> or Starbucks, or Paramount+, or Ridwell, or any of the other services that folks find valuable and subscribe to. I’m asking for just enough care to be allowed to live and continue to do the work that I do. If you subscribe to even a little bit of the philosophy I share, consider subscribing to me, so I can continue caring for my community in the ways that I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for all you do,<\/strong> and thank you for being you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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give to ryk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been following my neurodiversity journey\u2013as I articulate the experience of a person with autism, ADHD, aphantasia, and proprioception hyposensitivity from the inside, along with the other ways i share myself\u2013and you\u2019ve found that the insights I\u2019ve shared connect with your experience, or contextualize something you suspected, realize that sharing these insights is one … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,27,28,2,7,31,8,24,5,6,14,26,16,15,9,4,1,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicle","category-didactics","category-ethos","category-family-music","category-finds","category-innerlog","category-literature","category-meme","category-musicology","category-neighborhood","category-neurodiversity","category-personal-narrative","category-poem","category-politics","category-reflection","category-ukulele","category-uncategorized","category-zen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paor1p-8e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":438,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/29\/waiting-for-yes\/","url_meta":{"origin":510,"position":0},"title":"Waiting for yes","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"June 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Oh, come on Ryk, you're being so persnickety with language again. 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