We are thankful that we’re out of the “dark ages” when we couldn’t really find community and we had no one really to share ideas or learn from. We are glad there’s a community. It used to be you’d just have shame and hiding, or you’d be out and having to educate everyone and rarely bump into someone who knew what you were talking about. If nothing else — it’s pretty darned clear you are NOT alone.
We used to be stigmatized into the caveman days. Yeah there’s still stigma and oppression, but there’s ever more professionals coming out as plural to colleagues, and activists, and people pushing back — giving folk room to breathe, collaborate, grow, and make a lot of progress together, share ideas, and say “Me too” a lot more often.
Case in point — https://isstdworld.isst-d.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=32538541-3a7b-49b2-a6ba-d81313fccab8&Home=%2fhome – an ISSTD DID awareness day webinar event with Dr. E of System Speak moderating (representing the ISST-D I suppose) – and all panelists are plural (Jaime of An Infinite Mind, Beauty After Bruises, someone from Blue Knot Foundation).
Like how cool is that? Note it’s $10 USD and the registration to get in is kinda grueling. We’ve nudged hard to see if Dr. E can make a recording public after because it’s inaccessible for many reasons.