A Serious Message to My Fellow Buddhists Out there

    With the leak of the Supreme Court document that casts the future of abortion rights in a very fragile place, I want to say this to every Buddhist/Buddhist practitioner reading this. I have seen a number of fellow Buddhists in reading their works, of all sects, all cultures, all backgrounds, launching attacks on abortion and the right to have one, even calling it murder. I have read this in the work by teachers and scholars, and I just want to say one thing: stop it!

    I know many who wrote those things come from cultural backgrounds I am not a part of. Some of them also come from my own white, upper/middle class Judeo-Christian origin background. Regardless, if this message enters into the eyes and ears of American people whose right to abortion now looks like it's very much going to be up to state's decision, I want to say that this post is about you, and I want to say that I will take a stand in this.

    How did Buddhists get to this place? I honestly don't know. I blame much of what is about to happen to abortion rights on white, Evangelical, conservative Christians, but I am not about to stop (what I believe is), isolated incidences of Buddhist writers attacking abortions and bringing the Dharma's name into this!

    I get it: one of the Buddhist precepts is Do Not Destroy Life, but seriously! Number one, he Buddha never said, as far as I am aware, that a fetus is life. Many, in fact most, Buddhists still eat meat (including myself). Why can't these teachers attack that like they have made statements on abortion rights. Second, presuming abortion is taking a life (which is, in my mind, just aa distraction from the real issue regarding abortion rights), the Buddha did say that killing could be justified. Are you all about to take a time machine, go to Tibet, and tell all the Tibetan people, monks included, who took up arms that they can't use weapons against genocidal Maoists?! Many of these soldiers are just following orders (not that that is an acceptable excuse after all), and honestly, Lord Buddha never made much statements on what killing (presuming abortion is that) is acceptable and what is not. And really, if you're a Buddhist and you're drinking alcohol, a lot of Buddhists would say you should just shut up

    A lot of American Buddhists I have found, are quite liberal people. We believe in the right to marry, we don't support putting people in jail for smoking marijuana, the thought of a woman president really doesn't bother us. But when I look at (really just a few writers, but still) any Buddhist that has maligned abortion (and the overwhelmingly poor, disabled people and people with serious medical conditions, and those who can't have a child because they will die if they do who have them), I am reminded of one thing: the problems of American Buddhism is rooted in the problems of America. I am not pointing fingers at American Buddhists in particular. Tibetan, Thai, Chinese, French, and every other cultural form of Buddhism have problems rooted in the country they are practiced in. But American Buddhists need to reckon with how the flaws of American society and culture have seeped into our communities and ourselves. Our sanghas our often very racially segregated. Buddhists of Asian descent are just casually erased by Prius-driving, Upper Middle Way Buddhists. Poor people are driven away because they can't afford the costs of meditation retreats or Dharma talks. As an autistic, I have often felt very uncomfortable in largely neurotypical Buddhist groups and many NT Buddhists as well. But why am I saying this? Because when Buddhists, and Americans of all faiths, from hegemonic backgrounds don't see such people, they do not see people who are affected most by the attacks on abortion taking place across the country.

    Unlike the movement for Blacks Americans' rights, indigenous peoples' movements, feminism, and the disability rights movement, the Pro-Life (generous name, but ok) movement is not about standing up to the powerful. Rather, it has been about attacking vulnerable and threatened people whose vulnerability and threats are the whole reason they have abortions in the first place!

    My religion that I have practiced seventeen years asks me that I do whatever I can to help people, to bring comfort to those who are without it, to give those shedding tears as much reason to smile and rejoice from emotions as strong as their pain. I write this post to show that I am not going to stand against the attacks against abortion from Buddhists in comfortable positions. I do this to bring attention to what has been done in my community and the hypocrisy behind it that runs through the very core of the Pro-Forced birth movement. I might stir things up in the Buddhist world, but when you're cooking something, stirring things up is the only way anything gets done.

My 2021 in Review

 The high points of my year, while there were some lousy lows, this year I: got my COVID vaccine, ditched a toxic therapist, got a new job as a research aide at the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities, ended up having my apartment to myself and my cat, finished several short stories and the first draft of a novella minus a title and an author's note, started on a novel that I have made a plan to finish by next year, got my COVID booster and flu shot, asked a person out for the first time in two years, even though I got rejected, and got involved with An Evening with the Rents to raise money for Camp Encourage that serves autistic people ages 8-18. My New Year's Resolution: continue to acclimate to my new job, find an outlet for several of my short stories, find a way to publish my novella, finish my novel, spend time with the people I care about most, let my friends (at least the ones I see in real life) in on parts of my life that I haven't let them in on before, limit my activities outside of work and other obligations more when it is good and conceivable, and check my outline on the things that are my day-to-day life.

My 2020 in Review

My year in review: getting an apartment with my middle brother as my roommate; finishing a second term of service as a VISTA for UMKC’s Propel program; finishing the KUMC Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) certificate program; reforming and organizing the Kansas City League of Autistics, an advocacy organization that had not been active for over two years; walking almost every day I’m not working and losing at least ten pounds; adopting a kitten from KC Pet Project; finishing several of my short stories and submitting one to six different fiction magazines, with five rejecting me and one I haven’t heard back from; working on a novel everyday for at least three months hoping this time to actually finish it by the end of May next year and submit it to publishers; taking back my old job for the time being bagging at the grocery store while also being trained and working as a backup cashier until I find a more permanent job; getting in touch with old friends from high school; supporting people I care about who have been laid off during shutdowns; and that’s not to mention Biden winning the electoral vote and the discovery of a Coronavirus vaccine. My New Year’s Resolution (not that I have to wait until the new year to do this): finish my novel, finish several more short stories and get them accepted by magazines, and sell my crafts on Etsy. A new challenge lies ahead.

2Jed Shredwards and Lejohn-art Caldwell-roddy

Autism Acceptance Month 2020

Well, even if it is quarantine season for me and many others across the country, it is still Autism Acceptance Month for me and the actually autistic community and allies starting tomorrow, Autism Awareness Month for those who believe the false prophets of Autism Speaks and similar organizations, a time wear those pushing for Autism Acceptance wear gold, red, taupe, orange, green, and purple for acceptance-since the chemical symbol for gold Au is the first two letters of the work "Autistic," and wear those promoting "Awareness" wear blue due to Autism Speaks still mostly blue puzzle piece symbol (the puzzle piece being abhorred by proud autistics) made on the rapidly discredited idea that their are four boys with autism for every girl, a belief that has robbed many women, girls, and non-binary autistic individuals a chance at services and a better life, leading to anorexia, bilumnia, and suicide of many women, girls, and non-binary folks, some who I have known personally. So enough if the only places I can go are gorcery stores, take-out restaurants, my mom's house, and the Mission Hills courthouse to clear a traffic ticket, I will, as I have done for the last five years, abstain from wearing blue except for the rainbow infinity autistic symbol, and wear gold, red, taupe, orange, green, and purple to promote an antidote and alternative to the thinkinng that leads a disproportionate number of autistic and disabled individuals in poverty, unemployment, prisons-despite a being less likely then non-disabled people to commit crimes, whether at home or not. Happy Autism Acceptance Month!

My Past Year in Review

As the first month is almost out, I remember what was brought by last year, namely, a new job, renewing my contract as a VISTA worker for the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Propel Program, selling several of my crafts, making a new friend from the autistic community in my area, and coming up with my new novel series, which I am rather fond of. I hope this year to finally start an Etsy account, finish some of my stories, and sell them to magazines, maybe even finish my first book of stories.

My 2018 in Review

My year's highlights: starting my new job, finishing one of my stories, starting working as a resident advisor for the 2018-2019 school year and having my own place for the time, donating some of my old stuff to Scraps KC, my mom's and stepdad's now home that they moved into, continuing to work on my graphic novel illustration, finishing several of my books, and a few other things that I will save mention of for later. My resolution for the new year: bring my lunches to work more often, maybe try selling my crafts on-line, and find a magazine to publish two of the stories I wrote. Happy New Year.

The Country of Autistic People

Imagine for a moment

A country for just autistic people,

NT and allistics citizens through marriage or birthright,

But still a place all to ourselves.

 

Imagine people being allowed to walk around freely at gatherings, meetings, and events,

No stimming repression or forced eye contact.

Imagine no alarms or bells that hurt our ears,

Bookstores, television shows, and movies all with accurate and positive representation of autistic characters.

 

Imagine less than ten percent autistic unemployment,

No one forcing you to wear the tags on clothing,

Your food sensitivities are respected everywhere you go,

No forcing you to socialize when you are so low on energy.

 

Imagine that “special interests” were not suppressed,

Where autistics do not have six times the national average suicide rate,

Domestic violence is not a disproportional issue,

No person wearing a puzzle piece, lighting blue lights, comparing having an autistic child to being a combat veteran.

 

Universities are packed with students using fidget spinners, chewy necklaces, etc.

No college professors spreading lies and disinformation about autistics,

Maybe the rate of autistics with epilepsy, social anxiety, depression, and PTSD is less than it is in the world we know,

Health care is what socially hegemonic neurotypicals have come to know.

 

Picture a world where it was not unusual for a child to go to an autistic in a divorce proceeding,

Therapy is not eight hours a day inside being taught to hate and repress yourself for external reward.

Picture a place like the on-line groups we know and love,

But offline, with houses, cafes, schools, hospitals, banks, post offices, and government buildings.

 

Maybe an observatory like the Space Needle, Fernsehturn Berlin, Oriental Pearl Tower,

Sovereign building like the White House or Buckingham Palace,

Business and communication centers like Sears and Willis Tower, the Empire State Building, the Hancock Center,

Bridges, theaters, architectural monuments.

 

Ok, not really a possibility.

Not a place where nothing ever goes wrong.

No injustice ever happening the way it does when society is mostly NTs.

But I would like to see all races, faiths, sexual orientations with business and government done in dozens and dozens of languages.

 

Maybe it is not a really possibility,

But sometimes, when times are tough, it is nice to have a place to escape to,

If only in your mind.