We are not sick and dangerous, for the record

This is hard to share.

For the past two months, I have been seeking counselling from people in the mental health field. On Monday, I have a psychiatric evaluation. 

A lot of people have been curious about it. It’s been, very uncomfortable sharing being otherkin, after so many years of bullshit from the outside world including friends and family. As a result I carry ridiculous amounts of shame around for this one thing. 

So, I decided to get a completely neutral outside opinion. Not family that tries to be nice. Not internet trolls who don’t give two cares either way and just want to make you miserable. We didn’t use terminology like ‘otherkin’ since that would confuse things. Instead I explained what I am. I am animal, in mind and body. I explained what that is not. I explained why it is important to me. I explained why it can be negative. I explained I am unsure if I should be trying to ‘correct’ this instead of embracing and working with it, since the outside world seems to think my working with it as a positive force (even if it is a struggle) is foolish and wrong.

It’s been a confused, garbled series of conversations, with a series of people. The three I talked to in detail, a nurse and two ‘counselors’ I suppose they were, responded positively and enthusiastically. It is a bit uncomfortable to be seen as something interesting and new and shiny, but I am glad for the positive interest. 

Here is what they are not worried about, that a lot of people seem to latch onto:

They are not worried I am dangerous to myself or others, or dissociating, or schizophrenic, or sick, or making up a fantasy to escape something, nor is being nonhuman looking like the result of trauma. It just is. It just exists. So now the responsible thing to do is deal with it existing as best possible, in a world that doesn’t want it to exist. 

I will be discussing being nonhuman with the psychiatrist as well, but I am not worried. I am not going because of nonhuman identity, to begin with. We only tacked that on because it is an opportunity that should not be missed. 

Their opinions may well change in the coming weeks, as things become more detailed and go into more depth. I am still not worried. 

Am I sick, or broken? No. But I have been made to feel this way. I have been made to feel this way. We are people. I would like that to be made clear over and over again until this sick world actually starts absorbing what I am saying.

We are people like everyone else. We have hobbies and interests, we wash dishes when we need to, we sleep when we’re tried, we hold jobs and get along, we find support in communities that can support us, and sometimes we talk about our lives. A lot of folks don’t seem to get how simple that is. Got a problem? What’s the problem? I’m sure if you like to build planes, and planes are important to you, you will talk about your adventures with building them. 

We are people.