(Note: I will be discussing brain-related disabilities, because I am not confident enough in my opinions on physical disability to be sure this model is useful. I am going to be interchangeably using “neurodivergence”, “brain weirdness”, etc. This post is intended to be inclusive of intellectually, developmentally, learning, and psychiatrically disabled people.)

It is often useful to distinguish the map and the territory. When we talk about the map, we talk about what we believe; when we talk about the territory, we talk about what’s true. These are not necessarily the same thing! I can draw a map that says that San Francisco is in Alaska, but that doesn’t mean that I should be wearing several layers of coats right now.

It’s important to note that– even if your map is accurate– the process of making a map loses information. A map of San Francisco doesn’t include…