Doing Better

This little one was a few steps away from the DRC driveway. Their mom was not far away.

By Maria Corse
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​Here’s a secret: My biggest fear is that I may appear dumb, uninformed, ignorant, or, to put it in less kindly terms, like a bumbling idiot. 
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As a high-masking neurodivergent individual, I work overtime to make sure that particular worry never comes to pass. In fact, I spend so much time managing how I am perceived that many would never, in a million years, have guessed that underneath the surface, I am a hot, anxious mess, constantly struggling to maintain the image of being calm, capable, intelligent, and sometimes even witty. 

An enormous part of this is my effort to learn, consciously use, and present correct terminology, ideas, and concepts I didn’t know much about or had an outdated understanding of until relatively recently. For example, my understanding of the issues surrounding the LGBTQIA community has increased exponentially over the past few years, as has my knowledge around disability (especially the invisible types, including the scourge of ablism), neurodivergence, and the difficult topics of extreme poverty, the unhoused, and the more recent horrors that immigrants and asylum seekers face. 

These are all things I had a basic grasp of—until I realized that folx from all walks of life are struggling hard, and I can be a better ally simply by learning more about the challenges they face every single day. 

As the great Maya Angelou famously said, “Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better.” 

It is a quote I live by. We are all out here doing the best we can. However, when you are wide open to new ideas and ways of being, including using correct and current vernacular, you can learn to be kinder, gentler, less judgmental, more generous, extra grateful for your blessings, and you may even discover hidden gems about the world that were previously concealed from your view that make life a little more meaningful. 

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