Applying A Neurodiversity Lens to Living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Abstract

I draw on my own experiences receiving therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as well as my background as a disability rights activist to argue for a model of OCD that is not solely focused on cure as the goal. In my experiences with therapy, I was encouraged to think of OCD as something external to myself and something I had to constantly fight against in order to act in accordance with my “real” self and thoughts. This never sat right with me, given my experiences being developmentally disabled from birth and having seen the futility of attempting to “fight” my cerebral palsy or vision impairment. I entered autistic communities as an adult, and learned strategies for managing distressing traits that did not rely on a cure or demonization of disability. I acknowledge that my disabilities have facets I find painful, frightening, and unhelpful, and I would not choose to experience those aspects. But I do not have a choice, and so drawing on neurodiversity-affirming strategies that I learned in autistic communities, I can both acknowledge traits that I experience as negative and recognize that they are a part of my experience, and not external to me. I hope to think and write an affirming model of OCD into existence as an extension of care to the mad and neurodivergent people who may share similar experiences.