It needs to be clarified that this is an unfinished essay which I initially wrote on the 2nd of December 2022. As of the 1st of June 2023, I have edited it to make it more comprehensible, by improving grammar and word usage in some places. This essay is intended to have a third chapter which ties chapters one and two together, which would explain how capitalism actually ignores ADHD and other disabilities; even while occasionally claiming that capitalism benefits people with disabilities and chronic or terminal illnesses. Through measures such as 'philanthropy' or means tested social services which they support. They in truth provide but bare subsistence, and more often than not, not even bare subsistence, as many disabled people end up homeless and on the streets.
While I may complete this essay at some point, it is not at the top of my list of priorities as I am personally working on an essay to codify Intersectional Neurodiversity for general/mainstream audiences. This is but the most relevant essay I had on hand which could be used as a proof of concept to show the potential of this toolkit.
Capitalism and disability rights, unlike other "culture war" topics, by it's fundamental basis both stand diametrically in an irreconcilable relationship in a way that no other social movement, aside from the class war, can ever hope to achieve.
Fundamentally, there is no reason why capitalism needs to be systemically bigoted against, race, gender, or sexuality. It just so happens that the current distribution of wealth falls along a path which makes the preservation of these discriminatory hierarchies along facts of individual characteristics pragmatic, because traditionally and still today, the redistribution of wealth would counter the long standing damage brought about by these systemic inequalities, and would threaten the business interests of the current bourgeois class. Their investment in preserving these hierarchies, helps preserve their wealth.
One day this will not be the case, either because capitalism as an economic system ceases to exist... Or the distinction between wealth categories will no longer be determined by race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. However this still doesn't address the fundamental contradictions of capitalism and its inequalities. Capitalism discriminates against the previously listed categories out of circumstance. However there is a category of systemic inequality that capitalism must discriminate against out of necessity to justify its mere existence.
Capitalism regardless of any reforms or concessions that the working class could ever achieve... Capitalism will always fundamentally as a core part of its "meritocratic" DNA, be required to discriminate based on ability.
This makes the disability rights movement extremely hard to co-opt, and which is why a full scale disability rights movement has for long remained dormant. Capitalism will not abandon its core fundamental principle of "personal responsibility", and the most extreme case of this comes from the Machiavellian ideology of fascism.
During the second world war, Nazi Germany began a program of "racial hygiene", which is a euphemism for genocidal ideology, which formed the basis of the justification for the eradication of millions based on their ethnicity, race, sexuality, religion, and disability...
The Machiavellian realpolitik of Nazi "race hygiene" is well known to purely exist to justify their imperialist expansionism. Many times throughout the war, the application of Nazi "race hygiene", had its definition and classifications changed so many times based on pure realpolitik. Which significantly undermines its main point. As Slavs were seen in the same contempt as the Jews, the Nazi doctrine changed to include Western Slavic peoples to trick them into thinking that their participation and work would set them free... So joined the Nazi hierarchy as fellow slave owners and oppressors. Clearly the Nazis were playing a trick, but so long as that trick guaranteed their victory in conquest, they would be willing to compromise their entire ideology. Who knew the National "Socialist" German "Workers" party were such shameless liars? Everyone but the stooges that followed them. Unless Hitler drank too much of the juices at Occultic Nazi Sex orgy rituals.
It is well known that the disability component of the Holocaust was led by Dr. Menegle, one of the most sought after Nazis to survive the Second World War, and his remains were found underwater in Brazil. It can be hoped that his death was more painful than his contemporaries. But it may very well have been a clean suicide. Much less pain then his victims suffered. But Menegle worked with another man, named Hans Aspergers, as of this moment, the most hated man by the Neurodiversity community, and more specifically the namesake of Aspergers. Which in the community has led to a split in the community over the validity of people calling themselves "Aspie" or having "Aspergers". Personally I believe in preserving the right of self identification, however it would be news that the number of people identifying their condition with the worst man in the history of Autism, dropped to zero. Perhaps some day, but I cannot rob people of their rights... Like this man did; Hans Aspergers.
Hans Aspergers performed Human experimentation on disabled people and others the Nazi ideology labeled as "undesirables". But what is the point of Aspergers?
Aspergers was considered offical medical terminology before the DSM removed it in 2013, and subsequently so did the ICD in 2021. The classification of Aspergers is used to demote so-called "high functioning" Autistics and separate them from "low functioning" Autistic people. The reality of autism is far more complicated than a binary, especially for those such as myself who sit in the middle of things. In Nazi "race hygiene" fashion, people labeled as low functioning autistics were designated as not useful for the fatherland... And many were terminated, in gas chambers, in inhuman experimentation, and others... Who knows what else has been missed or lost to the destruction of records. One thing's for certain, a Neurodivergent communist like myself would be totally screwed under Nazi "race hygiene".
"High functioning" autistics who were diagnosed with "Aspergers", were considered fit enough for duty to the fatherland... And much like Slavic and Baltic Nazi sympathizers... The hope is that all the "impure" or "inferiors" would die in service to their own destruction. Systemic suicide.
The strong succeed... And the weak perish under their master's boot...
Despite these facts... As a result of Aspergers "contribution" to "science", much like many of his fellow Nazi scientist contemporaries... After the war his entire career was sanitized... And only today are his dark deeds coming back to bite his legacy in the ass. Good fucking riddance I say.
Capitalism today has a hard enough time trying to justify itself in the face of climate change and growing systemic inequality, as the top of the bourgeoisie entrenches their wealth to heights never seen before in history, as accumulation peaks. The big bourgeoisie has grown so huge that their scale undermines their own arguments against central planning and some of the capitalist enterprises are growing into being more and more like literal empires themselves in their own right. Coca Cola, McDonalds, and Nestle, in the field of foods. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and SpaceX in the fields of propulsion. Microsoft, Google, and Meta in the fields of software and hardware. Capitalism is an all consuming gluttonous beast, and I have yet to mention Shell, Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, and Chevron, but to name a few, form part if the largest monopolist syndicate on planet Earth called OPEC, a monstrous abomination pushing our world towards the largest ecological catastrophe in Human history.
In this climate of change, capitalism is scrounging around for any and all excuses, to explain why it should be preserved. And once again we come back to personal responsibility and even a new topic... Human nature.
As the claims go:
People who succeed in business work hard to attain their success, anyone can do it! You just can't be lazy, and you should know business is about being ruthless! Come on it's easy, come lift yourself up by your bootstraps! You should be more grateful for the opportunities afforded to you by the system! Think of your inner patriot, it was hard working men who built the modern world!
I could debunk all of these claims individually, but I will not. Instead I will explain ADHD, a clinically diagnosed and real mental disability I have. The word 'real' being important because of the obvious fact that some reactionaries try to claim it's all just in my head. To which my response is... Of course it's all in my head you fuck... It's a mental disability.
Vulgarities aside, ADHD is a really strong counter argument to the personal responsibility argument. Because ADHD challenges the capitalist notion of laziness unlike no other disability.
Physically speaking, ADHD is just a brain thing as far as we currently know. It doesn't impair physical function, it impairs brain function. More specifically, the main component in the ADHD brain that is impaired is executive function, which is quite possibly one of the most interesting topics to discuss in intersectional analysis against capitalism, because ADHD executive dysfunction is not a result of laziness, it is a lack of sustained motivation and the ability to properly organize the order of operations.
Imagine you are trying to figure out a math equation such as this:
(X - Y) ÷ A × (B + C - Z)
Now imagine you completely forgot the order of operations. So you don't remember BODMAS, BIDMAS, or whatever acronym. Because now the acronym is now an anagram which keeps scrambling every 5 seconds. This is basically what executive dysfunction feels like. And this is only one of five executive dysfunctions, because all eight executive functions are impaired in ADHD.
If your day is an equation, the order of operations varies and sometimes it's easier then others. Let's say you have to go to work... Okay obviously you need to shower, brush your teeth, have breakfast, and other such mundane concerns. You know getting to work is the last step and you have limited time to accomplish this, and since the Human brain is smart, even running on fumes it can... Complete the task... Just inefficiently.
One of the executive functions is time perception. You know the phrase, time flies when having fun? This is basically the same kind of feeling, but as it is called in the ADHD community, time blindness, the flow of time isn't disrupted, you don't perceive reality at slow speeds, no... The part of your brain keeping track of it is impaired.
Unsurprisingly organization is too. You know what let me just give you the list:
Clearly at this rate you could imagine how in a capitalist society this seems like hell. Especially when ADHD is an invisible disability. However, this doesn't mean executive function isn't present; It just means impairments. What this definitely challenges, is the very concept of free will, because what is it that helps ease (not cure) executive dysfunction? Stimulant medication.
Stimulant medications while unfortunately mostly made by monopolist capitalist pharma companies... Offers something the brain lacks: Dopamine. Dopamine is the reward chemical, and ADHD brains don't get enough reward chemicals, and after enough time lacking said reward chemicals the brain is just not rewarding behaviors and actions like they should which means... People with ADHD develop terrible habits and after years of reinforcement ADHDers just don't do what they should be doing because it's just not rewarding enough for their brain to compute properly. The ADHDer knows what they must do, but their brain holds them back by... Just not doing it, especially more difficult when you can't even figure out what order you are meant to do things in.
This is why the key to helping support ADHD brains is preventing the development of bad habits, and letting the medication improve their mental reward for doing so. This is how some adult ADHDers who get supported correctly are possibly even Neurotypical passing . However... The number of neurotypical passing ADHDers... Is incredibly low... Because the amount of ADHDers who get the support they need are usually in more wealthy families or in countries with strong socialized healthcare... WITH good in class support.
In a way ADHD represents the perfect metaphor for economic anarchy in capitalist production, and systemic inequality in general. Because the only way to improve the situation of ADHDers is to provide an environment and system that supports their brains through the habit stabilization process. It is possible for some level of stabilizing support to be achieved in capitalism, however... It once again comes back to class, and also trying its best to ignore the philosophical implications of ADHD and other disabilities.