Transcriber: Madison King Reviewer: Trang Phạm
I’d like you all to take a second
and think about how you’d define your identity.
What would you say makes you who you are?
I've asked myself this question many times over the course of my short life.
I'm a second year psychology student with hopes of going to law school.
I like playing video games and spending time with my beautiful boyfriend, Luke.
Where inherently I’m a gay autistic, 20-year-old Native American male.
Now alone, these traits aren’t anything really special.
However, I'd like to introduce you all to the concept of intersectionality.
Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the year of 1989.
She used it to describe how systems of power affect
those who are most marginalized in society.
Now, in slightly simpler terms,
this means that every social categorization group
that we fall into, such as race, class, and gender,
all interact to create unique forms of discrimination
and disadvantages in each one of us.
Now, as backwards as it may seem,
I don't like to think of this as inherently a bad thing.
It allows each person to have a different perspective on life.
Everyone brings something new to the discussion table,
and it allows for new advancements we need every day.
Unfortunately, though, there’s a darker side of this
that I believe is equally unackdogged.
This nihilism and anger you see all the time online.
The depression built into a generation born at the turn of a century
and ultimately, a skyrocketing self-harm rate
in an age that claims to celebrate all identities.
LGBTQ youth are three times more likely to self-harm
and four times more likely to attempt suicide
when compared to their non-LGBTQ peers.
About 35% of Native American youth
in the last six months have seriously considered suicide.
Which is 25% higher than the national average.
For autistic youth,
There’s three times more likely to attempt suicide,
which jumps up to eight times when you consider only female autistics.
Now, where does that leave me?
As a gay, autistic, 20-year-old Native American male?
I’m honestly not sure.
I like to think I’m one of the lucky ones though.
I have a supportive family, good grades, and the best boyfriend I could ask for.
Sad fact is, most who’s walked today in my shoes can’t say the same though.
Only about one third of LGBTQ youth are accepted by their families.
Another third faced active parental rejection,
with some being forced to leave home or being shunned by their families.
A final third are forced to hide their identities until much later in life,
never getting to experience true freedom in their youth when all it took
was one accepting adult in their lives to reduce the risks risk of suicide by 40%.
For autistic youth, social isolation and poor access to health care
are the main reason why their rates are so high.
If I can tell you anything about having autism is that it makes it incredibly hard
to relate to the people around you.
At best, you can mask and adapt how people think you should be.
At worst, you can spiral
and feel more lonely than you think anyone in the world can.
Finally, Native American youth have more overlooked issues than any others.
Native American men have the highest suicide rates of any group,
and Native American women are some of the most missing
and murdered people in our country.
Tribal reservations in many places lack access to bare necessities
such as clean water and nutritious foods,
which leads to widespread chronic health issues such as diabetes and alcoholism.
So what can we do about such pressing issues in our most vulnerable?
Unfortunately, there’s no one easy fixed solution.
But I think the most important thing we can do here
and now is to recognize that these issues exist.
Shine Light on the Dark Past.
Our country’s history treatment of so called others
teach our youth to be loving and accepting of all,
and do your best to educate yourselves about these issues even further
to make the world a better place for everyone on it.
Because at the end of the day,
the last thing we all want to become is another statistic.
Thank you.
(Applause)