Hello, everybody. So today I will be speaking with a very close friend of mine. We've been friends since before I can remember. I'll just say that that's this person is very well versed in a variety of topics. This is my friend Marika McSpadden. She's been through so much in life and I feel as though this conversation will touch on many topics that can be beneficial to many people. We'll be talking about activism, life at Chico State, life at home
Marijke McSpadden
@maykaa · 0:50
Every time I think I have a lull or a pause where I can either do something for myself or get one of my much needed tasks done, there's a little voice that needs something from me. So that is how my life has been. But I feel like exhaustion just part of the game at this point, whether you have kids or not. This world is just exhausting, you know
Darrisha Daniel
@Dee94 · 0:54
Definitely, definitely agree. Exhaustion is just kind of part of being any age over 18, I feel like at this point. But yeah, so we do know each other pretty well. But let's let the swell world get to know you. I spoke about activism when I introduced you. Just, I guess, give us a little overview of the sort of causes that you're really passionate about. I know autism awareness is definitely one of them
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Marijke McSpadden
@maykaa · 3:09
No, absolutely. You hit the nail on the head with a lot of those topics. Always. Autism acceptance and squashing ableism as a whole. Even beyond the autistic community. Even beyond the neurodivergent community. Because neurodivergence is kind of an umbrella term that embodies the autistic community, ADHD mental wellness. The list really goes on. It's really a huge umbrella term. I like to use it because I definitely fall under it. My kids are both autistic. I received a diagnosis late last year
Darrisha Daniel
@Dee94 · 1:11
Okay. Yes. All right. Lovely. So ableism that's kind of a term like somewhat new to me given the last couple of years. Let's talk about ableism and how, you know that that's something that's used to oppress people who aren't even any sort of like mentally disabled or disadvantaged in any way. How does ableism kind of factor into the racial injustices and kind of discrepancies that we see as far as that?
Marijke McSpadden
@maykaa · 4:04
It just turns out it's a lot easier for nondisabled kids to adhere to those behavioral expectations than it is for neurodivergent kids to fall in line with those behavioral expectations. So it's going to be a lot easier for neurotypical kids or non disabled kids to get those Monster points based on this Ableist system, where we're reinforcing behaviors that come more naturally to non disabled or neurotypical kids
Darrisha Daniel
@Dee94 · 1:11
Okay. Yes. Okay. Those are great examples of ableism and how it's just everywhere in society definitely want to kind of touch on disabled people's rights and mental health patients rights. Do you know much about the mental health patients rights? I'm not 100% sure about how they go, but I imagine that they are somewhat in line with the disabled people's rights. I think that mental health is definitely something that me and you both struggle with in our lives
Marijke McSpadden
@maykaa · 4:38
I've done sit down and talk about it therapy. I've done MVR therapy. So I've had a lot of different experiences trying to get a handle on my own mental health as I've gotten older and coming into adulthood. And what really helped me personally with my mental health journey recently was the discovery and validation that I am autistic. And I probably wouldn't have figured that out if it hadn't been for my daughter's diagnosis
Darrisha Daniel
@Dee94 · 1:34
Alright. So 12 hours later, thanks for having this very candid and open conversation with me because it is really important to bring awareness to the fact that not everybody can get this help. Like, there's a lot of people who struggle with anxiety and depression that are unfortunately products of other things like ADHD and having undiagnosed autism and things like they probably wouldn't understand because they didn't have the experience that you had