Indigo Children & Neurodiversity

Taking a look at the culture surrounding the New Age conception of Indigo Children & why literally alienating neurodivergent kids probably isn't the best.

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Autistic children & children with ADHD are at risk of being exploited by an industry catered towards those who believe they are not of this world.
Autism is not a super power. It just is.
Whether they are talking about Indigo, Crystal or Rainbow Children, or Pleiadean Starseeds, the harm done is the same. Neurodiversity is a fact of life, there is no need for this silliness.

Resources:

[robin]

To be fair to these folks (not something I'll say often), "Attention Dialled into a Higher Dimension" is a pretty good description for what my ADHD feels like... I'm not unfocused, I'm just focused _extremely hard_ on something completely unrelated to the conversation, like "the genetics of cat fur colour" or "the history of the violin"

[justvibin]

My mom calls me a crystal child and calls herself an indigo child. Meanwhile I've been investigating a possible history of undiagnosed autism within my family, and hope to get an official diagnostic process underway for myself. I don't know what will come of it, or if I really am autistic, but I'm glad I know this indigo child stuff is just ableism filtered through new age lingo.

Edit/Update: Yep. I got the 'tism. I believe in magic, btw, but it's always good to be critical of the biases and misinformation being spread by people.

[grumpysandfrog]

Thank you for this! I have C-PTSD from my childhood and a big part of that was constantly being told that my sensory processing disorder was indicative of *higher abilities*. The adults around me constantly put me through torture so that I could demonstrate how ✨special✨ I was.

[ConvincingPeople]

Neurodivergence, latent dysphoria, alienation from moving around a lot, and being alternately told you're "highly gifted" and "very special" or written off as difficult and possibly crazy are one heck of a cocktail for a small child to swallow. I was for some time convinced I was an alien, at others that I had a phantom snout and tail like a wolf. And those are just the endearing quirks rather than the embarrassing, gross stuff. My parents at least were understanding about my weirdness, but I think my mom in particular unwittingly pressured me to be, as you say, some world-saving genius, even if she settled ultimately on just supporting my interests and telling me to go to college. Still, it wasn't great!

Oh, also, not realising that many other people can't visualise things to photographic detail while awake and thinking that stuff like benign closed-eye hallucinations and visual snow are basically normal or, in the latter case, plain old eye problems was… not obviously problematic in communicating with others, but explains some subtle discrepancies in how I've always seen things and how other people do, methinks.

[charlottemartyr]

My brother was labeled as being a special needs student, held back, and not allowed to do anything for himself while I was labeled a gifted child and did all the “spooky little psychic” things that made people think there was LITERALLY something supernatural about me….
Turns out we BOTH have Aspergers, and are basically exactly as smart and as skilled as each other. I was just SLIGHTLY better at masking to socialize…. And under UNBELIEVABLE pressure not to fuck it up by being “weird”….

[lalas]

Fun Fact: The therapist I saw before my current one kept "joking" that I "must be an alien or something". This same therapist also considered themselves an advocate for Autistic people, knew that I'm Autistic _and_ have unreality issues, and also thought that vaccines gave their younger sibling Autism even though that is 100% not how it works and what she described was probably brain damage compounding on preexisting stuff. She also decided to silent treatment me when I wouldn't say "yes" to things she insisted were true about me as a person in our last session! Big yikes!

When Allistic and NT people act like _this, _ no wonder the idea of being a changeling child or an alien seems so plausible. I'd 100% rather have a fae realm or another planet to return to to not have to worry about dealing with people like that than be a human. Then I'd at least know for sure that there are others who would be able to understand me when I speak.

[dangieale]

Never heard about indigo children, but when i was a child i was convinced that i was an alien and would be happier living in another planet

[bethanythatsme]

"The power of positive thinking" really did a number on my developing neurodivergent mind. I felt deeply ashamed that I hadn't been able to envision my way out of the challenges I faced in the NT world. I wanted so badly to no longer be a problem and to just fit in. I did so much research into trying to "fix" me before being diagnosed in my 40s.
Thank you for your channel and thank you to all who share in the comments.

[khazermashkes]

I was thankfully never labeled as a “new kid”, but I was labeled as gifted and consequently never received help at school for my ADHD. I was told to just focus more, including when difficulties with school contributed to suicidal ideation. I am glad that I went to community college instead of a more prestigious school because it helped me adapt to learning at a better pace for me.

[austensg]

Wow this video took a turn. I've had a few close friends have spiritual experiences, and I obv trust their accounts of what they're experiencing, so I've been attempting to account for that in my understanding of "wtf is out there?" This also comes with a lot of, "I'm envious because I want special powers, too. Why do my friends get them and I don't? Am I not ND enough?" But hearing your explanations of why you experienced those things validates a thing that has been in the back of my mind this whole time: sometimes we just pick up on shit and guess correctly. I don't have to incorporate this into my worldview! This makes my life a lot easier.

[Dwamak]

This is just me before my autism diagnosis. :))

I was always eccentric looking person with lots of special interests and hyperfixations.
One day, a middle class new agey type women from the social circle around me at that time approached me and told me I am an indigo child (but I was in my late teens) explained to me what indigo child is, told me people like me on a special mission, meant for some higher purpose, that made too much sense to me at that time because I was always different and admired/hated because of my classical autistic traits. Then I was ran into all the new age knowledge and devoured all the information I could reach from the calculations/interpretations of the personal astrological natal charts to the holistic healing to the occult knowledges etc. (following the whole rabbit hole). Then after some time people started to gather around me for some reason and asking my advise/guidance on some of their personal lives, treating me some sort of special being. That was my cue for questioning what is going on around me and in my life. I isolated myself from almost everyone and distanced myself from these people. I even did not need to read too much of debunking arguments about all the new age stuff, because it was pretty obvious, but my personal conclusion was all those middle-class people, living in the cities, yearning for the nature, alienated from their work, from their fellow human beings, from their communities, were wishing/hoping something special/higher, just for trying to making some sense for all the nonsense, injustice and violence in our world.

Like all your work so far, this one too was a great work, but this video especially special to me because it made me discover a kindred spirit.
Thank you just for existing, dear Mica. <3

[kaylaprinsloo-steiner]

This…so much this. My mom thought (probably still thinks) I’m psychic and was a beacon for spirits as a kid. I did seem to “know” things I shouldn’t have and freaked out adults around me but I know now it’s due to my autism NOT some supernatural force. I was terrified spirits were coming into my room, trying to communicate with me. It was a nightmare. It felt like I was cursed. Still do…but for different reasons.

[DrAnarchy]

I’ve never heard of Indigo Children but in high school I probably would have believed that I was one. Good video.

[GenesisTheKitty]

I'm glad my parents were very down to earth because I might have ended up with a lot of these labels hoisted on me otherwise. I was also too "behaviorally challenged" for most adults to consider me gifted, having a hot temper and being often unwilling to take instructions made my teachers and parents angry, not excited to have an "indigo child".

[UnconsciousCardanTheForgetful]

“I only came across this concept a couple of years ago.”
*me sitting here having been raised on this bullshit*
“...Lucky Bastard!”

I genuinely enjoyed this video, very well done.

[sillybobbin]

My names Indigo, I’m 15 I’m an undiagnosed autistic girl well currently going through the diagnostic process. I fit all of the supposed qualities of an indigo child and I grew up in quite a spiritual family both me and my mum practice witchcraft, growing up people would always ask my mum if she named me because of this (she didn’t know anything about it) or give her books about it. I don’t think any of these things I’ve experienced have helped me at all a few years ago I thought I was an indigo child from people telling me about it online at this point I’d just like people to shut up and get proper health support that I’ve lacked my whole life.

[CoreenMontagna]

The phone thing happened to me too! Happened most often with landlines or early cellphones. I hear a very similar sound when I’m close to incandescent lights that are dimmed (not at full brightness).

[ValhallaToadplant]

I feel like this really ties in with the stuff I've been learning about youth liberation. We underestimate children's capacities for understanding so much. There are so many mismatches between our stereotypes of children and the way young humans actually be. Like- adults have had so much conditioning by the time they have kids that they trip TF out when kids show uninhibited capacities for imagination, learning, and attunement to their environment.

[RaunienTheFirst]

What I'm getting from this is:

ND children that are brought up in an environment where they have the material resources to freely explore their abilities and interests: "special, magical, otherworldly"
ND children that brought up in an environment where their caregivers are putting all or most of their energy into simply surviving and don't have the opportunity to flourish: "weird, awkward, freaks"

[arasharfa]

you're one of my favorite youtubers. brilliant! I would say the potential for these children to be crippled by the inevitable disappointment their potential narcissism could cause under those types of circumstances could be devastating. it is definitely something that could destroy their relationship to their passions.