#srsly not tryna start shit but at what point does this compare to ppl tryna cure other neurodivergencies? it weirds me out man. idk.

[its-short-for-jackalope]

the visual snow initiative (VSI) is a pretty cool thing to exist because they're creating awareness and education and everything and obviously that's a good thing, but like....

it honestly weirds me out that they're seemingly so laser-focused on finding a cure!

they mention it on almost every page of their site, and have y'all seen their merch???? I looked at their shop bc I was curious what the hell kinda products and designs they'd have, imagining some funky-cool static art n shit, but instead I see, uh.. this??

I mean, I get it. im reading about folks' experiences and how they just suddenly had this syndrome one day and their world changed and they didn't know what was happening, and obviously I can see why they would want to find a cure. like there's this one story from a woman who got visual snow when she was almost 40 years old! I can totally see how that would be unpleasant and scary as hell.

I know I was really scared when I started having visual snow. I think I was 5 or 6, and I was convinced I was seeing monsters coming at me in the dark, even when I closed my eyes. I couldn't sleep for a few nights, even after crawling in my parents' bed, until I somehow convinced myself to imagine friendlier creatures in the static instead. and then I just... got used to it. I even totally forgot about it for a good long while! i genuinely can't remember seeing the world "normally" because visual snow just is my normal now, and I like it that way.

obviously my experience is different from some of these folks', since I have the privilege of having milder visual snow symptoms (at least for now, maybe ill be Suffering in a decade, who knows lol) and I also have the privilege of just being so used to this ding dang glitch in my brain (affectionate). maybe if I didn't get it until I was in my 20s I'd just want it gone too. idk.

I guess the point of this post is to say that it's kinda disappointing to try and learn more about something you experience and find a community of people who understand what you're dealing with, only to realize that a significant portion of them dislike the strange, cool, unique thing you share and want to get rid of it. it's kind of a bummer. they might want to see a world without visual snow, but I don't.