My Upbringing and How It Shaped Me

Understanding one’s identity is important. There are many parts of one’s identity; they are one’s childhood and your position in society relative to power. To decide your position in society relative to power you have to look at your gender, skin color, citizenship and neuro abilities. Being aware of one’s identity makes you more open to seeing the struggles of other people and what makes them them. To be aware of how they fit into society helps people connect on different levels and be able to connect with different groups based on how people classify themselves. I’ll be focusing on my childhood and a few aspects of how I fit in a position in society relative to power.I grew up in Everett, Washington. My family consists of two sisters, my grandparents, my mother and my father. My mom and dad are divorced. We had one dog, four cats and three snakes growing up. All of us liked our animals. Growing up my family was crazy, loud and insane. One moment I remember shows how crazy we are involves my youngest sister. My youngest sister, Bella, was one year old. She couldn’t even walk. My other sister, Lilli, was two years old and I was three years old. We had a baby gate between our living room and kitchen. We would stand at the gate and watch our mom in the kitchen. My youngest sister pushed my other sister and I into a corner and made us cry. All three of us were experts at making chaos. One memory I have that defines my childhood was when I broke my arm when I was nine. My sisters and I were jumping on the trampoline. For safety we had a net on it, I was sitting on the ledge outside of the net. I asked Lilli to push me, and she did but she pushed me gently. Apparently, it wasn’t hard enough for me so I asked her to push me again and she said “No”.  So I asked my other sister Bella and she agreed. She got a running start from the other side of the trampoline and pushed me off. I landed with my arm at a 90-degree angle above my head.  I broke my radius, chipped my ulna and dislocated my elbow. After the initial shock, I ran into the house crying to my mom, telling her how much it hurt. We went to the walk-in clinic that night and it was a complicated enough injury that we were referred to Children’s Hospital.  When we walked in everyone knew my name, it was creepy. After that incident, I never asked Bella to do anything like that again. There was a reason my mom called her Terror of the Seven Seas. My life isn’t all that different now; the only thing that’s different is that the chaos is quieter and more maintained. There are many parts of my identity that I can’t change. For example, I can not change being female, being a US citizen, having english as my first language, being neurodivergent or intelligent. Being female impacts my life greatly. Some determinants are very apparent in the workplace. Females in the workplace are often dismissed, over-sexualized and there’s a tendency to think that females are below men in their abilities. This is incorrect because they see us as an object, not a person with abilities to do a job. In society, it is believed that females are not reliable one week a month when we are on our period and everything we do during this time is influenced by our hormones. Females are also seen as not being able to make decisions because they are so emotional. Hormones do indeed play a role in affecting our lives, but it’s not to the point of us becoming a different person. Some men in society see us as inferior because we are not as physically strong or able to do what we can do. This is wrong because although we are sometimes not as physically strong there are things we can do to make up for anything we lack physically. In society being female puts me in a position of less power. I was born a US citizen. In this country, some positives are that citizens can participate in all aspects and privileges of society and have more opportunities in this country. US citizens have access to scholarships and financial aid for schooling. As a US citizen, you will not be deported and you do not need a visa to stay in this country. I also learned english as my first language. This allows me to participate in society. Being a US citizen in America and having english as my first language puts me in a position of more power. Another aspect of my identity is that I am neurodivergent, but I am high-functioning and intelligent. It’s difficult for me to read people and assess emotions. Some positives of being intelligent are you get more opportunities, you’re able to get better jobs and there are more doors and fields are open to you. Being intelligent puts me in a position of more power, but being neurodivergent puts me in a position of less power. My identity puts me in both the lesser position of the power group and the more position of the power group. Overall my identity helps me lean towards a position of power.  For my identity, my childhood was very impacted by my family. The parts of my identity that I can’t change are being female, being a US citizen, having english as my first language, being neurodivergent and intelligent. These together put me in a position of more power in society. Everyone should evaluate the parts of your identity that makes you you. One should also evaluate their childhood to see how that affected their identity. It’s important to know yourself and be able to relate to others.