YES, AND: The Rules of Engagement for The Other Voice

Why spreading your “yeah, but” all over the place is a shitty thing to do

The Other Voice and me, Lynn, will take a “yes, and” rather than a “yeah, but…” approach. This means I am encouraging that readers withhold the urge to use their superior theology, therapy knowledge, or special interest skills to say “well, actually…” or “yeah, but…” and then proceed to poo-poo on whatever it is that you disagree with or believe a participant got wrong. I respect that precise information is a form of safety to the Autistic nervous system. I am very sensitive to this myself, but accuracy isn't what we are talking about here. Let me explain.

Beautiful and Vulnerable. Much like individual humans, each flower expresses its beauty in a unique way and deserves to be celebrated and enjoyed as such.

Why “yes, and”? Because most of these posts are not a study or a debate. Saying “yes, and” allows a conversation and an acceptance that each person has a story that can and should be believed. My story is from my perspective of self, theology, and culture as only I have experienced it. So is yours. My perspective does not have to match yours exactly or even feel comfortable for you. Nor yours, mine. Our stories- our perspectives- are not facts; they are how we experience facts in our own unique bodies from our own unique position in this world. Experiencing facts differently does not make either story untrue, only different.

“Yes, and” welcomes and does not reject. It welcomes how you experienced culture, theology, therapy, family, and more. It welcomes facts without rejecting how the other person interacted with and survived the facts. Here is an example: As of today in February 2026, Donald Trump is president of the United States of America. A very divisive and polarizing administration. FACT. How each person experiences this fact is different. I personally embody this fact as a cPTSD re-traumatization and a horrific shit show. Your political views, culture, color of your skin, gender, economic status, and spiritual system will all dictate how you embody this fact. So yes, I have a very unpleasant experience with this political system, and you have an experience that is unique from mine even if it is similar.

To say “yeah, but”, or “that’s not true” invalidates the very real lived experience and Source Energy flowing through the person and perpetuates psychological invalidation. It is abuse. Here in The Other Voice, we will not spread our “yeah, but” on anyone willing to dialogue through this resource. Why?  In essence, it’s a shitty thing to do to someone who is vulnerable and already feeling shitty while they are courageous enough to keep growing despite the world telling them “that’s not true” about their identity and worth, which is the lived Autistic experience (especially when you are othered in society). 

This is not intended to be a factual teaching on theology or therapeutic principles. With the exception of the Therapeutic Education posts, this is a healing journey of one person who has been through it and is coming to terms with a lifetime of psychological abuse. It is what one person has learned through becoming a counselor to help others through it. I am hoping that my very public healing journey can inspire others to heal or, at the very least, provide insight to what it meant to be an Autistic woman embedded in one facet of Christian American culture and to welcome others to engage with “yes, and” tell their own stories of how they have been shaped and are reshaping their lives.