Many people assume that, beneath the surface, those who deviate from the norm are all basically “just like the rest of us.” Societal standards are taken to be God-given models that everyone wants to live up to. Those who don’t have simply failed to attain them.
It is difficult to accept that deviance can be an inherent peculiarity of some people, a difference that they do not necessarily wish to correct. Some mental health professionals may call such people “dysfunctional,” but it’s a mistake to assume that everyone wants to be “normal” without first asking them who they want to be or how they want to live.
We assume, for instance. That inside every fat person is a thin person trying to get out, but Kingsley Amis writes that “Outside every fat man, there is an even fatter man trying to close in.”
How wonderful it is that there are so many ways we differ from one another.