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We once posted the recovery bill of rights by Thomas V. Maguire, Ph.D. Copyright 1995. But we felt strongly that it was missing some vitally important and Plural specific rights.
Maybe you don’t feel as strongly about all the rights listed here; it’s okay to choose what is and isn’t important for you and your System, and it might change over time or vary per Headmate. However, it isn’t okay to choose for others what is and isn’t important to them and their System. All our experiences are unique, valid and important.
All labels and terminology in this Plural Bill of Rights may be replaced with the labels and terminology you and your System prefer to use. (E.G. Collective instead of System or Alter instead of Headmate, etc.)
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The Plural Bill of Rights
- You and your System have the right to be Plural; having or being more than one individual, within a single body, no matter the words or labels you use to define that experience.
- You and your System have the right to determine (by) yourselves if you are Plural. You do not need external validation, confirmation, a diagnosis or proof.
- You and your System have the right to trust yourself and your Headmates including their existence, history, personal opinions and truths, which may change over time and might differ per Headmate.
- You and your System have the right to claim personhood whilst practicing System responsibility.
- You and your System have the right to not minimize or exaggerate your signs, symptoms or experiences, for the comfort of others or to match a clinical or diagnostic text. (Those texts should reflect our various experiences instead.)
- You and your System have the right to your unique and individual experiences with Plurality, it can be (sometimes) disordered or pathological or not and doesn’t have to look like experiences of some other Plurals.
- You and your System have the right to selves express; your existence, yourselves, your gender(s), your history, your personal opinions and your truths.
- You and your System have the right to switch overtly or covertly, or not.
- You and your System have the right to announce a switch or to keep it to yourselves.
- You and your System have the right to be called by your individual names and pronouns if you or some of you wish for that.
- You and your System have the right to receive support and find belonging in a community around your Plurality.
- You and your System have the right to cultivate friendships with other Systems.
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- You and your System have the right to choose to be who you want to be at this moment and every moment, no matter who your source is.
- You and your System have the right to decide if, when, with whom and to what degree you want to share about your potential trauma history or if you want to disclose about any disordered and/or pathological experiences or diagnosis you might have, or not.
- You and your System have the right to decide not to disclose any medical information or System origins, labels or experiences or your Plurality in general.
- You and your System have the right to decide if you need healing, what that looks like, if and what kind of therapy you want or don’t want, what the desired end goal is and how you will aim to reach it together as a System.
- You and your System have the right to be treated Plurally, whatever that looks like for you all individually and/or collectively.
- You and your System have the right to selves discover and learn more about your experiences from both internal and external information sources you individually and/or collectively relate to.
As always, we encourage you and your System to follow your own truth, to soul search, to find words, labels, visions, theories and communities that aren’t only within your values but also match your lived experience and/or long term goals, so that you might find belonging and don’t have to try to fit in.
Thank you for investing the time to read this article.
Do you or your System have any additions for this Plural Bill of Rights? Comment them down below in the comment section!
The Plural Association is the first and only grassroots, volunteer and peer-led nonprofit empowering Plurals. Our works, including resources like this, are only possible because of support from Plurals and our allies.
If you found this article helpful, please consider making a donation.
Together we empower more Plurals!
Disclaimer: Thank you for reading our peer article; we hope it was empowering, informative and helpful for you and your System. There are as many Plural experiences, as there are Plurals. So not all information on this website might apply to your situation or be helpful to you; please, use caution. We’re not doctors or clinicians and our nonprofit, our work, and this website in no way provide medical advice, nor does it replace therapy or medication in other ways.
About the authors
The Stronghold System are the proud volunteer founders & CEO of The Plural Association Nonprofit. They are from the Netherlands and reside in a 30-something-year-old body, are nonbinary, parents of an amazing child & 3 cats. They got diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder over 10 years ago & also self ID as Plural.