"You have heart disease; we're going to have to remove your heart."

If you have heart disease the problem isn't that you have a heart; it's what your heart is doing that's the issue. It's also blatantly ridiculous to blame having multiple personalities at all as the problem when the problem is what the people in your head are doing.

We used to be told we have Multiple Personality DIS-ORDER. Now it's DID -- dissociative identity disorder. Calling it a disorder at all implies anarchy -- lawlessness, distrust, a lack of community. The diagnosis alone implies that we cannot associate with one another inside our head. But when you look deeper, you'll see that it's an illusion; we are taught internal separateness at every turn, whether in literature (Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde), comics (Dr. Bruce Banner & The Hulk), in video (The United States of Tara), by our therapists' words, or in the literature of psychology, we are being told that to be multiple means internal divisiveness -- and the only answer has to be to become one person inside and out.

So why is the suggested "cure" for a multiple being disorderly the eradication of everything that makes this human being unique? Why not celebrate the kalleidoscope of identities, opinions, language, gesture, accents, memories, tastes and talents that can cohabitate one body? When adversity breeds something unique and beautiful, why does society insist on its destruction?

Welcome to a new world where you can get along both inside yourself and with the outside world. Let's make it clear to therapists, family, theorists, scientists, psychologists, policy makers, artists, actors, writers and philosophers -- that integration is a CHOICE. It's the ultimate Multiple Choice.

About the Book

Multiple Choice is a series of essays: manifestos, arguments with external paradigms, ranting against "The System" (external), demanding equality, rights, fair coverage in the media, discussing the history of multiplicity as well as where it's heading in the future under the larger umbrella of plurality. It's being offered in one large bundle to help build up documentation for plurals to spark internal discussions and debates, to help multiple systems work on their own platforms and opinions and things to fight for in the world. Argue in the margins. Write us angry emails. Comment on posts in major news media. Fight stigmatization in film and TV. When you all get on the same page, remember that there's more multiples out there and we can give back by blazing trails and making the world a better place for plurals to live in.