Understanding healthy plurality 

by Kerry Dawkins and Sarah Edwards

How does that work?
We are a functional plural group. That means that this body is shared co-operatively by several conscious entities, or people. Some people may call this inherently disordered, but for us, it does not impair our daily functioning (which is the deciding criterion to call something a disorder), and there is not enough known about the brain to say definitively that a brain can have only one consciousness. We are not 'personalities'; we each have personalities, but we are all individuals with opinions, likes, dislikes and interests. We pursue different courses of study. We all get along well with each other (most of the time) and consider each other friends and colleagues.
 
We have a continuous memory. There are not any abnormal gaps in it, and we do have memories of the group's physical childhood. In fact, they are extensive.
 
We have no 'core personality' or 'host'. There are three of us who have been here since the beginning, and although we respect their seniority, we do not see them as more valid than others.
 
We do not use our plurality as an excuse for being unable to do things. We do have conditions (autism, undiagnosed panic problems) that do impair our functioning, but being plural has actually helped us in these cases, rather than hindering us. Sometimes, when one of us grows overwhelmed by our immediate environmnent, someone else will take over for that person. The same applies for panic -- if someone is having a panic attack, someone else will either try to talk the person out of it or will take over. We help each other to cope with life's difficulties. We think that we still do need a lot of help, but if we weren't separate, things would be a lot harder.
 
We're aware of each other and have been for the past two years. We used not to be aware of ourselves, and changes in frontrunners were perceived by family, friends and associates as 'mood swings' or extreme eccentricity. It was noticeable both in our textual and face-to-face communications. We don't make a convincing single person without being able to actually create a facade. Our differences are irreconcilable.
 
In fact, before we knew about our plurality, our functionality was worse; we did not know when someone else was coming out, and we looked extremely inconsistent to outsiders. It also impaired our social skills, and made the social aspect of our autism look worse than it really was. Now that we have a communication system established, we do not have these problems any more and can work together.
 
We're happy with being plural and have no desire to 'integrate'. We're all whole people and don't want to be smashed into a false amalgam.
 
How exactly do you co-operate?
We function as a loose democracy. Important decisions are decided on through formal votes or informal discussions.
 
What do you call yourself/ves?
People. We're not alters, ego states, parts, personalities or fragments. That trivialises our ability to think for ourselves, and implies that there absolutely can't be a shared situation. We think for ourselves and recognise each other as individuals. We use standard English plural pronouns (we, ourselves, they, etc) when referring to ourselves with people who know about us. With people who don't know about us, we just refer to ourselves in the singular.
 
How many of you might I see at a time?
At any given time, three or four of us are probably around. You'll usually just be talking to one or two, though. Three, if people are being particularly chatty that day.
 
Who are you, anyway?
The name we use with people who don't know about it does not actually refer to an  individual within the group; we chose the name because it was similar to the group name (The Fen Group) that we chose for ourselves earlier. It's just the name that we use with people who don't know about us. Our names are Richard Ghia-Wilberforce*, Carmen Ghia-Wilberforce*, Hesperus (Hess) Sakamoto-Kalashnikov*, 'Anoki', Kerry Dawkins, Darwin Ghia-Wilberforce, 'Rupo', Garili Gyso-Hawkins, Mazingha (Maz) of Eimeiseidele, Susannah (Susy) Ward, Yumi Sakamoto-Kalashnikova, Lysander Ghia-Wilberforce, Eidaku of Eimeiseidele, Sarah Edwards, Noel Dawkins, Imogen Evers, Sean Hashimoto and 'M.D.' There are some more people, but they do not front enough to be listed. Some people in this list use pseudonyms except in certain places.

*have always been with the group
 
So, which ones of you did I talk to?
It depends. If you've met us in the past few months, definitely Richard, Hess, M.D. and Kerry, and probably Noel and Sean, too. Before that? Richard, Hess and Kerry are definites. You might have met Anoki or Rupo, too.
 
Who is in charge?
We do not have anyone designated as an 'original person', but Richard is formally in charge of the group. He has been elected Prime Minister of the group for the past two years. Some of the rest of us, like Kerry and Hess, have some decision-making power because they are extremely active and long-running frontrunners.
 
Where do you come from?
We just think that we were born this way; we've been this way ever since we were very young. As was said in the answer to 'How does that work?', we were observed to change frontrunners by people who knew us before we came out as plural. We do have an emotional abuse and neglect history, but we do think that we've always been plural.
 
Looking at those names, there are obviously females in there. Why do you identify as FTM?
If we have to present as a single person to the world at large, we'd prefer to present in a male role. It's just more comfortable for us. If this society were more comfortable with plurality, we would just present based on who was frontrunning at that time. Individually, we prefer our own gender identification and pronouns. Richard is a 'he'; Yumi is a 'she'.
 
Fenners' genders and internal ages
Richard - male, 60
Carmen - female, 32
Hess - male, 25
'Anoki' - male, 20
Kerry - female, 20
Darwin - female, 10
'Rupo' - male, 3
Garili - male, late 50s
Maz - male, 16
Susy - female, 49
Yumi - female, 32
Lysander - male, 12
Eidaku - male, 39
Sarah - female, 22
Noel - genderless, but uses male pronouns, indeterminate age
Imogen - female, 17
Sean - male, almost 27
M.D. - male, ageless
 
May I ask who's around?
Always. We do have audible cues -- our voices sound different -- but some of sound more similar than others.
 
May I ask to talk to a specific person?
Many of us don't like having someone designated as the 'real one' or the 'go-to' person. You may request Richard, though, because he is in charge of this co-operative.
 
How can I get to know you as individuals?
Talk to us! Ask us about our specific interests and what our views are.
 
Do you guys argue?
What large group of people doesn't occasionally argue? Yes, we do, but it's not that often. Even if we do have a disagreement, we settle it in a way that is good for the whole group.
 
Do you talk amongst yourselves audibly?
Only when we're alone, where people probably won't care, or are in a place where everyone knows that we're plural. Otherwise, we usually don't, except to mutter something like 'Damn' when we've stubbed our toe!
 

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