Many divergent individuals are undervalued or quite often socially forgotten simply because typical individuals are too busy or uncomfortable to see their actual value. Even as advanced as humanity is in the time of Star Trek, this is very much the case and social inequality is still far from curable.

Divergent individuals either work to minimalize themselves so that others can be comfortable with their existence or those who care for the divergent must resort to personal sacrifice to protect their divergent loved ones so that the world won’t undervalue them. Two cases of this are Data and the Bashir family.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation’s ‘Redemption Part II’, Data asks Picard why he was not assigned command of a vessel that would be part of a blockade between the Klingon and Romulan border. He presents evidence that he has served admirably within Starfleet for 26 years and that he is more than qualified to command a vessel but will defer to Picard’s judgment if Picard does not feel he is ready.

Data’s humble approach to the situation causes Picard to pause and realize that his own unknowing, unresolved prejudices are unwittingly affecting how Data sees himself and his potential as sentient life.

Picard sees that Data is aware that others are nervous about his abilities and is willing to hold himself back out of respect for them. For the sake of Picard’s comfort, Data is willing to sacrifice an opportunity at command even though he knows he is more than qualified.

Fortunately, Picard is wise and sees that Data is advocating for himself as being ready and qualified to take command of a vessel in the situation. Data’s show of humility forces Picard to look at himself and realize that his prejudice is only holding Data back from an opportunity that will help him grow.

Data is a divergent individual who worked very hard to get to the level he is at in Starfleet and is content to do what he is asked even if it means he misses out on an opportunity. He resigns himself to be contained within a limit imposed by indifferent attitudes simply so that others will be comfortable.

To resign oneself to a limit for the sake of others and their happiness is an act of unconditional love. Data was more human than he may have realized because he was continually deferring to others and their wisdom rather than being ‘superior.’ Even though Data lacks the programming to feel, he is aware of the feelings and prejudices others hold against him.

He knows that not everyone accepts him or even accepts his right to stand among others as an equal. Instead of losing his temper, however, he works to defeat prejudices and fears by showing his skills and teaching others using quiet humility.

Often, he can teach others that he is not ‘just an android.’ In ‘Measure of A Man’, Data faced having his rights taken away and although Picard eventually succeeded in successfully advocating for him so that he could keep his rights, Data chose to first attempt to solve the situation with quiet humility.

He tried to speak for himself and stand for himself, but only when he did not do, did he demonstrate quiet humility in asking for help and allowing his friend, Commander Riker, to step into the role of an enemy for a time. Data was wise in realizing that if Riker did not speak against him, Starfleet would have automatically ruled against his rights as a sentient being and did not abandon Riker as a friend for unwillingly doing his duty. For the comfort of others, Data sacrificed his dignity and risked his very freedom in the process.

As much as Data admitted that he was struggling to reach humanity, he demonstrated grace to others quite often when he deferred to his comfort zones and the needs that others had concerning him. Not that Data was always deprived of joy because he willingly deferred to the limits placed upon him by others and their narrowmindedness.

Quite the opposite, in fact; he found joy with what he had available to him and found fascination in simplicity. It was Data’s fascination with simplicity and his pure talent for seeing beauty in simple things that endeared people to him. With the endearment came trust and friendship and with those, came more of a life for Data.

Data even eventually ascended above his divergency and learned the Human tendency of selfless sacrifice. For the comfort and safety of others, he chose to sacrifice all the future that awaited him. These results came from Data’s simple choice to defer to comfort zones and let people decide when they were ready to love him as he was. It’s not a choice that we as Humans should make when dealing with each other, as we should love one another unconditionally without hesitation, but it’s what Data chose to do.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, Richard and Amsha Bashir brought a son they called Julian Subatoi Bashir into the world and Julian was not a typical child. Julian, in his words, was, “Small…A bit awkward physically. Not very bright…I knew I wasn’t doing as well as my classmates.

There were so many concepts they took for granted, that I couldn’t begin to master. But I didn’t know how or why. All I knew was that I was a great disappointment to my parents.” (Dr Julian Bashir, Dr Bashir, I Presume?)

Julian’s struggles were beyond typical and were indeed a great disappointment to Richard and Amsha, but they didn’t hate their son. They hated that their son had to struggle so much when others around him did not. To them, their beautiful child was suffering endlessly, and it wasn’t fair.

Amsha Bashir herself even shared her feelings about it to Julian, “You’ve never had a child. You don’t know what it’s like to watch your son… to watch him fall a little further behind every day. You know he’s trying, but something’s holding him back.” (Amsha Bashir – Dr Bashir, I Presume?) Unable to watch their boy struggle, they chose in hopes of helping him.

I know many Star Trek fans call Richard and Amsha abusive for the decision they ultimately made for Julian, but I think about how hard it was for my mother and her close circle of friends to raise me, as my mother has explained the hardships to me that I might better understand them.

There are so many in the world who struggle with special needs children and ‘child-like’ adults each day and the resources available to them are so much more prominent than they used to be, but they could still be better than they are. The caregivers to said individuals should be applauded for the sacrifices they make to ensure that these individuals with these special needs receive the comforts that they are in need and want of.

I am not a parent, but I have worked with children through my church and community and have also worked as a respite worker for children with disabilities. I have a glimpse of how difficult it is to work with children who have struggles similar to that of Jules Bashir. My love for every child I have worked with was equal no matter their struggle, but not everyone believes the same way I do.

Not even an organization as advanced as the Federation seems to have the knack for willingly loving and embracing those with Jules Bashir’s types of disabilities. Maybe they did and we didn’t see it, but perhaps we should have because such sights on a show like Star Trek would have taught us how to be better at embracing one another as we are.

Despite all the social risks involved with genetic engineering, Richard and Amsha took Julian to Adigeon Prime when he was just a young child. For Julian’s comfort, they sacrificed their own comfortable lives and potentially their freedom, as genetic engineering was illegal in the Federation. If they were caught, they would be arrested and Julian would be institutionalized and the Bashir’s knew this, but they still took the leap of faith to Adigeon Prime. They wanted Julian to have the world open to him; they wanted him to have normalcy that he wouldn’t have if he remained as he was.

They wanted him to have a safety and happiness that would not be granted to him if he remained in his current state. Even though the Federation preached equal opportunity for all, it is also quite likely that someone like Jules Bashir would not have been received well or given an equal opportunity in a Federation world as he grew older. Richard and Amsha wanted better for Jules. They didn’t want him to be denied a hopeful future because he had an issue beyond his control.

For Julian’s comfort, Richard and Amsha Bashir altered their stable lives so that Julian could have the life he deserved. Being born with a disability is a circumstance very much beyond everyone’s control and it is very much an unfair circumstance, but it’s sometimes the reality a family is given.

My mother has often said that special children are born to special people and Julian Bashir was very much a special child, so that must mean the Bashir’s were special parents. They wanted to make their special gift as happy as possible.

It’s very interesting, though, that divergent individuals tend to have different reactions to who they are and tend to embrace the whole identity of divergency differently. Data always knew he was different, but he accepted who he was, and constantly strived to be better even though he was loved and accepted as he was.

Data’s colleagues likewise found amusement in the android’s constant journey to be more human and they loved him for his efforts, even walking alongside him as he made his continued journey of self-improvement. By the time of Picard, however, Data has lost his corporeal body, but he still exists through technology and yet he does not wish to.

Data is aware that his continued existence would make Picard more than comfortable, but he also knows he cannot indulge his friend’s needs on this occasion. Thus, ever reluctantly, Data gently, but firmly tells Picard to give him the gift of death and asks Picard to defer to his wish. Picard did so willingly because he was wise enough to see that Data desired the comfort of death.

He loved Data too much to take his joy. Thus, Picard sacrificed the comfort and the attachment he had to Data’s presence so that Data could have the comfort and experience of death that he craved.

Julian, on the other hand, had the complete opposite reaction to the sacrifice his parents made for him. When Julian first found out that he was genetically engineered, he wasn’t happy or grateful about it because he knew it was illegal and he was terrified of being discovered.

He didn’t understand how his parents had sacrificed for his comfort and thus, he reacted poorly to the gift he had been given. He thought they were incapable of loving him as he was, but he went ahead with how they wanted him to be and pretended his abilities were natural to the point that he lied to get into Starfleet and be his very best so his parents could find joy in what they had done. Instead of having joy in his parents’ sacrifice, however, Julian resented having to pretend just so his parents wouldn’t get into trouble.

This resentment caused him to develop anxiety about academics because the Augmentation had made him an intellectual genius and he felt he didn’t earn that title. That title of ‘genius’ made him feel alone in a crowd and he masked his loneliness and anxiety through behaviours others perceived as awkward. Julian’s inability to cope with the comfort that his parents’ sacrifice had brought him made him difficult to live with or befriend.

People’s reactions to how he conducted himself no doubt made Julian’s daily battle with himself even harder to endure. I’m sure it was hard enough for Julian to love himself from day to day; it must have been even harder when many did little more than address him as a colleague. Friends to him came in time, yes, but those days of loneliness must have been hard ones. But for everyone’s comfort, Julian sacrificed his feelings and simply tolerated the isolation as well as he could for as long as it took for everyone to be comfortable with him.

All the progress Julian had made for himself threatened to slip away, however, when Julian was outed as an Augment in Dr Bashir, I Presume? Julian became fearful that he would lose the love of his friends and began to love himself a lot less than he did whilst lost in those fears.

Evidence that those fears were simply buried and not extinguished is seen here: “The word you’re looking for is ‘unnatural’ – meaning ‘not from nature’. ‘Freak’ or ‘monster’ would also be acceptable,” were the words that Julian uttered when describing himself and his modifications to Miles O’Brien upon the revelation of his status. The tone was such that I’m sure Miles couldn’t help but wonder how many times Julian looked in the mirror and uttered those words to himself every day. This self-hate was certainly a slap in the face to those who sacrificed much for his comfort, but I doubt Julian understood that at all, being lost in his anger.

Did Julian ever truly learn to love himself as one should? That question was never really answered, but we do know that he learned to accept what was simply because he said it, “I have nothing to hide anymore. I might as well use what I have.”

Julian said these very words to Garak, and he may have said these words simply because the Cardassian was proving to be an annoyance, but perhaps they were also a truth. Accepting oneself, however, is not the same as loving oneself, however.

It is more so simply tolerating the fact that you can’t change how you are. I hope that Julian found a way to love himself for who he was and not simply accept that his true self was public knowledge. To simply accept what you are and not love it is only living half a life. One must love themselves or they deprive themselves of a fulfilling life. One should never feel ashamed of their differences because diversity is what gives the world strength and what helps the world thrive.

Unfortunately, Julian didn’t see things that way. He couldn’t change his circumstances, but he could manage his awareness of them so that life did not have to be the burden he made it out to be. I personally found it sad that I heard Julian utter these words, “…I’m different! Can’t you see that? Jules Bashir died in that hospital because you couldn’t live with the shame of having a son who didn’t measure up!”

I suppose that Richard Bashir did feel guilty about causing such anger in his only son because the man did turn himself into Starfleet and serve time for illegal genetic engineering once Julian’s genetic background was exposed.

He sacrificed for Julian’s comfort, and I truly hope that father and son were eventually able to resolve the anger they felt within themselves and at each other over a truly sad situation. Will, we ever know, though? Perhaps not.

Data and Julian Bashir were both very intelligent, capable individuals surrounded by people and circumstances where they stood out, but each responded differently to the responses of others. Data humbled himself and accepted the limits others placed on him because others couldn’t see beyond prejudices. Julian Bashir, on the other hand, was given an existence that he hated by people who feared for the future his natural self would have because prejudice is a harsh reality.

If only society were more forgiving of divergent so they and their loved ones wouldn’t have to make sacrifices of dignity, freedom, and their unique voices for the sake of their comfort and happiness, but society is not open-minded enough to allow such thinkers to thrive without shame.

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Article written by – Heather Leigh Cameron (she/her)

Heather is a dual citizen of both Canada and the United States. She is a freelance writer who also happens to be neurodivergent and has a passion for writing, acting, video-making, playing the clarinet, and cooking. Her work can be found on www.facebook.com/heatherleighfreelancer and https://www.youtube.com/user/Chameleon77777

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