After several months of working the AWG Steps, I think I'm discovering a fundamental difficulty I have on self-esteem: the concept of intrinsic human value.

Specifically, I'm having trouble believing that I have intrinsic human value, because I'm not sure I believe in the concept.

If all humans have a value that's intrinsic, beyond their performance or the value that they bring to the community, what does that value stem from?

Some of my questions about intrinsic human value are logistical. If I have fundamental worth, is it limited to the moral right to exist? To pursue happiness or comfort? That people will not be mean to me? That I will have enough to eat and drink? That I will have a place to live? Looking around me, I see few guarantees that intrinsic human value entitles anyone to any of these things.

I might have an easier time accepting the idea that I have intrinsic human value if I saw the concept more respected and celebrated in the world around me. Where is the evidence that all humans have a fundamental worth?

At the same time, if I've learned anything from being late identified and watching our community grow, it's that I can benefit from trying to embody the values I want to see around me. Could foregrounding intrinsic human value in my mind and life make it easier for me to believe that I, too, deserve certain things? And to find out what those things are?

I'm still not sure whether the idea of intrinsic human value is necessary for me to have healthy self-esteem. But if not, then what can I base my self-esteem on?

How about you? What is your relationship with the concept of intrinsic human value? Does it influence your perceptions of your own self-esteem and self-image?

Share questions:

• Do you believe in intrinsic human value? Why or why not? 
• Do you think believing in intrinsic human value is necessary to having healthy self-esteem? Why or why not? 
• Do your autistic traits play a part in how you feel about the concept of intrinsic human value? Black and white thinking, perfectionism, justice sensitivity, demand avoidance, aversion to hierarchies, other? 
• If intrinsic human value is real, what benefits should it confer on every person? Moral benefits? Physical/material benefits? Other?
• Where do you see the concept of intrinsic human value around you in the world today? 
• Any tools, resources, or strategies to share? 
• Anything else to add?