I am nonverbal autistic, so language has never been neutral for me. It has functioned less as a bridge and more as a demand, test, and most often a threat. In our hyperverbal world, silence is treated as absence, an absence of thought, of feeling, of intelligence, and of intent. That mistake causes real harm. I learned at an early age that if I could not translate myself quickly, fluently, and on cue, my inner state would be ignored and overwritten. Speech was never optional. It was required as proof that I was present in a way others were willing to recognize.
Benjamin James (Thu,) studied this question.