Neurodivergencies - Tumblr Posts
The more I think about it, the more that traditional f*ries are coded autistic in a lot of ways.
Changelings are an obvious one, but here are some more
Not being able to lie,
having sensitivities to seemingly normal objects,
not conforming to social norms of behaviour, gender and sexuality
Happily living in isolation away from "civilisation"
Being seemingly unpredictable
Appearing cold and emotionaless
Having collections of random objects
These are all common autistic traits (although not everyone with asd has all or even any of these). These can also apply to other neurodivergent people
✨✨EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION✨✨
(or at least, how I experience it)
when your brain is a car that won’t start, it’s pretty annoying.
I saw this tweet about how things don't always "occur" to adhd people and I thought I could relate to it as well, although I'm autistic and not adhd.
For example - if I have a headache, it simply won't occur to me to take pain meds. I know I have a headache. I want the pain to stop. I am aware of the existence of pain meds. But the idea never occurs to me to take them until someone else suggests it.
The example they gave in the tweet was that if someone says hello to them, it may not occur to them to say hello back and yep... I do that as well.
I just never realized that other people may not do these things.
Warnings for autism and ADHD related ableism discussion
I think there's something really interesting about the different traumas acquired by being autistic or having ADHD in a shitty ableist society.
The two disorders have a significant amount of overlap. Of course they're not the same and each comes with its own challenges that the other may not have but, when compared with other disorders/neurodivergencies, for all intents and purposes they are very similar.
However, society's perception of them is almost the exact opposite, which gives people who have one or the other wildly different kinds of disabled trauma.
Society at large likes to think they know a great deal about each of these disorders, but really knows almost nothing. What it comes down to is this:
Society believes and treats autistic people as if their entire personality, capability levels, and potential to succeed as a human is hinged to their autism, and they don't have a confident outlook on that, so they treat autistic people as if they can't do anything or are stupid. Autistic people have to continuously fight to be seen as something other than their autism (or in addition to it, of course, because I don't mean to say they're trying to escape their autism)
And on the flip side, society believes that ADHD is a myth, an excuse, a made up word for children that won't behave or are undisciplined, or a childhood disorder that 'goes away.' People consistently underestimate the symptoms/traits of ADHD, aren't aware of them, or don't believe them. People with ADHD are constantly told that these symptoms/traits are their own shortcomings rather than part of their ADHD. ADHD people have to continuously fight to be seen as having the disorder that massively affects their lives.
Because of these nearly opposite societal takes on each of these disorders, despite their similarities, autistic people and ADHD people end up, largely, being traumatized in opposite ways.
On the one hand there are autistic people who have any failure blamed on their "inherent inadequacy" due to their autism, taking away their sense of ownership, control, and agency of regular, human mistakes or failures they've experienced. And on the other, you've got people with adhd who have failures that are actually caused by symptoms of their disorder being told that they simply didn't try hard enough or that they clearly don't care or it wouldn't have happened.
(also to clarify, I don't mean to say that autistic people don't also have failures or mistakes caused by symptoms and that ADHD people have some that aren't, just that no matter what caused it, this seems to be the societal response)
In the end, you get commonalities in both groups that are directly caused by these societal traumas. Actually, there are two extremes that happen in both groups for the exact opposite reasons, and, often, these extremes coexist/alternate depending on the company.
The first extreme is refusing to unmask and making yourself very serious. For autistic people this seems to also come frequently with a kind of shyness because they're afraid if they say something that's "wrong" or that shows they missed subtext, they'll give ammunition to those who infantilize them. For those with ADHD this extreme comes with constantly overworking themselves, killing themselves with stress, and minimizing every struggle because they're terrified that if they relax for one second, or validate that something was difficult because of their ADHD, the people who called them lazy are right and they're just making excuses for their shortcomings. They seek desperately to prove to themselves and others that they do try.
The other extreme is leaning heavily into the stereotypes and abusive accusations they've faced their whole lives. For autistic people, this can mean taking on learned helplessness and refusing to try new things because they believe they really can't do it by themselves, ending up with less agency because they rely on help they don't really need but are too scared to forego. For those with ADHD, it can mean developing class clown syndrome and completely giving up on trying because no matter how hard they try, they can never get a result that satisfies society when they're constantly fighting symptoms that hinder their success. Both of these are self fulfilling prophecies that end up pushing them into the hole they felt it was impossible to avoid.
People with both disorders get to flip a coin on which trauma they get more of. Regardless of which one led to more trauma, the results end up looking the same - they're likely to fit into one of the two extremes.
Anyway, I don't really have a solid point to all of this - it's just some observations I've made on how the trauma inflicted on both of these groups is wildly different and yet often yields the same results for opposite reasons.
If anyone has anything to add, I really would love to hear!
I’m a very messy person who tries VERY HARD to keep a clean home. It’s probably ADHD. Anyway, the best advice I ever saw about it was:
“Instead of changing your habits to keep clean, look at where the clutter is. Now put a bin under it.”
I tend to remove my socks at the computer and then there’s a mountain of socks on the floor? I put a small bin and now it looks tidy. There are piles of junk mail on the table near my front door because I can never bring them to the recycling bin? I put a smaller recycling bin there. Etc etc.
Another trick that helps me immensely are BOXES.
The bathroom sink is covered in small bottles and all sorts of products? I got small plastic crates and I put them over the toilet lid, one for my stuff, the other for my roomate’s. The linen closet is just piles of things that fall when you open the door? Baby I just got a bunch of baskets and I will separate them by function.
I have baskets and small boyxes for: my cleaning products; my bird’s toys and stuff; my workout accessories; my meds and daily skincare products; my tools; and pretty much all my art stuff.
It still takes some effort to keep everything in its place, but having everything in a box still looks tons better than having everything on the counter, and it’s so better for the mental health.
"Don't use your autism / disability / mental illness as an excuse" is supposed to refer to people who use their condition as a shield for abusive behavior. It's not a sentence you say in response to every single thing a disabled, autistic, or mentally ill person does that is annoying or inconveniencing to you.
I'm not sure exactly how to put this but I think the obsession in the general population with "spotting narcissists/sociopaths" and with assigning all abusers and otherwise awful people the label of N/ASPD comes from a place of trying to ignore that evil is something humans choose to do. There's already the obvious issue with acting as if any set of people is inherently bound to mistreat others, but I'm talking about the function it serves people when they make this assumption.
When you assume that there's a group of people who are innately evil because you consider them to be lacking some emotional or moral part that you consider inherent to the human experience, you're creating this group of people who you can view as inhuman. You can ascribe the worst evils in the world to them, because who else would do such things? Surely someone with human feeling wouldn't. You don't have to worry about the morality of yourself, then, because you're human, you're not ~missing something~ inside. You don't have to worry about the morality of your friends because you've seen their humanity, too. In reality abuse is a choice—not only is abuse something that N/ASPDs can choose not to commit, it's something that non-N/ASPDs can choose to commit. And by insisting that evil = N/ASPD and that N/ASPD = evil, people are absolving themselves and those they support of whatever they've done to hurt others, because they're Not Like That.
Everyone is supportive of autistic people, sure.
Until we need you to turn your music down, or repeat yourself several times, or stop touching us, or say what you actually mean the first time around.
Until we're weird, pushy, aggressive, confusing, stupid.
Until you have to see our perspective, and not just what you want it to be. You support us up until we aren't a stereotype anymore. Up until it isn't easy for you.
Everyone supports autistic people, as long as all you have to do is reblog a post here or there, boycott a movie, and then continue as usual. As long as it's easy. As long as we are what you want us to be.
Nobody has a problem with the autistic person for being autistic. They have a problem with them for showing it.
Other neurodivergent people can add on with their experiences and opinions, neurotypicals are encouraged to reblog but say nothing. This is not your space to talk. (Questions can be sent to me in asks or pms)
i have never met an unpsychotic person who knows what it actually means to “not encourage the delusion” …not a single one
Source ~ IG @/morethanoneneurotype
[Begin Image Description: Black text on white background. Image of a person sitting with their knees up, curled forward to hide their face. A tree in the bottom left.
Title: "Gaslighting Autistics Looks Like"
It's too bright!
No it's not
It's too loud!
No it's not
It tastes yucky!
No it doesn't
I'm scared!
Don't be silly.
I hate going there.
No you don't.
I'm sorry!
No you aren't.
End Description]
Note: I am unsure if the above is exactly"gaslighting" in the intended meaning, but the refusal to acknowledge how we experience the world definitely is devastating and can be abusive in the right situation.
A comic about controlling your symptoms and trying to get other people to understand why it’s so hard to do so, in goo form
A comic about controlling your symptoms and trying to get other people to understand why it’s so hard to do so, in goo form
i cant constantly info-dump on my friends but thats what social media is for
There’s no such thing as work-life balance for neurodivergent & chronically ill people.
This is because everything in my life requires work:
maintaining friendships
keeping up with my hygiene
managing bills
making money
remembering my basic needs
sleeping regularly
outputting creatively
All requires some aspect of work for me.
And when everything in your life requires work, your balance goes out the window.
If you're neurodivergent and overwhelmed — I see you.
If you're chronically ill and overwhelmed — I see you.
You're not dysfunctional.
You're not incapable.
You're doing your best.
I’m not mentally ill in the rubber socks way I’m mentally I’ll in the “when an npc in a game asks if I want to hear their story I choose yes bc I don’t want to make them sad” way
I used to feel so weird when I realised not everyone has artists they’re so emotionally attached to and idolise. Or have 15 hobbies which they alternatively hyperfixate on for days together. Or that having 15 hobbies you’re immediately good at but never have enough dedication to perfect is not normal… figuring out neurodivergence and especially the Tumblr neurodivergent community has helped sooo much!!!
Does anyone’s ADHD get worse when they’re PMSing?? Like why is my brain so fogged that I forgot to put tea leaves in my pan and boiled water for 15 minutes 😭😭😭😭
Teaching kids about ADHD and other neurodivergences is really important. Like I wasn't officially diagnosed with ADHD until recently, but it's always been obvious that I had it. And even the I knew the I had it, I didn't really know I did. I thought it was just concentration problems until I was like 15. And once I actually started looking into it I realized it was so much more than that. There were so many things that other kids could do but I couldn't, and I didn't realize until then that it wasn't really my fault.