Anonymous OP 5w

God I hate talking to people who are still in the larval stage of understanding their neurodivergence especially when they latch onto that facet of their identity and then think they know everything and then talk down to people with more years of active insight when all they're trying to do is keep the facts straight. That shit is like babysitting someone else's neglected child

-3

Anonymous OP 5w

It's like most people don't realize how superficial and stereotyped mainstream coverage of neurodivergence is and so when they get their diagnosis, suddenly it's their whole identity and they internalize all the bad/misguided mentalities surrounding neurodivergence. It's especially frustrating to witness having been diagnosed 18 years ago at the age of 4, since I never had a phase like that because I learned my neurodivergence very early on through the medical lens thanks to my physician mother.

-4

Anonymous #1 5w

Who are you?

-1

Anonymous OP 5w

“i had a unique experience growing up neurodivergent that shaped my outlook on my condition so im gonna crap on everyone who grew up being shat on for theirs bc they didn’t have a supportive environment bc i think im the expert” if you don’t stfu.

16

Anonymous #2 5w

I DID grow up being shat on for mine and I did NOT have a supportive environment

1

Anonymous #2 5w

That "thanks to my physician mother" was sarcastic btw she is a high functioning narcissist who saw me like a problem to subdue.

-2

Anonymous #2 5w

I was told I had the condition but not what it meant and I was never truly accommodated at home. I was medicated and pushed to the side and then scolded for struggling.

-1

Anonymous #2 5w

A lot of my learning about how to live with ADHD came from forging that path myself. I've learned these things the hard way through personal experience and rude awakenings.

-1

Anonymous #3 5w

Being disabled isn’t dirty or wrong it just is. It’s okay to feel like you’d still struggle even outside of capitalism. Its okay to not see any upside to being disabled, just like it’s okay to see potential upsides.

16

Anonymous OP 5w

I think you’ve internalized the idea that disability is wrong tbh. I have multiple neurodivergent diagnoses (remember, neurodivergent includes every kind of mental disorder, not just adhd & autism) and consider most of them disabling without many true upsides. For example, my OCD would still disable me even if i was perfectly accommodated for it. It would still fuck me over and I’ve yet to find an upside.

8

Anonymous OP 5w

Like its cool you can see positivity and strengths but everyone’s personal experience is different labels are broad and not everything applies to everyone. Also idk its okay you struggled

17

Anonymous #3 5w

No, I very firmly believe there is no way for neurodivergence to be wrong. It's natural. I believe this so firmly that I don't like the word disability as a label for the condition. My issue is with the linguistic and structural context of the word "disability" because I think it mischaracterizes a lot of what neurodivergence is.

0

Anonymous #3 5w

I've always had obsessive-compulsive tendencies and obviously that comes with overworking myself excruciatingly on tiny details but when I channel it this becomes my greatest strength as a multidisciplinary artist. I am immensely detail oriented and that's how I manage to consistently reach the depth I do. I would not be able to create work at the level of quality I create if it were not for my OCD

0

Anonymous #3 5w

I strongly disagree. I have been able to channel many of my negative tendencies into more positive ones that allow me to outperform my neurotypical peers in many ways.

0

Anonymous #3 5w

You do not understand how able I have to be in order to move these mountains I've been moving. You do not understand how much will it takes to know what I'm up against in life and still stay true to myself. You do not understand how much strength it takes to sustainably subvert what's normal and do it with full and authentic integrity.

-1

Anonymous #3 5w

You do not know what it's like to feel society's immune response arising from within you and being told you're broken for it. I'm not less abled, I'm differently abled. My neurodivergent shortcomings come along with near inconceivable strengths that would not be refined and powerful the way they are if it had not been for my neurodivergence.

-2

Anonymous #3 5w

Labeling a difference that is neither an objective deficiency nor an objective proficiency as either of such is the primary source of stigma towards that form of existence. If you think my difference makes me less able as a being, then you are sorely mistaken.

0

Anonymous #3 5w

I was recently told by my mentor that the level of quality I create is a level of quality that most people don't know exists and that really put things into perspective for me. It's not just a strength or a just disability, it's a double edged sword.

1

Anonymous OP 5w

Its cool you have the kind of OCD with benefits, but in order to qualify to have the disorder it means you struggle. I’m sorry but mental illness is not like other oppressed groups. The main qualification is the fact you struggle. I have OCD that doesn’t make me a perfectionist but rather obsessive over how I’m viewed. It has never improved anything and only made the way I’m viewed worse. And no societal change would erase that problem. Sure, societal change could help. But there is no upside to

1

Anonymous OP 5w

My OCD.

1

Anonymous OP 5w

You dislike the term disability because you don’t like acknowledging there’s nothing wrong with struggling with things. You base your worth off of capability, much like a market socialist or bureaucrat. But you do not base it off the inherent worth of life.

1

Anonymous #3 5w

Nope, you still don't get it. I have never said there's anything wrong with struggling in fact I'd argue struggling is so important for growth that medication should be saved as a last resort. Do you not understand what I mean when I say channeled? I used to struggle immensely and still do from time to time, and worrying about how I'm viewed is HUGE part of it but you know what I did? I took on makeup and fashion design as a hobby to CHANNEL what's natural within me towards healthy outlets.

1

Anonymous #3 5w

I value life inherently which is why I believe there is something infallible about all life which is why I think it's wrong to classify people by their abilities

1

Anonymous #3 5w

I'm simply giving my living testimony as someone who is technically "disabled" but is more able at the things I care about than most people. The point is to highlight the blanket term "disability" being a contradiction

1

Anonymous #3 5w

The struggles I've faced in life have been the very crucible that shaped me into who I am today and that's an invaluable gift. I just wish more people saw it that way so it would be easier for me to maintain that resolve

1

Anonymous OP 5w

You have an allergy to the word that describes the struggle. Disability simply means you struggle. There is no “less than” in that word. Only struggle. Some disabilities can be overcome or managed. You seem to have succeeded at managing and overcoming your disabilities, due to your struggling->succeeding journey. Congratulations, I’m happy for you.

1

Anonymous OP 5w

Why do you rely on others to maintain that? Why is it not simply your own unique experience?

1

Anonymous #3 5w

It also makes me sad because I can see my peers squandering their own potential when I know they have more within them. Where the mind goes the feet follow. A closed mind builds its own cage, an open mind unlocks its own sky. Whether you say you can or cannot, you are right. And I see people saying with their words that they are less able to which I have learned to say different but never less. Is that really so hard to understand?

1

Anonymous OP 5w

Disability is an umbrella term. There is less able (but still able) at whatever the disability is. And there is completely unable at whatever the disability is (such as paralyzed people being unable to move their paralyzed parts). I agree most mental disabilities are simply less able (you can overcome, accommodate, manage, etc) and there are a lot of nd folks who are doomers and think they’re completely incapable when they’re not.

3

Anonymous #3 5w

The prefix dis- means not or opposite of. Disabled means not able. And that's reductive which is why it bothers me

0

Anonymous #3 5w

Dawg this is a page about neurodivergence, a MENTAL condition.

1

Anonymous OP 5w

Yeah but i felt like bringing other disabilities into it. Important conversation to have

1

Anonymous OP 5w

but you shouldn’t HAVE to exert that much effort just to achieve what’s normal for everyone else. and it’s okay to believe that you’re differently abled instead of disabled but when these different abilities make you need to put this much effort forth just to achieve what’s easy for others, then that’s a disability. and your difference definitely doesn’t make you lesser in any way or deficient in a way that’s a moral failing, but you need to acknowledge that it’s a very real disadvantage

8

Anonymous OP 5w

i for sure agree with the first part, but what makes it a disability is that society is set up in a way where people like us have to do 5x as much work for half the result. there are a lot of things that in a vacuum wouldn’t necessarily be a huge disability, but they are because of the context surrounding them and the world we live in

6

Anonymous #4 5w

That's precisely my point. I'm tired of this context and I'm especially tired of this context being treated as eternal or inevitable. I'm tired of normalized complacency in systems that orient themselves in ways that leave perfectly worthy people functionally disabled.

1

Anonymous #4 5w

And giving into the disability framing sets that loop in motion. Our awareness creates our reality, so starting off by accepting that societal orientation as valid in the first place is what gives it its foundation.

1

Anonymous #4 5w

It's the same system that hurts women, queer people, people of color, and indigenous people, which makes the whole learned helplessness of our mainstream culture so much more infuriating.

1

Anonymous OP 5w

Okay, so I mostly agree with you. But the people who are not only functionally disabled are worthy too. I know you probably didn’t mean they’re not, but it’s still important to acknowledge that. I wish we lived in a world where people communicated directly all the time, in both sign and spoken language, meds didn’t cost money, and productivity wasn’t your main measure of worth, but since we don’t live in that society some people struggle more than they would otherwise.

1

Anonymous #3 5w

When I say functionally disabled, I mean anyone who has an impairment that causes struggling with everyday life. You even said the struggle is part of the definition. If we were living in a society that centers life and creation rather than centering hierarchy and power, we could easily accommodate all needs practically and technologically just by changing how we think about and structure the distribution of and access to resources, and prevent excess struggling in the first place.

0

Anonymous #3 5w

Just by a change of mentality and social structure can make it so nobody is truly disabled in practice. That reality is completely possible. That's why I don't like to accept the word disability as a defining trait of the individual. It's definition also comes from its context, as we've established

0

Anonymous #3 5w

If we want to repair context we must first be able to discern it.

0

Anonymous #3 5w

And right now I'm seeing a context where power is extremely unbalanced and vulnerable people are left to suffer with half baked treatments like medication with no integrative practice or support and industrialized culture surrounding mental wellbeing almost completely devoid of self connection. Our systems are largely optimized for profits and deconstructing hierarchal structures into web like structures is the opposite of profitable. Thanks capitalism!

6

Anonymous OP 4w

Itsa me, Mario!

2