#adhd autism solidarity

the-skys-rim:

adhdpie:

adhdpie:

–the Only Mood everyone else knows about: i  wanna do THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS and THIS and–SQUIRREL

–galaxy brain: i was listening to the lecture but the prof said something that reminded me of something else and now i’m not sure how much time i was lost in thought

–the tutorial only comes in video format: i’m sorry, but you’ve thrown off the emperor’s groove *hurls product & its tutorial video into the sun*

–damn you hyperfocus: i went to bed intending to wake up and write but this morning i was possessed by a cleanliness spirit and spent the next 14 hours organizing the apartment

–i dont think u tried at all.jpg: did i seriously spend an entire free day refreshing twitter b/c i didn’t want to spend 10 minutes finishing my hw but wouldn’t let myself do anything else until i finished it???? (yes)

–patrick star: *unlocks phone* time to check the weather. *opens twitter* the weather. *opens messenger* the weather. *opens mobage game* theweather.*opens facebook* the weather. *opens twitter again* THE WEA–

–smells like depression: literally everything is too boring. i’m going back to sleep

#this is the post that made someone message me saying i was stereotyping adhders#when i have adhd and identity with all of this

cowards can come @ me, the OP, if they got a problem with this post b/c all of these are literally about me

I feel this but I’m not adhd maybe some of these cross over with autism

they do cross over with autism, yes! adhd and autism share many similar characteristics and symptoms, such as 

• hypersensitivity to stimuli/becoming overstimulated
• forms of stimming (generally to relieve hyperactivity in adhd ppl)
• failure to comprehend social cues/the emotional state of people around us, and
• periods of utter inward focus rendering us unaware of the world around us. 

also I can’t help noticing the similarity between adhd hyperfixations and autistic special interests, including the need to share about what we learn at G R E A T length! (I love this about us)

AND ALSO! autism and adhd are comorbid which means that people can have both autism and adhd! it’s actually not uncommon to have both!

adhd/autism spectrum solidarity yall 

autistic-coded:

growing up being autistic but not knowing is just *hiding in room while people are over* *getting tired and needing to recharge after the smallest chores* *getting called a gifted kid* *knowing that you’re “weird” because people are making fun of you but not knowing how to stop being weird* *having adults tell you how “mature” you are* *getting in trouble for not doing work* *convincing yourself that you’re just lazy and stupid because you can’t make yourself do work* *getting really invested in “weird” media*

A great post, and an awful lot of very good notes, too. I noticed in reading through that a lot of people are undiagnosed, and questioning whether a diagnosis would help or not as an adult.

My two cents worth? If reading about autism or adhd is intensely relatable, and you CAN pursue a diagnosis, do it. I got my diagnosis at around 50 yrs old, and my teenage son was diagnosed at the same time. Here’s how it helped

1. Understanding myself better, and understanding WHY I have the limitations I have, made me kinder to myself and helped me spend my energy more wisely. I’m not wasting energy trying to ‘DO BETTER’ on things I recognize I can. not. do. I can put that energy to better use on things that ARE possible.
2. Along the same lines, I’m a better parent now that I recognize my son’s limits and I can help find accommodations or work-arounds instead of insisting that he do something he’s not capable of doing.
3. Engaging with a community (such as Tumblr) where a lot of people are posting about their lived experience with these issues can be a very valuable resource to discover different coping strategies. You don’t need a medical diagnosis for that, of course, but it certainly makes you more aware of the 'community.’
4. Advocacy. Which is certainly not for everyone. Given my age, and other privileges, I find I can speak out about adhd to people who are critical or uninformed. I hope I’ve given some nt folks food for thought, or helped them understand the struggle a little better.

I’m the kid who used to crawl under the foundation of the house (through a hole that the dog made) to hide from people. You’re ok, I’m ok, we’re all valid and deserving of respect.

traumatizedbunnywithbpd:

kleeboy:

valliass:

kleeboy:

“adhd and autism are cousins, of course there’s a lot of overlap, and we can come together to bond over shared experiences” and “for the love of GOD just because you have adhd doesn’t mean you can speak on the autistic experience” and “not all neurodivergent people are autistic or have adhd and it’s important to remember and avoid implying that places where adhd and autism overlap are universal nd experiences” MUST coexist

Actually no I’m putting this in a reblog instead of in the tags, absolutely yes to all of the above but I’m also going to add “ADHD isn’t just autism lite and is its own disorder with its own issues and symptoms” and “people with ADHD get enough of everyone around them not taking them seriously and minimizing their experiences and refusing to make accommodations bc ‘well ADHD isn’t a REAL problem that’s just that thing annoying kids have’ and being neurodivergent in a different way doesn’t fuckin mean you’re exempt from that”

^ absolutely. this post was spurred specifically by a couple of instances of ppl with adhd speaking over autistic people (thanks tiktok very cool /s) but that doesn’t mean adhd isn’t a “real neurodivergence”, that people with adhd don’t have legitimate struggles, or that they have it better than autistic people. treating adhd as “basically autism but Easier” is incredibly harmful

apileofglitter:

chi-thewitch:

I want to read your experiences before being diagnosed with adhd? How did you realized? How did you feel?

Me:bitch . I have adhd and I need therapy and meds

Family member: bUt dO YoU waNt tO bE laBeLed???

Me, timidly: um…. no…..

Me, in my head: guess the internet’s my only safe place for mental health huh

i was diagnosed at 4. i had no idea until a school counselor accidentally broke the news when i was 17. assignments that took my friends an hour took me three. i almost never finished my tests. half of my homework was late. my mom tried to get me into assisted study hall and i refused. my counselor gave me countless planners and checklists and i could never keep them for longer than a week. my mom sent me in to get signatures from my teachers so i could prove i talked to them about my 0’s.

my twin sister had been in accelerated school programs since we were 9. i wanted to be like her so bad. i hated help, hated admitting i needed help, would rather fail than ask for help, because nobody else seemed to need it. i wanted to be able to do what everyone else was doing and i was desperate to prove it, because i didn’t know i had adhd and thought everyone else had just diagnosed me with stupid. my mom insists i knew. i didn’t.

fast forward to now, i’m a grown woman and i’m still finding out day-to-day more and more of my behaviors that are related to my adhd. i have the sense of self awareness i was denied for most of my childhood. i’m still stuck in the depression that stemmed from leaving my adhd untreated for so long. i’m experimenting with different medications and i’m doing well. but i still feel like i’m the only one in my life who understands how i work.

please tell your kids what’s happening inside their brains. talk to adults with adhd and ask them what their childhood was like. stop reading those adhd parenting books that were written in the 90’s. they’re not relevant anymore. i always wonder what my life would look like now if i didn’t burn out three years before i graduated high school, if i’d understood what was going on, if i had someone else who understood looking out for me.

i know i’m preaching to the choir here, but i needed to get that out there. it may have seemed like a minor issue when i was a kid but maybe if i had been treated properly i wouldn’t want to die today.