I understand how that can come across that way, but this is not coming from a "neuronormal". I've had to overcome hellacious symptoms from my TBI, including many in common with dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, autism spectrum, and more — and, on top of that, a severe anxiety disorder to boot! I know what it is to struggle, to not be taken seriously, to be misperceived, to have horrible, no-good, awful days where I can do nothing but lay in bed wishing I could stop existing.
As long as I allowed myself to be a victim, wherein I had this monster of a disorder that ruined my life, I was miserable. When I came to understand it as I described, it empowered me to not only overcome the difficulties and capitalize on the strengths, but to better advocate myself.
Consider these two contrasting ways of representing a condition to a supervisor/hiring manager/professor/someone else in power:
I suffer from <horrible diability> that means I can't do X, Y, Z.
I bring abilities A, B, C to your team! Because of this, I also have some unique challenges: X, Y, Z, which I need <specific accomodations> to overcome.
In #1, the speaker comes across as a victim, or worse, a liability. They're defined by "I can't".
In #2, the speaker owns both their strengths and weaknesses. They are not a victim of their weaknesses, but have steps they can follow to overcome. They're defined by "I can".
If anything, #2 better represents any diability. If you focus only on the "can't"s, then ADHD is nothing more than "hyperactive, can't focus on anything". TBIs are nothing more than "no social skills, anxiety attacks out of the blue". Neither are always true.
Each of us can choose to be a victim or a victor. From the past decade of not only combating my own challenges, but helping others through theirs, I can tell you that perspective #2 is the literal key to overcoming and being heard.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
I’m sorry to burst your bubble.
But unmanaged ADHD is stress incarnate, it’s constant noise followed by brief moments relaxing while you crash.
Sure it comes with uncanny creativity, but without control it’s a pointless comfort that you can’t use the way you want because of the noise.
If ADHD people were not broken we would not call it an illness. :)
Unmanaged anything is stressful.
It's not the "ADHD" part that's the problem. It's the "unmanaged" part. Ergo everything else I said.
First of all, my apollogies if i was a bit rash before.
I read what i wrote, figured i might have come off strongly.
I disagree putting it under the neurodiversity umbrella or calling it a superpower tho,
and i think thats what got my nads going.
It normalises a disability that already have so may problems getting recognised because of misinformation, and that upset me a bit. :I
I understand how that can come across that way, but this is not coming from a "neuronormal". I've had to overcome hellacious symptoms from my TBI, including many in common with dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, autism spectrum, and more — and, on top of that, a severe anxiety disorder to boot! I know what it is to struggle, to not be taken seriously, to be misperceived, to have horrible, no-good, awful days where I can do nothing but lay in bed wishing I could stop existing.
As long as I allowed myself to be a victim, wherein I had this monster of a disorder that ruined my life, I was miserable. When I came to understand it as I described, it empowered me to not only overcome the difficulties and capitalize on the strengths, but to better advocate myself.
Consider these two contrasting ways of representing a condition to a supervisor/hiring manager/professor/someone else in power:
I suffer from
<horrible diability>that means I can't do X, Y, Z.I bring abilities A, B, C to your team! Because of this, I also have some unique challenges: X, Y, Z, which I need
<specific accomodations>to overcome.In #1, the speaker comes across as a victim, or worse, a liability. They're defined by "I can't".
In #2, the speaker owns both their strengths and weaknesses. They are not a victim of their weaknesses, but have steps they can follow to overcome. They're defined by "I can".
If anything, #2 better represents any diability. If you focus only on the "can't"s, then ADHD is nothing more than "hyperactive, can't focus on anything". TBIs are nothing more than "no social skills, anxiety attacks out of the blue". Neither are always true.
Each of us can choose to be a victim or a victor. From the past decade of not only combating my own challenges, but helping others through theirs, I can tell you that perspective #2 is the literal key to overcoming and being heard.