Neurodivergent Talk!

[ExoticCrystal]

A thread to talk about neurodivergence! Topics could include your experience, resources, how you're divergent, etc!

Anyway, hi, I have ADHD with some sensitivity issues!!

[daebelly]

hi!! we've got audhd and are schizotypal. plenty of sensitivity issues, interests, strange behaviors, disruptions of ipseity. we experience delusions, psychosis, and hallucinations. a result of the cocktail that is our neurotype is that we get very anxious about other people; we kind of forget that we cannot read their emotions and mistake our own anxieties as proof that they dislike us. we're learning to deal with that... we also have enormous issues with executive function. we value our neurodivergence though. it's why we are who we are in many ways

[EdenCoven]

We are an incredible basket of weird issues though I think we generally don't vibe with the term "Neurodivergent" in any way because it's very vague and people only ever use it to mean "this one specific trait that I specifically have." Also we've never seen anyone that would diagnose us with anything and don't really trust them.

Being plural is a wonderful thing and we wouldn't change or go back for anything, but we'd like to be less paranoid or anxious or easily distracted or any number of other things. At the same time, some of these things are kind of... us? If we weren't reclusive, wouldn't we be a different person? Would it actually make us happier? No idea!

[NovaSquirrel]

I'm autistic and I have ADHD. I deal with sensory issues that can make group calls painful sometimes (which is unfortunate when virtual worlds nowadays are very focused on listening to other peoples' mics) and I can't stand open plan offices because I just can't tune things out and if sensory input is coming in, I can't not process it. I had a rough time trying to get workplace accommodations and then 2020 hit and I now just work from home, which works fine. It's still difficult to stay focused during especially boring/irrelevant meetings, because I seem to have some limited amount of interest/stimulation going on to avoid just zoning out and not paying any attention, but I've found that drawing really helps; I can't comfortably focus on two streams of words at once so reading during the meeting is out, but it's as if drawing and listening just fill in two separate slots.

Socially, I'm pretty sure nearly all of my close friends are autistic haha. When I meet another autistic person it can feel like a really deep connection, where someone else really gets me and understands me, and it's a lot easier to have conversations that feel meaningful, especially when we get going about our special interests. I've come to think of autism and special interests as a really beautiful thing and it's fun looking at someone else's creations and seeing tons of very sincere passion behind it, even if the thing they're deeply interested in isn't something I'm super into myself. Just being very sincere and real in general and having a strong sense of justice is really wonderful. I love being autistic.

[Mixi Blacksand]

I have a very thick, expensive diagnosis of Autism. The report is really painfully laser accurate in describing me, yet the label of autism still feels weird. The doctor herself admitted she didn't understand why I was seeking a diagnosis until she got deep into the testing phase of the process and some of my limitations started coming out.

I feel really disconnected from other experiences of autism I hear about. I'm extremely comfortable in chaotic social situations as long as there's enough physical space available. I don't have ADHD at all. I really can't stand to listen to other autistic people's special interests for long. People stimming drives me up the wall. ASMR-type stuff has the entirely opposite effect on me.

There's no doubt something different from the norm about me, but I'm not entirely sure anyone, me especially, knows what to call it.