This reminds me of how diagnostic criteria for autism all tends to focus on _presented behaviours_ rather than _internal experiences_. People who have differen

This reminds me of how diagnostic criteria for autism all tends to focus on _presented behaviours_ rather than _internal experiences_. People who have different sensory perceptions of the world get overlooked when they're not getting overloaded by it, because there's less reason for them to try to describe their experiences if they're not distressed. You ask those people how they think/feel/perceive out of _curiosity_, though, and a whole bunch can be revealed! I relate to that a lot, having a recent ADHD diagnosis as an adult - there's definitely some overlap between autism/ADHD traits; in conversation with my autistic friends and ADHD friends there's definitely some stuff we share when it comes to sensory stuff, and it's even _more_ overlooked when it comes to ADHD d/x. Like, _why_ is that kid throwing a massive meltdown? Has anyone helped them to work out their triggers? Is it something as simple as: overhead fluorescent lighting, or the area is too busy with sounds? It really bugged me when I got my ADHD d/x that my psychiatrist, as lovely as he was, described me as "a mild case". Because psychiatry is all about quantifying "health risk" of "disorder". In his mind, because I had "no trouble holding a job down" and "had never been to prison", I was doing great. (Way to feed into my impostor syndrome, doc!) But after diagnosis, after access to the stimulant meds, and making much more sense of how my brain ticks - all the day to day stuff I was _silently_ struggling with _without even noticing that I was struggling_, I can handle better! Concrete example: Large, busy supermarkets and shopping malls. Those places don't make me melt down: I don't get angry or upset. But visually, audibly and olfactor-ily, those places can be really overwhelming for me. I tend to get quite quiet (shutdown?) and dissociate a bit, but I don't present as being _distressed_. And all I notice, is that after being in those environments, I am tired out, and need some recovery time in my own environment. Now I'm taking ADHD meds, those places are a _lot_ easier to handle and I require less recovery time after. It's especially difficult for kids to describe their internal experiences which I think is partly the reason why diagnostic criteria is so focused on behaviours - and those behaviours are the most evident when they come from distress, which results in our neurodivergence being pathologised so much. But I really really hope that the focus - especially in schools - can shift, and that people can help kids think and describe how they perceive the world more. What we have now is "kid is not developing at same rate as their peers" and "kid has 'odd' behaviours".