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Knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating it. Let's take ADHD. A set of traits that are often found clustered together. These traits come with a common
by JackMorgan 3y ago
Knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating it.
Let's take ADHD. A set of traits that are often found clustered together. These traits come with a common set of negative side effects. For a person in our society, these negative traits often make it extremely difficult to participate in the labor market the same way everyone else does. It can be extremely frustrating for them and everyone around them.
Now what is worse, having a very real work disability that significantly reduces your work capacity, or having that same disability but everyone thinks you are just lazy and need a stern talking to about it? Imagine if every single responsible person you know gives you a stern talking to several times a week. And you still can't do the task. Your brain simply will not do it. You cry with frustration, angry at yourself for being so "lazy". Oh, here's another talking to from another well meaning person who suggests getting more exercise and cutting out sugar. But you can't make yourself exercise any more than you can do this work task. You desperately want to but are trapped in your own mind.
For this situation, no, identifying that this is a real issue shared by millions of other people does not cause more harm than good. Now the person can start to understand the issue and get scientifically proven strategies for improving the situation.
Do they run the risk of always seeing themselves as the victim, sure, but _they have a real disability_. So does anyone else with a real disability. Of course it can be healthy to not think of one's self as a victim. But sometimes it's needed while processing the trauma of a life lived without knowing why you were different.
Some people, freshly aware of their condition, spend more time thinking about it, talking about it, and learning about it. But then many figure it all out, learn what coping strategies work for them, and then it's just a part of who they are as much as their height and eye color.
- seeknotfind 3y agoADHD is famously overdiagnosed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500182/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500182/ "Real" disability, a.k.a. defined by the DSM, an agreement between psychiatrists and the insurance industry. These checklists are laughable. They diagnose based on surface criteria. There is no underlying cause or understanding. There is a set of behavioral traits. You can't assume these are intrinsic to someone. You have to at least consider that they are learned, and if they are learned, it's not helpful to tell people that's who they are. It's cementing the whole they are in.
- Quinzel 3y ago> Do they run the risk of always seeing themselves as the victim, sure, but _they have a real disability_. ADHD is NOT a disability. I strongly disagree with this stance. ADHD is a difference for sure but ADHD people have their own set of strengths that neurotypicals people don’t excel at. I’m ADHD and in my workplace, I’m more “abled” than the neurotypical people I work with. I work quicker, and smarter than anyone else. I also get a lot of respect from my colleagues about how good I am at my job, especially in a crisis or an emergency. Watching Neurotypical people do things slowly and overthink shit to the point of absurdity drives me nuts and they appear to have their own limitations as well.