percolatingcarborator
58953
1982
18
Nov 30, 2024 5:44 AM
percolatingcarborator
58953
1982
18
stopdoggybarking3
My Great Uncle, who was a Supervisor at a large Flour Mill, lived with his sister, he had half of the house, she the other. He had one only, of the bare minimum of furniture and dishes etc, and a Decca record player with 5 Nancy Sinatra LPs. His life was utterly controlled but the kindest man to me and my sister. He would have been called ‘ a bit odd’ then.
Horsenippleking
My grandpa had an amazing train set, covered their entire basement with elevated tracks and towns. He also had the most immaculate gun collection.
Serafinapekala
#10 Sounds like the guy has a bunch of nice hobbies. Who doesn't like some polished rocks.
DJOldguy
We just had kids in our school who were "different". They sometimes played games with us, but a lot of times they didn't. But we had so many common things, like chanting our times table, singing the alphabet. All that sort of shit they just don't do anymore.
SalmonTheWise
#6 but the middle one sounds like trying to figure out electrical engineering, not autism. Not all electricians are autistic.
Hadestown24
My great grandpa was probably neurodivergent given his extremely trusting nature, obsession with wood working and goofyness. He was in ww2 served three years in the army and got discharged after shooting two of his fingers off lmao. He lied and said it was a german bullet that did it and got a purple heart lmao. It was his second one. He got the first one from a real combat injury.
RyanH42
There are more autistic people now than there were then because we stopped locking them in asylums.
TheSpindrifter
The things that were done to my fully-autistic youngest uncle by the medical community were CRIMINAL. It was the gottdamned 1970s and they damaged him further with drugs and shock therapy and it took decades for him to "level out" and be "semi notmal" (I leveled out in my mid-20s). Even back in the mid-70s at least some of my teachers knew I was different even though my mother refused to hear it and they did the best with me they could and I am grateful that I wasn't treated the same as my uncle
5cX469Nit9JuI1MAZG5c3AdA
What a fun thread! But why are all these people describing all the totally normal things their grandparents do?
LincLoud
Shared experience? Some people like talking about that stuff
jethroismaxbaer5772
#4 I kinda get the divided plate thing. When I eat something like steak, corn, and potatoes, I have to eat them one at a time. Eat all the potatoes, then the corn, steak last. No mixing allowed.
Tengenstein
I see you too are a man of culture
MCFLYYY
Same here but I also always eat the foods in the reverse order of how much I like them. So eat the salad first, then the corn, then the potatoes, then the steak last.
jethroismaxbaer5772
Understandable. I do potatoes first because I don't want them to get cold.
smashpro1
Oh man, I love mixing. Like, mixing mac and cheese with corn and peas.
jethroismaxbaer5772
BernieKl
I've never been formally diagnosed and loathe the idea of self diagnosing, but there are sooooo many similarities I see in my nearly 60 year old self. I live in my head. I've never been bored a day in my life, even when alone in the woods for 3 days. I read voraciously, preferred to sleep under my bed when I was kid. Love animals more than people, want to live alone in the woods, love model trains, eat the same things every day, have 6 pairs of the same clothes that I wear each day, tech geek..
Whatdoyousaytoanicecupoftea
You see...just eccentric...no need for those modern tisms
ChloeRed
I'm not rich enough to be eccentric...
nickelrocket
I prefer the term 'eclectic'. I'm not ruling out adult ADHD, but whatever the opposite symptom of 'i have 29 of the same item bc wrong'. I defy you to find two of the same things in my house. Nothing matches. Mismatched socks. 20 different water bottles cuz they're neat. Seasonal decor as everyday art. Visual cacophony to distract the voices in my head.
ThingsThatDontJustifyGenocide
Meanwhile here's me, the only autistic-adhd person in my family and I get told that since I can't really enjoy doing the same thing over and over and over again in video games(thanks adhd for destroying the one fucking superpower autism was supposed to give me), my sibling just isn't gonna reach out to me for gaming anymore.
Whoops, guess since I don't like playing the same game for 2000 fucking hours, I can go fuck myself, it's FUN
Tengenstein
So yeah but that's how all relationships are, You have to compromise. You don't get to do everything you want all the time, if you want/need others to part of that time. Sometimes people want different things, it doesn't have to mean the end if that relationship, though if that's the only thing the relationship is, then maybe it's for the best.
ThingsThatDontJustifyGenocide
Lemme rephrase it: "I'm the one who compromises, but since that's a burden on me, I'm just getting abandoned."
Tengenstein
well maybe you're better off not playing whit them then.
mrollings53
Companies changing their products pisses me off. Levi's, Crest, and Unilever have all recently changed products that I've used for decades.
ThrowAwayAcct0000
Enshittification
hairbearbunch66
The first person diagnosed with autism recently passed away at age 89.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Triplett
therabidferrett
Was reading through these with my wife. She said wow that sounds a lot like you
kriswinters
#3 Did he ever finish that ham steak?
quade
After years, I assume so.
reverendbonobo
He stopped eating it after he got married, so I'm assuming his wife finished it.
CHICKINGNUGGER
It's interesting that the younger generations talk about their neurodivergent elders with such tenderness and love. Yet the older generation tend to talk about us with such disdain.
ThrowAwayAcct0000
Its definitely a trend I've noticed as I've gotten older. The older people in my life are very big on saying negative things to discourage nonconformity, when the younger people just see unusual behaviors and say, "huh. You have fun, dude!" or "hell yeah, rock that thing you're doing that looks odd but isn't hurting anybody." I was bullied for being a nerd or weird growing up: I'm so glad my kids don't seem to be going thru that as much.
wambu
Older generations were big on conformity, especially the Greatest Generation.
spinballwizardmtg
So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time...
nicko0
Right? These commenters are rarely taking into account the necessity of life in other era
wambu
This all seems normal to me . . . .
RashOrchid906
The more educated my mum gets about autism the more she looks at me thinking she should've listened to the therapist... now she regrets not getting me properly tested. Now I am 30 and its a bit late, but I am thinking about getting tested... it would explain ALOT
TheSpindrifter
Mid-40s diagnosis here, changed my life because it explained everything.
smashpro1
I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD until I was 20, and gotta wait until I'm 36 until I can possibly get tested for autism.
TheMarvinator
Read these and had a realisation! My grandad kept many, many notebooks listing what he grew in his garden, the yield, what he made from it including the number of jars, weight, etc.
He also has note books for every metre reading, what he paid each month, what was bought at the shops, there were hundreds of them.
I mentioned to my mum that she may be autistic which shocked her, she's sure she isn't... Anyway, she's kept all granddad's note books, organised by year, they might be useful some day
nicko0
Normal
StrangerRangerDanger
did he record temperatures? you should donate copies for research. future historians and climate scientists love that stuff.
TheSpindrifter
I wish my family would have donated my grandmother's obsessive weather report logs.
AnonOmis1000
Is it common for autistic people to have limited diets? I'm on the spectrum but like most food
slack3rdav3
when I was a kid, I had a limited diet. Have vastly expanded and enjoy many types of foods now.
AnonOmis1000
Wait, now I'm starting to wonder if all the kids who were picky eaters are on the spectrum
Monkeyspearfish
Yes, but not every person with a limited diet is autistic.
AnonOmis1000
No I know that
TheSpindrifter
For my father it was a combination of his obsessive likes over his food aversions, combined with the obsessive need for routine, and it would go through phases. He ate Raisin Bran for a decade then one day switched to Cheerios; his alt was "Mary Kitchen Corned beef hash". He loved the odd simplicity of microwaving Steak-ums to make a Philly sandwich. He ate the chocolate stripe out of the Neopolitan ice cream and would ignore the strawberry and vanilla and would BUY MORE.
nickelrocket
ScourgeOfAges
It presents differently in different people, and at some points on the spectrum it's easy to force through some barriers. But this is a common thing I've seen, especially where foods mixing on the plate or weird textures are concerned. I also like most food, but with some foods the texture alone will turn me off it
TheSpindrifter
I hated food mixing until I was in my 20s. I needed my tastes to be "clean and distinct".
AnonOmis1000
Yeah I'll agree. The mashed potatoes my mom made for Thanksgiving were too thin and fluffy and I almost gagged eating them.
IWasACatAllAlong
I think it's more the repetitive food. Limited doesn't sound right.
LupusLilium
People always bring up texture or senses or whatever. But I like to think it's just because it's a taste I know. While there might be multiple ways to make a chicken tender/nugget, they still effectively taste the same and most differences are small enough they could be ignored. I'll try other food, but I know (with a few exceptions) fried chicken is going to be fried chicken. Or certain drinks will 99% of the time remain the same drink. Unless a company ends up on a blacklist for changing it.
Tengenstein
Tomatoes. I like the taste of tomatoes. Pureed they're fine. Any other prep method I'll be vomiting. Dad was the same.
TheSpindrifter
My father was like y'all and I came out the literal opposite. I still gag at the smell of Campbell's tomato soup and cannot eat stewed tomatoes. I still hate and revile beets and fresh onions, but the horror of their taste has faded for me as I have gotten older.
aThingWithTheStufAndTheJunk
Texture aversions and safety in routines and whatnot make it a more common occurrence, but it's not limited to autistic people nor is it guaranteed in them. Plenty of autistic people love all sorts of food and plenty of non-autistic people consume nothing but chicken nuggets and Pepsi.
DeafBastard
I have something I want to say about autism but unsure how to say it with out offending anyone, and it’s more in a joking manner then to be disrespectful
sfrinlan
Sometimes, you just gotta make the joke you need to make, and eat the downcotes that come with it
themobileappisbroken
DeafBastard
With how many people in the world who say they’re on the “spectrum” or are autistic, I’m starting to think vaccines do cause autism. I’m not saying don’t get vaccinated, you definitely should but it seems like 7/10 are on the “spectrum “ or autistic. With that being said, my brother is fully autistic. He can’t speak, and it’s not that he’s non verbal, it’s he’s literally can’t speak if he tried. He speaks through grunts,he can’t form vowels. Although for someone who can’t speak he never shuts up
thinkybrainpains
Humans exist on a spectrum of behaviors since the beginning of time. This pre dates vaccines. Don’t go down this conspiracy theory rabbit hole. The whole anti vaxx thing is fed by Putin troll factories because it’s a highly effective form of biological warfare.
neithermenoryou
Gotta be honest with you chief, that's not how any of that works. Vaccines can't cause autism because the autism can already be measured before the first vaccines are ever given. It also has a variety of genetic markers that vaccines quite literally can't affect after conception, and they follow regular hereditary patterns.
That said, you're most likely just having a Baader-Meinhof moment where you're aware of a thing and now see it everywhere because you're unconsciously looking for it. Every
neithermenoryou
autism or adhd symptom is something normal people also do, the only differences are found in the intensity and frequency.
There's also the problem that most people don't mention they're neurotypicals but people that are neurospicy will regularly mention their disability in the hopes of being treated less like idiots and instead get some grace and compassion for potentially not living up to the expectations you're placing on neurotypicals, which makes them seem more common than they actually are.
ChewyTheWookie
They say autistic people often take things literally but people who take things literally are kleptomaniacs
notacobra
michealangleo
wait, no it doesnt. rotate that to the direction of travel and the second one is a right not a left
ErniesWidow
Mostlydeadpool
and two rights makes an airplane.
bamcobra
Those were Wrights.
madeejit
Rong.
transientmind
“That’s not how you spell ‘wrong!’” “Oh? Then what does r.o.n.g. spell?”
bamcobra
Wreally?
badairdayyay
Now do autistic grandmas… (way harder cause they had to fit the norm even more)
TheSpindrifter
My autistic grandmother hated the taste of watermelon so no one was allowed to have it. She was a book keeper for my grandfather's business because she was amazing with #s. When she passed we found her daily log books of the weather and temperature readings, THOUSANDS of them, *no one knew*... and my father did the EXACT SAME THING. Many considered her a cold-hearted German woman but she expressed her love through cooking and obsessive cleaning and other quirky ways. Her Aspergers was hid well.
nicko0
These sound like normal things. Including the weather.
TheSpindrifter
Alright, I'll bite. There wasn't enough room to write everything here, but the level of detail was key, she was clearly obsessed with detail in every aspect of her life to an extreme, had extreme food and scent aversion, and was perceived by others as "robotic" and "cold" despite not actually being that way. She gave birth to two Aspie sons and one fully autistic son and one certifiable Aspie grandson. The genetic component is there, and she *hid her tells*. Never looked anyone in the eyes tho.
TheSpindrifter
My grandmother hid in routine, was dominated by the need for it. Every meal was meticulously pre-planned down to the amount of the ingredient, weeks in advance. I have never met another human that cleaned as well or as often as she did. Even her sisters were a bit "odd" and eccentric. It's harder to diagnose women because they are naturally more social and hide it better, but when you look behind the curtain long enough the oddities start to multiply, everyone just wrote them off as "eccentric"
dohcohv
My grandma cooked the same meals on the same days for 40+ years, from at least age 20 when she got married till she died at 63. Meatloaf on Monday, spaghetti on Wednesday, roast on Friday.
nicko0
This is literally part of Deep South culture to this day.
thinkybrainpains
Yes but in a world where meal planning was a part of an overload of daily chores this is simple efficiency.
PotatOSLament
If my kids didn’t hate things after repetition I would be doing this as well.
UnluckyLunkhead
When I was a kid in the 60's to be autistic you had to spend all day sitting in the corner of the room staring at the wall. Otherwise, you just needed a good shake or a beating to make you conform.
Navrodel
Yeah... that's the other half of it. If they weren't in an environment where they could be "a little weird, but they get on fine with the chores" then they were probably abused until they masked or else trundled off to the asylum - to be abused and/or raped until they just stopped.
Don't even get me started on "medication." Before the 90s, it was either "a little bit of cocaine will sort you out" or "to hell with 'functional' - at least a vegetable isn't a nuisance" with little to no in-between.
Navrodel
"There wasn't all this mental illness in my day" usually just means that if it was a problem enough to notice, then they were removed from society - and everyone else "got with the program" or else.
TheSpindrifter
"A good shake" oh my God. Yeah, I got that once from a school principal, 1976. My parents just beat me a lot. My grandparents couldn't figure out why I loved spinning in circles on the bar stools for hours but they just let me... technically I was less weird than their own sons at that age. My aspie father was too locked in his own mental cage to see that I was just like him.
nicko0
This just sounds like the abuse came first. Sry you were put thru that.
BosunMark
There were tons of us.. There was no word for autism. We were called something else.
WeirdStray
Changelings.
darkusblack
Naughty kids for adhd
Holinyx05
They called me the police box from Dr. Who
battery1979
Time and relative dimension in space seems like a really long nickname.
JabesMcJabesface
Changeling children, fae-touched. Read a few accounts of interviews of women who claimed the fairies replace their baby, how it is not really their original baby, took their sweet little innocent child, etc., then read some of the people who think vaccines turn their kids autistic and compare the two accounts.
notyoubizness
"difficult" - by cog normals and "sane" by like minds
Pokegeologist
Dad's side of the family were regarded as modern Renaissance Men with lots of interesting and perceived useful hobbies and interests going back to the 1890s-1980s. I was considered a child prodigy and already reading at a high school level by 3rd or 4th grade and was offered to skip half of middle school and high school and graduate at 15. My parents refused because they thought it would be too hard on me starting college that early. I was already taking 18 college hours at the JC in 12th grade.
Pokegeologist
My daughter is considered learning disabled and medicated. When my family and I had her over, we saw nothing out of the ordinary but nobody willing to work with her. We normalized whatever made us...us and saw nothing different in her. Her mom's family wanted us to stay the hell away from her. :/
batosai33
"Your grandpa sure is something else"
PTKrieg
Yeah. If you had enough money to do whatever you want you got called "eccentric". If you had to work for a living and found a niche, you were "quirky" or "funny (but not "ha ha" funny, funny in the head)". From there, a variety of insults going all the way down the scale to "retarded".
PotatOSLament
And retarded wasn’t even an insult originally. Retard just means “held back”, and retarded people were mentally/developmentally “held back” people. It only became an insult when people began using it that way.
Kehy
In music it still has the original meaning, possibly where it came from to begin with
TheOneWhoSucks
I have twin uncles that were officially diagnosed with the r-word in the 50's (I think). Absolutely convinced if they were retested and diagnosed now, they'd QUICKLY be placed on the spectrum.
TheSpindrifter
My father and uncles were on the spectrum but the oldest and dad passed for normal so long as you didn't dig deep. Their meltdowns were infamous. The youngest uncle was variously diagnosed as retarded or other illnesses but I think it was a combi of extreme autism and lead poisoning brain damage (he worked with gasoline at a young age), and when Grams died we found her daily weather log books. She was a #s expert and hated certain foods. I was a "problem child' that didn't get diagnosed early
OliverKlozoff1269
I'm a paraeducator at a special needs school... my students was helping with shredding as they cleaned out file storage. Lots of personelle documents. Found a copy of one of the directors old diploma from the early 80s, "education of retarded children"
themobileappisbroken
#7 I recently had to change my sock type after the manufacturer of my previous type of 10 years stopped being available.
It took me a few tries to find my new sock type but they're good.
I mean it still takes me about 5 minutes to put them on but after that they're almost always good for at least the next 5-6 hours.
Cilvaa
I own 25 pairs of socks that are basically the same except for colour/pattern. I bought five 5-packs all from the same manufacturer. Each pack has a theme, one pack has black socks but with a coloured heel and toe (with a unique colour for each pair), another pack has 5 different shades of grey, another is different colours of the same checker pattern. I got so many so that if I only wear a pair once between washes, I only have to wash socks approximately every 25 days instead of every 5 days.
themobileappisbroken
Turn them inside out and you can go 50 days.
mouthfullofpebbles
They stopped making "my" underwear a couple of years ago, and I still suffer every day. I'm not even kidding when I say that I spend 1-5 hours every day thinking of my underwear being uncomfortable, and it can absolutely work me into a meltdown.
QuantumPlonk
Other poster said learn to sew. Maybe just get custom made underwear with specific instructions tailored to your needs. Badum tss
TeaOverdose
is going commando an option?
Togame21
(Please just take this as friendly 'maybe try this' advice, and just ignore if it doesn't fit. Brains are hard) Could you maybe learn how to make your own underwear? Sewing isn't that hard, especially if you're just trying to make 50 of the same piece. If you're spending that much time worrying about it, sewing your own would probably save you time in the long run.
mouthfullofpebbles
Don't worry, it's really good advice, I am a sewist and actually am sewing my own! Or, I am at about the 24th mockup right now and have been working on it for more than a year, still not at the perfect fit. One day I'll get there, lol!
Kehy
I've actually made my own custom fit panties. Hand sewing is very good for stretch material if you don't want to otherwise deal with the complications of using a machine to sew a stretch fabric. I will say they're done if the comfiest things ever
mouthfullofpebbles
I sew too, (I work with industrial machines, at home I use non-electrical vintage, but mostly hand sew) and trouser pattern construction is one of my special interest! I can fit battle pants based on thousand year old archaeological finds, but making a pair of underwear that fits my own crotch is going very, VERY slow...
notacobra
Imgur constantly reminds me "no, notacobra, you're not autistic, you're just a little weird."
It's kinda validating seeing how much more other people experience things that I've often felt were weird.
I procrastinate, struggle with executive dysfunction, hate some textures and I'm a picky eater... But can easily put all that aside if need be, it doesn't impact my life nor define it. Moreover, as much as these things are annoying, they're all relatively trivial.
paynoattentiontousernames
It's a whole spectrum. With different degrees of how it impacts your life.
Tengenstein
This is gratifying to read. I was about to agree that I too am just a picky eater... and then I remembered I would regularly just choose to not eat if I couldn't find something. Like for days.
TeaOverdose
If these things cause you to suffer, you may want to look for a diagnostic. Otherwise, if they're quirks and you can live with them, you don't really need to.
EnokMolkeHansson
your examples sound more like adhd than asd. i too can put aside my entire ad(h)d if there is a crisis releasing enough adrenalin or if i'm suddenly extra motivated . problem with adhd is you don't get to choose any of those moments yourself.
Benorf
I read that as "Struggle with erectile disfunction" and was like. Damn. Brave to say and absolutely unrelated.
Taintwafflewithwhippedcream
I'm 42 and was diagnosed with autism and adhd. The reason I was diagnosed at 42 is I accepted a new job and within months my coping mechanisms weren't working and I was falling apart both at home and at work. I'm doing better now, but I had to build new coping mechanisms in order to succeed. I used to think I could mimic my way through any situation by turning who i am off, I was wrong.
LateNightBunnyParty
And me? I read things like this post and think "Uh oh. I should get checked. And so should my dad. And so should my daughter."
TheSpindrifter
It's never too late. Knowing helps.
Slewth87
The line between "has some traits" and "qualifies for a diagnosis". Is essentially "does it cause difficulties in your daily life". For this reason I thought I might not qualify for an official diagnosis, but we realised that it 100% caused a lot of difficuies as I was growong up, and the only reason it doesn't now is not because it went away, but because I was fortunate enough to develop very effective coping strategies which are now second nature and don't feel like effort most of the time.
StrangerRangerDanger
same, diagnoses last year at 33 and realized a.lot about my childhood and how I respond to stress/change.
Tengenstein
This. I'm a pretty well off individual, well paid, well educated, able to pay the mortgage on a single income. Nearly been fired several times because I lack "people skills", HR aren't on my side, legal and financial are as I keep preventing costly lawsuits for them.
kibbypie
I'm hopeful that we're going to raise a whole generation without the trauma of "weird: or "wrong"
alwaysthecheesegrater
That's great! Imgur is constantly reminding me that I'm not weird. I'm actually very normal for someone with adhd/autism. Lol
DoctorSniffles
Or misdiagnosed /s
Mairoa
Imgur makes me think I'm normal and it's not autism.. Medical professionals just give me a long, tired look and refer to my screening scores. (I'm super audhd)
Nathanyel
Indeed, memes have updated my self-diagnosis from Autism to ADHD.
Talori
Tbh that sounds more like ADHD than autism - often still sensory differences but not as strong / able to be put aside when needed or motivated to. And procrastination is much more common for ADHD than autism. But having said that, who knows, and if it's not impacting anything, then who cares!
CHICKINGNUGGER
I'm AuDHD and I always joke that the way in which each affects me almost cancel each other out and help me function.
Salticido
All the stuff notacobra mentioned falls within the overlap of ADHD & autism, where they share traits/symptoms. There is a LOT of overlap between the two. They could even have both. It's not uncommon to have auDHD, as they call it.
Talori
Yeah, for sure - I specialise in this and about 60% of my clients are AuDHD (I'm allistic ADHD myself). Just pointing out that noticing you don't meet autism traits except for XYZ aspects (which are ADHD and/or AuDHD traits), then there's ADHD isn't unlikely
Cindex1337
That's my wife, with both. I'm ADHD diagnosed but never went for an autism diagnosis. It's just gonna cost me money, I don't see a point.
Salticido
I'm in a similar boat, self-diagnosed autistic, low enough support needs and too American to afford diagnosis or therapy anyway. Honestly just having the self-diagnosis has been helpful to reframe things in a way that allows me to actually figure out how to solve many of my problems, alongside a few helpful Youtube channels.
Cindex1337
I've researched it quite a lot because of my wife and see a lot of things that have helped me recognize issues I have too, but I hesitate to self diagnose because my issues that actually affect my everyday life are usually more attributed to ADHD. But a little knowledge never hurt anyone :)
LastoftheLillyCreatures
psych here: this gets even better when you realize that neurodivergence as a mental illness (in fact, basically all mental illnesses) are /
ViviAdorkable
But their are literal physical differences in the brain we can detect in people with neurodivergences. So its not just a learned behaviour, but a physical ailment at that point no?
marsilies
They're not saying there's not differences, but what makes a neurodivergence an illness or a disorder is the impact it has on your ability to function within society, so it's at least partially a construct of that society and whether it fits with or accommodates a particular neurodivergence. For example, my BIL didn't think the "look someone in the eyes" test was fair, because in Chinese culture he was taught that looking elders in the eye was a sign of disrespect, so he doesn't.
CallThisAUsername
A mental illness is a physical illness. Your brain is altered, and your brain is an organ.
LastoftheLillyCreatures
yes and no :) Yes, we can (somewhat, sometimes) detect (some) differences in neurodivergent and even "mentally ill" brains. But with some few exceptions (e.g. MS or dementia), those differences are not "ailment" the same way a virus, lesions or a broken bone are ailments. From a neurological perpective the brain of neurodivergent people works as it should. What's not working is the person in their society - mostly according to that society. Towards being learned 1/2
LastoftheLillyCreatures
or not: You can reason that the brain (today) is different because it was born a special way or because it was treated a special way for a long time - or both. And you can reason that the divergent brain is the cause of the problem or that the society that treats difference with hostility is. To which version you tend in that is mostly dependend on what said brain had an easier time accepting at the time. 2/2
mathnerd314
Yes, they're physical differences, but the point is how we view/treat the differences. If someone is born deaf, they routinely get assistive devices or accommodations for that physical difference. But if someone is born without the ability to work politely in a group setting, they're told that they're not fit for society.
LastoftheLillyCreatures
While your statement is a beautiful addition, I'd like to mention that getting those assistive devices is often still a long fight and people with phyiscal disabilities are still one of the politically most ignored groups.
LastoftheLillyCreatures
socially constructed and not even close to somatic illnesses except for how much you are not compatible with mainstream society. 2/2
DoctorSniffles
I mean, primary psychotic disorders are not just social constructs or people thinking silly. Schizophrenia and Parkinsonism absolutely have biological explanations.
LastoftheLillyCreatures
yes and no: yes, everything has correlates on a neurological level. But no, causes in neurological dysfunction are very rarely (mono-)causal (e.g. parkinson) - or at least our empirical evidence is far from conclusive in that direction. Most psychological problems (including psychoses) I get to see have their causes in external stress _interacting_ with vulnerability.
notacobra
I think you're arguing a different point.
Your original argument was that certain mental health conditions don't have clear physiological aetiology. The other user clarified that some mental health conditions absolutely do have their root in a demonstrable physical process.
Whether or not this process is complex, it exists as more than ephemeral changes to psyche or individual wiring and firing of the brain.
Phoelixx
My hot take? ‘Neurotypical’ simply describes the perfect wage slave.
InkyBlinkyPinkyAndClyde
My hot take? If you don't like it when your group is insulted, you should realize it's just as bad to insult other groups.
Phoelixx
I mean, I didn’t insult any group, it seems you’re making assumptions about what I am talking about.
notacobra
Yep and, perhaps more significantly, the overwhelming majority of "ADHD memes" and the like are relatable scenarios to.... 99% of all human beings alive because things like:
"I want to do the fun thing, but I have to do the hard thing first and that's bad, so I don't do anything"
Are effectively components of the human condition.
MermaidLullaby
This is why the diagnostic is "Interferes with the ability to function". Of course they're all normal human experiences, autistic/ADHD people are normal people like everyone else. We're capable of all the same experiences people have. It's just that they happen at such an intensity that they shape our entire existence in a society that is not primarily made up of people like us. But it's not just about being able to function within society!! >
MermaidLullaby
> The fact I WANT to do so many things in life and CAN'T even if society isn't getting in my way because my brain refuses to do the thing I want it to do is what defines my diagnosis. It's that I like the flavor of most meat and want to eat it but my brain cannot handle the texture of 'bad' bits and makes me vomit that is awful. It's that I want to dive deep into passion projects but I can't maintain the motivation because the reward is a long-term deal that depresses me. >
Jamesstin
It may feel validating & that's fine but you really ought to be tested and I don't mean some online test like my brother does for everything. It's a bit important to not take validation as confirmation as psychologically speaking; it's totally a thing for people to manifest symptoms of various conditions simply by having the thought in your mind that it might be true. Imagine someone consistently pretending to be a victim of such & such, and PTSD is part of the facade? They will experience 1/
SayRamrod
i went to a reputable doctor who charged me hundreds for tests you can find online. there is no blood test or brain scan. and as long as your brother isnt doing buzzfeed "what kind of garlic bread are you?" tests with life changing results then let him self-discover without breaking the bank
Jamesstin
And my brother is doing far worse; he is doing it in order to convince himself that he's double extra correct for ignoring our pleas for him to get help. He claims privately between that he has "grown past" prior behaviors or "if I was actually in need of psychological help you would have seen the behaviors in adulthood." He may even believe that he has changed or he could be lying but his type of work is concerning with him untreated
Jamesstin
You're saying you took a test entirely online and you paid hundreds of dollars? The results were what? Out of curiosity...And id also like to see a link to such a test. I'm genuinely curious. But It's funny that you're right about the blood test, sorta right about the brain scan yet think an online test is suitable for what a board certified psychologist should be doing with you in person over the course of hours if not days depending on what tests. The tests often require subtle observation
qhogan11337
Even the good online tests have problems with them. It's very easy to look at the questions and answer them honestly but still weighting yourself towards a diagnosis. Having a doc or psych evaluate your test will help filter for that noise.
I would say the tests can be helpful tool for the curious, but take any results with a grain of salt.
For autism, they had me take a test, my mom, and my wife. They are also going to interview me in person.
maeta
Where do you find clinically accurate tests online? Asking for both friends and myself.
Jamesstin
These tests are done by board certified psychologists and it's not just answering questions; it's observations of subtle responses. This simply isn't going to be accurately done online. The same applies with so called IQ tests.
Tengenstein
https://embrace-autism.com/empathy-quotient/
In itself is not a diagnosis l, just a tool used diagnostically.