I am a bit of a "neuro"sceptic

[glowingfish]

Well, hopefully this won't be too controversial.

First, I am obviously not a doctor or a MHP, and if someone thinks that the language of "neurodiversity" works for them and explains things for them, whether they have a formal diagnosis or not, I am not going to object.

But the thing is, I've started to get skeptical of these things, as they are treated in popular culture, and especially when I think someone has something to sell. When I was a kid, and first learned what autism was, it meant people who were unable to live unassisted. Then, in the early 2000s, it started expanding its definition. But now, the definition seems to include...everyone? Like, according to Instagram, every possible personality trait can be explained by autism and ADHD, including sometimes contradictory ones. Outgoing, shy, detail oriented, spontaneous, literal, creative, conformist, non-conformist...from what I have read, pretty much all of these and more can be attributed to "neurodivergence".

I guess the reason why this has started to annoy me is that there are a lot of things about my life that make me different. Some of them are pretty personal and important. And I don't like that some people choose to collapse all of this into a rather stereotypical thing. For example, I grew up spending a lot of time reading alone because I lived in a small town and didn't have much money, and (as I mentioned in an earlier post), these were the days before children participated in clubs and lessons. I have mixed feelings about growing up this way. But, but, but, I have started to get mad when this story, my personal story, that I have thought about for decades, is judged by someone as me being "on the spectrum" because that is what Instagram explainers say it is.

Comments

[zavodilaterrarium]

Yeah, that's definitely uncomfortable (both the dictator support and the implication that you're "in denial"). While wishing for nuance in testing and overall questioning things is associated with autism, it's not necessarily something I'd suggest autism would explain for any specific individual. Plenty of other people already have criticism for these simple assessment tools in the first place; many of them (I believe including RAADS?) are still very much influenced by the mindset of "how does this impact people around you?" which isn't the most helpful or nuanced view of an internal condition. Proper testing does take that into account because there isn't really a a way to avoid it, but it's much less of the focus.

[glowingfish]

I keep wanting to make a post about what I think is really going on in my life. IT is complicated and there are a lot of factors...maybe at some point, I will sit down and write it out.

[zavodilaterrarium]

If you do, I hope everybody gives it a proper, nuanced read.

[glowingfish]

I did just post it, such as it is.