Anyone notice that a large chunk of their friends are ADHD or otherwise neurodiverse?
My childhood best friend is ADHD, all but 1 of my other childhood friends is ADHD and about half of my current friends that I hang out with are either ADHD, on the autism spectrum or likely to be but as yet undiagnosed.
They don't... do anything! They don't talk about themselves or that side project they're obsessed with (what side project?) or their shower thoughts or... How am I supposed to work with that?
Try to find a boardgame group near you and when you hang out with those people everybody will be focused on playing a stimulating game whether or not they are ADHD!
I hate when people only talk about the executive function schedulizing and management of their life. Not only is it boring it just stresses me out. Thinking about it in my own life is already overwhelming enough for the microscopically sized executive function department in my head.
I think it's that neuro-diverse people tend to gravitate towards each other, so this is probably survivor's bias. I definitely find that other people with ADHD are able to grab and hold my attention better than neuro-typical people and also they're more understanding and forgiving when I'm flaky, or too hyperactive, or whatever.
It is like how I have noticed queer people often tend to be nicer, more fully realized people than hetero people. Of course there are assholes of every type but in general hetero neurotypical people, especially if they are older men, can just behave like babies their whole life and not really be challenged to grow in any way beyond accepting whatever society hands them as part of an imposed identity and it is not a recipe for forming kind empathetic humans.
I mean, have you met many neurotypical people? It might be a confirmation bias caused by social sorting. I’m ‘quirky’ and I expect nothing less from the people I choose to hang with. It just turns out the quirks I gravitate toward are correlated with neurodiversity.
Aside from myself, there is only one other person in my family that has been formally diagnosed as being neurodivergent (autism). I was diagnosed when I was 32. So I found it interesting that even decades before that, I happened to tend to be closer to people that were formally diagnosed with ADHD. The vast majority of my classmates, coworkers and students that I have tutored were very likely neurotypical. But this wasnt true of most of the people I chose to be around.
I frequently share the show Love on a Spectrum to others. They get surprised by some folks on the show who have similar behaviors like their friends/coworkers. And I have to go, "Yep!"
Yes. I'm neurotypical though. Or not enough for it to be a disorder is probably closer to the truth.
I have been tested as a child. My mother is a special ed teacher and I helped her out in class a few times, so I also feel confident that I don't have a disorder.
Same here. I think people just naturally find the people that "get" them. Pretty sure that's the only reason I got hired at my last job. She's as ADHD as me!
No. My friends (especially my closest friends) are not ADHD on the spectrum or have something similar. They may not be sane but definitely not ADHD more the opposite. In my family however that is another picture, but since it is hereditary it's no wonder.
I just logged in to make this comment, because it is obviously not the norm here.
Yes, but I think I’m the only one that was formally diagnosed for it (ages ago). Because of my ability to identify similarly-brained people, I’ve been able to point out to friends that they have heavy ADHD tendencies too.