AD/HD Community

executive dysfunction is literally like. ive had a random dollar on my floor for two weeks and i dont know when ill fit it in my schedule to pick it up. people dont realize this

picked up the doler👍

Truely an achievement.

ik people meme on it but genuinely i feel like every weird dysfunctional thing i do stems from my neurodivergency. im like hey i wonder why i sometimes have white hot flashes of overwhelming anger where i need to force myself away from an interaction. and then it's just another classic adhd thing again

I thought that too for a long time.... turns out some of it was also depression, anxiety, and my odd personality.

Now the fun game I play is working out which is which.

This chore system actually looks really helpful!

Oh I LOVE this!!!!

it’s been awhile since i’ve posted, but here is a friendly reminder for everyone:

icantbelieveihavetowritethis

if you are NOT autistic, adhd, ocd or any other neurodivergence, you have NO right, nor the ability to write with neurodivergent protagonists. no matter how much you think you know, even if your cousin’s friend is autistic, you have literally zero right. it’s extremely insensitive and invalidating and you literally have no experience or knowledge in the area to even try to write about it.

if you are a writer and someone has requested an ADHD or autistic reader, you still have zero right. you simply say, “sorry, i am not neurodivergent, therefore, i do not feel comfortable trying to portray something i will never ever understand.”

there are plenty of other writers (including myself) who are neurodivergent and would be happy to take your requests.

please don’t be that person.

thank you and bye for now 💘💘💘💘

I respectfully disagree with this, in part because I think following this is actually the easiest way to remove neurodivergence from literature even more than it currently is - ADHD, for example, is only 10% of the population and not all of us are writers. This is also how we end up with characters that are ADHD-coded but never canonical.

We don't need neurotypical people to step out of this, we need them to lean the heck into it and Just. Do. Better.

You want to write an adhd character but you don't have adhd? Awesome!!! How much research have you done? How many actual people with adhd have you interviewed about their experiences? How many sympathy readers do you have lined up to tell you if you're getting it wrong?

So much in writing and creativity is stepping outside yourself and imagining the world through a different lens. Like anything though this can't just come from stereotypes and what you've been taught - you need to actually research what you are portraying.

If a non-adhd person wants to depict adhd in their writings I am super supportive of that, they just better make sure they are putting time, research, and resources into understanding the disorder and not just using it as a joke or a trope.

To OP's point though, if you don't have the time, energy, or interest to do it well... just don't do it. And if you get it wrong, learn from the critiques and move forward.

Another thing to add - if you're writing for profit, pay the people you interview. If you don't have money while you're writing, as is often the case, be sure to send them an appropriate sum when you have profit. No, a 5$ Starbucks gift card or trinket is not appropriate compensation.

If you're writing something you plan to share for free, ask about how you can credit them for their help and compensate them for their time.

Don't only interview, have multiple people, preferably, as not everyone experiences neurodivergence in the same way, proofread for characterization throughout the writing process, and be willing to listen to their feedback.

Fantastic add!!! Not compensating people for their time and vulnerability in these cases is kinda like saying "tell me about your people or I will misrepresent them and blame you for not giving me what I want".

If you're completely skint however, feel free to start your research online to narrow down your questions before interviewing. Often people on forums or social media are very willing to send through quick notes or advice on writing a character with their disability/ sexuality/ gender/ disorder etc if they have a spare minute and you ask nicely. People are cool that way. Just don't expect too much and avoid taking advantage of their kindness.

(Also despite disagreeing I want to thank OP for starting this discussion - it's an interesting and important one that I have changed my mind on a lot over the years as I have read and learnt more, and had more conversations like these)

UPDATE:

OP sent me a message clarifying the below!

"hey! i’m the OP of the adhd/autism post. my post was more aimed at fan fiction, and in particular, people who have absolutely no knowledge and experience on topics such as neurodivergence, but still choose to write about it anyway because it has been requested. i think my post is getting misconstrued a lot so i decided to delete it. i should’ve been more specific in it originally."

This makes SO much sense - we were talking at cross-purposes! I was writing from a literature perspective and OP was commenting from a fanfic perspective.

Fanfic is wonderful but can also be a haven for accidently (and sometimes intentionally) homophobic, transphobic, biphobic, acephobic, misogynist, abelist nightmare fuel.

As commented - unless you are willing to put months of effort into studying something, write from experience and be empathetic in your writing. If you decide to branch out, at least include warnings that you are doing this and note that you are open to constructive criticism of character depiction.

IMPORTANT

OP (@heyimtrashtbh) is now receiving private hate comments from some people who would rather take out their emotions on a stranger than have a discussion. I will make another post on this more generally in the coming days but if you are someone who did this in a moment of passion, please reach out and apologise to them. If you have a second, please message them in support of expressing views and being a human.

Please remember that behind every user name is a human with thoughts and feelings. Be kind and empathetic.

This blog is about community, discussion, and empathy. It hurts me and others when posts are used to direct hate at specific individuals, and makes us all feel that we can't speak about our thoughts and opinions here.

My love to all the kind, wonderful people that DO interact with the community in a loving and accepting way!

it’s been awhile since i’ve posted, but here is a friendly reminder for everyone:

icantbelieveihavetowritethis

if you are NOT autistic, adhd, ocd or any other neurodivergence, you have NO right, nor the ability to write with neurodivergent protagonists. no matter how much you think you know, even if your cousin’s friend is autistic, you have literally zero right. it’s extremely insensitive and invalidating and you literally have no experience or knowledge in the area to even try to write about it.

if you are a writer and someone has requested an ADHD or autistic reader, you still have zero right. you simply say, “sorry, i am not neurodivergent, therefore, i do not feel comfortable trying to portray something i will never ever understand.”

there are plenty of other writers (including myself) who are neurodivergent and would be happy to take your requests.

please don’t be that person.

thank you and bye for now 💘💘💘💘

I respectfully disagree with this, in part because I think following this is actually the easiest way to remove neurodivergence from literature even more than it currently is - ADHD, for example, is only 10% of the population and not all of us are writers. This is also how we end up with characters that are ADHD-coded but never canonical.

We don't need neurotypical people to step out of this, we need them to lean the heck into it and Just. Do. Better.

You want to write an adhd character but you don't have adhd? Awesome!!! How much research have you done? How many actual people with adhd have you interviewed about their experiences? How many sympathy readers do you have lined up to tell you if you're getting it wrong?

So much in writing and creativity is stepping outside yourself and imagining the world through a different lens. Like anything though this can't just come from stereotypes and what you've been taught - you need to actually research what you are portraying.

If a non-adhd person wants to depict adhd in their writings I am super supportive of that, they just better make sure they are putting time, research, and resources into understanding the disorder and not just using it as a joke or a trope.

To OP's point though, if you don't have the time, energy, or interest to do it well... just don't do it. And if you get it wrong, learn from the critiques and move forward.

Another thing to add - if you're writing for profit, pay the people you interview. If you don't have money while you're writing, as is often the case, be sure to send them an appropriate sum when you have profit. No, a 5$ Starbucks gift card or trinket is not appropriate compensation.

If you're writing something you plan to share for free, ask about how you can credit them for their help and compensate them for their time.

Don't only interview, have multiple people, preferably, as not everyone experiences neurodivergence in the same way, proofread for characterization throughout the writing process, and be willing to listen to their feedback.

Fantastic add!!! Not compensating people for their time and vulnerability in these cases is kinda like saying "tell me about your people or I will misrepresent them and blame you for not giving me what I want".

If you're completely skint however, feel free to start your research online to narrow down your questions before interviewing. Often people on forums or social media are very willing to send through quick notes or advice on writing a character with their disability/ sexuality/ gender/ disorder etc if they have a spare minute and you ask nicely. People are cool that way. Just don't expect too much and avoid taking advantage of their kindness.

(Also despite disagreeing I want to thank OP for starting this discussion - it's an interesting and important one that I have changed my mind on a lot over the years as I have read and learnt more, and had more conversations like these)

it’s been awhile since i’ve posted, but here is a friendly reminder for everyone:

icantbelieveihavetowritethis

if you are NOT autistic, adhd, ocd or any other neurodivergence, you have NO right, nor the ability to write with neurodivergent protagonists. no matter how much you think you know, even if your cousin’s friend is autistic, you have literally zero right. it’s extremely insensitive and invalidating and you literally have no experience or knowledge in the area to even try to write about it.

if you are a writer and someone has requested an ADHD or autistic reader, you still have zero right. you simply say, “sorry, i am not neurodivergent, therefore, i do not feel comfortable trying to portray something i will never ever understand.”

there are plenty of other writers (including myself) who are neurodivergent and would be happy to take your requests.

please don’t be that person.

thank you and bye for now 💘💘💘💘

I respectfully disagree with this, in part because I think following this is actually the easiest way to remove neurodivergence from literature even more than it currently is - ADHD, for example, is only 10% of the population and not all of us are writers. This is also how we end up with characters that are ADHD-coded but never canonical.

We don't need neurotypical people to step out of this, we need them to lean the heck into it and Just. Do. Better.

You want to write an adhd character but you don't have adhd? Awesome!!! How much research have you done? How many actual people with adhd have you interviewed about their experiences? How many sympathy readers do you have lined up to tell you if you're getting it wrong?

So much in writing and creativity is stepping outside yourself and imagining the world through a different lens. Like anything though this can't just come from stereotypes and what you've been taught - you need to actually research what you are portraying.

If a non-adhd person wants to depict adhd in their writings I am super supportive of that, they just better make sure they are putting time, research, and resources into understanding the disorder and not just using it as a joke or a trope.

To OP's point though, if you don't have the time, energy, or interest to do it well... just don't do it. And if you get it wrong, learn from the critiques and move forward.

Gifted kid (non-practicing)

This should be my entire LinkedIn page

Is it an ADHD thing to like- follow 200 ppl per day?? Like you just go onto the ADHD tag and follow literally all recent post-makers, or is that just me having no dopamine??

No srsly i wanna know.

Whenever I forget anything:

People: have you tried writing it down?

Me: you know, the thing with writing things down is that you have to remember to actually write it.

People: ...

Me: you get my predicament now?

People: have you tried writing it down?

Me: yes of course, I wrote it on a post-it note

Them: great so what does it say?

Me: what do you mean?

Them:.......?

Me: oh god no I have no idea where that post-it note is now, don't be silly.