hey guys. this is a bit of a vent but also a bit of an ask for help or advice because it's starting to really interfere with my life

i've noticed throughout my life that i latch onto certain interests of mine really closely. this is usually tv shows/movie series but has also been books, bands, comics, etc. and also can be certain hobbies (like i got on a big music production kick a few years ago.) these close interests tend to possess my every thought but not really in a noticeably bad way, actually i feel like my life is a lot better and i'm way happier and more fulfilled when i have them. conversely if there isn't anything i'm hooked on, my life feels really dull and meaningless and i'm basically looking everywhere for something new

i'm somebody who likes to share the things with the people i love and i get a lot of joy talking about it when i find somebody as into something as i am (or close to it at least lol.) my sister and i have had similar interests all our lives so usually she's the one i go to because by the time i'm into something she also already is haha. but i have other friends and loved ones like my girlfriend (who i met through an old shared interest) and i want to be able to share it with them too.

the problem arises in that whenever i try to introduce these interests to them i get really self conscious and embarrassed and weird about it in general. i love the things im that interested in so much and they bring me so much happiness and in a situation where i introduce it to somebody else and they don't like it i take it strangely personal, and it ends up kind of dampening my enjoyment of something. it also makes me feel super childish. i just really like these things and it feels almost like they're rejecting me even though rationally I know thats the case.

i really have no idea what the root of this is besides that i have a lot of shame built up from these rejections and my family often made me feel bad for liking things too much and being "cringey" for it. i have depression and anxiety and bipolar ii but i don't think these are really related, maybe its just a weird thing, but it does affect my mental health (especially those phases where i have nothinf that i'm super interested in.) does anyone else experience this and/or have tips on managing it or getting rid of it? i want to keep that feeling of being super immersed in my interests but the downsides are hurting me and my relationships so i'm a little lost

F, 23. I often have strong hyper-fixations on people online (not celebs, they are usually someone who we have mutual friends with). It often starts with admiring their profile, looks and content and transforms into a strong feeling that I really want to either be like them or get to know them and be friends/partners with them. I constantly check their profile, the profiles they are following and the photos they are tagged on, trying to sort of fish out some new info, they are on my mind 90% of the time and I am in constant distress because I feel like it’s impossible to actually get to know them bc they are simply gonna get scared or creeped out and I’m honestly ashamed of myself. Should I be more chill and just simply text them or am I actually being creepy?

I am Audhd. My best friend is neurotypical. I feel as though sometimes we have a hard time understanding each other and connecting because of this. I often have a hard time finding my words and communicating in the moment, so I wrote them a letter in hopes to better understand each other and strengthen our relationship. I explained my audhd traits in regard to how my traits have seemed to affect our friendship. I also explained the best ways they can show support and love me best, and in turn asked them what I can do to understand and love and support them best. They said they’d reply to this letter, but it’s been a long time and still no reply. I get that we’re adults and we’re busy, but I don’t understand why it’s taken so long to get a reply. Do they not care? Did they forget? Do they not know the answers to the questions I asked? I poured my time and energy into this letter and to get nothing in return feels a little hurtful. I plan on asking them about when/if they intend to reply soon, but I wanted to get an opinion first. I have a horrible time keeping friendships, and I really don’t want to mess this one up. I don’t have anyone in real life to ask about this, so I figured I’d ask the community here. Thanks in advance for any insight.

Anyway here's the story Context: My brother's autistic and ADHD (combined) which has caused a lot of difficulties in my family. My parents are very ableist and pretty much refuse to give my brother accommodations (meds, therapy, etc.) I wasn't aware of it as much but the conversation revealed a lot.

I am somebody who has been considering having ADHD, and the suspicion only becomes stronger the more I research it (sporadically throughout my life, totaling about two years) both with the criteria and ADHD experiences. After consultation with my fellow ADHD friends, I decided to ask my parents for a diagnosis.

Keep in mind I have the traits of a gifted kid but end up getting frustrated with myself being unable to concentrate or function normally. I want to get diagnosed maybe for meds or at least finding out ways to manage it.

My dad pretended to take it into consideration and proceeded to either ignore or forget about it. My mom, however will be the focus.

I brought it up a few times prior and she shut it down. So when I asked her about ADHD symptoms without telling her about it being ADHD to remove prejudice, she agreed that I exhibited the symptoms. But then I revealed it was ADHD, and it spiraled from there.

I wouldn't say it was even a conversation. More of a game of whack-a-mole, me being the mole that popped up and tried to make a point before my mom shut me down. To review, here was the argument.

My argument -I exhibit symptoms of ADHD, and would like to be diagnosed or tested to manage it. -Female ADHD manifests differently from male ADHD -There is a high likelihood of me having ADHD (statistically 1 in 3 because my brother has it)

Mom's argument -If I were to get diagnosed, I would be discriminated against, I wouldn't be able to go to a private school or get rejected from jobs -The process is extremely long and requires feedback from teachers and parents (definitely not in my favor since I've grown good at masking it) -I would use it as an excuse for my problems -I'm seeking attention and I want to be mentally ill to seek attention -She knows me best out of everybody, even better than me -Cases are faked because parents want their students to be accommodated to. -I was a gifted kid and talented in many aspects -Our family only had one case of ADHD (My brother) -My symptoms weren't as strong as my brother's and therefore not valid

She proceeded to start crying extremely loudly and said that she didn't recognize me and that I wanted her to die earlier (she said this way to many times) and that if I were to get diagnosed then I would have to be ready to give up my dreams, the words, "Because you're a dramatic bitch" on the tip of my tongue. But I held it back because I have no control in my life and I'm just her puppet. Keep in mind she was red-faced and screaming, using the typical asian mother tactics, guilt ripping, gaslighting, and force. I think my eardrums have ruptured.

Given I was praying for her to understand (I am atheist), I feel crushed. I just want meds and to be a normal kid after having to mask for so long. I feel so burnt out and depressed (ironic since she was mocking one of my sudicial friends for being depressed and abused because they had a "good life", as in food, water, and financial support, and accused them of "influencing" me. Yet she complains about her life despite her living comfortably and eating to her heart's content and spending most her time at home watching chinese tiktok). And I've been putting in so much effort that I'm fantasizing about having freedom every day now. Maybe running away. Maybe hanging myself, I dunno. Maybe digging my nails in my arms and hands and letting them get little bloody crescents that don't even hurt because my emotions drown them out easily because they're so strong I get suffocated and lost in them way too easily and keeping myself stuck in my own head in my own worlds and characters I built can make me last longer in this damn house. I don't cut but I think about it whenever she goes batshit like this. My friend had to try offing herself to get therapy for her toxic asian parents, I wonder how far I'll have to go to get it in their stupid heads that the abuse they caused actually shaped my brain chemistry.

I feel like I have too much to say, so I'll end it here to avoid going on a tangent.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

ok so I don't usually post on Reddit and I'm not sure if this is the place to post this but anyways I'm neurodivergent and I'm having a lot of trouble picking a backpack for school because i hate when my backpack isn't covered in pins and keychains related to my biggest interest but when I decorate my back pack I have to hold it infant of me so no one sees it or I will get MAJORLY bullied and holding my backpack like that is giving me really bad back pain and I don't know what to do I'm just looking for some advice

When I talk to certain people in my family they can become very loud and refuse to lower their voices. Is there headphones that can dampen the sound come of but still let me understand what theyre saying?

Some people think neurotypical people have no interests or obsessions and it's real confusing.

I'm neurotypical but have anxiety, and I get extremely obsessed with different things. I get so obsessed that I can't think one thought that isn't related to the topic for months and can't function as well when at work or college because I'm so obsessed. And this has happened with several different things, and idk I just think it's funny when people act like neurotypical people are extremely boring and have no fun.

We definitely don't experience things to the amount that people with ADHD or Autism do, but we aren't completely boring and have no fun. Obviously we don't experience special interests because that's an autism exclusive thing, same with hyperfixations and ADHD. I'm confused and genuinely wondering why that misinformation is spread so much. I think some people are just real boring people haha.

Also if I've said something messed up on accident I'll delete this post. I'm genuinely trying to learn and ask why. I'm sorry if I've said anything wrong, as I'm trying to learn and grow as a person. I'm not trying to cause harm to anyone or make people uncomfortable.

for context im a <16yo f and i suspected that i had audhd for quite awhile almost 2 years. i hv researched them alot and looked at past experiences also. i have a whole list of all the experiences i went through and like how i could have those traits also.

im now at a point where im questioning whether im actually audhd or not because i see that alot of other people are also going thru what from my understanding think of audhd and it seems like a normal experience that others go thru too but it doesnt affect their day to day lives as much as it affects mine.

pursuing a diagnosis can also be quite costly however my family is not financially stable to be able to get a diagnosis for me

edit: i also saw a post about being scared to get a diagnosis and its honestly what im going thru also because i feel i would not be able to explain what im going thru also

my parents are also not really that supportive of what i'm going thru and i have not told them that i think i have audhd (they are also not very supportive when i got diagnosed w anxiety a few years ago back) and i dont know how i could bring it up also. everytime i am struggling they just brush it off and say that in lazy, not trying hard enough only thinking about myself when i have meltdowns/ shutdowns.

ig this is like a self diagnosis thing? i feel i need the validation of others that im actually autistic? im not sure... i tried those online tests (which i know is not used for diagnosing) and i scored well within the range most autistic/ adhd people would.

*this is my first reddit post so i hope im not breaking any rules :)

Been ruminating, I need an outlet.

I like to say the reason behind my personality disorder is cause of resignation to always saying goodbye. No one stayed long enough to make an attachment mean something so I learned to be alone a bit too early.

Thing is, when I say this, people seem to default to imagining I was purposefully abandoned.

I wasn't.

I meant things that were out of anyone's control. Shit like:

• death of a foundational family member who was the linchpin keeping things stable.
• constant death scares from a chronically ill caretaker who wasn't always chronically ill
• my own near-death experiences through sickness AND physical violence
• close friends moving away with their family
• constant stressors that no one else in my peer group had a solution to that worked(we were kids)
• aging out of grade levels, away from the teachers in charge of keeping me stable when my home kept failing

I remember becoming a frustrated and angry cause it kept happening. But who tf do you blame for bad luck? When my house was a mess that kept going in circles, people on the outside WERE trying, but nothing worked in a way that mattered. Now it's like my mind and body stopped counting on anything. When I'm offered condolences, it registers as hollow.

Irl, I don't know anyone else who processes their trauma this way. So here I am online lol.

Anyone else? Thoughts? Concerns? Violent reactions?

Hi! Basically I might possibly have adhd( haven’t been diagnosed yet, but plan to) and I am in my second year of University and I don’t have any friends still.

For context, I do have friends from previous schooling years( one from elementary school and two from high school, but other than that, not many). But of course, as they’re in university as well, we’re all quite busy, so I can’t hang out with them as much.

I made a couple of efforts to make friends at college such as:

• I joined a dance club. I did that for almost a year, but the unpredictable timing of dance practices often threw my schedule off and frustrated me( because of the unpredictability). Plus the added problem of my bad knees… it didn’t work out. I tried to talk to people there from time to time, saying hi to others, being really friendly. I would often try to help decorate for dance events, etc. But didn’t work out🤷🏽‍♀️

• I then joined a choir at my school this year, but the semester is almost over already, and I still haven’t made a single friend. We meet only once a week for a couple of hours, so it’s a bit hard for me to get comfortable to approach people, because we rarely get to see each other weekly.

• last year, I did try to make friends during lunch, and for a couple of lunches, but for some reason, I would approach people and say hi and we chat a bit( this implies for in class too). But I didn’t get why the same people didn’t want to ever approach me to chat? At most I gotten is some people may chat with me a few times, but on the regular just wave at me.

Maybe they are friends then??? I’m not sure, it’s hard for me to tell when someone is a friend or not. People have to explicitly tell me the status of our relationship to help me know where we stand, even if personally I thought we were friends.

At the very MOST, I did get this girl’s Instagram last year but we don’t chat on there. But she does seem to be quite friendly when talks to me, but I can’t tell if she’s just friendly or are we friends?( not like best friends, but just friends). She seemed to be the one person I got along with.

BUT to explain the title of this, TLDR: I feel like I use so much energy in the day trying to get my school work done and remembering to take care of myself( food, hygiene, etc), remembering to do this and that…blah blah blah…that I’m too mentally tired to socialize with people. 🙃

Part of it is dealing with sensory overload too( I wear hearing aids and hearing aids usually overwhelm me because now I can hear EVERYTHING, so it’s almost harder to focus in a sense??? But better because everything isn’t muffled???) I’m not sure what to do at this point, I am planning to stick with the choir for next semester. But I just really hate not being able to have enough energy to socialize with others, so I’m always by myself.

I’m so tired by around 2-3pm everyday and I can’t go to bed early like I was planned to( even if I try so hard to fall sleep) because most of the day I’m working on school work or resting, but by night time, I’m finally able rested enough to enjoy my hyperfixtations but that causes me to stay up late😭 so during the day, I hardly have time/ energy to do hobbies or my hyperfixtations.

( and another problem of mine is not wanting my schedule/ routine to be thrown off by someone, but I’m trying to work on being okay with that😬)

Is it anyone else feeling like this? What should I do?

Hi guys :) so i have an issue and im desperately searching for help/advice.

Recently, I feel as though my auditory processing and compression has gotten worse. Its gotten to the point where daily, even multiple times a day, I miss hear something said or fill in blanks without realizing or missing points from a conversation. Its keeps causing unfortunate situations with my partner, and its starting to stress me out. I tried just "paying attention more" but it still happens and im not sure where to start to try improving things.

I feel as though when i try to process whats said its out of order in chunks, so it makes sense as to why my brain loses stuff in the process or fills stuff in. But i realllly need to improve my processing if i even can before i start getting more upset over it. I tried a simple google search, but aside from 'seeking a professional' I havent been able to find any actual tips or exercises to help improve whats going on. Please, if anyone has literally ANY ideas please lmk!! Its something I'm desperate to work on but i dont know how to start.

hey, so i don’t know if i’m neurodiverse or anhtbing, i really don’t know whether i’m telling myself stuff so it’s like placebo affect and overthinking it. being labelled scares me but living like this isn’t any better.

• i’m awkward with family
• i’m not really shy more awkward
• i speak over pekpke soemtimes
• if the slightest negative comment is said aboht me i feel like destroyed for the rest of the day and like it really gets me down even tho literally couldn’t give a 💩 and don’t want to
• talking to people drains me as much as i thrive off it (as well as alone time) i’m so bad at it well maybe i’m selling myself short
• i kinda copy people’s personalities? not entirely but not really facial expressions?
• i don’t have big hyperfixations onky mini ones
• i can’t stay organised
• bad in group settings and avoid social stuff sometimes
• my mind literwllt blanks when talking to people i forget what to say and make it wors for myself .
• fat fear of being perceived

sorry about spelling and overall vagueness my phones lagging so bad

So I'm currently going to Pima and the people I sit around are the ones I talk to mostly. I have a hard time making friends and I'm trying really hard to be calm and not out there. I'm very hyperactive mentally and physically. My old friend told me when I start school and start making new friends try not to be annoying.

I do tend to laugh and make jokes a lot kinda to help me work through my other emotions and my nervousness. I recently moved into this really nice luxury apartment downtown next to the water with an amazing view. I wanted to invite one of my classmates over not into my apartment but to the study/ workplace so we can help each other out because im strong in some classes and she is in others. But whenni started to ask her I felt rejected. So for the remainder of class I stopped talking to her and walked around her so I didn't have to pass by her leaving class.

Idk maybe I'm over reacting or something. But it makes me want to be medicated so that I'm turned down and maybe that will attract more ppl. I'm starting to work on my image since I used to eat and drink a lot of sweets because they wake me up a lot better than coffee.

Hi everyone.

I.run a DnD game with my close friends, one of whom is diagnosed ADHD and has anxiety and depression. She often struggles with the background ambience.and music we play during the game, even though the rest of us don't find it to be that loud. It can sometimes get her a bit overwhelmed.

We don't want to stop playing music (and neither does she), so I'd like to see if anyone has any recommendations on how to make things more comfortable for her. I did try putting our speaker behind an object so as to not be directly near her and that helped a bit.

Any help is much appreciated!

Context: For the longest time, I've suspected I have either ADHD, autism, or even both. This was spurred onto the fact that my mum's ex-husband (not my dad) said I was very similar to his friends child (who I think had autism?)- and so my mum did some online tests with me. Fast forward to comprehensive school, some of my friends were talking about them thinking they have ADHD and so, interested, I searched up ADHD and then started fixating and researching about neurodivergent conditions A LOT. So, suffice to say, for a lot of my life- neurodiversity has been on my mind a lot, not just because I think I am neurodiverse- but that it is a genuinely fascinating topic to me. Add on to the fact that my family does have quite a history of neurodiverse conditions.

Anyways, all this made me believe that I possibly am neurodiverse myself. But, I never really fully accepted it- as both doubts and my dad being convinced I don't have anything (because he believes I'm trying to conform with my group of friends subconsciously by labeling myself + I'm biased) made me think otherwise.

However, I've gotten to the point where I'm struggling quite bad with my schoolwork- so I thought WHAT THE HECK??? I should just try to get tested- see what happens!

My mum's been sent a form to request a referral- but now I'm kinda scared? You see all these posts about people scared they won't get diagnosed and their experiences getting invalidated, but I'm having the opposite problem. I'm scared of having these conditions. I mean what will I do if I am autistic or ADHD or anything for that matter? I feel like I'm just taking the easy way out, and not tackling my problems head on. My dad said he used to have the exact same problems as me and he read this book called 'The Now Habit' and it helped him with doing work.

I don't know if I should follow through anymore. UUUGGGHHHH 💀💀💀

Hello! I’m a psychology student, and I’m designing a tool to help neurodiverse individuals navigate everyday situations. For this reason, I’d like to know: What challenges do you face in your daily life?

Does anyone recommend anything?

I've recently moved to a job with less hours because of my anxiety and stress which was caused from a mix of ableism from people at work, social anxiety and just struggling with autism/adhd. (I also suffer from cptsd, the cherry on top).

I'm just looking for a recommendation for a podcast or book or any resources to help ignore what people think/may think about me. I'm asking here because I feel like fellow neurodivergents might have found a good one for people like us, as I've seen a few books that deny trauma exists.

I've come to accept that I'll be seen as strange and annoying, and I've spent over a decade trying to cater to people and still burning out/ breaking down/ moving from job to job. But I still spend entire shifts thinking about if I'm doing is normal, if I'm doing is what's expected, what my colleagues think about me etc. So I want to try and improve on that.

(Note: I know therapy would be best, but I don't have £320 to spend a month for a therapist that specialises in autism/adhd at the moment. And I won't be able to unless I'm able to overcome my anxiety a little to get more hours at a job. )

Any recommendations?

I’ve always wanted to feel like my autism was just something neutral at its core. I was never under the illusion that autistic people never suffered from it, or that there weren’t serious conditions that were concretely negative for them. But I saw those aspects as either the result of a society that could at some point be restructured or by things that, while often coinciding with autism (intellectual deficiencies, self-harm, poor motor skills) were not themselves autism. That it wasn’t autism in need of fixing, it was those things.

But I couldn’t escape the name. Autism Spectrum DISORDER. No matter what I feel about it, this is a state of being that requires dysfunction, disability. And it can’t be cured without some hypothetical highly invasive treatment that I’m skeptical of in mere principle, so no amount of social change or personal improvement is going to ever make this part of me even just a neutral trait.

And what sucks about this is that it doesn’t feel this way to me in the moment. I have a good life. I have friends and family who I love and who I have every reason to believe love me in return. I’m gradually working my way up in life even if I’m not where I want to be with my career yet. I don’t feel like the noticeably autistic parts of me are drains on my life. I don’t feel defective.

But I am, aren’t I? Like I said, it’s in the name. In some hypothetical multiverse there’s no me with autism who’s even breaking even with a version where everything else is the same but with no autism because being this way is definitionally negative. It’s not that I’m morally culpable or that I’m a bad person because of it, but it’s still a negative at the end of the day. I don’t want to live in a world where that part of me is defined that way. I want to see this part of me as an unfairly maligned difference that should be uplifted and celebrated for its resilience in the face of adversity, whose continued existence in the face of attempts at elimination is worthy of praise. But I don’t get to change reality or what words mean for everyone else overnight, and because of that, I feel that I’m functionally celebrating a bad thing. That even if people shouldn’t be judged for having autism, that eliminating it is some net positive however it happens and that by professing how good my life is, all I’m doing is making life harder for people who are harmed by this condition. Who feel that the world would be better without autism. Who feel that those traits that would otherwise be neutral in a more accepting society are what’s really just peripheral, and that the intellectual impairment, self-harm, and poor motor skills are the real heart of autism.

I feel as if framing it as a difference that could thrive if society oriented itself in a different way or trying to separate autism’s defining characteristics from concurrent traits that are negative no matter the society is just making things worse. And if I’m not really suffering from any of this myself, am I really autistic? Did all those diagnoses mean nothing? Was I cured in some sense? Should I even have a stake in this? Do I need to suffer to have a claim to this life experience now? Is trying to feel any emotion about this other than negativity just delusion?

It doesn’t help that whenever I try to search for perspective on this I either get inconclusive results or personal testimonials that are unconditionally supported. If I find someone who believes that their autism is a disability, comments that also view it as such or are even pro cure are upvoted and supported, and those who don’t want to be seen as defective or desire a cure are similarly validated. I can’t really complain about a community welcoming perspectives and trying to hear people out without judgment, but it’s been hard for me to get answers this way.

So then, am I defective? Is this “me” with autism just some aberration who, all other things being equal, can’t hope to be as happy or as functional as a “me” without?

EDIT: DAMN I READ AND EDITED THE POST HUNDRED TIMES AND DIDN'T CHECK THE TITLE... SORRY FOR THE TYPO

Hello, so I need to let this out of my chest. I sometimes see people angry that someone was told by professionals that they don't have a condition and still don't entirely believe it.

Well... I'm one of those people who don't feel like relying on what I was told by expets. Long story short I was told I absolutely can't have ADHD cause the short neuropsych evaluation (cca 30 minutes, really short and simple tests) didn't show I have issues with attention and executive functions.

It seems though that some ADHD specialists question this way of testing and ADHD apparently can't be excluded this way.

Other than that I did a long personality test that wasn't really about ADHD and a questionarry about symptoms in childhood but in the report the psychologist just cited what I filled in there and didn't make any conclusion from that.

Another thing is that often neuropsychological evaluation is way longer and more complex than what I did. And I also heard how hard it is to diagnose ADHD in adults. If shortly testing whether a person can focus during the tests was enough it would actually be very simple.

They also told me that my issues have to be caused by anxiety. But what is that conclusion based on, I have no idea.

There are other things about that eval that feels off but I don't want to write a novel here.

So yeah, I'm not convinced. Like I'm not saying I absolutely have ADHD but this doesn't feel like an oponion I should rely on with no doubts. and honestly I really don't understand people who say that we should just blindly trust professionals cause they have a degree. It would be nice if it worked that way but there is a lot that school doesn't teach you and degree doesn't automatically make you good at your job. I have one myself (analytical chemistry) so I know.

The last thing: I'm not mentally ready get a second opinion.

And that's it. Sorry to bother but I really needed to say this.

Any autistic/nd people have reccomendations for noise cancelling headphones that aren’t too expensive and aren’t the big kind? I’m going to a concert soon and earplugs don’t really help

A key reason it’s hard to change is because the fear of being perceived by others. I mean, if someone suddenly changed their personality or their actions, it’s really noticeable and it’s so unbearable for me to think that people will notice me make an effort such that it feels like i’m a tryhard or a fake person ykwim?

Hello! I am an architect that specializes in designing laboratories (universities and industry level).

My design specialty is equitable practices. Would be interested in hearing if as a neurodivergent individual there are any design considerations that you wish your lab space had to help you be successful. Thank you!

I just read this fascinating article in Psyche.co:  https://psyche.co/ideas/why-every-utterance-you-make-begins-with-a-leap-of-faith.  One of the things it discusses is the ways in which a person listening to what another person is saying in a conversation can make sense of the spoken words, as they are spoken, only by constantly making assumptions about what the speaker means and what words will come next.  I wonder what kinds of neurodivergence can make it difficult for someone to decipher what another person is saying, and in what ways it is difficult.  For example, I’m aphantasic, and I think I have greater-than-average difficulty understanding what someone is saying when they use too many pronouns (such as “he” or “she”).  Possibly, it’s because I haven’t formed a mental image of the person the speaker is referring to.  (Of course, I don’t know that my annoyance with pronouns is unusual, and I have no idea whether it’s related to aphantasia!)

My 6 year old son was recently diagnosed with autism and I have been trying to get him into clubs/sports/different things for him to socialize with other kids for awhile now. I think finding some kind of group that includes other kids with autism/adhd/sensory issues would be beneficial to him. I live close to Bel Air, MD but would be willing to travel a little bit for it. Any suggestions would really help, thanks!

Hello!

I’m currently working on a design project for my class, where I’ve created a few website layouts for a concept called Empower Minds. The idea behind these layouts is to imagine a platform that provides tools, support, and resources for both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals. While this isn’t a real website and won’t ever be published, your feedback is still really important!

By answering this survey, you’ll help me understand how well the design communicates its purpose and whether it feels accessible, user-friendly, and visually appealing.

How your answers will be used: Your responses will be used to evaluate the success of my design and make improvements based on the feedback. This is part of my class assignment, so your input will only be shared in that context. The survey is anonymous unless you do wish to state your name if you dont just put anonymous in that space, and I deeply appreciate your honest opinions!

The survey should take about 5-10 minutes to complete, and your thoughts will make a big difference in helping me grow as a designer.

Thank you so much for your time and support!

https://forms.gle/fhAKmjb5euFLRN3u5

Hi everyone, I came here to ask some questions for those who have both adhd and autism.

I am trans(ftm) and i am 15 years old. I got diagnosed with adhd about 2 and a half years ago. More specifically the doctor told me that my adhd type is ADD. The reason i wasn't diagnosed when i was younger was because no one knew i had adhd, i dont really have the type of adhd when you are very hyperactive. And girls with adhd arent diagnosed as much as boys with adhd because girls with adhd often arent as hyperactive as boys with adhd.

I have been suspecting that i may possibly have autism. When i spoke to my parents about it, they told me that i dont have autism because the doctors and psychiatrists would have seen it in me already if i had it. But many autism symptoms fit me. I have seen so many relatable videos of people that both have adhd and autism. And I've heard that girls can mask and act "correctly" to fit the social standards better then boys with autism. I've also heard that some people with both adhd and autism, when they start medicating their adhd, their autism starts showing more because their adhd have been masking the autism.

Help me out here please. I am currently in the waiting line to speak to a person who is specifically educated in neurodivergency and gender dysphoria. Should i bring my suspicion for autism when i finally get to go and speak regularly with them?

I have a theory - I spend most of my year chasing time. There are never enough hours in the day to get it done, never enough time to get a good night's sleep, never enough days in a season to do all the things I was supposed to do. And then the end of the year is just one huge heavy weight, like just facing all the things I didn't accomplish by now.

And then I get depressed. And then I feel guilty about my feelings because there are so many who are dealing with more while I'm sitting here kicking myself for not finishing something up.

I don't think it's seasonal depression because I don't feel like this in the heart of winter (January) ... it's just the ends of things. End of the year, end of the school year, end of the summer, end of a vacation, end of a day. Is this an ADHD thing, always chasing time but never catching it?

It's almost understandable that people would think this since Trauma can exacerbate ADHD symptoms. Therefore when adressing trauma or stress helps someone to reduce the severity of their ADHD symptoms people FALSELY conclude that the trauma/stresfull situation caused the ADHD. Part of the ADHD diagnosis criteria is that symptoms have to be present throughout the persons life not just one time period. Helping the ADHD person reduce manage their symptoms in the short term is different from makeing their ADHD dissapear. The life pattern of a lot of ADHDers is that they are in a certain structured environment and doing ok but then things change and the wheels fall of. Common ones are finishing highschool or finishing university and entering the job market. Helping the person in the long term requires understanding their nurodivergence not just reducing their symptoms in the short term. People arguing that ADHD is just the effects of trauma and not a real diagnosis are preventing people getting the long term diagnosis and treatment that can help them. There are a tonne of other things apart from adressing trauma that can reduce ADHD symptoms but also dont change the fact the person has ADHD. these include
- regular excercise
- improved sleep
That these interventions reduce severity of adhd symptoms doesn't mean lack of excercise or sleep causes adhd and that adhd is wrong diagnosis.

I’m not talking about the metaphorical mask that neurodivergents “wear” when masking, I mean the kind of mask people wore during Covid 19. I’m just wondering if this is a common thing for other neurodivergents, because I completely shut down when I’m not wearing a mask in public. It’s not because of fear of germs I just hate it so much when people can see my whole face, I feel like I’m being perceived way too much. When I don’t wear a mask in front of people other than the people I live with I can’t talk or interact with people at all. Is this common?