#can I blame this on the neurodivergency?

[livefishreaction]

Shout out to dwarf fortress for getting me to spend 4 hours Googling about metallurgy

[fleshwerks]

I have ADHD. 'Freezing' and being evasive with direct answers? It's fairly typical. I like to think of ADHD problem solving as finding one specific snowflake in a blizzard. Except you know that when you do find that snowflake, odds are, the snowflake will call you stupid or otherwise gives you hard time for something else, so you don't even really want to find it because you're so goddamned used to that snowflake being really bad news for you.

A pretty default ADHD response for being confronted is abject fear of the consequences of the answer.

I'm lucky I stopped giving a fuck years ago. No one can hurt me anymore, except myself. You're going to get your blunt answer you want so much, and you're going to fucking like it.

[autisticlee]

no one knows just how hard I work at things. how I have to work 1000000x more than the average person to compensate for being autistic and adhd and probably other things i'm working out with therapist, and having a sort of physical disability i've not received any help or treatment for. everyone assumes I don't try or give up too soon. they think I just started, need more practice. they think I expect everything handed to me immediately with no work or effort and don't acknowledge the multiple years i've put into things. they think I have no right to be upset about still failing to get where I want even after working my entire life to get there, while watching people around me surpass even my meager goals within a fraction of the time and work i've out into the same thing. constantly getting surpassed by everyone around me who seem to barely do any work to get there compared to me. it's all handed to them and falls into their lap so easily. all because they don't have the extra obstacles to overcome and work around that I do. while they go from point A to Z immediately with no major stops in between, I have to go through every single letter and then some, often getting sent back to the start. but it's always *my* fault, according to everyone. it's not the fault of those around me who ignore me, don't support me, don't help me, don't believe in me, etc. it's my fault they don't do those things. because doing the work of 10 people in one isn't enough, just because it's me. and not reaching Z as fast as everyone else means I don't deserve any of the support or help or anything else and means i'm not trying hard enough. it doesn't matter that I *need* to work harder than 100 "normal" people combined to get even half the result! Just because I can't reach what they do means i'm not trying hard enough! ugh.

[purpleartrowboat]

listen i think its perfectly fine to post about neurodivergent things that are just like yknow. special interests make me talk a lot lol! but i think we need to remember that being neurodivergent can also mean you struggle with hygiene, have trouble making friends, struggle in academics, have a lot of difficulty controlling your emotions etc . like people seem to think? its okay to make fun of people for struggling with parts of hygiene or never mention academics and it honestly feels like people either forgot neurodivergent can mean these things happen as well or just do not care

[algrenion]

graduation ceremony tomorrow feeling extremely awake and terrified it took me 28 years to get here and all my clothes are moth-eaten how do sleep

[relicsongmel]

Was doing some thinking today and realized that one of the reasons I'm really drawn to Kieran is because he's a rare example of a character that's shy (and usually good-hearted) but still has some rougher edges to him.

I feel like all too often shy characters are shoved into being portrayed as either "smol bean who would never hurt anyone and just wants friends uwu" or "brooding loner who snaps at people to cover up the fact they don't actually know how to socialize" with not a lot of wiggle room in between. While I can and do enjoy characters that (arguably) fall into those respective categories, they're a bit reductive in the sense that things are very rarely that black and white in reality. Even the kindest people have a limit to what they can tolerate. They have bad days or respond poorly to events around them that cause them stress. And the same can be said in reverse as well—point being, people are multifaceted and don't always behave as predictably as we'd like to think.

And I think Kieran reflects that dichotomy perfectly. When we first meet him, he's meek, timid, and relies heavily on his more brash and forceful older sister to help him navigate social situations where he would otherwise lose out on something valuable because he's too afraid to come forward and ask for what he wants (like how she has to ask the player to battle him on his behalf). He's often quick to cower whenever she starts to get heated, but he's also not afraid to point out when he thinks she's wrong and sometimes even gets sassy with her himself. He's undeniably sweet and gentle and shows eagerness to make friends with the player, but he becomes much more curt when he notices we're lying to him about Ogerpon. The rest of the Teal Mask storyline shows him fluctuating even further—yelling at Carmine and the player for keeping secrets from him, punching things in fits of anger...then backpedaling and apologizing for the trouble he caused a few scenes later. Spreading the truth about Ogerpon to everyone in the village to help make her happy...then selfishly demanding a battle to see who's worthy of being her Trainer when she has already clearly chosen the player.

After being lied to and suffering repeated losses at our hands (including the Pokemon he's idolized all his life choosing us over him), he leans even more heavily into his bitter side during the Indigo Disk—being cold and ruthless to pretty much everyone around him, but at the end of the day it's primarily overcompensation for what he perceives as his own personal weakness (because he's still just a kid trying to be taken seriously). He's shown to drop the act on multiple occasions—most notably when he's caught off guard by our appearance at Blueberry Academy and at a few points during the Area Zero expedition. He antagonizes the player up until the moment of his defeat and tries to catch and use Terapagos in a last-ditch moment of desperation that ends up going horribly wrong, but after everything resolves he's quick to admit his mistakes and asks the player for forgiveness and if they can still be friends. After the epilogue he's mostly back to his old self, but still seems to get worked up when provoked (e.g. when he yells at Drayton for refusing to stop calling him "ex-Champ" in one of their League Club Room interactions).

And I think this varied and sometimes contradictory behavior is precisely why Kieran is such a cohesive and believable character—because it shows how even kind, well-meaning people may have a hidden darker side that can show itself under the right circumstances. How they might let their insecurities get the better of them. How a shy, timid kid might not have the experience to know how to deal with sudden feelings of frustration and/or jealousy that are far too strong to keep to himself, so he lashes out as a result. How despite all this he remains kind, sensitive and loving at his core and shows willingness to learn from his mistakes. And that is what makes him so compelling to me.

[bluestonewings]

I’m beginning to think there is something deeply wrong with me 👍 which is fine

[tuna-core]

It seems like in mentally ill neurospicy grippy sock circles we've kind of circled back into just being assholes to each other? What happened to gentleness and kindness bitch? What happened to understanding neurodivergence makes you act out of character or otherwise irrationally and we should be gentle with each other when we can? Did you forget what you wanted? Did you think acting the same way that the people who tormented you would make you feel superior because you're not "as mentally ill" as others? I promise you it won't. Proudly proclaiming that you're actively disrespectful to people who are in a state where they need gentleness and compassion won't fix you.

[red-enby]

my brain making me hate the only two things i enjoy doing (drawing and writing) and making me feel like i’m shit at them is probably one of the cruelest things it does

[the-sleepiest-melon]

So here's the thing about The Owl House. In Thanks to Them, the principal talks to Camila about how they don't want to see Luz bullied. We know Luz didn't really have many friends back home, but the thing is, it doesn't look like the other students actively bullied her. Sure, they would be kind of grossed out and often times run in disgust, but it never seemed like she was actively bullied by students.

In fact, in Thanks to Them, despite her dramatic point about the book being discussed in class, people actually liked her for it and reached out to her to become friends.

You know who is explicitly shown bullying her?

The adults.

Which, as a neurodivergent child, this hits too fucking close to home. I never made a lot of friends in classes. But most students were respectful. It wasn't classmates who told me I would never make it, no no no, it was professors and other parents.

My point being, it wasn't Luz's peers that bullied her, it was the adults who made the rude comments. Which is a painfully accurate reflection of growing up neurodivergent. Sure, some children are mean and it may be harder to fit in and make friends. But most of the social barriers in being neurodivergent come from a lack of respect from adults or people in charge, at least in my experience.

[acmeofficial]

Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina

She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize

She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China

Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Steal their Seoul in South Korea, make Antarctica cry Uncle

From the Red Sea to Greenland they'll be singing the blues

Well they never Arkansas her steal the Mekong from the jungle

Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe

Chicago to Czechoslovakia and back!

Well she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia

Then she'll stick 'em up Down Under and go pick-pocket Perth

She put the Miss in misdemeanor when she stole the beans from Lima

Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Oh tell me where in the world is... Oh tell me where can she be?

Ooh, Botswana to Thailand, Milan via Amsterdam,

Mali to Bali, Ohio, Oahu...!

Well she glides around the globe and she'll flimflam every nation

She's a double-dealing diva with a taste for thievery

Her itinerary's loaded up with moving violations

Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

[llperfectsymmetryll]

Not me realizing I'm fully becoming something I didn't even know I was, and I blame my therapist for it, just like that sweaty lil man with glasses, Will Graham, did.

Is this a cruel joke?

[the-acid-pear]

Mental illness is insane I'm just having dinner w my father eating this a little too spicy pasta enjoying the Yeowch on my throat and the silence and suddenly I'm like yeah I'd kill myself.

[battledeer]

As someone who was diagnosed auDHD when I was very young, it’s always really alienating and weird when I hear late dx people wish they’d been dxd young. I think sometimes people forget that diagnosis is also a tool for oppression.

[sunnibits]

literally just tried a taco for the first time ever in my life. I’m 18 years old. this is just what being a picky eater is like okay.

[nicepersondisorder]

sorry i told you about my anger issues. do you still think im hot