#neurodivergent community

[schizopositivity]

If you don't judge people for saying "sorry adhd brain" in public, then don't judge people for saying "sorry schizophrenia brain" in public

If you correct people when they misuse the term "ocd" then you need to correct people when they misuse the terms "psychotic", "delusional", "hallucinating" and "schizophrenic"

If you don't stare, laugh at or fear a stranger in public flapping their hands, then you need to do the same for a stranger in public talking to someone who isn't actually there.

If you give a trigger warning to sensitive topics then you need to give a trigger warning to unreality and false information as a prank.

If you want to normalize medication like antidepressants you also need to normalize medications like antipsychotics.

If you don't like people without your disorder joking about it online and report it as harassment, then you need to do the same for the tons of nonschizophrenics making "schizoposting" memes to make fun of us.

Just please include schizo-spec and psychotic acceptance into your mental illness/neurodiversity acceptance. We are part of your community whether you like it or not. We are constantly stigmatized, misrepresented and made fun of. We do what we can to help you, please return the favor.

Mental illness/neurodiversity acceptance is an ongoing action. We will get nowhere in the long run if we split the community into the "in" group and the "out" group. We could all accomplish so much if we worked together. But you need to include the "weird" people that don't fit into your aesthetic and don't fit the social norms.

Us psychotics and schizo-specs have been struggling for years and have been the only people fighting for ourselves while the people we plead to barely see us as human. If you are nonpsychotic and nonschizo-spec, you can help us more than you realize. Please include us and stick up for us the same way we have been including and sticking up for you.

[thatadhdmood]

Non autistic actors playing autistic characters suck as depictions of autism because they are playing an autistic character, rather than autistic character who is masking as a neurotypical

in the same way when trying to act drunk for a play, you would want to act like your trying to be sober, because effort into acting sober is what drunk people are doing

in that same way when playing an autistic character there is a whole second level of who is this character masking themself to be

[vivianseda]

Thank you to Our Sensory Life

“I spent to many years thinking it was normal to be trapped like this and I was just 'lazy'.

If you relate to this, please hear me, you're not lazy. I know how bad it feels.”

Photo credit: Dani Donovan

[neuroticboyfriend]

addiction is a chronic illness! addicts are disabled! anti-addict stigma is a form of ableism and sanism! the separation of addicts from disability is a lie sold to you to justify anti-addict ableism and separate us from our community and society! please remember addicts - and people with substance use disorders in general - when talking about disability, neurodivergence, and mental health!

[crazycatsiren]

Just in case any of my plushies loving neurodivergent followers needed to hear this today:

Sleeping with plushies is good.

Talking to plushies is good.

Taking plushies everywhere with you is good, out in public and all.

Collecting plushies is good. There is no such thing as too many plushies.

Plushies are good. They are the best.

[dysgeographica]

there’s nothing wrong with needing to use gps directions to get everywhere.

it doesn’t mean you’re “stupid”, it doesn’t mean you’re not trying hard enough or not paying enough attention. it doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong or taking the easy way out. it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be allowed to be independent.

yes, even if you need it to get somewhere you’ve been a million times before. even if you need it to get around the town you’ve lived in your entire life. even if other people think you should be able to go without it.

if you wouldn’t judge another disabled person for using certain tools that let them live more independently, don’t judge yourself for doing the same.

and never ever let someone else shame you into going out into the world without the tools that allow you to feel safe.

these tools exist to be used, so use them if you need them. there’s no shame in needing help.

[autisticcharacterslist]

Julia from Sesame Street. A sweet girl with a strong memory who loves drawing & engaging in parallel play. Makes little to no eye contact & flaps her arms as a form of stimming. Engages in echolalia. Uses noise-cancelling headphones due to sound sensitivity. Needs questions to be repeated or rephrased so she understands. Struggles with doing multiple things at once. Introduced with the line "She does things just a little differently, in a Julia sort of way." A wonderful mascot for autism education, awareness, & acceptance.

[snakeautistic]

Me when unmask around my ND friends but then feel intense shame for having unmasked when I’m alone

[liminalweirdo]

Poll: Health and gender re medical malpractice

if you feel comfortable please share your choice as well as whether you have ever experienced medical malpractice

not to be that person but please consider reblogging this, my tumblr don't have a ton of traffic and i'm genuinely interested in the results.

[frostbitedoesart]

Hey! Do you have an original or fictional character that you'd really like to see get drawn?

Well, I'm giving out free bust shots in exchange for a couple of simple things.

For context, the Kid's Online Safety Act, or KOSA, is a bill meant to "protect children," by that I mean it will put the internet under heavy surveillance and censorship rules. What would be considered as dangerous for children would be completely determined by the government.

This is the government that has decided that conversations about race, sexuality, gender, and mental health are dangerous for kids. What does this mean, then?

It means that if you are a person of color, queer, or neurodivergent, this bill will do whatever it can to wipe you off the face of the internet.

Not only that, but people sixteen years of age or younger would be placed under HEAVY surveillance, which is an extreme breach of privacy.

If this bill passes, the internet will become operated like a fascist regime that hovers over children and completely censors the existence of anyone that isn't white, cishet, and neurotypical. We CANNOT let this happen.

All I ask of you is this: reblog this post, and DM me with proof that you've either signed all of the following petitions or have emailed your representatives. This costs you nothing except a little bit of your time.

Do this, and, as previously stated, I will draw you a bust shot of your original character or otherwise fictional character of your choice.

Here are some examples of what this art would look like:

This offer ends on Monday at 12 AM EST, the same day the bill goes to Senate to be discussed. All art will be completed and sent to the recipients by Monday evening.

[schizopositivity]

Here's a reminder to fight the internalized sanism/ableism in your head.

If you have executive dysfunction, don't compare your productivity to people who don't.

If you have anhedonia, don't compare your struggling to keep up with hobbies to someone who doesn't.

If you have paranoia, don't think of your fears as any less valid than the fears of someone who doesn't.

If your meds make you tired constantly, don't compare your energy levels to someone who doesn't take those meds.

If you have issues with concentration, then you won't be able to pay attention as well as someone who doesn't.

If you're in the deep end of a pool, then you can't compare how well you keep your head above water to someone who is standing in a kiddie pool.

Please try to think of these things when you feel "lazy" or "childish" or "a failure" compared to other people that don't struggle with the same symptoms as you. If you have a mental illness that will affect how you act in everyday situations, then it will in fact affect you in everyday situations. It's not an excuse, it's just a reality. We need to try to be kinder to ourselves.

[thatadhdmood]

ID: Two white people in hats are in what appears to be a workshop. One is in a green shirt, the other in a backwards cap. Green shirt says: "We're just sitting here, two autistic guys-"

Backwards cap cuts the green shirted one off as the camera switches to a loose pile of bolts. They say: "-Looking at a pile of bolts, wondering how much fun it would be to sort them."

Green shirt as the camera switches back to them: "Dude, if you give us a ball and a couple tupperware containers, oh my god."

Backwards cap as the camera switches back to the bolts: "Let the 'tism run wild."

Green shirt, as the camera zooms in and out on the bolts: "Oh, the tism would be so involved." /end ID

i would be in that pile bolts for hours. when i was a kid my mum used to give me her change from all the different countries shed be going to, cause her eyes were bad and id sort that shit for her and it was so fun <3 soothes the tism

[vivianseda]

Thank you @I Can Network Ltd

“'Autistic people and the need to sit in unusual positions:' a valuable explanation from The Autistic Life (@theautisticlife/Instagram). It is so important to learn from Autistic voices.”

[neuroticboyfriend]

some disabled & neurodivergent side of tumblr safety & etiquette:

dont: dump negativity on positivity posts. if you dont relate to a post, it's either not aimed at you, or you're not ready for its message (and thats ok!)

do: make your own posts expressing how you feel; your feelings still matter and your blog is just the place to express them.

dont: speak over people with different experiences than yours, or speak on things you don't know about.

do: have an open mind and educate yourself on things you don't know much about - uplift the voices of people with direct experience.

dont: send unprompted vent or advice asks to blogs that dont have that as a stated purpose.

do: check out a blog to see if they take vent/advice asks; if you dont see anything, ask if you can vent/seek advice first - or add a disclaimer at the start of your asks, with TW.

dont: engage with triggering content. dont post your triggers publicly either, my lord.

do: engage with content that helps you express, process, and cope with your health. take breaks when you need them, too.

dont: treat bloggers like celebrities or like they owe you a response.

do: treat bloggers like regular people; respect boundaries.

dont: demonize ANY condition. including paraphilic disorders, sexual/moral OCD, personality disorders, addiction, or factitious disorders

remember: we're all dealing with our own stuff, and we're all in this together. if anyone acts as if this isnt true, they're probably not in a good place themself.

(feel free to add on!)

[crazycatsiren]

We have got to, got to, advocate more and better for intellectually and developmentally disabled people.

[dysgeographica]

what’s dysgeographica?

dysgeographica, also known as developmental topographical disorientation, is a form of neurodivergence in which a person has difficulty creating mental maps, orienting themselves or a location in space, and navigating from place to place.

some common symptoms of dysgeographica include:

getting lost easily, even in one's own neighborhood or other extremely familiar locations

difficulty memorizing even simple or frequently traveled routes

no internal compass (i.e. no sense of which way one is facing or if one has been turned around)

no sense of where familiar locations are in relation to each other

difficulty making a mental map of a building or area's layout

uncertainty about which direction a location is in, even if one knows how to get there

complete reliance on GPS navigation while traveling

rigidly following one familiar route to get somewhere, even if a better route may be available

anxiety around driving a car due to lack of confidence in one's ability to navigate as the driver

is dysgeographica just a poor sense of direction?

while many people struggle to read maps or navigate unfamiliar places, being dysgeographic means struggling with very familiar locations as well as unfamiliar ones, potentially getting lost in one's own neighborhood or workplace.

additionally, while someone who just has a poor sense of direction will generally still be able to move through the world and perform daily life activities with little to no added difficulty or distress, dysgeographic people will often find that their difficulty navigating makes day-to-day functioning more difficult (e.g. being late to work regularly due to getting lost, not being able to drive a car or travel alone).

is dysgeographica part of adhd/autism/etc?

it is possible to have dysgeographica with comorbid autism, adhd, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, etc. it's also possible to experience dysgeographic symptoms as secondary to one of those (e.g. having trouble navigating due to adhd inattention).

that being said, dysgeographica is not inherently connected to any other form of neurodivergence, and can be the only neurodivergence someone has. you don't need to be diagnosed with anything else to have dysgeographica.

is dysgeographica a disability?

yes, dysgeographica is a neurodevelopmental disability.

it is not, however, recognized as such by the DSM or ICD, despite research showing evidence of its existence and the impact it can have on people's lives. that doesn’t mean it’s not a real disability — what it does mean is that it can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get accommodations.

while dysgeographica would most likely not be categorized as a specific learning disability, it does have some overlap with dyscalculia and dyslexia, and can be considered a “cousin” of the specific learning disabilities much in the same way as dyspraxia.