As my workplace has a busy week all this week, I fear the inevitable flood of ableism my co-workers are gonna put me through. Too often they've scolded me for my ADHD symptoms like being out of my desk to walk around, staring off into space, not focusing, or fidgeting with stuff. And their responses have been terrible; they've ranged from stuff like barring my exit, telling me to "focus", threatening to cut my pay or fire me, etc. And since I have autism, I end up being so overwhelmed that I go into a crying fit or meltdown, and they always threaten to remove me because I'm "being disruptive". Perhaps I should quit at the rate things are going. Having to suffer through so much ableist stuff is getting to me at this rate...
The way you describe your work environment makes it sound like you should look out for another gig asap. You shouldn’t have to go through this. Though you’re probably american and I’m european, so take this advice with a large grain of salt as I’m not sure of what opportunities you have in this regard.
@actuallyautistic Does anybody else here find that when they’re in a new place—a store, someone’s house, wherever—that they have an urge to walk all throughout the place and see where everything is?
I never thought about it before, but today I wondered if it’s because I unconsciously want to see all the distractions and novelties so they don’t, you know, distract me from what I’m supposed to be doing the rest of the time that I’m there. Just a little #ADHD self-management.
Demanding professional references from people with neurodivergent brains that make it difficult to maintain contact with former colleagues is ableist.
We are professionals who do good work and work great with people but please don't ask us to maintain social relationships which aren't meaningful to us beyond a reference.
I think it very important to quietly highlight some things I do despite my stupid #ADHD brain not wanting me to, as a kind reminder to myself that I’m not completely useless.
As a result, the single tiniest triumph in my day is when I take off my trainers by undoing the laces.
I didn’t do that for a couple of weeks, and noticed they were beginning to wear away at the heel. They cost me quite a lot, so I want them to last. So every day I put in a few seconds effort, and praise myself.
It’s a very, very silly thing to be proud of, I know, but I am.
On days where I’ve really struggled I give myself a pass to just slip them off, but even then I decide to put in that few seconds of effort to untie the laces.
Is it something with the weather? Is it the pollen? I'm having a mare of a week for concentration. I can't focus on anything, flitting from one thing to another, forgetting things I should be doing. Coffee is not helping like it usually does. It doesn't help that I can't sit for a long time without stiffening up (still post op hip rep, but getting there). Also, the maddening tongue on tooth rubbing stim is back. Open to suggestions @actuallyadhd#ActuallyADHD#ADHD#neurodivergent
Do you all get super thirsty, or am I an extra-special snowflake who just doesn't drink enough water in general and who is now feeling the compounding effects of more regularly focused work?
(This is a serious question; I know I don't drink enough water and I'm trying to work on that. The #ADHD meds seem to be exacerbating this because with the productivity comes long stretches of not getting up to grab a glass of water even though it's RIGHT THERE.)
What some people don’t seem to be able to understand is that for the ones with executive disfunction number of steps matters a lot.
I just put away all my dried laundry aside of duvet cover.
Why? Because for all the other things it’s easy one-step task: grab all the knickers and shove them into the drawer, get the home clothes and put it into home clothes cube box(that cubed Ikea shelf is such a helper for people like me, I just have a cube for every thing).
But the linen shelf is at the top of the bathroom closet, and it’s almost full. So I need a stepladder to be able to put the duvet cover there(I can try to shove it there without, I kinda reach the shelf itself, but in its current state the cover is likely to fall from there, and probably with some other things, so that would upset me which I am not ready to deal with now).
But the stepladder is now occupied by my winter shoes which were drying there before I put them away for summer.
But to put them away I need to get two big boxes from under my bed, empty one by putting everything that is there into the other one, put all the shoes there, put the boxes back under the bad, ensure all the boxes there are arranged in a way that is allowing my cat to play in that labyrinth, and probably clean up after that as I suppose there’s going to be a few dust bunnies.
Gosh, I got tired by just typing all that.
Going through all those steps may bot take too much time(if I don’t get distracted by something, including the urge to sort everything perfectly), but the very thought of going through all those steps just discourages me so much that I can’t find energy to start. “It’s just one duvet cover!” - they say. “It’s a shitton of steps!” - I answer.
Well, the cover is drying in a way that obscures a view from my bed which irritates me enough to maybe develop enough anger to put it away in the weekend.
I'm facing a garage re-organization and felt the same way yesterday. Too much mess, too many things. Can't we just burn it down a build a new garage?
Hubs bought some tool organizers and swept the floor, and now I'm fine. In a few minutes I'll go out and sort the tools and put them in neatly labeled organizers, then start arranging the shelves. Problem sorted.
@ScottSoCal@Drude@actuallyautistic organizers are life-savers for me. Well, sanity savers at least :) When there are easily accessible clearly categorized storage containers for every kind of thing, not only clearing the mess, but keeping the home organized is so much easier
Good news, the medication I started for my #Narcolepsy is helping a lot! I feel more awake and energized than I’ve felt in the past ten years! :) And I just like, have the energy to do tasks, which is really nice.
Bad news, my #ADHD is so much worse now lmao. I am getting distracted way more easily, and I’ve been really frustrating in serious conversations because of that. So I’m gonna try to figure out what to do about that, but hey, at least this is progress?
@christianp I was worried about this actually! But it seems like the effects of taking too much of this medication (as well as the side effects) don’t include being unable to concentrate, mostly just headaches and abdominal pain. So that actually inspires some confidence in me!
Fedifriends I need your help!
For an article, I need a quote from recognisable source about how you need to know your home before you travel. If one such exists. I have the Allende about seeing with new eyes and the Pratchett about not really having been anywhere till you've gone back home, but I need a beginning. Bonus points if relatable for neurodivergent peeps. Deadline today obvs #ADHD#WritersCoffeeClub#AmWriting#JournoRequest#Help