Neurodivergent people live in a world where at any given moment, someone could judge our motives or character negatively, for unknown reasons. It’s hard to feel safe in a situation like that. So, we try to explain ourselves before any misunderstandings can happen.
While there are few formal education opportunities, medical providers have access to continuing education courses in Neurodiversity. Due to increasing awareness of the problem of the lack of education, more and more courses are being offered to practitioners to expand their knowledge and experience working with the Neurodivergent population. Some
If behavior is communication, then I’m here to reiterate that BFRBs may or may not indicate an emotional issue such as anxiety. Instead, for people like me and many others, BFRBs are most often a result of an attempt to fill some sort of sensory need (i.e. self-stimulatory behavior) to
Being Neurodivergent Means Being Misunderstood 2: Why Neurodivergent People’s Behavior Doesn’t Always Match Our Feelings Neurodivergent people often do not know why we are misunderstood and what we need to explain. Sometimes, that happens because neurotypicals are reacting to behavior that is invisible to the neurodivergent person. Our facial expressions,
Inside an Autistic ADHD-er’s Meltdown Alt Text: Image contains grey sky with clouds in the back ground and an anatomical brain that is mostly dark grey in color but is multicolored at the top. A multicolored butterfly is resting on the multicolored top of the brain. Two men enter our
Lessons From My Cat (Image by me: Two cats with surgical cones on their collars sitting on a stool in front of a window) I rescued two kittens this summer while traveling in Italy, and we recently got them spayed. The vet instilled upon us that they were to wear
Autistic and ADHD people vary a lot, but one thing we have in common is being misunderstood.
This post is the first in a series about these misunderstandings. It will explain what ways we are misperceived and why it happens so often. The second post will focus on a specific reason
4 Accommodations to Advocate for Neurodivergent Learners in School As a school psychologist, I work with kids to help figure out the way they learn best. Some fantastic teachers (with the resources available to do so) will accommodate learning needs of neurodivergent learners instinctively without the implementation of formal support.
People who belong to minority groups that are viewed negatively cope with that in different ways. Some of these are positive, such as finding communities of similar people. Others, such as alcohol and substance abuse, are negative.
The biggest choice is whether to show or hide that they are a member
Your laundry is piled on the couch, you’re 2 days late submitting your report for work, and there’s a past-due notice for an unpaid bill sitting on your kitchen counter. If this sounds familiar, you may be one of the thousands of adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). When
Being part of a minority group that is seen negatively can harm people’s physical and mental health. The unpleasant experiences that people in these minority groups face increases their physiological stress, which in turn, puts them at risk of diseases. This process is called “minority stress.” However, people in minority
Two of the most common concerns I deal with as a Family Nurse Practitioner are depression and anxiety. At some point, almost everyone seems to deal with symptoms of one or both of these mental health issues. Symptoms of fatigue, lack of interest in previously enjoyed activities, excessive sleepiness or
You might be wondering why I champion acceptance for neurodiverse people while using the word “disability.” It’s associated with stigma, right? After all, the word includes the prefix “dys-“, which means “abnormal,” “difficult,” “impaired,” or “bad” (according to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary).
The main reason I use the word “disability” is that
Navigating My Neurodivergence The start of a new job, is an exciting and nerve-wracking time for almost everyone. While most people are excited to start their new line of work, it also comes with a lot of changes: new schedule, responsibilities, people, etc. For many, all these changes can be scary and
Bringing Awareness and Acceptance to Neurodiversity In the past, Autism, ADHD, and various learning disabilities were considered problems that needed to be “fixed.” Recently, psychologists and other scientists have begun to understand that these differences are simply a variation in how the brain works. Today, while there are relatively more opportunities for
I discovered neurodiverse communities by accident. It was 2008 and I was in college, desperately trying to understand why life seemed so much harder for me than for those around me. At that point, I wasn’t diagnosed with anything. That wasn’t because I had developed typically. In the early 1990s,
