Disclaimer: I have no quarrel with the mods using the term in the creation of this community. I understand why they chose it, as even if they share my disagreement with the term when applied to ADHD, there’s not really a better inclusive term. “Mental illness” is really the only other option, and naming a community that would probably invite darker discussions that the mods might not be prepared to handle.
Another disclaimer: I think the term is perfectly valid when applied to autism, as autism is not, to the best of my knowledge, a mental illness so much as a difference in processing. Being autistic is only “bad” in the sense that our society discourages autistic traits. (Apologies if this is wrong; I’m neither autistic nor especially knowledgeable about autism.)
The term “neurodivergent” implies that there’s nothing wrong with you if you have ADHD–you’re just special and different. But my ADHD is an illness that requires treatment. A lot of people will tell you that the only reason ADHDers struggle is because society is set up wrong, but I don’t think that’s true, at least for me. Being unable to remember anything, unable to self-start, and hypersensitive to rejection would be massive problems in any world. Sure, the world today is particularly brutal for ADHDers in a way we could probably mitigate if we reorganized society to be kinder, but that doesn’t mean ADHD isn’t ultimately a disorder that some people need to treat with medication and therapy.
See, like, I’m not sure that’s the problem. I mean, sure, that’s definitely part of the problem for work and school shit. But what about shit I do on my own time? Even under fully automated luxury gay space communism, surely you’d have to do a lot of stuff on your own. And I just… can’t do certain things I’d like to do. I dream of a socialist utopia and a world where it’s okay to be different, but even in such a world, who would make me write? Someone clearly has to if it’s ever going to get done. Owning the means of production would not make me more productive on my own time.
Needing help with stuff other people don’t doesn’t make you lesser, but it is something of a problem that has to be dealt with. I don’t like it. I’d rather be able to do everything someone without ADHD can do. I’m not sure there’s anything worthwhile I can do that a normal person couldn’t.
And what of the RSD? Breakups and ends of friendship and failures are going to happen in any world. Yes, we could live in a less lonely world, or a world that doesn’t place so much value on productivity/succeeding at everything the first time, but frankly, I think if we all lived in close-knit communities the way a lot of my fellow leftists hope we will someday, that might make relationships ending even more painful because then you’d have to keep seeing the person at the monthly community meeting or whatever. Again, I don’t know that this is a social problem so much as a “my brain tries to murder me every time something bad happens” problem.
I hope this doesn’t come across as me being upset with you. I’m not. I’m just trying to say that hey, for some of us at least, this whole ADHD thing is a real shit deal and having it treated as “just a difference” isn’t always helpful.