Відео

I had someone once said to me better to remain silent than to speak and remove all doubt. Of course I didn’t have a quip to defend myself. I just took it. I always think of the perfect response an hour, day, years later. The really nice thing is when people make sideways remarks that are hidden insults that I didn’t get at the time must have been really infuriating to them because I didn’t react at the time. 😂

While there are some parts of the ASD model that are indeed mere differences (evidence to prove that exists), the majority of autistic traits are not mere differences. Problems with 'neurodiversity', coming from someone diagnosed with ASD: •It has the effect of being akin to a social club (which it now is). This leads to in-fighting within communities (asd vs asd, adhd vs adhd, ds vs ds, etc). •It is over-inclusive, lumping all neurodevelopmental disabilities into one category, which has the effect of silencing certain groups, further marginalizing them. Additionally, the inclusivity sentiment is extended further, due to ignorance, and is used to also include things that are not neurodevelopmental, exacerbating the effect. •It normalizes deficits, leading to disability denial, refusal to accommodate, disbelief, invalidation of formal diagnoses via undermining the authority of medical professionals, denial of government benefits, minimization of challenges, etc which all contribute to further marginalization. •It is not representative of science. •It doesn't represent the interests of most of those with neurodevelopmental disorders. •It leads to things like the spectrum model, which has been incredibly harmful for our community (ASD), and I'm not getting into that, here. •Nothing about us without us - Well, that apllies to 'neurodiversity', too. The 'neurodiversity movement' doesn't speak for me, and never will. (This list is not exhaustive)

As an autistic individual who struggles with sensory issues, it gives me so much hope to hear that these issues can spontaneously disappear overnight. In the same way it gave me hope to hear that anxiety is common for young adults but declines in prevalence and severity as people age. So there are things to look forward to.

Thank you for another excellent presentation.

Oh, great, i was worried about you over there Anna! ❤

Fortunately, we have reached a state in the mental health sciences where sufficient data are available on disorders like ADHD such that all ideas about it no longer get prizes. Theories and hypotheses about ADHD or ASD must have consequences to be useful; that is, they must be testable against the sizeable and increasing body of scientific findings available on it for consistency with that database. When this is done, the vague pontifications of people declaring them "gifts" or positively associated with creative thinking do not square with the available data. In fact, several meta-analyses have shown that ADHD is not associated with creativity and the variation trends negatively when the disorder is severe enough, only with subclinical cases (unimpaired), the disinhibition results in a slight increase in divergent thinking but disappears at the level of it causing impairment on the individual. This once again shows the importanc eof not generalising one's experience to everyone else as the underlying trait runs on a spectrum. So I do hope, in the future, people do end up understanding that more.

I really don't like that reductionism either - reducing a persons strengths and achievements to the condition they have strips away their individuality and efforts. I like to say that: autism explains 'how' I am but not 'who' I am. For a simple example: it explains the obsessiveness & restrictedness of my interests but it does not explain the content and subject of what I'm interested in, which is instead a product of my personality, values, upbringing etc. It explains the difficulties I have but says nothing about who I am as an individual person which is shaped by a whole lot of other factors including my self-directed goals and values. And it says nothing about the things I have successfully done in my life - despite the obstacles that autism has put before me in achieving them. I assume the idea of presenting autism and adhd as a gift or superpower etc might have originated to give kids a sense of self worth and confidence around their non-autistic non-adhd contemporaries, but I think doing that subtly reinforces the idea that people are only worth something if they have some sort of utility which I believe is utterly false.

Ironically I suspect researchers probably wouldn't get the ethical permission to put diagnosed ADHDers into a real world foraging, survival situation, specifically because ADHD would make those volunteers more vulnerable to harm! Your point about pseudoscience was well made, I'm very worried that more and more ideology is distorting the study of psychology. I've participated in a few online studies around autism & OCD over the past couple of months and in each of them they stated you didn't need a diagnosis to participate which was concerning as surely that would create a lot of noise in the data! That said they did have a question asking whether or not you had received an official diagnosis so it's got me wondering if they allow self-diagnosed people to participate for inclusion reasons but then separate out their results from those who are diagnosed?

❤

I hyperfocus on the weirdest things. None of it really useful.

Nice to have you back again Did you try adhd medications, and how does it work out for you ?

While I don’t think the social model of disability applies to everyone, I think it completely explains specific disabilities like dyslexia (unless there’s more to dyslexia than having trouble reading). Modern humans have lived for about 300,000 years without reading or writing, and the first form of writing was invented at most 6,000 years ago. Literacy wasn’t even widely taught to people until Gutenberg made the printing press 600 years ago, meaning that any disability that only impairs one’s ability to read was socially constructed over the past 600 years. We can invent impairments where previously none existed. I wouldn’t even be surprised if our societies, despite being more inclusive than ever before, invent more impairments for people that already have objective impairments in biological or social functioning than it invents for people who merely can’t operate in our weird capitalistic societies.

How/where do you get tested in the U.S.? I’m not autistic, but I think slow processing speed describes me and my life struggles. Being so smart and so dumb at the same time. In school I had an incredibly difficult time writing papers. A handful of professors allowed me to turn papers in late and often told me I did stellar work. Professors who didn’t would ask me things like are you really putting the work and effort in. It was frustrating because I usually went above and beyond what was asked, mostly because I had to in order to formulate the paper. If I didn’t have time to formulate, I handed in what appeared to be half-cocked garbage. A co-worker would get really frustrated with me because she said I asked questions a already knew the answers to. I think that I that I might know the superficial answers to some questions but I’m am constantly trying to form some sort of framework that goes deeper and i less obvious. I need to see the big picture and until I do see the little picture, even when I can explain what’s going on in it superficially, it doesn’t really make sense to me. I know that sometimes the little picture is all that is required to solve a problem, answer a question, or get through an assignment, and even when I want to keep it simple I can’t until I understand the greater framework. Then I can go back and explain any detail and extrapolate.

Your face is far too close to mine, or anyone's.

I think your cute too

Im the same as you,you sound very smart thou and you worry too much

I recommend reading Shelley Tremains “Foucault and feminist Philosophy of disability” it challenges the conventional understanding of disability and I think you’d appreciate it

I am creative. I have sold artwork. But I don't know where it comes from. PTSD? Autism? Bipolar? Or none of the above.

I hyperfocused long before I was on the internet much. I did it even before the internet was public.

I really like this video. I am also autistic myself. When I was watching this video, I can trace a lot of these characteristics to myself. I have also had difficulty with my social life when I was in school. There are times I feel 5-10 years behind because of autism.

You chose the wildest screenshot for the thumbnail

Is it only in my head the sound of this video hurts? 🤣 Thank you for sharing this! I really trying to understand autism and the level of social understandings that is possible in authism. I am extrovert, have a lot of friends that likes my unfiltered way of being and I do understand most of social facial expression but not all and I can get very confused about people, which sometimes express itself in social anxiety. I would just like the only thing that matters is what we say, not how we say it or what we thinking but not saying.

While it has its flaws, I still see the NM as amazing. When I was diagnosed with autism, I was made to feel ashamed of it. The psychologist and speech pathologist who diagnosed me were unsympathetic and basically told me that I was abnormal and shouldn't be treated like a human being. When I told my peers about it, I was treated like I had the plague or made to feel like a fool. For years it left me with self-loathing. But when I came across the NM on UA-cam and in docos, I felt like I found people who would accept me and finally had positive role models to look up to. I often find it hypocritical how people say the NM are causing harm, but ignore how constantly portraying autism as crippling and needs to be cured impacts people like me. For a time I hated having autism, but it was because of constantly having it drummed into me by system and bullies that I was a lesser human being. Through the DM I saw autistic people who were able to overcome their condition and go on to achieve great things. It was great for once hearing from people who didn't make me feel like a freak.

Unrepresentative samples are a problem with so much research, especially in the field of psychology. Better-designed studies would need to compare random samples of all those with ADHD (or whatever condition is being studied) with similarly-random samples of those without ADHD. As you highlighted there is also the question of the definition of entrepreneurship and if it includes limited forms of self-employment in the same bracket as large businesses with many employees it becomes meaningless.

Really appreciate your videos. I resonate with them a lot. Thank you.

It's really good to hear ADHD discussed in this scientific way - makes a change from the usual narratives that circulate these days. I'm honestly surprised that people would think that actual clinical ADHD (not just high number of traits) would be conducive to being a successful entrepreneur with all the organisation skills and follow-through which is required to create and run one's own business. Organisation and follow-through are areas which are impaired in ADHD. I'm sure there are ADHDers out there who have the personality type, resources, interests and let's face it - luck- that allows them to create a successful business (with support from those around them and medication no doubt! ) but the positive stereotypes that ADHDers are creative, entrepreneurs, great assets to any company and so on, do a great deal of harm to those who can't excel in any of these things.

I can definitely agree that hyperfocus isn't generally helpful. There are many occasions when I'm totally focused on something so much so that I'm totally neglecting things I need to do - and I don't mean things that society expects me to do etc, but things I actually need to do - like basic things such as cooking, eating or sleeping. Sometimes I hyperfocus on things which even in the moment I realise are pointless and that I would actually want to stop focusing on and go and do something else, but I can't because the pull is so strong. Yes I've learned loads through focusing so intently on things, but I've never been able to put any of that learning to any real use.

If you lack the social skills to succeed beyond elementary school, you're not going to succeed in life.

a lot of self employed people are so because they can't hold down a permanent job working for someone else for some reason

i came up with some short story ideas when i was last on a mental ward, discovered them in my notebook that i journalled in at the time

Hi there! I love your content! Do you have any other social media accounts that you allow the public to follow?

OMG. The feeling that you would start anew in high school and suddenly be really popular is EXACTLY what I felt in year 8, is that a normal autism thing? I got diagnosed late this year at nealry 26

I love the heck out of the term neurodiversity and I like a lot of the concepts. However, the people saying autism isn't a disability must be in lala land or something. I think it's a great thing that we're trying to change attitudes and get more acceptance, but we need to be caring about all autistic people, not just the low support needs people.

Not only British society, its a global issue. Right worldviews are rising everywhere. Im happy to live in Germany, even though its also the case here, but still there is more awareness of the dangers, a strong democratic system that will hopefully not be affected, even if right parties would ever come to power. Poland recently had a phase like that, if Im not mistaken. But yes, society is leaning very far to the right, I think it will lead us to WW3. Im not to worried though, since there is nothing I can do except vote.

You were making a medical arguement but we can't forget the complicated ways weaknesses can become strengths. A small engine motorcycle will fall behind on the straights compared to a large CC bike, but it'll be at an advantage on the curves compared to the heavier bikes. I know it's a shallow way at looking at things, but we mustn't lose ourselves in thinking about all the ways we are "not right" compared to our NT peers. The entire universe is different through everyone's eyes. Play the game at your own pace and look for the raceways that your bike will excell at. We have one shot at this so we might as well enjoy it and set our own personal goals. We all race by ourselves, we just get to see what other racers do. We race against ghosts like in Mario Kart lol Asking the "what if" or the 'what could've been's' can be useful for medical understandings, but it too often comes back to the "what if I was different?" And that only hurts, imagining alternate realities. I think you're cool right now, as you are. I'm not being an anti-intellectual, just reminding you and the rest of us on the spectrum that we have to play the best game we can with the cards we have. It's easier to NT to look at research in a detached way, but for people like us, there's sometimes a self-doubt in the back of our minds.

Not to be werid, but you're absolutely gorgeous. You look like Jordana Brewster.

Interesting.

I think the word "autism" is itself encoding a pathologizong misunderstanding of what we are. Have you read "Asperger's Children" it's a history of how the concept of us was constructed. We are people with hyperconnected nervous systems

Redefine autism. Let go of the deficit based model. Autism is just a hyper connected nervous system

Evolution is very complex, all we do know for certain is that if you have certain traits in the extreme your less likely to have kids.

I read this article too and I loved its message. I think the voiceless deserve a voice! Do you have instagram?

Yes, things don't to be possitives to hang around, they could be biproducts of other extreme evolutionary problems that had to be solved. Bipolar and Schizophrenia for example are obviously NOT evolutionarily reproductive at all, nor are back problems, but wouldn't have been a big problem if we didn't start walking upright, and having more and more complex technologies and societies. I can't explain it well, but you did better than me.

I love how in this video you covered the exact point I made in my previous comment lol. Syndromic - that's exactly the point which I think people overlook when making arguments about adhd or autism being adaptive in the past. It's great to hear some hard evidence about how evolution has interacted with the genes underlying adhd. I definitely agree that the polygenetic factor is key to understanding the persistence of these neurodevelopmental conditions. A condition that is based on one single gene - if that gene doesn't also confer some benefit to some people - is more likely to be 'weeded out' by evolution than conditions rooted in many widely dispersed genes where for most people those genes will not be a cause for any dysfunction or disorder. Are there any researchers/clinicians in the autism world as forthright and no-nonsense as Russel Barkley I wonder? I know that from quite early on and to this day (e.g Mathew Parris!) ADHD has been extremely trivialised with people often denying the reality of it, so I guess that must really motivate people like Russel Barkley to fight against that trivialisation and misinformation with hard science and reasoned argument. It seems to me that autism - because originally it was associated with those with the highest support needs - has historically suffered from less trivialisation and denial, which is why it is so bewildering to me that there is such an exerted effort on behalf of many in the NDM to present autism in such a way that absoutely trivialises it.

I really like Russel Barkley's no-nonsense approach and very much agree with it. The bell-curve approach to ADHD and Autism is also very good as it accounts for both the dimensional and categorical aspects of both conditions. I can understand why on a very superficial level people might have advanced an argument that certain characteristics of ADHD might have been adaptive in prehistoric times, but what always struck me with those arguments was that they focused on single characteristics - such as distractibility or impulsivity, which in isolation might have been adaptive in certain very limited circumstances. But ADHD is made up of a number of characteristics which together - at levels that cause clinically significant impairment - define the condition and could never have been adaptive. I'm a great admirer of the native Piraha people of the amazon rainforest, who have a hunting and foraging lifestyle. Reading about them makes it so clear to me that I would never function in their society anymore than I can in our own post-industrial one. Yes the range of difficulties would be different, but I would still be impaired.

Good video! I could be that it is either and or😁

Great video!😁😁

i think it depends how much adhd you have, what would be more practical would be to see if adhd traits are more frequently found in certain professions. As long as you can make money in a neoliberal economy you can pay for things to cover up your weaknesses.

Hi Anna, an active meditation, such as Kirtan Kriya, may be helpful

Nothing makes me want to smash my head into a brick wall more than the "autism and ADHD is an evolutionary advantage" argument. Sorry but I know that had I been around in the hunter gatherer days, I'd have likely been "forgotten" out on a hunting trip due to the fact that I can't easily bond with others. Add to that autism meaning that I need a LOT of time to myself and you have a recipe for disaster in a community where you would need to stay together to survive. My ADHD would not be an advantage, as being distracted means that I miss a lot of things due to not being able to focus. "Oh look, I found a berry! Oh shit there's a sabre tooth tiger there and I'm going to die because I hyper focused on the berry." It can also cause social issues and the racing thoughts in my head contribute to my anxiety. It does not make me a wonderful inventor, strategist of anything useful. It makes me distracted without my medication and cave people did not have Concerta to hand. A point not mentioned that I'd like to bring up is that history has shown repeatedly that humanity, regardless of time period do not look kindly upon those who are seen as different. There has even been research suggesting that non-autistic people are by default less likely to see autistic people favourably. I don't know the full ins and outs of that study but I have seen enough anecdotal evidence that this is still the case in the real world. Anyone for whom the traits developed into a full blown disorder would have likely not survived and/or been killed by another human being. Let's not forget that time in history where autistic children were abused because they were seen as "changelings."

Hey Anna! I'm also autistic and I'm an autism advocate! I wanted ask if it's okay to connect with you to share experiences? Is there any way we can connect? Do you have an email or any social medias? Thanks! Would be great to talk to you! Hope you have a great day!