This is how I got my peer reviewed autism diagnosis before my official one.
I joke that whether I click with someone is like a litmus test for neurodivergence; due to the particular bundle of idiosyncrasies that I am (influenced by both ADHD and autism), I'm a pretty intense person who people tend to either love, or hate.
It's nowhere near as robust as a peer reviewed diagnosis (that's a hilarious way to describe it, and I'm definitely stealing that phrasing), but I've ended up indirectly causing quite a few people to end up seeking out formal diagnoses.
To step away from the jokes a moment, I do think that "peer reviewed" diagnoses can be powerful, especially when it can be extremely difficult to access the formal assessment process. I am fortunate to live in a country with free healthcare, but a decade plus of cuts mean that most will wait months (or years) for an autism or ADHD assessment. I've found that adults who eventually get a formal diagnosis will start out being super anxious of themselves, often worrying that they are appropriating the label or something. No-one wants to be the weird person who seems to be jumping on the neurodiversity "trend" (though in my experience, people who are doubtful in this manner are the furthest thing away from that kind of online trend jumper).
If anyone who reads this comment doesn't yet have a formal diagnosis and worries that they may be intruding by being in this community, allow me to use the legitimacy bestowed upon me by the scrap of paper the doctor gave me many years ago to tell you that You are welcome here, formal diagnosis or not. Even if you never end up getting a formal diagnosis, you're still welcome here.
The scientific and medical establishment is an important part of coming to understand neurodiversity, but so are the conversations we have here; we're all figuring this out together.
I wouldn't say that I'm loved by too many people, but not many people hate me either, so I can't complain too much. I would say that I can get a little intense when I'm talking to people, but I'm mostly tolerated. Nobody's gotten tested because of me, yet, maybe someday.
And you're not stealing the peer reviewed diagnosis phrasing, I didn't come up with it, unfortunately I can't remember who I first heard using it.
I agree, peer reviewed diagnoses are incredibly important. It's easier to try and find similarities with other people that you know to be different, than it is to look at a list of symptoms and try to figure out if you have any of them or enough to actually be neurodivergent. I was peer reviewed by a couple of my friends, that flat out told me that I was autistic. Then I got in a waitlist (it was 11 whole months, US wait times suck too). I got my diagnosis, and absolutely nothing in my life changed. I mean, now nobody could possibly tell me that I'm not autistic, but only assholes would do that in the first place. In my humble opinion, a peer reviewed diagnosis is more than sufficient for anything relating to neurodivergence.
How do u get a peer rewieved diagnosis?
Speak to the council, they will decide your diagnosis. Nah, just talk to your autistic friends for a while. Within a few weeks of knowing you, they should be able to tell you if they believe you to be autistic. If a bunch of them tell you that they think you're autistic, then you're definitely neurodivergent, probably got the tism. Might want to get an official diagnosis, if you want to.
So crows count? My friends wanna know.
Yes.
Phew. π βπΌ
Awoo?
AAWOOOOOO
AWOOoooo
Deal with my civil disobedience. πΊπ
Awwwwooooo :(
Your ticket will be coming in the mail shortly.
is it a movie ticket
Sorry, but no.
It's tickets to the next Spin Doctors concert.
Attendance will be mandatory and your travel expenses will only be partly covered.
oooooooowA
Your reverse ticket is being printed out, one sec..
twelve awkward minutes later
Congratulations! The government now owes you $350!
.tnellecxE
AWHEEEEEEE
...username checks out
Rrrrrrrrruff!
No I'm the normal one helping my ND friends out and I don't need any help at all unless it's keeping structure and organization in life and that one time I did Adderall I was finally able to do my chores but no I'm fine.
As well as having ADHD, I'm also autistic as fuck, so I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic and the actual meaning of your comment is "I probably do have ADHD but I'm in denial". If you were sincere in your statement that you're not neurodivergent, I'm curious as to whether you have theories as to why you have so many neurodivergent friends.
Nah your first instinct is correct, my comment was being silly.
Then why am I so alone?
Join a Dungeons and Dragons group
I feel attacked
Then you better roll a 4d6, drop the lowest die, and use the sum of the remaining three dice for each ability score!!!
And let them reroll 1s, for the gods' sakes! Or, you know, play a better game than D&D ;)
Luckily all my friends are just nerds... wait!? Oh...
Yep, I didn't realize I was AuDHD but my friends had assumed I knew. Most of them are some form of neurodivergent.
All of sudden, the sheer amount of arseholes on reddit starts to make sense...
The lighter side of ADHD
