[falcolas]

> ADHD doesn't stop you from doing those basic things does it?

Ironic that you picked those two - it absolutely does.

ADHD (and autism) have trouble forming habits - remembering to brush your teeth is something that's a real problem for most folks who have ADHD. Not to mention showering, deodorant, etc.

As for the bathroom, most ADHD people will hyperfocus to the point where they either don't notice they have to use the bathroom, sometimes for an entire work day at a time. Constipation and minor incontinence are not as uncommon as we wish.

> For many people with ADHD it doesn't make things impossible, just much more difficult.

Imagine you have a set of spoons with which to do work. For a NT, doing something like brushing your teeth is a habit, so it doesn't take a spoon. For a ND, the habit fails to form, so they have to exert mental energy to do it. Two spoons.

Keep this up for an entire day, and by the time you have to cook dinner, ND just don't eat because they've been out of spoons since mid-day. The NT cooks dinner and has a few spoons left over to work on their hobby.

Difficult might as well be impossible when you're out of energy. Or spoons.

EDIT: Wow. This blew up. I wouldn't mind chatting more about it.

[Teever]

I don't need to imagine because I too have ADHD.

While I'm not also a quadrapeligic I feel confident that ADHD in general and quadrapelgia are not comparable.

I acknowledge that there are varying levels of severity of ADHD but very few of the instances of ADHD are comparable to such a profound disability as quadrapelgia.

[ok_dad]

You don’t compare disabilities, none are worse or lesser than others, it’s simply a disability. Anyone, even those with disabilities, who try and argue one type is worse off than another type are simply being ableist by trying to minimize or marginalize that person’s struggles.

[Teever]

Really?

You don't think that there are objective and measurable differences in disabilities?

Let's take plegia for example -- all other things being equal which is worse being monoplegic, paraplegic, triplegic, or quadriplegic?

Not recognizing objective differences in quality of life associated with varying disabilities does a disservice to those people with extreme disabilities and minimizes and marginalizes their struggles.

[ok_dad]

You’ve taken the opposite of what I said. Everyone’s disability is a struggle. Everyone’s life is a struggle. We help each other to navigate life and don’t compare.

Answer this: what’s the end goal of comparing disabilities? I’d argue it’s simply to minimize the “easier” ones. Every struggle is hard for the disabled, bar none. There is no logical reason to compare other than to minimize someone’s struggle, so just avoid doing that. Instead, try and figure out how you can help those around you who struggle, disabled or not.

[Teever]

There are objective differences in disabilities and the suffering of the people afflicted with them.

If someone does not recognize that the hardship of losing a pinky finger is not nearly the same as losing an arm, or as the experience of a quadriplegic, they are not making valid assessments of reality and they are not able to provide any help to those people.

I say this as a person who has ADHD and have worked with profoundly disabled people many times in my life.

[ok_dad]

And? What’s the point of comparing? Is there a prize to being the most disabled?

There’s always someone who has it worse by some metric than you, there’s no benefit to setting up a disability podium and awarding prizes.

BTW, your “pinky vs quad” comparison is a huge straw man.

That’s all I’m going to say, you’ve obviously not going to benefit from any further conversation.

[mewpmewp2]

Arguably the fact that someone is able to hyperfocus like that seems like an ability rather than a disability?

E.g. someone is able to focus on things that actually make a change while being in a messy room.

[dns_snek]

In my experience hyperfocus is a double-edged sword. It's a superpower if it just so happens to be directed at the task/problem that I know I should be focusing on, but it often sends me in directions that aren't in line with my conscious high-level goals.

It can be exhausting if I really need to (and want to) work on something, but my mind is constantly switching its focus onto something else. It's like being interrupted by a coworker every few minutes, except it's your own mind doing it and you can't make it stop.

[jjj123]

The disability is not being able to control your focus.