Blog Archives

To mask or not to mask

5/19/2022

Conjecture

So a few things when it comes to the BLURRED CATEGORIES of ADHD and AUTISM ---- and I would say also DYSLEXIA, OCD and GIFTEDNESS and others as well:
- More INTENSE EMOTIONS which are related to ---
- RAMPED UP SENSORY PROCESSING this is related to ---
- The PERCEPTION & PRACTICAL REALITY of Slower Processing Speed
- There is a lot of MISSED or LATE DIAGNOSIS

So I think Paige is right --- many people are MASKING and they don't even know it
- AND because many are NOT NEATLY PATTERN MAPPING to DSM 5 Categories and MORE FUNDAMENTAL CATEGORIES are IN THE PROCESS of BEING RECOGNIZED and DISCOVERED (i.e. BIOMARKERS)---
  - Some of us have really been through it.
  - And what we've been through does qualify as "SOCIETAL ABUSE."
    - as UNWITTING as it is.
    - Further, some people have been through a lot more than others.

I would submit that MOST of the people who are HOMELESS or INCARCERATED are NEURO-DIVERSE -- and

They are in a SOCIETY that doesn't think it should have to ACCOMMODATE Executive Functioning Differences --
AND by and large wouldn't know how to ACCOMMODATE those DIFFERENCES even if they wanted to.

On the one hand, I do think not CRAMMING NEURO-DIVERSE people into Neuro-Typical Work Environments is part of the answer.

Supported Entrepreneurship
We, of course, already have Supported Entrepreneurship ---
- it's a few Neuro-Diverse people at the TOP
- often EXPLOITING Neuro-Typicals so those Neuro-Diverse great ideas actually have a chance of succeeding.

This really is Different Minds need to learn to play nice and work together without BURNING each other out or EXPLOITING each other.

Paige Layle
WHAT IS MASKING? | Autism & How Masking Makes Me Feel

Asperger's from the Inside
The WORST ADVICE you can give an Autistic person [Just Take Off the Mask] #TakeTheMaskOff

How to ADHD
The Problem with Masking ADHD and Autism (burnout, etc.)

Neuro-Diverse People tend NOT to be great WORKER BEES --- They tend to be better INNOVATORS*

5/17/2022

*Also Entrepreneurs, Artists, and Mono-Taskers in which the task is sufficiently complex

Conjecture

A big part of this is that the Society just isn't set up for people with significantly different SENSORY PROCESSING ISSUES and the RAMIFICATIONS.

The more that changes, the more AWARENESS on the part of everyone --- the more opportunities that opens up

If you are processing significantly MORE INFORMATION and / or you have differences or deficits such as in DSYLEXIA ----- that's A TIME COST.

If that TIME COST is not factored in to one's work life, family life, personal life --- it is becoming more and more FORESEEABLE that:
- the person could be headed for a BURNOUT, and
- in extreme cases, BREAKDOWN.

Processing Speed is Impaired in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Relates to Social Communication Abilities

Helping a Child Who Has ADHD and Slow Processing Speed
https://www.verywellmind.com › ADHD › School

Oct 11, 2021 — Students with ADHD may be very bright, but slow processing speed can get in the way of schoolwork.

Dyslexia often causes a delay in the brain's processing speed. Those tests which reward speed, will always discriminate against children with this difficulty, consigning them to the bottom. One of the most widely used tests used to identify dyslexia is Rapid Automatic Naming known as RAN.

Processing Speed (RAN) | Nessy

SENSORY OVERLOAD and SLOW PROCESSING on the surface are such BORING ISSUES.

BUT I think they are keys to understanding why Neuro-Diverse people are struggling SO MUCH in our HYPER-EFFICIENT SOCIETY and why:

Their Developmental Differences are often progressing to ----
PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

Accurate Views of Ourselves are Crucial to Reduce the Anxiety Many Feel

5/14/2022

We're NOT perfect even if we were told we were "gifted."

We're NOT idiots even if others didn't recognize our intelligence or talent.

Conjecture

Gifted people fall all over various spectrums --- BUT there are definitely a Group that Struggled in School and a Group that Did GREAT in School.
I think there is often the "IDEA" that the "gifted" kids that did GREAT in school are STRAIGHT "GIFTED" and NOT 2e.
- My observation is that is just not the case.

Further, more and more Educators of Gifted Students are recognizing that these kids do often have EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES.
- The idea that this is JUST ATTRIBUTABLE to NOT having to STUDY ----
  - I think is NOT REALITY.
- Further --- If you can pull it off --- you are probably MASKING in one or more ways.
- Because we have some often "SELF-DEFEATING IDEAS" about "EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING" and that there is "NO EXCUSE" for DIFFERENCES.
  - Whenever I hear "NO EXCUSE" --- I know I'm dealing with someone who is wanting to argue with REALITY.
  - I don't think you have to "AGREE" with any behavior --- BUT the BOTTOM LINE is there are going to be REASONS for it ---
    - AND those reasons aren't always what we "THINK."

More and more there are links between "giftedness," neuro-developmental differences and disorders, psychiatric disorders AND SENSORY PROCESSING DIFFERENCES.

ADHD and AUTISM are quite BLURRED.

There is an interesting study that posits that AUTISM is not a reduced or hypo development of the PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX --- it's a HYPER DEVELOPMENT of the PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX.

Resilience
Artist Development & Production

My observation is that there are a lot of "gifted" people in the LEGAL PROFESSION.

BUT a lot of lawyers found that the practice of law in some cases could be more like a Scott Turow novel than the learned profession they thought they were going into.

In any case, you were often confronted with a fair number of aggressive, smart people concerned with "JUSTICE" that got in over their heads.
At some point --- YOU may have become one of those people.

A lot of people have strong feelings about "JUSTICE" ---- people who went into LAW often have very strong feelings about "JUSTICE."

Adulting with Exceptionalities in the Criminal Justice System

ATTORNEY WELL BEING has become a HOT TOPIC in the past few years.

There are a lot reasons for that that operate on multiple levels.
BUT one of the reasons I think is that there are a fair number of "GIFTED" people with EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES in a SYSTEM that is NOT prepared to ACCEPT them.

See Also: Frontiers of Neuroscience (2020)

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit abnormal processing of sensory inputs from multiple modalities and higher-order cognitive/behavioral response to those inputs.

Especially in Law & Medicine, I think you sometimes see "gifted people" who are sometimes quite BLURRED aspects of ADHD and Autism.

Different Minds --- Trying to get off the "road to hell"

5/14/2022

I think for both Neuro-Typicals and Neuro-Diverse people the ROAD TO HELL WAS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS.
"COULD YOU JUST TRY ---- THAT'S ALL I'M ASKING COULD YOU JUST TRY"

So many Neuro-Diverse people were ABUSED by the EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
The other side of that is so many Neuro-Diverse people were at the TOP of that SYSTEM and are spending so much time in ADULTHOOD trying NOT TO BE ARROGANT that they don't realize or painfully do realize many people consider them IDIOTS.

If you define "IDIOT" as someone whose EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING is DIFFERENT than a NEURO-TYPICAL'S EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING ---- then many NEURO-DIVERSE people are going to satisfy the criteria for this DEFINITION of "IDIOT."

If you define "GENIUS" as someone with SUBSTANTIVE STRENGTHS in greater proportions than Neuro-Typicals --- then many Neuro-Diverse people are going to satisfy the criteria for this DEFINITION of "GENIUS."

What BOTH Neuro-Typical and Neuro-Diverse people need is a MORE BALANCED VIEW of themselves and each other.

It really does come down to Einstein's insight ---- Let's not try to turn that Elephant into a Fish.
- Let's Up our game in identifying our own and others NATURAL STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES and
- Get CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE in WORKING TOGETHER for the benefit of Ourselves and Others.

A Strength-Based Approach for people with "Hyper-Connected Brains" is desperately needed. Is that going to be ENOUGH?--- Probably not.

5/5/2022

We're pretty much pushing the LIMITS of "HYPER-CONNECTED BRAINS" and Greater SENSORY PROCESSING.

Certainly in the "Gifted Community" --- there's recognition but there is also DENIAL.

With regard to relationships ---- "GIFTED" people really struggle ---
- they may have thought they really just needed to find someone who is just as smart and/or talented as they are
- if they managed to do that --- that generally didn't work out as well as they thought it was going to.

- One of the "GO TO EXPLANATIONS" has been--- well, "GIFTED" people are so drawn to "NOVELTY" that this is making relationships difficult
  - Is that true --- it could be.

The larger problem is that "GIFTED" / NEURO-DIVERSE people are so "SENSITIVE" or "REACTIVE" to the ENVIRONMENT --- STABILITY IS NOT THEIR MIDDLE NAME.

On the other hand, Neuro-Diverse people may be able to SOLVE A DETAILED PROBLEM or INTEGRATE ENORMOUS AMOUNTS of INFORMATION into ART for that "BIG PICTURE" --- a lot quicker than anybody else.

In our Society, a lot of what we tend to do is either put "GIFTED" / NEURO-DIVERSE people on a PEDESTAL or we're so pre-occupied with their EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING DIFFERENCES --- that their BIG STRENGTHS get MISSED ALL TOGETHER.

Prince Ea --- "OUCH"

A lot of Neuro-Diverse people are in a lot of EMOTIONAL PAIN and that is sometimes accompanied with PHYSICAL PAIN.

RELATIONSHIPS are important for all people and they are certainly important for NEURO-DIVERSE PEOPLE

BUT

If we don't get to the UNDERLYING BIOLOGY of GREATER SENSORY OVERLOAD --- saying "OUCH" as important as it is ---

It is probably not going to be ENOUGH.

This goes beyond "ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS" to a POPULATION that has increasingly HIGHER LEVELS of NEURO-DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION --- Neuro-Developmental DIFFERENCES and Psychiatric Disorders.

NEURODiversity Wednesday

To mask or not to mask

Neuro-Diverse People tend NOT to be great WORKER BEES --- They tend to be better INNOVATORS*

Accurate Views of Ourselves are Crucial to Reduce the Anxiety Many Feel

Different Minds --- Trying to get off the "road to hell"

A Strength-Based Approach for people with "Hyper-Connected Brains" is desperately needed. Is that going to be ENOUGH?--- Probably not.

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

Archives

Categories

​ NEURODiversity Wednesday

To mask or not to mask

Neuro-Diverse People tend NOT to be great WORKER BEES --- They tend to be better INNOVATORS*

Accurate Views of Ourselves are Crucial to Reduce the Anxiety Many Feel

Different Minds --- Trying to get off the "road to hell"

A Strength-Based Approach for people with "Hyper-Connected Brains" is desperately needed. Is that going to be ENOUGH?--- Probably not.

Neuro-DiversityWednesday(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)

Archives

Categories

NEURODiversity Wednesday

Neuro-Diversity
Wednesday

(with variable spellings of Neurodiversity)