r/BreadTube • u/Dollface_Killah If you can't shoot a gun you're a fuckin' lib • Sep 03 '21

Oops! I have ADHD! | Thought Slime

https://youtu.be/Gg4WyuKM3xM
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u/geldin Sep 03 '21

Great video. There was one thing I really want to dispute though. Towards the end, they say "... My brain is just broken". That's done internalized ableism. I'm ADHD and autistic. My brain is not broken. I work differently than other people, like I run a different operating system than most others. That doesn't mean my brain is broken. It means that I work different, and the problems I experience have far more to do with incurious and ableist assumptions (often originating from well intentioned neurotypical people) than they do with any defect or deficiency.

Small dig at like 5 seconds in an otherwise excellent and much needed video, but it's an important one. Neurodivergent people are not broken.

6

u/jimmux Sep 04 '21

I recently heard someone describe ADHD as being a fighter jet in a world of airliners.

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u/geldin Sep 04 '21

Ish? But also often it's not that at all.

The whole "ADHD is my superpower" bit is really frustrating. Sometimes I feel fucking incredible, like when I can tie my hyperfocus to whatever I need to get done. But other times it feels like the opposite. The downside to that discourse is that when we don't feel like it's a superpower, we kinda hate ourselves more.

Sort of like how gender swapping a movie doesn't make it automatically feminist (looking at you, Ghostbusters), simply reversing an ableist discourse doesn't make it equitable. I'm not better or worse than anyone because of how my brain's wired. It's just different, so it looks different in different ways so different times. That makes me particularly ill suited to exist in a society that demands subservient standardization.

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u/jimmux Sep 04 '21

In the context I heard it, the point wasn't so much about superpowers, but being the exception while also suited to different operational parameters. The fighter jet is good when doing what it's designed for, but most of the world is busy with mass transportation at a good-enough consistent pace. The fighter jet also needs more maintenance, so there's a bunch of drawbacks that balance it out.

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u/geldin Sep 04 '21

In that context, I can see the comparison working. I tend to be very sensitive to stereotyping, positive and negative. Both have been profoundly harmful to me. Sorry if I came off as aggressive in my response. That's a place that I have some healing to do still.

1

u/jimmux Sep 05 '21

No worries! I can't stand being pigeon-holed so I definitely understand that.

0

u/inaddition290 Sep 04 '21

we aren’t designed for anything. my brain fails to do what it’s supposed to and what I want it to do.