There's a point I disagree. You say that we're just different, not bad. I mean, I'm not bad, neither am I "just" different, I'm different in ways that can be dangerous for my life no matter how society would be restructured, that is a disability, and there's nothing to be ashamed about being disabled. My ADHD has led me to dangerous situations in traffic numerous times, which could've been fatal. Yes, my ADHD has led to some things in life that are very positive, but it also has a lot of symptoms that I'd happily live without.
I enjoyed this video and appreciate your support as a person who has ADHD. However, I would like to see more representation that includes the challenges of neurodiverse adults as well. Many of us are college students and our learning experience is effected negatively due to the stigma and stereotyping we receive, and we’re often not taken seriously enough when we express our “needs” for accommodations. This isn’t a childhood only concept, neurodiversity is lifelong.
At age 20, I have only JUST heard about the term neurodiversity and have been reading a lot about it recently... I want to get myself tested but I have absolutely no money for it. I want to understand myself more because ALL MY LIFE I've always called myself stupid because I thought differently than others. I called myself a slow learner because I couldn't understand certain things that others understand so easily. I always thought I was different BECAUSE I was stupid. I've always felt that there was something wrong about me that I couldn't pin point what is because other people don't seem to have the same problem, and whenever I try to open up about it, they'd just always shrug it off-- maybe because they think I'm just being dumb. After reading about neurodivergence, my heart felt that need to get myself tested because I've been too hard on myself all these years. I want to understand myself more and find what's best for my mental health and my growth. :(
I feel you. At least half of my life (I'm 24) I felt that "I'm academic smart, and life dumb" in the way I myself put it. Like throw at me math, physics, computer science, chemistry, I don't care. Give me the rules and I'll happily solve them. But I was always, or at least as long as I can remember, so lost when it cams to stuff like household chores, or just existing in society, being thrown into new situations that I didn't have figure out or have a script for, which required certain spontaneity etc. After having watched a big number of videos, read tones of comments and articles, and done some online tests, after months, now probably a year of observing myself, I am 98% positive I'm autistic and... that thought is a relief, because suddenly, I'm not a weirdo and a broken product, my mind is just wired differently, so things that are easy for others can be difficult to me, and vice versa. I've actually talked to my mom about it and she said "I think so, too", she talked about it to my father (who I haven't talked to for like 2 years because he's a trash person and he was one of my bullies for my entire life) and he said to look into Asperger's, so he didn't brush it off. I have a friend who, after I opened up about it, said his girlfriend believed he was autistic, and each of us sometimes brings up a thing that is "characteristic" for autistic/neurodivergent folks and we're both like "wow that's so me". I want to seek official diagnosis, but paradoxally (or not, if you think about it) the complexity and number of steps required to get there are just too overwhelming at the moment. He, on the other hand, has already applied (he lives in a different country, too) and sent me a screenshot of the invitation email for an appointment (months from now) and we were both absolutely amazed by it, because it had all little details about how to prepare, get to the building, enter it, register, what the appointment is more or less gonna be like, how long it will take etc. My point is, you're not alone. I am still learning societal concepts, cues, rules etc. at my own pace. There's nothing wrong about the way we are (not diagnosing you with anything, but your struggle does sound familiar and I've lived it probably as long as I can remember), and there's a beauty to it, even if some people cannot see it. As to not being able to afford diagnosis, most at least autistic people I've seen online (not sure about other neurodivergent folks) believe it's fine to "self diagnose", as long as you're really researching it, and it's genuine and it comes from a place of struggle, and not "trying to be quirky" etc. At least autism diagnosis highlights the struggle, among another things (it also makes it clear that some symptoms can occur due to other conditions, and as far as I know, at least some people who go through official diagnosis, have been tested for other things, too, just so you're aware). I also recommend looking into ways that neurodivergent people make their lives easier. For example I always struggled with doing laundry, it started with sorting clothes before the laundry (like you don't put black and white together) so I bought several bins that I just use to sort the clothes at the moment I put them in. I have one for each kinda batch, and when I need to wash them, I just take them out of the bin, no sorting through dirty laundry needed. I also started using this task management/reminder app that's cross platform, so I can check it out both on my phone and my PC. It helped me organize my life just a little bit better, and it's still work in progress. I have a checklist for the morning, with everything I need to do and take with me before leaving home (created it after leaving work keys home and not being able to close the office door, lol). I create reminders for things I need to do, or purchase, because I tend to completely forget about them for weeks, because my mind is somewhere else. And at work, I started using this programm we implemented some time ago, that allows you to create lists, cards with descriptions, checklists, due dates, colorful tags and more, that I can drag around the board and sort and prioritize. Life's slightly better managable now. (if you want to check these apps out, I personally use and can recommend TickTick, and I know some autistic creators in RU-vid talked about Tiimo, I gave it a try before TickTick but didn't quite like it, especially the reminders. Depends on the person, I guess, so check them out yourself if you think it could be useful for you, but these are the two I'm aware of).
Oh man, I wish you could meet my son. You describe him in your videos and I nearly cry with every one you make. Sometimes I just feel like I’m in a whirlwind and don’t know what to do next. I appreciate you and the content you bring so much. We pulled our son out of public school last October and I have been homeschooling ever since. NOT EASY!!! Long story short, he is in 2nd grade, has a hard time sitting for so long for almost any subject and that’s when he starts acting out, being disruptive, making noises. He’s smart. He could have a nearly perfect conversation with an adult about science, sea life, lots of things if he could just wait for their responses... I volunteered in his class most days after the first few weeks of school. The teacher was horribly shaming to most of the kids. It got to where I couldn’t even get him through the school gate in the morning. And I didn’t want him there either. I will learn to make all your favorite meals if you’ll come here every day and work with us!!!! Hahaha, just kidding (kind of). But I would love for my family to get to meet you one day. Again, I appreciate your content so very much!
Thank you so much for this video and for what you do! We need teachers like you and we need school reform in all the areas you mentioned and more. Keep up the important work!
Wow this is really good! I love the ideas you bring into the table for new types of learning that hopefully all schools can adapt soon! I might be using your video to comment on my channel but for sure will use it once I start my Spanish channel, since the hispanic community is very outdated on all this info!
What if none of those positive step-things happened for like, forty years and the child grows up with the alienation and becomes institutionalized and then breaks the cycle late in life but has missed a lot of development and still has the same learning issues (not to mention a lifetime of hard earned practical issues.)? Are there legit resources for non-children type students? Thx, asking for a ‘friend’ This is a dope video and I enjoyed hearing how you characterized everything. Thanks for posting
At risk of sounding rude I apologize but Can someone give me the long and short of it I cannot find an easy definition on Google and all these videos are like 20 minutes Somebody just give me the run down
To learn is to put in the work to fully understand, nothing can be learnt from summarization and be fully grasped, just like you can't paint a full picture with one brush stroke, you can't understand a subject with a short run down. If the videos are long, play them in the background while your doing something else then the length won't matter because your focus will be on whatever you are doing, at least until your finished doing whatever, lol. Just a tip from a scatter brained multitasker.
