This is what I hear when I talk about my ADHD diagnosis, a uniqueness I am proud of. “Just do yoga, you will be cured.” “Oh, everyone’s a little autistic and ADHD.” “Keep it to yourself, don’t make it your identity.” “It’s not a badge of honour, I don’t go around announcing, ‘I have diabetes.’”
Such dismissive comments are common from people who know nothing about ADHD or autism.
Mainstream society is grossly misinformed about neurodivergence. When autists and ADHDers share their experiences in a world designed for and by neurotypical people, we are often accused of “weaponising” our “mental illnesses” and making them our identities.
Here’s what: ADHD and autism are not illnesses to be “cured” or concealed. So, what if it is our identity? Do we not have the right to form a community, demand humane treatment, and live without unfair hassles?
Neither ‘deficient’ not ‘differently abled’
Neurodivergence is premised on the idea that brains are wired and function in diverse ways. Deviations from (neuro)typical ways of thinking, learning, or behaving shouldn’t be treated as “deficits” or “incorrect” behaviours.
Beyond clinical definitions, neurodivergence has rightly become a political movement. One of its key purposes is to battle the historic invisibility, dismissal, and exclusion of neurodivergent people. For too long, the concept of neurodiversity has been denied by institutions, their designs, and social structures, and so on which affect everyone– divergent, typical, and the “undeclared” in unique ways.
Disability is often imagined as needing a wheelchair or having a physical handicap. And while institutions are made accessible, at least to the bare minimum extent, for people with visible disabilities—with things like ramps or special toilets—what is almost completely erased from consideration are ‘invisible’ disabilities like ADHD.
What also doesn’t help is the ignorant and thoughtless usage of patronising euphemisms like “differently abled” or “specially abled.” Being on a wheelchair is not a “different” ability, neither is being a savant an ability that makes life easier; it’s an everyday struggle in a world that is actively disabling. Just say ‘disabled’ and move on. We won’t take offence to the truth.
Ableism and masking
People often question how a mental condition or brain chemistry can form the basis of identity. But has biology not been the basis of identity throughout history? What about being a woman? What about being Black? Both identities struggle in a world that has actively tried to disable them. There was a time when even pseudo-science like eugenics was developed to justify race-gender apartheid.
Like racism and patriarchy—and deeply intertwined with them—ableism is a system of oppression that has forced the marginalised to struggle. Navigating the world as an ADHDer is a constant battle, even into adulthood, from university to the workplace. ADHD lacks even the little representation that autism and SLDs (specific learning disabilities, like dyslexia) get in social spaces and institutions.
Ableism is experienced as often having to “mask” ourselves, something we learn to do from a young age. I have to “manage” my ADHD to assimilate in environments like college, work, and sometimes even home—either by taking medication, risking side-effects, or by being tirelessly self-conscious about my hyperactivity, sensitivity, and personality, risking slip-ups. Often, it’s both, and it burns me out.
I have to adjust to how loud the world is, to overstimulating environments, and to a capitalist society’s rigid expectations of productivity. Not being able to perform in set ways—and society’s reaction to that—is often hard to handle, especially with the low self-esteem and anxiety that often accompany ADHD.
Even communication can be difficult. I often cannot process what’s being said to me in most environments, which may not be ‘noisy’ as such for typical people. My ears work fine; I’m not deaf. I just cannot focus and hear clearly because the world is too loud and distracting with so many audio-visual stimuli.
I am often called rude for being distracted, and when I say, “huh,” or “pardon, will you repeat yourself,” I am met with an annoyed face. The response is usually either a dumbed-down paraphrasing of what was said or a dismissive, “Oh, never mind, you wouldn’t get it.” It is condescending, and I’d prefer if you just repeated your sentence exactly as it was.
Workplaces can be difficult to function in when organisations aren’t ADHD- or autism-accessible, with so many stimuli to contend with. Such environments can be especially unsafe when co-workers are not sensitised.
Also Read: New Year’s light, music and parties don’t bring me cheer. My ADHD brain is wired differently
Proving disability to deserve care
It is utterly humiliating to go through an elaborate and convoluted process just to prove that I deserve care in the form of accommodations and concessions for my ADHD. It is even more humiliating to have to do it regularly.
ADHDers (or neurodivergent people) are considered “deserving” of care only when we apply for it with documents. Even then, this care is granted only after the documents are scrutinised and cleared. But spaces should anyway be accessible, and people, in general, deserve care—yet some have to prove it. It reduces their humanity.
I was lucky that most of my university teachers were understanding of my situation and bypassed unnecessary red tape to accommodate me. Most recognised that a student’s performance and learning are more important than competition. However, there were always those who argued, “I have to be fair to all. If I give you extra time, I will have to do the same for everyone.” Truth is, other students never objected to my concessions.
Every semester, I had to present my ADHD diagnosis to the university physician to remain eligible for accommodations. Yet, the ultimate decision rested with teachers, who could choose whether or not to provide support. One teacher even forced me to show him my documents.
Getting accommodations for public exams, like the UGC NET (National Eligibility Test), was a whole other ball game. The process was so harsh and unkind that I had to give up and rely on medications that come with unpleasant side effects. While others gave their 100 percent, I had to push myself to give 200 percent.
This whole myth of “fairness” does not stem from merit; it stems from the ability to perform in set ways. I managed to qualify in NET, but I lost out on the Junior Research Fellowship because I fell short on time due to inattention. The National Testing Agency staff wouldn’t allow me to carry my ADHD medication into the exam hall, claiming it might give me an “unfair advantage”. These medicines need to be taken on time, but entry into the exam hall happens about two hours before the test starts—by then, the medication’s effects start to wear off.
On the NET application website, the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) concessions list includes physical disabilities and “other disabilities”, which may cover mental disabilities. But to select this option, one must have a Unique Disability Identity (UDID) card. The application process for the UDID card lists SLDs, autism, and “mental illness” among other disabilities but makes no mention of ADHD. The process requires being reassessed and probed by a government doctor, even if already diagnosed and under medical care. Navigating these legal grey areas to fit ADHD under “closer” categories like “mental illness” is a risky affair.
So much jumping through hoops, just to be indexed in government records and gain access to the basic rights of a ‘normal’ citizen.
Suffering in silence—or not
If the struggle of declared ADHDers wasn’t enough, it’s even more alienating for those who are undiagnosed or simply unwilling to disclose their condition to ‘deserve’ support. They are made even more invisible than they already are.
The question of support is relevant even when neurodivergence is undisclosed. Care itself is a privilege, accessible only to those who can afford a diagnosis. What about those who can’t afford it or aren’t even aware of neurodivergence, yet are disabled? ADHD and autism don’t just exist in cities, and most Indians lack access to the language or resources to vocalise their needs. They, too, deserve care, but the process only makes it harder for them to receive it.
People sometimes tell me not to “weaponise” my disorder because then I am apparently “selfish” and “lazy”. To that I will just quote Audre Lorde, a Black-American feminist philosopher: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
Views are personal.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
I don’t think that’s a fair invoking of Godwin’s Law here. This person did not bring up Hitler anywhere and hasn’t lied about the intersectionality between ableism, and race-gender apartheid, and eugenics..if that’s what you’re referring to…(you can read Kyla Schuller’s book, Biopolitics of Feeling: Race, Sex, and Science in the Nineteenth Century). In fact, Godwin himself has criticized the over-application of his “law,” claiming that it does not articulate a fallacy, but rather is intended to reduce the frequency of inappropriate and hyperbolic comparisons:
“Although deliberately framed as if it were a law of nature or of mathematics, its purpose has always been rhetorical and pedagogical: I wanted folks who glibly compared someone else to Hitler to think a bit harder about the Holocaust.” (Wikipedia)
Maybe you can introspect a little on this.
You’re mistaken if you think this author is actually saying ableism and racism are the same thing; it looks like you’re just missing the woods (the essay) for the trees (the headline). And it seems you are over-reading the essay beyond its scope, which is about ableism, trivialisation of disability, and how the system and society aren’t helpful and actively disable even as they claim to support— I’m an ADHDer and I know neurotypical friends who’ve resonated with this too… capitalist society sets unrealistic expectations on people, why do you think the suicide rate is so high in our country? What do you think that Pune EY woman’s death was about? Mental health isn’t even covered in most insurances. Read Durkheim on suicide, and Bibhuti Mohanty on Farmer’s suicides. Generalising that “disabled people have a bad habit of not being independent” without any basis isn’t a good idea, touching some grass is. Nobody here is glorifying dependence. As far as I am concerned, the author spoke truth to power. The call for being independent is appreciated, and I know many wonderful ND people including my own sister who lead independent lives in their own right while also advocating for rights and better support systems. But I guess you seem to have “not being independent” confused with being infantilised. Have you considered that disabled people are often forcibly socialised by society (and the state!) into being infantilised? The most recent example is how the new digital data protection rules infantilise people with disabilities by taking away their agency for consent using terms like “legal capacity.” They cannot be blamed for their situation! And it is laughable to blame ‘neurodivergence’ as a movement for forced infantilisation!
This whole aggressive fetishization of “independence” is just a neoliberal game of individualising everyone, and blaming them when they seek care when they need it. Nobody is truly independent. While neurotypicals depend on each other in society, on structures, they have their support systems which they designed for everyone (albeit assuming “everyone” is neurotypical) for their general needs, etc. why is it so wrong if a disabled person demands to be accommodated according to her needs? Disabled people don’t live full lives precisely because nobody cares about their existence. And we are not asking to be spoonfed or be treated like glass, I don’t know where you get that impression from. Neurodivergence and disability are not only clinical, neither is it merely a made-up identity, it is a shared ONTOLOGY, and that makes it deeply political!
If you can survive without support, good for you; if you don’t wanna view neurodivergence as a blessing, you do you. But speak for yourself. Maybe look up “internalised ableism.”
I seriously think the author of this article needs to learn goldwins law. I don’t view my disablities as a blessing. I don’t need to because I myself don’t want to live in a world where I have to rely on others for support. Many people with disabilities don’t live full lives and have a seriously bad habit of not being independent. For you, you may not be the case, but I am and so are many others.