Musings: Attention deficit in a neurotypical world
It took over 2 decades for me to be diagnosed with ADHD. On one hand, I'm relieved that I wasn't imagining my intellectual/mental/emotional struggles, and that I'm not alone in this. On the other, I'm angry that I've been punished/mocked all this while for things beyond my control, because my brain just works different. While I am fortunate to have parents who made sure I got extra support in my education because they saw I couldn't learn like other kids, I still grew up beating myself up for not being able to focus and be calm/punctual/organised/etc like other people (which makes me work harder so that I can 'function normally', causing me to be anxious all the time). Somehow I survived being neurodivergent in an ableist world... but at what cost?