I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂

Science grad student & human with #ADHD, #depression, autism, dyscalculia, & an autonomic disorder. 🦋🧠 I tag my ADHD struggles with #ADpHD. PFL please.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@rwidome As a disabled student, I am furious at that 15%. And at the wider system that incentivizes cheating behavior through its obsession with grades and standardized testing.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@ilanasf Sorry I never responded to this. I have followed her Instagram for years, and her book is so therapeutic, cathartic, and affirming.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

This. A lot of the last few years has been a process of trying to teach myself how to rest. Not only will my mind not let me, but capitalist systems make me feel guilty about it.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

There's no sense crying
over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake.

And the Science gets done.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@TrevorL42065257 @ravenscimaven Hmm ok I will use that in my search terms. Thanks.

Yes thanks Dr. Raven and solidarity to everyone trying to bust through the fog. We deserve to feel better and get our minds back!

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@ravenscimaven Hmm. I am not currently on something right now but I’ve been on them in the past. I’m gonna see if I can find any lit on it and bring it up with the doc.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@laurenancona But I want to note that many of your points about sensory experience are totes resonating with me. My main point here is that when we talk about autism and empathy, we might not all be thinking of the same thing. We are certainly very sensitive, both physically and emotionally

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@laurenancona Note that the way your average NT conceives of empathy is different-much more nuanced—than how science conceives of it.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@potato_heiress Actually, research has shown that people who claim to be “empaths” are actually worse than average at empathy. Let me explain.

Scientifically speaking, empathy isn’t one skill, it’s several…

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@potato_heiress I dont mean to be a downer or imply that autistic people are not empathetic. Like I said, empathy is complex—and it can, we know, be learned. I am living proof of that. But getting better at it starts with recognizing which components you struggle with so you can work on them.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@potato_heiress This explains the anthropomorphizing of the birds in your story. I’ve no doubt they were disappointed or confused, but birds (the less socially complex species, at least) do not experience what you understand as “anguish.” They just want food, and you are a source of it.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

P.S. The grief is actually from all of the times they have failed at something and been shamed in front of the class by a teacher, scolded by their mother, or fired—because of their disability. They carry that weight with them into every. single. task.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

How to empathize with people who have ADHD:

When you are talking to them, imagine that they’re trying to listen to you with a screaming toddler climbing all over them.

When you are waiting for a deliverable for them, imagine they’re working through grief.

I’m not exaggerating.

[❤️‍🔥steph❤️‍🔥 @lamarijuanera]

Supernova Momma unknowingly changed my life in so many ways. Even if you’re not a parent or neurodivergent you should give her a follow! I’ve learned an immense amount from her incredible unending fountain of knowledge. A true educator and all around amazing person. Thank you 🫶🏼

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@laurenancona This is exactly my family. A bunch of them are now in therapy, and splitting with the rest of the fam over the thing I was right about. Sometimes they will things to me like “how are you able to process this so well” or “how did you recognize that manipulative behavior so fast”

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@RebornRuffian12 He also suggested I was google dxing myself, because I had brought an article about autism in women by a graduate student in psych. I was a scientist, and *I* was the skeptic. My mother had spent 7 years convincing me to get tested. He didn’t believe me til he talked to her.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@RebornRuffian12 I had a provider dangle the autism dx over my head. Said he hesitated to give it to me “because it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.” I had to convince him I would be responsible with it, like he was letting me take the jaguar for a spin or something.

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@beangoesgaming (Hence the “Actually—well, shit…” at the end.)

[I’m doing SCIENCE and I’m still alive 🎂 @PhDSuccessories]

@beangoesgaming Not saying her neurodivergence doesn’t play a role but the stuff she is thinking about is household mental load stuff. Sounds like the gendered division of labor is also playing a role, here. He doesn’t think about that stuff because he was raised to expect her to do it for him.