Can I pleeease get some sleep now?

Emily. she/her. US. Perpetually exhausted biomedical engineering grad student with ADHD, a vision impairment, and chronic migraines. Chronicling tips, tricks, and rants for ADHD/disabilities and grad school.

[adhdinbiomed]

Hey everyone!

I'm Emily. I'm a first-year biomedical engineering graduate student. Right now, I'm currently a masters student and I'm planning on a PhD right after. My research focuses on different aspects of synthetic biology, particularly genetic circuits. I'm still really new and am learning a lot. I graduated in April 2020 with my bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, which sometimes fits really well with what I'm doing now and other times does not.

From a disability standpoint, there's a lot going on. I'm visually impaired, have autoimmune issues, chronic migraines, depression and anxiety. I also just got diagnosed with ADHD-combined type in December 2020, which, strangely, was a relief. So much of my childhood makes more sense now.

I made this blog because I couldn't easily find tips and resources that fit my specific situation. I'm hoping this will be useful for others as well.

Anyway, welcome to the party! I hope you have a good time.

[tyramisu]

[sharkyle]

ADHD and Instructions

People with ADHD typical struggle with tasks that lack instructions. For example, if I'm given a task but I don't know exactly how to do it, I might keep putting it off. Sometimes I simply forget instructions, follow them in a different order, or just never hear them in the first place. I often get in situations where someone tells me "you did this wrong. Why didn't you ask if you didn't know how to do it?" And the answer is I didn't know that I didn't know or I thought what I was doing was correct. Not knowing how to do things that everyone else seems to know really lowers self-esteem, created doubt, and makes me feel like other people think lesser of me.

Ways to mitigate this include:

Writing down instructions or printing them out. Instead of just nodding along when someone tells you to do something (like I tend to do), write down step by step actions. I find post it notes really good for this. If there's any step of the process that you're unsure of, ask the person that is giving you the task right then and there. You can also ask them to repeat steps you may have missed or even just repeat the steps back to them to make sure you have everything correct.

People with ADHD may also have problems with placing instructions in context. An step that might seem very small and useless might actually change the entire outcome of a task. If you learn the meaning of the step, it might make the task easier.

If you're on your own for a task, try instructing yourself. Sometimes we simply aren't given step by step for life. It may be helpful to ask another person or even Google it to create a set of instructions for yourself.

Also I find make instructions into a check list aids in my ability to stay distraction-free and actually complete the task at hand. And if I do get distracted, I can see exactly where I left off and return know what is already done and what needs to do next. If the large task is too big to complete in one sitting, the checklist will also aid in that. You can assign maybe the first two or three points on the checklist to complete today and the next couple to do tomorrow. Repeating until you finish the job.

Keeping track of your progress shows how much you've completed. My ADHD tends to make me forget how much I've done and I only see how much I have left to do. This can make a task seem even more overwhelming.

As with all tips, take what works for you and leave what doesn't! Also feel free to share what works for your ADHD.

[lenarise-deactivated20191107]

by the way the funniest thing ive read all week is this post on reddit i think where somebody asked for the pros and cons of different stem majors and so this one girl responded and she said she was a software engineer i believe and then she said “ok pro #1. i never have to wait in line for the bathroom ever again. there are more female restrooms in this building than there are women”

[codewitch]

pro #2: growing up i was surrounded by so many saras. just. saras everywhere. which sara do you want? but now, as a software engineer, I am the only sara. the eleven marks weep in jealousy. 

[lenarise-deactivated20191107]

the marks smdjdjdjdjd YEAH when i took my first compsci class the lab section had twice as many nicks than there were women

[geardrops]

someone was complaining to me about how there are too many ryans on the team, and i said “you wanna know how to fix that? hire more women” and the only other woman sitting nearby spat out her coffee

[baelonthebrave]

biologists will be like this is a very simplified diagram of a mammalian cell

chemists will be like this is a molecule

[blackwoolncrown]

okay but this is what the best render of a human cell looks like

They are not kidding

[normal-horoscopes]

We are full of so many fuckign guys

[adhd-asd]

Tips for Reading with ADHD

(or without ADHD, if they help regardless)

Physical print:

cover the page with a piece of paper and reveal lines/paragraphs as you read them

use a highlighter to emphasize important/interesting parts

take notes as you go to be physically engaged with the material

Digital media:

copy and paste the text into a doc/word processor

change the font size/style/colour to something more legible

make your own paragraphs and spacing

copy and paste one paragraph at a time to isolate them from the distraction of the rest of the text

install a browser extension like BeeLine Reader or Mercury Reader

zoom in on the page and scroll slowly so you’re revealing lines as you read them

physically cover the screen and reveal lines as you read them

if you do better with physical media, print it out or find a physical copy

Both:

read out loud

pace, move around, or use a fidget while reading

set a timer for 5 minutes and read in small chunks with breaks in between

divide the material into sections and read one section at a time with breaks in between

have another person, audio book, or text-to-speech program read it aloud as you follow along

[iamthecutestofborg]

[burning-cathedrals-deactivated2]

When I was a (unmedicated, undiagnosed ADHD) kid, like, under 12, my room was a mess all the time. Not shocking.

I struggled keeping it clean.

I struggled getting it clean.

I would sincerely put in quite a bit of effort and be really proud of the progress I made. Then one of my parents would come check and see how I was doing.

"Well, you've still got a long way to go."

That sentence. I was like, 11 when my parents were saying that to me. It was crushing. All my pride and satisfaction with my work was completely gone. All my effort was worthless to them. All they saw what everything I didn't do.

At the age of ELEVEN, I knew that wasn't right. That wasn't fair. I swore to myself I would never invalidate someone's work like that.

Now, at 30, I catch myself thinking 'I cleaned up, but my apartment is still so messy.' and I flashback to standing in my bedroom as a child, hearing those fucking words from my parents.

'No. I wouldn't invalidate someone else's work. I'm not going to invalidate my own. I did good. I made progress.' and I'll list the things that I DID get done to myself.

You deserve credit for all the progress you make.

You deserve credit for all the work you do.

It doesn't matter how much work you have left.

What you accomplish, no matter how small, counts. Even when what you accomplished was taking a day to rest and recharge and give yourself a break.

Never let anyone invalidate your work. Not even you.

[st-just]

As someone who wanted to be a Mad Scientist when I grew up, I support this.

[st-just]

But seriously "fight climate change by releasing herds of bioengineered mammoth into the tundra" is just, like

You really feel like the guy had a solution he was looking for a problem to solve with, you know?

But I love it.

[academicssay]

[adhdinbiomed]

Apparently grad school class lectures are 40% "Let's give you way too much information to write down in far too little time" and 60% "I want to brag about my lab and what we do". Which like I get, but this is a class, not a conference talk

[whatamicrobiallife]

My bacteria formed a smiley face (with a nose)

[cryptonature]

I think all long academic papers should close with a blank page followed by a “bloopers section” in which the writer talks about everything that went comically wrong during the writing process. Let’s humanize these documents a bit. Fun for the reader. Fun for the writer.

[dr-otter]

I want to see a bloopers of the research project. Did some samples fall out of the bag in the middle of the dive and were lost forever? You meticulously measured out agarose powder into a breaker, were about to mix it up, then suddenly sneezed and it went everywhere?

[chaotic-neutral-medstudent]

Hell yeah, science bloopers. Can someone make this a thing? I know everyone has at least one absolutely epic story.

Also can we start a hall of shame for ugly western blots? Some of mine could be considered works of abstract art.

[docresa]

Do we actually have to put a paper in front of it?

[tfw-adhd]

that adhd feeling when its late at night and you get the sudden urge(tm) to do your homework so you do but then halfway through you get the sudden urge(tm) to clean and then suddenly you're bombarded with the energy(tm) and sudden urges(tm) to do so much stuff a lot of stuff and you're just sitting there like

"well what do I do then????"

Sent 11th August~

Oh MOOD

[academicssay]

[spoonhacks]

Ways to Say “No” to Things.

Without saying “I’m sorry.” 1. “I wish I could help but my plate is pretty full right now.” 2. “I have said yes to too many things lately and I’m honestly overwhelmed at the moment.” 3. “I am not accepting any new tasks right now.” (I use this a lot and even though it is firm, I get positive responses because it’s relatable). 4. “I am over-committed right now, but I hope you find the help you need.” 5. “That’s my night to spend time with my family but thank you for asking me.” 6. “I’d love to but my schedule is packed right now.” 7. “That’s not a good day/time for me.” 8. “That’s not really my area, but thank you for thinking of me.” 9. “I’m honored but I can’t this time.” 10. “Thank you but this isn’t something I’m able to take on right now.” 11. “I am needed somewhere else that day, but thank you.” 12. “I am limiting my commitments right now.” 13. “I am honestly not able to dedicate the time right now.” 14. If you are disabled: “Spoons are low, so today is not a good day for this.” (try using “bandwidth” instead of “spoons” if you are not disabled so we can preserve the meaning of “spoons.”) 15. “That’s not a good fit for me, but (offer a genuine alternative).”

[boazpriestly]

[hello-my-morning-star]

Some days energy levels are high, other days it takes me 4 hours to get out of bed