the amount of you who have started to say "autism and adhd are so similar they're just the same disorder tbh" makes me big uncomfortable
ok first of all this idea is way too similar to the old belief that you can't have autism and adhd for my comfort (this idea harmed a lot of people!). i think yall looked at the high comorbity and some similarities between autism and adhd and went "may as well be the same thing!"
but here's the thing: even though a lot of symptoms of these two things can present similarly they have different base causes.
for example: trouble making friends is a big part of both disorders, but if we look at the reasons why they're pretty different.
autistic people have trouble making friends because we don't have an understanding of social "rules," we don't pick up on social cues, we take things too literally, etc.
adhd people have trouble making friends because we're impulsive, have poor volume control, talk too much or too fast, tend to interrupt people, are very sensitive to perceived rejection, etc.
labels should give people an understanding of themselves, not just a list of symptoms. when i found out im autistic and adhd, a lot started to click in place and i understood better why i had trouble making friends because i could examine the root causes of me not being able to make friends.
this is why the distinction is important. you can't look at something and go "same outcome so it's the same thing!"
if you had just said to me "well autistic people have trouble making friends" that wouldn't have explained anything to me or brought me any understanding or comfort. but when you have a label that gives you why you struggle or are different, then you can use that label to understand yourself and find people who are like you.
another big thing that you're ignoring is that these two groups have very different needs.
the majority of adhd people see drastic positive changes from medication, have you ever seen someone medicated for autism?
many autistic people feel occupational and/or speech therapy was really helpful for them, but this isn't a common treatment for adhd.
adhd and autism can present similarly sometimes, but they are different. please stop denying our experiences.
ok to rb but don't clown on my post
[small text copied and pasted for accessibility: ok to rb but don’t clown on my post]
