Was reading an article about the dangers of certain social media posts perpetuating the stigma surrounding neurodivergent conditions like ADHD, ASD etc. The article was referring to those typical “5 signs you may have undiagnosed ADHD” type content. I would admit I do love the validation it gives me as a person who is diagnosed and with knowledge about medicine and the differential diagnosis of these symptoms. To people who do not have the knowledge to critically appraise these content, it could be very misleading. And when I say this I refer to both neurodivergents and neurotypicals who stumble on those posts. So please don’t misunderstand this as being classist, ableist etc. Misunderstanding the content would cause people to downplay the suffering of neurodivergents because “everyone does this sometime”, when the truth is that it’s more complex than just having a constellation of traits. When assessing symptoms of these conditions, the reason behind the symptoms, life events/trauma, triggers and onset is very important. Both to support the diagnosis and to exclude other medical conditions that mimic them. I have mentioned before that executive dysfunction can be caused by many many many things including emotional stress, hormonal disturbances, autoimmune diseases etc. So the point of this post is to remind everyone that when ND content creators post things online, always verify it first using reputable sources no matter how believable they (me included😆) appear. Social media advocacy still remains the most effective way to spread awareness and we should all do our part to keep it legit. #adhd #adhdawareness #adhdadult #adhdadvocate #neurodivergent https://www.instagram.com/p/CdSGX0YOQ8Q/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
