So here's an analogy ( Spoiler alert if you haven't seen heavens arena arc )
Know how Gon and Killua can't pass the corridor when they reached the 200th floor because Hisoka stop them from crossing? When Hisoka caught them with his nen, the boys knew that they needed to move away. They desperately want to move away, they even thought that if they stay any much longer they were sure they would die. But no matter how much they tried, they can't. They're just stuck there, unable to do anything except to just wait until it's all over.
And that's how executive dysfunction feels. It's exactly like that.
No matter how much you want to do something, whether its a fun activity, maybe a hobby or a very important thing that you have to get done you just cant. Your brain decided to stop you from doing anything and it fucking sucks. You're just stuck in silence and you're forced to wait until its over. Executive dysfunction is clearly not about having no will power or not enough motivation. Just like how Killua and Gon desperately wanted to get away from Hisoka but they can't, because they're stuck. It's like that.
So here’s an explanation for executive dysfunction for neurotypicals
I need to do my homework
But I feel dirty cause I was walking around outside barefoot this morning
I can’t do homework because I sit in bed to do homework and I don’t want my bed to get dirty
I don’t want to take a shower now because I like to take a shower at the end of the day to wind down
And then you’re just stuck in that loop for hours and there’s nothing you can do, you try so hard to think of solutions but you’re so set on it that you can’t change the problem
Do homework in a different place? Can’t, I like to do homework in bed and plus I can’t focus on anything else cause I feel dirty
Take a shower now? Can’t, but I really don’t want to because then I can’t take one tonight and it really helps me wind down at the end of the day
Do something else? Can’t, it’s time to do homework and yes I have other things to do but homework is the most important thing I need to do right now
And so you just gotta suffer and think and think and think and either do nothing and get nothing done, don’t do homework because you feel dirty and don’t want to shower now, or
Figure out which is the least annoying/disruptive option to your routine and preferences and do that to try to get back on track
In this case I chose to take a shower now so that I could get on with my day cause I knew it would be bothering me all day if I felt dirty, and I can try to do some other things tonight to find down
But it took me an hour to figure out why I was struggling to go do my homework and what I could do to fix it
The Council of Elder Tubbies
Just saw a post that said, “young does not mean pain free. young does not mean abled.” Yes, absolutely. And equally: autistic does not mean a child. Learning disabilities do not mean a child. Developmental disabilities do not mean a child. Both in the sense that we do grow up, actually, and in the sense that, when we grow up, we are true adults. Needing help with certain things does not negate this.
i love doing crochet. i love doing weaving things with fabrics. i feel like if 600 year old ancestor of mine walked into the room she would be like, oh can i join u?
@spoonie-living
that last bit from we free the stars, when Nasir was so happy he cried... my boy never really thought that his life was gonna get better, that he will one day feel happiness, valued.. loved...
I just saw something that reminded me of this and I wanted to pass it along:
you do not have to stick to the plans you made years ago. those plans might only serve an older and different version of you and that’s okay. don’t limit yourself by decisions you made before you knew all of yourself.
the sun mourns in vain for the white-throated rail: a comic about disability and the unwanted able-bodied grief for past selves.
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
Page 1: The sun holds a white-throated rail, a bird with a red head, a gray body, and a white throat, in its hands. The sun speaks in a tone represented as sorrowful pity through a drippy speech bubble.
Sun: Looking at you makes me sad!
Rail: What?
Page 2:
Sun: Looking at you makes me sad!
The sun stands with a hand clutching its face.
Sun: How miserable it must be to be flightless! Don’t you yearn for the skies? Don’t you wake up grieving you’re still on land?
Page 3: The white-throated rail looks down in frustration in the hand of the sun.
Sun: (speaking off screen) I’d simply perish if I were you!
The rail speaks, looking down. Pink flowers bloom towards the bottom of the page, petals and pollen blowing in the wind.
Rail: Why do you put your words in my beak and your grief in my feathers? Am I not beautiful?
Page 4: The bone of a white-throated rail is positioned against a colorful galaxy dotted with flecks of stars.
Rail: Am I not adaptability in action? Am I not evolution in motion? Do you mourn the days you weren’t a star? Do you mourn when the sky was cold, how unbearably hot you must burn to keep embracing it every day?
Page 5: The sun looks at the viewer.
Sun: Why would I? That was then, this is now. I am content to be in this state.
Page 6: The rail looks up at the sun off-screen.
Rail: Well…So am I.
no one fucking tells you this so here it is:
when signing out forms to apply for disability / filling out a form for diagnosis
you’re supposed to fill it out as you on your worst days
like, I filled out forms that said I could do most things usually
like, my doctor added in the conditions like “yeah, they can feed themselves when not stressed” “they can do this when not stressed”
but how I should have filled it out was more like
“some days I can’t feed myself” “some days I can’t leave the house”
My doctor didn’t even know this, but I talked to someone who had worked with people with both developmental and intellectual disabilities for a number of years, and she told me to write down how it is for your bad days
this should be a thing they tell you, but it isn’t
part of the reason I didn’t get my autism diagnosis as soon as I should have is because I filled out forms wrong!