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Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

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Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#201

Post by mobiuscog »

karpierz wrote: post #163
JohnBooty wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cold turkey For the life of me, I have trouble understanding why folks would do "cold turkey" for stimulants rather than tapering their dosage off over a week or two!

Personally, I have a hard time with moderation, and doing things gradually. I'm very much all or nothing, so it's easier for me to say "no caffeine in any circumstance!" than "okay just a little caffeine each day", because at that point it's easy to convince myself "well half a cup was fine, so just a sip more won't really make a difference."

Exactly the same for me, but also the approach to alcohol. Moderation is not something that works - either I 'forget' or the it snowballs. Therefore, decaf coffee (seems okay) and no alcohol.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#202

Post by mobiuscog »

cakemedia wrote: post #67
pliptvo wrote: post #47

I literally just off the phone to my GP trying to get a referral for an adult ADHD diagnosis. She basically said, there's a massive backlog and underfunding of the service, and instead of her referring me to the adult ADHD and autism psychology services directly I should approach a more generic NHS Adult Mental Health service and try to get them to refer me for a diagnosis, or write a letter asking her to. Just seems…

UK here. Your GP is right about the massive backlog in mental health referrals (2+ years in my area) but wrong about prescription charges & the NHS recognising a diagnosis from a private psychiatrist. Because of that huge backlog I went for a private diagnosis & prescription and then had that prescription transferred to my local GP under what's known as a 'Shared Care Agreement', so my scrip cost ~£110 per year (buy…

May I ask how you decided where to go for a private diagnosis ?

As another waiting-list referral, I would consider going the same route but have no idea where best to look (and whether they may have shared care agreements or not).

It's really helpful to see all of these replies from the UK.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#203

Post by krono »

throwaway6532 wrote: post #175
seba_dos1 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if I told you that ADHD actually makes it likely for you to concentrate much more on something that engages you than a typical person, to the point that you almost forget about eating, sleeping or going to the toilet? Having a tendency to hyperfocus is a pretty common ADHD trait. It's really not that simple. Squishing it all down to "ability to concentrate" isn't just an oversimplification; it misses the point e…

Exactly. People fundamentally misunderstand it in this very common way and it's such a shame. It's really the difficult in ability to regulate attention which includes both keeping your attention on something (i.e concentration) and your ability to take your attention off something and shift it to something else (i.e hyperfocus).

I do not fundamentally misunderstand this. That would be weird considering my own ADHD combined type diagnosis in the severe range.

Just saying.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#204

Post by staticelf »

tgaj wrote: post #28
staticelf wrote: post #17

Quoted post unavailable.

To be honest, I don't think neurotypical people can really understand ADHD. And it's probably even harder for people who believe that brain is just some kind of a tool that we have 100% power over. And that's a problem because this lucky people who won on genetic lottery are often in power. I think like over 50% of my life problems are not because of ADHD but because whole world tries to convince me that it is my fau…

Sure, I recognize that there may be people with more severe issues. I have two childhood friends that had diagnosed severe ADHD but at the same time they both had other issues as well which I personally think hindered them more in life than their ADHD ever did.

I never tried to convince anyone that it is their fault for whatever problems they encountered in life and sadly one of them died by an overdose in an early age. Perhaps ADHD contributed to their lifestyle of choice, perhaps not.

I am not impossible to convince that I am wrong, I have just never seen any evidence for it (I haven't really searched for it though). AFAIK ADHD is a disorder that we just don't know that much about and maybe it has a biological function that has been positive in the development of mankind.

As I stated, I am not a doctor tho and maybe there is loads of evidence for it in which I am not aware about but frankly I don't care much one way or the other. It's not an issue that I care about that much and I just wanted to share my take since one of my exes was completely convinced that I had it. I know that people with ADHD can be very successful and I don't think people should think less of themselves because of some diagnosis.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#205

Post by staticelf »

user-the-name wrote: post #45
staticelf wrote: post #17

Quoted post unavailable.

So rather than think "oh, I guess those tests are rubbish and I don't actually have ADHD", your conclusion is "oh, ADHD must not exist then"?

I think you could create tests that describe tests that describe a pretty large amount of people in many ways. In the future we maybe have tests that show if you're a morning bird or a night owl.

The society is structured in a way that makes it easier for some types of people to succeed but it doesn't mean that people who doesn't fit that model can't or that it's something wrong with them. That is what I meant by my initial comment but it is clear that it wasn't how people here read it.

Maybe it exists and is a real disorder, perhaps I even have it. I don't care either way and I try not to let it affect me or my life.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#206

Post by staticelf »

Mordisquitos wrote: post #33
staticelf wrote: post #17

Quoted post unavailable.

> Judging from some self tests I have made I could perhaps have it myself but it hasn't affected my career in a negative way the slightest. If it hasn't affected your career (or your personal life etc.) in a negative way in the slightest you simply don't have it—the last D in ADHD is essential.

It's great that you can read a small comment and reach that conclusion. As I've mentioned to another person in the thread I had an ex that was convinced that I had it and that it had a negative effect on me, something I disagreed on though.

It is my opinion that it hasn't affected me in a negative way since I am satisfied with my life and I have had other issues that have had a much greater negative affect on my life.

I don't think you should chose a company or career based on a disease or a disorder. If you can live with it, which I think most can that have diagnosed ADHD, you could overcome whatever issues come up and still be successful.

I'll even give one practical example, I am usually all over the place and in the tech field I've used that to read up and learn a lot of different languages, tools etc making my skillset in tech very broad which have helped me tremendously in my career. I have a hard time to stick with one programming language and is never satisfied with one thing and switch back and forth on everything. That is both a negative thing and a positive one. I have a (really) hard time sticking to one thing and seeing it through but with tools like todolists and communities like WIP it makes it just a bit easier even if I always have the urge to pick up something else and restarting everything.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#207

Post by staticelf »

iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #38
staticelf wrote: post #17

Quoted post unavailable.

it's hard to answer comments like this cordially. good for you i guess but i've spent enough of my life self-flagelating, pretending everything is my personal failing thanks. quite thankful i can ask for help, be heard and see improvement.

As I have mentioned to others, I didn't mean for my comment to be read as something negative even if I kinda understand why since it was a bit disregarding from the get go and I didn't elaborate that much.

People today seem to read too much into a small statement and immediately creates a straw man that they later attack in the response.

I am sorry if you have diagnosed ADHD and it has affected your life negatively. I hope and believe that you may overcome your issues whatever they may be. It is great if you can ask for help and see improvement from it.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#208

Post by staticelf »

petercooper wrote: post #104
staticelf wrote: post #17

Quoted post unavailable.

I have been diagnosed (surprisingly, too, as I was being investigated for something else) and while I know ADHD "exists", I will concede it's probably an overly broad compromise of a diagnosis for now. But then other well known conditions are too: IBS, fibromyalgia, CFS, for starters. All these conditions represent something real going on, even if the currently used terms aren't precise. Much as celiac disease was co…

I think you just articulated my thoughts about the subject. Thanks!

I wrote my comment pretty hastily and couldn't articulate well enough what I thought about the subject. Luckily people like you exists that can understand my shitty written comment and fine tune it to perfection.

Even if I have it and would get a diagnose from my doctor, I don't think it would change my life for better or for worse so what's the point?

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#209

Post by tgaj »

staticelf wrote: post #204
tgaj wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I don't think neurotypical people can really understand ADHD. And it's probably even harder for people who believe that brain is just some kind of a tool that we have 100% power over. And that's a problem because this lucky people who won on genetic lottery are often in power. I think like over 50% of my life problems are not because of ADHD but because whole world tries to convince me that it is my fau…

Sure, I recognize that there may be people with more severe issues. I have two childhood friends that had diagnosed severe ADHD but at the same time they both had other issues as well which I personally think hindered them more in life than their ADHD ever did. I never tried to convince anyone that it is their fault for whatever problems they encountered in life and sadly one of them died by an overdose in an early a…

So you are not interested in any research and you have only anecdotes (and one ADHD friend who died of overdosing) and still have very strong opinion about something you say you don't really care about. You are like a living example of people that make ADHD folks live harder.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#210

Post by user-the-name »

staticelf wrote: post #205
user-the-name wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So rather than think "oh, I guess those tests are rubbish and I don't actually have ADHD", your conclusion is "oh, ADHD must not exist then"?

I think you could create tests that describe tests that describe a pretty large amount of people in many ways. In the future we maybe have tests that show if you're a morning bird or a night owl. The society is structured in a way that makes it easier for some types of people to succeed but it doesn't mean that people who doesn't fit that model can't or that it's something wrong with them. That is what I meant by my…

Or, you could trust the lived experience of millions of real, suffering people, and the medical expertise of all the doctors in the world working on helping those people, and shut the fuck up about something you know nothing about.
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