Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#221

Post by jstrodd » Thu, Feb 10, 2022, 8:22 PM UTC

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."

This is common for people with ADHD. For me, tapering off of a substance gradually is impossible.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#222

Post by Mockapapella » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 5:15 PM UTC

seba_dos1 wrote: post #196

Mockapapella wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, use ADHD to your advantage. Agree with this 100%. While I've never been formally diagnosed (and have no intention to be), I definitely have some tendencies that align with people who have been formally diagnosed with ADHD. The way I see it, this is a part of me anyways, so I might as well lean into it and milk it for all it's worth, which has led to me being in a similar "jack-of-all-trades" position. If any…

> then move onto the next shiny thing that catches my eye. This works as long as that next shiny thing is something that brings value/money or is at least compatible with your career goals. That's often the case in our field of work, but it's not a given. I'm also a "jack of all trades" and it usually works out great for me, but I'm pretty sure that I was one non-lenient enough manager away from getting fired several…

> This works as long as that next shiny thing is something that brings value/money

Yep, I know that all too well. Took about 4-5 years after high school (and dropping out of several colleges) before I found some sort of traction in my life, otherwise I was just swinging and missing, so to speak, over and over learning new things that often didn't materialize in any substantial progress. Then the shiny new thing was starting a business, which failed, I became homeless for a few months, worked food delivery to get back on my feet, then the shiny new thing for ~1-2 months was marketing, which as it turns out I really needed, now I'm working for a good company.

Another component to all this is probably that I'm just used to the ups and downs at this point and have learned to compensate for them reasonably well enough.

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#223

Post by bartoszcki » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 5:17 PM UTC

lentil_soup wrote: post #134

dgellow wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That works the other way too. You will also have a lot of people reporting they do not have ADHD or autism when they actually do. What matters for those type of surveys is how many people report struggles. If someone struggle with attention but does not have the exact number of symptoms required for a formal diagnostic, they are still struggling.

ok, but the whole grand parent comment is a comparison to the global population. Those global statistics are not self reported, they're official diagnoses so will also be missing "people reporting they do not have ADHD or autism when they actually do". That people struggle is an important statistic, but shouldn't immediately be counted as ADHD or autism. There can be other factors at play.

Yeah, but the questions were not about whether one has symptoms or struggles with some:

"I have a concentration and/or memory disorder (e.g. ADHD)"

"I have autism / an autism spectrum disorder (e.g. Asperger's)"

Re: Ask HN: Neurodiversity/ADHD Friendly Companies

#224

Post by Mockapapella » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

hnhamdani2 wrote: post #219

Mockapapella wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, use ADHD to your advantage. Agree with this 100%. While I've never been formally diagnosed (and have no intention to be), I definitely have some tendencies that align with people who have been formally diagnosed with ADHD. The way I see it, this is a part of me anyways, so I might as well lean into it and milk it for all it's worth, which has led to me being in a similar "jack-of-all-trades" position. If any…

Interesting, do you do one gig at a time or multiple gigs in parallel?

At the moment I work full time as a Software Developer. At this point last year I was doing food delivery using DoorDash and Uber Eats for 12-14 hours per day, which has a sort of "GO GO GO" kind of feel to it. I'm fine with either, but it has to consistently be one of the other, which I feel is a pretty common trait with regards to people's ability to switch contexts.