That seems incredibly valuable. Goodness knows you get sodall support in the UK. I hope you go from strength to strength.
But therapy generally is often one step forward four steps back. And it takes a great deal of courage to embark on any process when you have to bare your soul.
My son has PTSD, OCD and ADHD. All caused by massive ongoing trauma inflicted by his very violent narcissistic alcoholic father.
I know nothing about Autism. But I know how devastating it is when your brain works in a different way than ‘the norm.’
Me too - I have severe brain malfunction. Due to ME another trauma induced disability. Again due to my son’s bastard father.
And my older son has Asperger’s and OCD plus little confidence.
We espouse terminology from the States. And I frequently have difficulties understanding. Are yourself and me and my guys Neurally Divergent?
Whatever - I’m comfortable with declaring that I’m Visually Impaired. But I hate Partially Sighted. I’m heading towards Severely Visually Impaired. So much kinder than BLIND.
So I guess I have to say “thank you America.”
As a militant Celt I can assure you that you are in the best of hands. But you know that already. We Celts do empathy and compassion by default. It’s in our genes.
For what it’s worth, I send my love and congratulations on embarking on this journey.
So yes we all have neurodivergent brains. If the way your brain works is neurally different then you are neurodivergent. So ASD, ADHD, AuDHD, OCD, ODD, PTSD, cPTSD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia etc all count. I personally don’t count my ME/CFS as a neurodivergent brain condition though, it was caused by a virus, and exacerbated by another. It’s much more of an energy limiting physical impact for me. My autism is genetic (not caused by trauma of any kind) I may have trauma because of my autism, but I don’t have autism because of trauma. I actually love my brain and how it works, no devastation here, I just need to have it affirmed after having decades of being gaslit by society that there was something ‘wrong’ with me rather than something different, and feeling forced to hide it. There will be no support afterwards I know, but at least I’ll have a good reason and understanding of myself now.
Language is important isn’t it? I am autistic, not a person with autism, (if you took the autism away I wouldn’t be me), you are visually impaired not partially sighted. It’s important how we talk about ourselves.
So. From one Celt to another, Irish and Cornish ancestry, thank you.
I wrote an initial response to this, then went back and read your previous three posts on this and realized I should have done that before responding. First, I am so glad you finally found someone who treated you with kindness and respect. I have found it so difficult to find good care for issues related to mental health and neurodivergence for our children, I think I'm afraid to really try to find it for myself. I have wondered about the value of pursuing diagnosis at this stage of the game; I really appreciate seeing your perspective on it. I think, like you, I've found my way to a good place. There's a good bit of autism in my family, so pretty sure I'm somewhere on the spectrum but don't really know. It would have been really nice to have considered this as a young person; I'm sure I would have made some different choices. (Teaching wasn't the best career for someone like me.) But, I know myself now and, like you, have figured out ways to be very comfortable in my life. It's so nice to read about someone else's similar experience and feel less alone in mine. Thank you.
My value in this now I think is completion - tying up those knots and getting everything straight. It’s for me personally. It’s not going to give me accommodations at work as I’m now retired. So it is vanity as well in a way I suppose. Teaching for me in the early days, in early years, was fine, I had autonomy in the classroom, as more and more governmental interference happened I found it more difficult. If you want an assessment these people seem fab. If you don’t that’s valid too. And I’m always happy to chat.
That seems incredibly valuable. Goodness knows you get sodall support in the UK. I hope you go from strength to strength.
But therapy generally is often one step forward four steps back. And it takes a great deal of courage to embark on any process when you have to bare your soul.
My son has PTSD, OCD and ADHD. All caused by massive ongoing trauma inflicted by his very violent narcissistic alcoholic father.
I know nothing about Autism. But I know how devastating it is when your brain works in a different way than ‘the norm.’
Me too - I have severe brain malfunction. Due to ME another trauma induced disability. Again due to my son’s bastard father.
And my older son has Asperger’s and OCD plus little confidence.
We espouse terminology from the States. And I frequently have difficulties understanding. Are yourself and me and my guys Neurally Divergent?
Whatever - I’m comfortable with declaring that I’m Visually Impaired. But I hate Partially Sighted. I’m heading towards Severely Visually Impaired. So much kinder than BLIND.
So I guess I have to say “thank you America.”
As a militant Celt I can assure you that you are in the best of hands. But you know that already. We Celts do empathy and compassion by default. It’s in our genes.
For what it’s worth, I send my love and congratulations on embarking on this journey.
Keep on keeping on.
Andrea
in Cornwall
Thank you.
So yes we all have neurodivergent brains. If the way your brain works is neurally different then you are neurodivergent. So ASD, ADHD, AuDHD, OCD, ODD, PTSD, cPTSD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia etc all count. I personally don’t count my ME/CFS as a neurodivergent brain condition though, it was caused by a virus, and exacerbated by another. It’s much more of an energy limiting physical impact for me. My autism is genetic (not caused by trauma of any kind) I may have trauma because of my autism, but I don’t have autism because of trauma. I actually love my brain and how it works, no devastation here, I just need to have it affirmed after having decades of being gaslit by society that there was something ‘wrong’ with me rather than something different, and feeling forced to hide it. There will be no support afterwards I know, but at least I’ll have a good reason and understanding of myself now.
Language is important isn’t it? I am autistic, not a person with autism, (if you took the autism away I wouldn’t be me), you are visually impaired not partially sighted. It’s important how we talk about ourselves.
So. From one Celt to another, Irish and Cornish ancestry, thank you.
I wrote an initial response to this, then went back and read your previous three posts on this and realized I should have done that before responding. First, I am so glad you finally found someone who treated you with kindness and respect. I have found it so difficult to find good care for issues related to mental health and neurodivergence for our children, I think I'm afraid to really try to find it for myself. I have wondered about the value of pursuing diagnosis at this stage of the game; I really appreciate seeing your perspective on it. I think, like you, I've found my way to a good place. There's a good bit of autism in my family, so pretty sure I'm somewhere on the spectrum but don't really know. It would have been really nice to have considered this as a young person; I'm sure I would have made some different choices. (Teaching wasn't the best career for someone like me.) But, I know myself now and, like you, have figured out ways to be very comfortable in my life. It's so nice to read about someone else's similar experience and feel less alone in mine. Thank you.
No worries,I did see your first response too.
My value in this now I think is completion - tying up those knots and getting everything straight. It’s for me personally. It’s not going to give me accommodations at work as I’m now retired. So it is vanity as well in a way I suppose. Teaching for me in the early days, in early years, was fine, I had autonomy in the classroom, as more and more governmental interference happened I found it more difficult. If you want an assessment these people seem fab. If you don’t that’s valid too. And I’m always happy to chat.
❤️