It's all fun and games talking about your disability and advocating for it until your disability disables you and you start hearing that stupid voice in your head telling you that you're a faker and don't deserve your accommodations
So, I've spent years raw-dogging my ADHD without any medication, and I would like to share a couple of ideas on what you can do when you need that extra motivation to write. Note that ADHD brains work when there is novelty, so after a few days/weeks/months, expect this to stop working ! But that is okay! There is nothing wrong with you. You just have to do something else.
Here are some ideas:
Buy stickers that say "good job!" or a star. Get a calendar and stick a sticker for each day that you write.
Learn how to do paper stars. Get a small jar and add a paper star whenever you reach a certain writing goal. Watch the jar fill up. Maybe get a reward once it does?
Grab a glass of ice cubes. Write until the ice melts into water.
Grab a small candle. Light it and write until it is all melted.
Make a spotify playlist with a length corresponding to how long you wanna write. Play every writing session and enjoy music as you write. Stop when the music stops.
Sit down on a good spot and tell yourself that for the next hour (or any amount of time) you are either going to write or do nothing. Stay strong and don't open your phone.
That said, lock your phone with an app like ColdTurkey and be unable to use it for a few hours. Write once you start to get bored.
Get a tasty drink that you're only allowed to drink when you're writing. Write when you crave it.
Read writing tiktoks to get you excited about writing. Or maybe writing vlogs on youtube.
If anyone else has more ideas, don't be shy to add! :D
I feel like these days, there seems to be a difference between 'special interests' and the clinical term 'restricted and fixated interests', in the ways that they are explained.
In the criteria it does state "that are abnormal in intensity and focus". (Not even necessarily that you're only allowed one. You may have many).
And although it is definitely great to have such a strong interest that brings you joy. There is still reasons that this interest may be flagged.
The reasons tend to be due to the fact that it affects many areas of an autistic's functioning. It's important to remember that for many autistics, despite it bringing joy, it can also be the cause of other problems in their life.
It may inhibit their ability to remember to eat, drink, toilet, dress. One may go hours being invested in their interest where they neglect themselves and this may happen on quite a frequent basis. They may neglect their work, or household chores, pets, friends, family, etc..
It may be the only thing that the autistic is able to talk about with others. Which can inhibit their ability to communicate with others and be a cause of problems with relationships. It may be one of the few things they think about on a frequent basis.
The interest may be the only thing to calm an autistic down and help prevent a meltdown/shutdown. But it can also be the cause of a shutdown/meltdown when an autistic is made to stop participating in their interest or are pulled away from their interest.
Daily tasks may need to revolve around their interest in order to complete the task. Meaning tasks like cooking or dressing or cleaning may have to incorporate the interest in order for it to get done or even started. The task may even have to be explained in a way that incorporates their interest for them to understand.
Bringing joy can definitely be a good thing and we should do our best to incorporate things in our life that do bring joy. But we do need to still remember that for a lot of autistics, the interest that brings them joy, may also be a cause for other problems in their life.
to the people who struggle with hygiene, kinda smell bad, have rooms filled to the brim with trash and dirty clothes, or can’t properly take care of themselves for whatever reason i love you a lot and i care about you a lot. able bodied and mentally well/stable people have no right to be commenting on our lives, they know nothing. go at your own pace, no matter how slow that pace may be.