I had an interesting online conversation on social media yesterday – and it shocked me. I had commented about being self diagnosed ADHD and having some ASD traits, and the man asked me if I could drop the ‘disorder’ from now on. I was puzzled, I hadn’t said disorder, I am an inclusive person, I know that neurodivergence is a way of being, not something wrong. But I had. ASD is autistic spectrum DISORDER, and ADHD is attention deficit and hyperactivity DISORDER. Same with OCD, ODD and many other neurodivergencies.

According to the online Cambridge dictionary (link here) disorder in the UK means:

• a state of untidiness or lack of organisation
• an illness of the mind or body
• an angry, possibly violent, expression of not being happy or satisfied about something, especially about a political matter, by a crowd of people

Well, as I type, my room is a little untidy (actually very untidy), but I am an organised person. Everything that needs to get done will get done on time, I just have many projects going on at once, so the chaos you see is actually my organising, and it makes sense to me.

ADHD and autism are not illnesses. They do not need a cure. They are just a way of being. I am typing on a Windows laptop, and my eldest son uses a Mac. Does his Mac have an illness because it works a bit differently to mine? I have an iPhone, my mum has an android. Do either of those have illnesses or disorders? No, just different systems that are compatible with each other – we text and talk on our mobiles all the time!

I no longer say my children have autism, as this implies it’s something that can be taken away. I say they are autistic, which is a way of being. What is the equivalent for ADHD? Let’s start with the fact that ADHD is just wrong. It’s not attention deficit, it’s attention overload, so from now on I will call it attention overload and hyperactivity ?, so AOH? . The reason why my room & work area is so messy is because I have lots of things going on at once that all demand my attention. I also get easily distracted by other things that need to be done – half way through this paragraph I noticed I had an email that I checked and came back here via a quick look at an online sale, but I’m back here, and this blog post will get finished. However, in an emergency or a tense situation this can be a gift, as I can see all the things that need to be done, and I will make sure they are all done in time. Like many nuerodivergencies, AOH? is not a disorder, and it’s not a problem to the person who has it. It’s the way society (education, work, health, shopping and life in general) reacts that’s the main problem. The AOH? person or the autistic person does not have a disorder, they just live in a society that expects conformity and ‘normalness’ and is incredibly ableist.

Which, I suppose, is why we have ‘disorder’ in these ways of being. Anything different is seen as not normal, and brings a lack of order to a preconceived idea of who things should be. I have been researching witch trials for an English project for work, and 300 years ago, anyone who was a little different (left handed, a single woman, people who did things their way) was accused of being a witch, so a lack of acceptance is nothing new, but the ND community is still shunned. They still face a lack of acceptance, are taught coping mechanisms in education, are expected to adapt their needs for everyone else. There aren’t witch trials any more, thank goodness, but we are a long way from an equitable society. The next step towards this is to drop the disorder.

Hello, I’m Emma and I have a superpower.