Thanks, a ghost!

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Omg I was the same for a long time, but as someone with one parent who wants to medicate all symptoms into oblivion, and the other insisting that ADHD is not a real condition and is just a moral flaw, it's been kinda tricky getting proper care. TwT

Here are my thoughts:

1.) If possible, get diagnosed so you are eligible for medications (apparently these reallly help, but I've heard they can exacerbate anxiety, so please do discuss this with your health provider before jumping into anything). 

2.) Getting a counsellour may also be beneficial for giving tailored advice on how to manage, and can give you lots of effective strategies and support if you find the right kind of person and are able to 'click.' A combination would likely be ideal (meds + sessions with a professional)

3.) I have a few tricks I've picked up over the years, too.

> Never do fun things before work. It sounds obvious, but to keep yourself focused it's really important 

>  20:5 minute cycles/rotations are scientifically proven to be more effective (especially for those with attention issuss, such as ADHD) than trying to force yourself to do work for hours straight. Basically, you are more productive and able to absorb and retain information best for the first and last 10 minutes of work/study. So smush them together into a 20-minute chunk. Then take 5 minutes of a breather. Then do 20 minutes of work again. You continue until all your work is done! (I often switch topics after my breaks, even if it isn't done so I can come back later with fresh ideas and restored energy in that subject.)

> Going along with the previous point, don't try to tackle this alone! Hopefully, you can depend on trusted figures in your life to help you stay on track. This might be your guardian(s)/caretaker(s), a teacher you particularly get along with, a librarian, a counsellour, older sibling(s); anyone. Have them work with you, if possible, and designate specific areas they can help with. Timing yourself with the 20:5 cycles, for instance, might need their help; maybe you'll need reminders at first and need someone to get you started. If you want to slack off and do something before work, have them hold you accountable and keep you active until you've got enough work done.

> Sometimes just fidgeting with something makes it easier to focus in, say, a lecture or class where the teacher talk a lot. Teachers might scold you (I've gotten a lot of that), but if you explain beforehand and ask to be allowed something not very distracting, like say, a stress-ball or quiet fidget-toy/device they will likely be more understanding. Doodling might also help, and I know that when I'm reading I sometimes need the stimulation of music (preferably wordless) to keep me focused. 

Anyway, hope these help out a little! Lemme know if you've got any questions about any of the things I mentioned! :) 

Lol I'm on the spectrum, have ADHD, OCD, anxiety and dyslexia and I can confirm that people sometimes assume that's my whole personality. I remember reading Percy Jackson as a young kid and feeling seen for once, but also thinking it was kind of silly how everything was actually a mystical power. Like, you have ADHD? It's because you're destined to be a warrior demigod! Can't read English? That dyslexia is actually just because your brain is hardwired to read Greek! Like, it's a nice idea, but also kinda ehhhhh. (Also, not entirely related, but I really hated how Nico was outed...)

Anyway, it is definitely an issue how neurodivergence is either made to be an entire 'personality' or globbed together as one united "issue" that shares all of the same characteristics. 

I am able to socialise (if not slightly awkwardly, I am still an introvert after all and tend to avoid too much contact), but I know other diagnosed individuals (aspergurs and other autism spectrum disorders) with essentially no social skill, and some who are extremely personable, and everywhere in between. One of the most talkative and friendly people I know is a guy with high-functioning aspergurs. It is called the spectrum for a reason, after all. 

It's also kinda annoying how so many people are like "I'm just ADHD" or "Oh my gosh, I'm so OCD" or "I'm really depressed today" when they don't actually experience it, but just have something like a bad day, or like organization/are a perfectionist, or were hyper for a little bit once. Like, it feels kinda demeaning and like neuro-appropriation? Idk if that's a thing, but it just doesn't feel good when people use it as an excuse, if you know what I mean.

while it's good that there are a lot of lower level 1 characters, i'm just popping in to say a lot of things people think of as stereotypes and unrealistic are actually very realistic! like, frankly there are a lot of books with really badly written autistic characters whose traits are seen as bad and people are seen as reasonable for not wanting them to stim and that sort of thing where the actual symptoms are pretty much spot on. like, there was this one character who stimmed most of the time by humming the same thing over and over and didn't usually respond when talked to (probably among other things) and people were criticizing it for being unrealistic but except for the actual stim both of those describe me. and when you look at lists of "how should an autistic character be written?" honestly it's mostly "make them as low level 1 as you can". for instance, a lot of people are like "they should mask". But i can't really mask, and if i can it's not very effective at all. i can't even stop my stims the vast majority of the time. in addition, having other neurodivergencies is very common, and having fixations on numbers is also not inherently wrong, especially if it's numbers of something because that can be a consistency thing (making a bag of candy for several days and each day has to have the same amount) or maybe a special interest. what i'm saying is stereotypes aren't inherently bad, and most of the things people say are stereotypes are just... symptoms. like, is an autistic character masking a stereotype? no. and yet every good book about autism seems to go into it, even though some autistic people like myself can't really do that.

autistic characters absolutely should have personalities and thoughts and opinions (though even if someone was truly so deeply effected they legitimately had no thoughts or opinions they would still be a person who should be treated well), but that can still be affected by autism! like, i like making one line jokes. but if you try to have a conversation with me (unless it's about ballet or Jellycats or maybe viola/violin and even more maybe writing and then i probably don't do it "right" idk) i probably just won't do anything XD and also, if i'm using a computer/tablet program, i might not be able to get it written until the conversation has moved on. there are a lot of things i don't get, and when i can talk i say a lot of nonsense things like "is Fritz (my cat, who is not purple) purple?" for some reason, and if there's something i'm expecting that changes i might have a meltdown and i'll probably at least be very disoriented and quite possibly shut down a lot (also meltdowns are  a way bigger thing for me than a lot of autistic characters, like i was reading an analysis of an autistic character who's a really good character to be clear, that character is really important, but the person was like "it showed how hard meltdowns really are and it was a bad meltdown" or something and that would be the mildest meltdown in the world for me, which nothing in that is really bad it's just isolating when even the worst meltdowns people can imagine are mostly stimming and crying, which is still really hard to be clear but it's just  isolating) also if there's a special interest that'll probably be a big part of their personality. like, I take a Jellycat everywhere (usually a Bashful, usually my Bashful Tiger, Chrysanthemum Jasper) and I give them the roles they'd be in my ballets and also to my cats (like Fritz, whose name is technically Vivace but he's exactly like Fritz from The Nutcracker) and i'm watching ballet pretty constantly (The Sleeping Beauty right now) and i usually am if i'm writing something. i seem a lot more normal on the CB (especially because i'm guessing you're seeing all of the things i mentioned from a lens of mostly seeing low level 1 autistic people, so they seem more normal) and I don't have to write in time for a conversation with peoples' fast mouth words and so it's pretty great. also i don't really know that most of these things are super weird to be honest, even though people often react weirdly. 

to be clear there's nothing wrong with the books or being low level 1. but it is wrong that it's all that gets represented, and that low level 1 people pretend anyone who's even high level 1 doesn't exist or is really "low functioning" (because apparently that's an okay word to use but high functioning isnt??? like i've seen this irl) and call anyone who's remotely visibly autistic a stereotype. it's wrong that if i was to publish a book with a character like me - one of the characters i write - people would say that no autistic person actually looks like that. and there are a lot of people who have it way more severe than i do. 

not disagreeing necessarily, just nuance. also because the general ideas of stereotypes and frankly neurodivergence in general are not really great so a bit defensive i guess. i wrote this all in one sitting and honestly can't tell if it makes sense but i'm posting ig.