I do not apologise for the length of the post that I have published today, analysing an article in the Financial Times discussing the prevalence of both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and so-called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
As is, no doubt, apparent from my analysis, the article made me angry, and I make no apology for that anger. I think it is wholly justified.
I should make clear that I do not have a diagnosis for either of these conditions, or for them in combination, which is now commonly called AuDHD. That does not prevent me from suspecting that I do have both. However, at my stage in life, I am not sure that having a diagnosis would be a good use of NHS time, or of my personal funds, although I do know those of my age for whom a diagnosis would be of benefit.
That said, what I should also be clear about is that I do know quite a number of bright, impressive, personable and very obviously intelligent young people whom I have met in a variety of situations, who have admitted to having one, the other, or both of these conditions. For them, without exception, diagnosis has been massively important because it has helped them understand just why it is that they do not fit the stereotype that is supposedly required of them. When they understand that there is a mismatch between how they think and how the rest of the world thinks, it is as if a lightbulb goes on. They are no longer at fault. They no longer have to keep asking what is wrong with them.
Understanding that there are others who think as they do, why they think as they do, and why they respond in ways that others observe as differing from the norm, is critical to their self-development as people who can embrace themselves as they are, which in most cases they have not been able to do by the time they discover their diagnosis, often after nearly two decades in an education system seemingly designed to alienate them in every way possible.
My own realisation has been important to me, but it has been a gradual process, and not a light bulb one. However, I well recall, in a not unrelated way, my discovery on a course that I was reluctantly persuaded to take part in several decades ago that I was profoundly introverted in the Jungian sense, and that this meant that everything I was trying to do in my career at that moment was always going to be a profound struggle for me, however successful I might appear to be.
I was suddenly told that there was a personality type that looked inward for a source of motivation, and that intuition rather than sensation mattered more to me, but not to others, whilst the fact that thinking took precedence over feeling for me was a valid, but not true of everyone.
Three things became clear:
- My life experience was inherently different to that of some other people.
- This did not mean there was anything wrong with me: I was just different.
- I happened to be in a decided minority as a consequence of what I discovered, but this was not a problem if I also understood that there was nothing wrong with others having different ways of thinking and so priorities to me.
- The task was to understand the differences and to then use them to best effect in life.
What I stress is that my discovery that I was an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs model was revelatory, even though it was just labelling using a model, and not a diagnosis. My subsequent change in direction in life, which happened just after I was 40, can in no small part be explained by that new understanding, so significant was it. Suddenly, a great deal made sense to me, although it is still the case that I am told by some people with whom I share this that there is no way on earth that I am an introvert, which shows just how prejudiced people who have not bothered to find out what having that personality type means can really be.
What I also know is that the same revelatory experience happens for many of those who are liberated by realising what their true selves are when ASD, ADHD, or both are explained to them. Going through the process of discovering whether they have these conditions leaves them seeing themselves and their world in a totally different way. Once they understand, they then have a chance. Until then, they are, in effect, left in the dark, struggling, subject to prejudice, and without hope of understanding why they find everything so difficult.
And that is why I am angry. The article the FT published was based on what I consider to be extremely poor statistical analysis that suggested resources might be misallocated and that overdiagnosis is taking place, when the exact opposite is almost certainly true.
The suggestion was made within that article, in my opinion, that some people might be using diagnosis to secure social advantage. I am appalled that a paper like the FT might publish such a suggestion. What this reveals, in my view, is a prejudice on the part of those who choose not to understand what having these conditions means, or how those who have them suffer because they live in a world designed by and for neurotypical people in which their agency is, quite extraordinarily, denied and not just by individuals but by systematic intent.
That suffering does not arise from the conditions themselves. There is, after all, nothing “wrong” with people with any of these conditions. They can, in fact, be decidedly life-affirming if a person is allowed to embrace who they really are. The suffering arises because of the prejudices imposed upon them by those who do not have these conditions. Those without them often demand conformity to ways of behaviour that are abnormal, incomprehensible and stressful to those who do have them. As a result, people with these conditions are forced to learn how to tackle that prejudice. This typically involves continual masking of their own true nature. The stress of doing so is enormous, and it carries a high risk of burnout and breakdown. All of this persists because prejudice against those who do not think in a standard fashion is deemed acceptable by society.
I know a bit about this, too. If I go back to the incomprehension people suggest they have about my being an introvert, this is frequently stated as an outright contradiction. They say, “No, you're not”. I would hope these days that no one would say “No, you're not” if someone imparted that they thought themselves gay, lesbian, bi, queer or trans. But apparently, it remains quite acceptable to say to someone they are not an introvert, or not AuDHD, or whatever else they might know themselves to be, denying their whole lived existence as a result. And yes, I am angry that this is apparently acceptable in our society.
In this context, I do, at the very least, call the FT's publication of this article grossly irresponsible. At worst, it is outright discrimination.
And yes, I am very, very angry about that, because I know millions in this country think differently, and there is nothing whatsoever wrong with them as a result. But they do need that difference to be recognised, they do need to enjoy educational support to fit into a system that is otherwise not designed for them, and they may well need understanding within the workplace rather than prejudice of this sort. If the absence of that support, or even of the need for it is not a cause for anger, I do not know what is.
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[…] definitely has the last of these conditions, and then went through a risk analysis with them based on my disclosure that I strongly suspect that I also have both such […]
I agree with this in principal but have found as I get increasingly older that neuro-diversity seems over centered on the younger people? It is as if age has sort of opted you out of it all and that you are just ‘old’ or ‘slow’ now – not just different in how you interpret the world.
I don’t know. What do others think?
The reality is that it was always assumed these conditions were found amongst schoolboys. Blame Prof Simon Baron Choen for that disaster. It is not true.
The condition is for life. Robert Kennedy Jnr’s view that it is curable is 100% wrong.
It affects women most likely as much as men.
The reality is older people:
– Do not know about it
– Mask it
– Get so used to masking it they do not realise they have it
– Have stressed lives too often as a result.
It’s there: it’s just not recognised.
I may, or may not, be neurodiverse in some sense. If so, I was extremely lucky yo have parents whose attitude was “You’re OK. It’s everybody else who’s out of step”
This is an issue in the study: good parents do that. The study the report refers to did not allow for that.
PSR, young people are more likely to be diagnosed, more likely to be aware. I am only aware due to other family. I’m getting older and slower, and have my diagnosis. The latter has helped me understand myself and how I have experienced life better. Sad to learn that women with ADHD live, on average 8 years shorter lives. Less reduction for men. Just hope I am lucky. Do you think the govt might give me my pension a bit earlier?!!
Good luck, but I think the last very, very unlikely.
My two sons are autistic
Youngest is often called on to act as a host when his school is open for parents evenings open days etc as he’s very good at it.
He is very good at interacting with people in that sort of context even if when its over he’s happy to head for the solitude of home
Precisely
Thanks for sharing
Very good post Richard (and also your other post on the Burn-Murdoch article). I’m in a similar position to you – I’m convinced I have ASD although I’ve not been diagnosed. My 10-year daughter has been diagnosed with ASD and ADHD and it’s observation of her behavioural traits over a long period of time that has led me to the conclusion that I share many of the same patterns of behaviour. I am very worried that neuro-diverse people are becoming the latest front in the right-wing “culture war” – with Refash UK, the Tories and now the Labour Party (or at least Wes Streeting) attacking them, and the consequences could be very serious indeed – given that *existing* provision and support for these conditions in the health and education systems is inadequate, what’s it going to look like after a right-wing govt makes further huge cutbacks?
So much to agree with Howard – and thank you.
That might need to be our second podcst.
Belbin Team building theory appears to link in with neuro-divergence especially the “Plant” role:-
https://prepearl.net/belbin-team-roles/
I too found Myers Briggs and the Enneagram very helpful in understanding what drives my thinking and action and, more significantly, what that means for me in working with others who are shaped differently. Six grandchildren from two different families have illustrated for me recently the divergence of ability to function within the frameworks we have established for society, particularly schooling for them, and have revealed traits that I carry more clearly. School with its rules and boundaries fits my eldest grandson down to the ground. He is introverted, finds change and transitions difficult, is very bright and high-achieving at school, his teachers find his attentiveness praiseworthy and say he contributes in class. The second, from a different family, is extroverted, finds change and transitions difficult, is very bright and has trouble in school because his interests are wide ranging and he lacks the attentiveness classes demand and will not stop sharing opinions on the subject at hand.
My feeling is that schools and society at large are shaped around a commitment to a set of norms that can never be exemplified in a single human being. Both of my grandchildren have features that could be described as neurodivergent but one succeeds because his preferred way of operating suits the system better. I am an extrovert, a control freak, who relishes time spent alone!
Thanks
Your article chimes with my experience, so please don’t misjudge my first comment: I don’t believe in autism as a “condition”. This view comes from observation particularly of children diagnosed with autism whose behaviour seems to me perfectly normal even if seen by some as eccentric – or even seen by parents as inconvenient. I see ADHD in much the same way. What I believe is that society has too narrow a view of what constitutes “normality” in people’s interaction with the world around them.
A diagnosis of autism is a recognition that a person’s relationship with the world around them falls outside some inappropriate patterns that society has arbitrarily decreed for them. The importance of the diagnosis is in encouraging society to improve a little corner of itself for the benefit of the person diagnosed – but the framing of that as “support” is getting things the wrong way round. The problem is really not in the person, but in society as a whole being too narrow-minded to interact with them effectively.
Paul
I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but nor will I argue with it.
For those who don’t have an FT sub – I currently do – here’s a link to an archive version of J B-M’s article: https://archive.ph/ojwIA.
Good article on Trump-and-hate the other day in the National, btw. I think the tide is turning against the grifer. Woe bedide the conman when the conned figure out the scam!
I am enjoying the exchanges in the National between Dr Thibault Laurentjoye and Dr John Ball on the best currency option for the independent Scotland (and Wales) I am sure most around these parts wish to see – it is good to see a polite, almost old-fashined debate.
I never did Myers-Briggs, but in pastoring a leadership team in church, we found a similar less intense scheme (Gilbert & Fraleigh Style Profile) used by the London Mennonites in training mediators (which is where I came across it) very liberating for individuals and for the team as a whole. Instead of our style differences producing irritation, conflict and frustration in the team, (and a dynamic favouring majority rule by the dominant personality style), the exercise validated difference and helped us value the insights of those with a different profile, including adopting their insights, rather than over-ruling them. It also produced a lot of humour – as we gently teased one another as a way of recognising and validating our different styles. It was very refreshing!
In politics and team building, the challenge then becomes to build systems that include, to consult in a way that empowers rather than discriminates.
When decisions get made, how are the perspectives of different personality types ascertained? How many different ways of “consulting” were used to canvas opinions/reactions? Who might our preferred method of consultation have excluded or unduly priviliged?
Using more religious language, the Christian concept of “spiritual gifts” had a similar role to play, especially preventing the phenomenon of “gift projection” – eg: I’m a pastor-teacher, so everyone else should also go to seminary and study theology, and if they don’t, I will look down on them as less sincere or committed than me.
Thanks
Much to agree with
I tested more normal on an ADHD test but outside the normal range on an Autism one. The fixation on facts over feelings definitely resonates. A diagnosis and request for recognition is about trying to allow people to work and engage effectively with you.
For example, I’ve attended meet-and-greets with my daughters. It’s standard for the act to give an innocuous pleasantry like ‘I like your shirt’. As this generally strikes as insincere, then, however well-meant, this affects my ability to speak. Whatever topic I wanted to mention has likely gone, as I’m rendered almost mute by the tension between understanding someone was trying to be nice and an objection to dishonesty.
I’ve been successful in my career. I still find certain circumstances not just relatively difficult but cripplingly so. I’ve accumulated coping strategies, but social events that are intended to be fun (like most Christmas parties) are an exercise in stress management, resisting the temptation to either not attend or leave at the earliest opportunity.
There are events I would enjoy, but the people in roles that organise those events invariably have different preferences. Inclusivity is about having social opportunities which are accessible to people with disabilities, enjoyable to those with neurodivergent traits, suitable for religious preferences, etc. That’s not an advantage, that’s just mimimising clear disadvantage.
David
You are masking – and it is very stressful
Asd my wife and I say – one advantage of being grown up is we can avoid gpoimng to parties – my least favourite social occassion, but it is taboo to say it
I can do the small talk
Just lock me away afterwards…
And I so agree with your last paragraph
Richard