As a person with ADHD, this election cycle has destroyed any hope of focusing on anything except the election.

The chaos of it all and the ways that it makes clear the depths of this country's racism have robbed me of anything resembling focus except in brief moments. (1/n)

By brief, I mean no more than a couple of hours at as time. And that's if I get distance from it. This point is crucial because the breadth of the election makes this all but impossible: there is no getting away from it, nor is there avoiding discourse about it. (2/n)

To wit, I have not been to bed before 4am EST each evening, and yet I have managed to host open sessions for my students, attend university service meetings (when they're not scheduled on top of one another) and do most the work required of me by academia. (3/n)

That said, my situation might be unique given the ways I identify, move through the world, and the broader context of the world, but I mention this only to make clear that we might consider extending compassion to our neuroatypical colleagues post-election. (4/n)

Especially those who are marginalized along many axis as we try to pull ourselves together after going through what amounts to an intense, collective trauma.

I'd say that we should not expect any of us to be "back to normal," that we should take care in the weeks to come. (5/n)

But that's unlikely to be the case broadly. That said, if you can extend compassion or be flexible with what you're asking of people, try to do so. I know I will. (fin)