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One of the odder people I follow asked me if I see myself as a victim because I have ADHD.
I do not.
Allow me to explain, you know, if you're interested -
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I do not.
Allow me to explain, you know, if you're interested -
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - let's use the official psychiatric language for now - is a neurodiversity.
Somewhere around 5% of most human populations have it.
There are other neurodiversities - autism/Asperger's Syndrome often gets the biggest billing.
But...
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Somewhere around 5% of most human populations have it.
There are other neurodiversities - autism/Asperger's Syndrome often gets the biggest billing.
But...
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Also consider dyslexia, left handedness, bipolar disorder and, I would argue, psychopathy a.k.a. Anti-Social Personality Disorder ... if you're into offical psychiatric classifications.
What is a neurodiversity?
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What is a neurodiversity?
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We often think that evolution is a marvellous thing that creates leopards and orchids and all sorts of crazy beautiful creatures.
This is true.
But evolution also gives us stuff like sickle cell anemia.
If you don't know SCA is a genetic 'disease' that affects -
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This is true.
But evolution also gives us stuff like sickle cell anemia.
If you don't know SCA is a genetic 'disease' that affects -
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mostly people of West African and Central African decent.
One single gene creates a change in red blood cell membranes - making them slightly more sticky.
If you inherit this gene from your mother OR you father - you will probably get some protection against malaria.
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One single gene creates a change in red blood cell membranes - making them slightly more sticky.
If you inherit this gene from your mother OR you father - you will probably get some protection against malaria.
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The one disease that has killed more human beings than almost any other cause.
However - if you inherit the gene from both your mother and your father you are likely to get sickle cell anemia.
Which is horrible.
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However - if you inherit the gene from both your mother and your father you are likely to get sickle cell anemia.
Which is horrible.
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Evolution doesn't just make leopards and orchids - faced with a terrible and insoluble problem like malaria, it hacks and hacks and hacks until it comes up with something that kinda works even if the side effects are terrible.
The lesson here is that evolution hacks.
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The lesson here is that evolution hacks.
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Long term you get leopards and orchids and starfish and honey bees. And that is mind-blowingly beautiful. But that is not what evolution is trying to do.
Evolution is just trying to get an edge.
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Evolution is just trying to get an edge.
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So.
Have a think about neurodiversity -
Have a think about autism, ADHD, dyslexia and the rest.
Autism is a bitch. I have met people with severe autism, I have cared for people with severe autism. Severe autism puts people in a place where there is a lot of suffering -
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Have a think about neurodiversity -
Have a think about autism, ADHD, dyslexia and the rest.
Autism is a bitch. I have met people with severe autism, I have cared for people with severe autism. Severe autism puts people in a place where there is a lot of suffering -
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and really, very little redemption.
However, autism is also the Rain Main. Autism is also a lot of people who are very happy with who they are and what they contribute to society and really wouldn't want to be any other way.
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However, autism is also the Rain Main. Autism is also a lot of people who are very happy with who they are and what they contribute to society and really wouldn't want to be any other way.
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It's always a bit problematic to make historical diagnoses of people but, you know, it's a racing certainty that Isaac Newton was autistic.
What Isaac Newton achieved in the Principia was an something that will live through all human history.
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What Isaac Newton achieved in the Principia was an something that will live through all human history.
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No one put it better than Newton's near contemporary, Alexander Pope:
"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light."
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"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light."
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People with autism - Autistic Spectrum Disorder - can end up in a terrifying place.
They are also amongst the most spectacular contributors to human culture and learning.
And evolution put autism in the human genome precisely because of that.
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They are also amongst the most spectacular contributors to human culture and learning.
And evolution put autism in the human genome precisely because of that.
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Human beings are sociable, group, tribe, nation, society creatures.
We need the strengths of everyone to make us the best we can be.
And evolution has pushed that diversity into us so that we can be more than a monoculture of 'normals' could ever be.
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We need the strengths of everyone to make us the best we can be.
And evolution has pushed that diversity into us so that we can be more than a monoculture of 'normals' could ever be.
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(... meaning no disrespect to 'neurotypical' folk ...)
So here's thing - the genes for sickle cell anemia confer protection against humankind's greatest microbiological foe and also, sometimes, create a terrifying physical disease.
The genes for autism -
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So here's thing - the genes for sickle cell anemia confer protection against humankind's greatest microbiological foe and also, sometimes, create a terrifying physical disease.
The genes for autism -
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inject into the human population individuals who create singular and extraordinary insights, and also create a terrifying mental health condition.
Leopards, orchids, parasitic wasps.
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Leopards, orchids, parasitic wasps.
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ADHD is a tiny bit akin to autism, indeed a small number of researchers think they are two aspects of the same process.
However no one ends up in long term learning disability care diagnosed with ADHD.
What does happen to people with ADHD (sometimes!) -
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However no one ends up in long term learning disability care diagnosed with ADHD.
What does happen to people with ADHD (sometimes!) -
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is that we end up in the criminal justice system, we end up bankrupt, we end up in the divorce courts ... on the various scrap heaps of life.
ADHD - is not really a 'disorder' so much as it is a difference.
Our attention system is different in a subtle but important way.
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ADHD - is not really a 'disorder' so much as it is a difference.
Our attention system is different in a subtle but important way.
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There is a system in the human brain called the 'default processing loop'.
What happens is this - every few seconds a pattern of excitation runs through the brain:
- first we process a tiny bit of the task in hand across the rear part of the neo cortex (...
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What happens is this - every few seconds a pattern of excitation runs through the brain:
- first we process a tiny bit of the task in hand across the rear part of the neo cortex (...
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(... the walnut shaped stuff on the outside of our brains ...)
-next the excitation passes into deeper, older region of our cortex and re-emerges
- in the bit underneath the frontal neo cortex. This is where the so-called pleasure and pain centres are.
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-next the excitation passes into deeper, older region of our cortex and re-emerges
- in the bit underneath the frontal neo cortex. This is where the so-called pleasure and pain centres are.
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what seems to happen here is that the current contents of consciousness are assessed for 'is this working for me right now?' - if so pleasure - and if not displeasure.
- once the current contents of consciousness are assessed but the pain/pleasure centres the results ...
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- once the current contents of consciousness are assessed but the pain/pleasure centres the results ...
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