adhd cat
this project is something I’m working on to share the typical experiences of neurodivergent people. i wanted to highlight normal struggles and things that are beautiful about life for people like me to help people who relate to it feel not alone and help neurotypical people understand what it’s like for us a little better.
this is all based on the experiences of my friends and i. it is not meant to be taken as medical advice or diagnosis tools.
burnout | am23-a91
BURNOUT
the struggle of stress from pushing yourself to function and manage neurodivergent symptoms leading to exhaustion, and the feeling that the life had been sucked out of everything. i think most people experience at least once in their life but a lot of neurodivergent people it’s a constant struggle not to fall back into this place.
It’s the state of being completely out of emotional, mental, and energy.
morning routine | am23-a92
MORNING ROUTINES
routines can either be the bane of a neurodivergent’s existence or the saving grace, or both. i personally have a hard time building routines and sticking to them, and get so mad at myself that i’m making me stick to them, but also feel a lot better after finishing whatever my current morning routine is. it’s like a breath of fresh air and doing something familiar brings a lot of comfort and makes me feel ready to tackle the day.
sit still | am23-a95
THE “ADHD SIT”
being very fidgety, sitting still is very much a challenge for a lot of people with ADHD. this leads to a lot of interesting postures while trying to work. i do it both for fidgeting and also because i find the sensory experience of how gravity pulls in different positions comforting and figuring out what muscles you have to use to stay in whatever position fascinating.
parroting | am23-a94
PARROTING
parroting is officially considered to be more of an autism spectrum type thing but i see both adhders and asders parroting, i think it just fulfills different needs. it’s a type of stim where you repeat things you heard but I also do it for movements i’ve seen. Sometimes it’s a need to immediately respond with the sound like i physically can’t stop myself from meowing when a cat meows at me, sometimes it’s a word, sentence, or song getting stuck in your head and you repeat it over and over again and are kind of “stuck” on it, and sometimes it’s a silly little dance you realize you’re doing whenever you zone out.
i decided to make a gif of this little dance because i saw it and was parroting it all week :)
auditory processing disorder | am23-b2
AUDITORY PROCESSING DISORDER
apd is linked with adhd and/or asd. there are a lot of nuances to it but the main thing is struggling to focus on one sound. the person talking to you’s voice blends into all of the background noise and it takes longer to pick out their words and what they are saying than it would for a neurotypical.
i wanted to make a gif that highlighted the sounds being blended together and hard to make out as well as the discomfort it can cause when you’re in loud settings.