Just watching the Twitter pile on in your recent thread and it's infuriating bc you can't, in 1 tweet of 480 characters, or multiple, build out enough context to get people to understand you're never critiquing them personally.
I agree with a lot of your read on this. I do want to add another layer — that saying is a play on something Ina Garten said on her old food network cooking show. She often would use super “high quality”, inaccessible ingredients and then say that phrase. Something like: “and if you can’t milk an organic free range goat as the sun rises and skim off the cream with a golden spoon, store bought cream is fine.” I’m not sure if this particular blogger has that in mind but I think it’s important in understanding how this phrase is used by some people. Encoded in the original use of that saying/meme is that achieving ideal mental health is inaccessible and difficult to “source” and that we can settle for a “store bought” version otherwise, if we “have to.” Obviously, like you said, medication might not actually achieve what it says it will but within the roots of that phrase is an acknowledgment medication is not ideal and essentially inferior, and the original thing isn’t able to be achieved without a lot of wealth and privilege.
In reality, ADHD people are taking stimulants so they can remember to brush their teeth.
The comparison with likely neurotypical WII pilots is a ridiculous strawman.
A trait is a disorder if, generally speaking, it is dysfunctional, deviant, and distress to the individual.
There are societal pressures that ADHD people struggle with. It isn't quite a disorder, so much as a different configuration of brain settings that's a normal part of a population that has its own benefits. I personally embrace my divergent thinking even though I fail at basic tasks. It is useful in certain situations and I don't take my meds when I want to exercise it.
However, stimulants DO help. We're not out here trying to grindset and hustle our way through capitalism because of big pharma ads.
I take meds so I remember to make gifts for my friends, so that I don't overeat to fill that dopamine gap, so that I can make plans to pursue hobbies. I can listen to people better without getting distracted. I remember to tell people that I love them because my brain usually moves too fast to acknowledge it.
Anti-stims people have no nuance or understanding of why people actually take it. We're not getting high, it makes us calmer. We actually use social media LESS when medicated. We have a natural deficiency in dopamine, and this raises us to normalish.
ADHD med stigma is toxic and laws already make it so hard to get. We're literally just trying to do our laundry without getting distracted by new hobbies. And yeah, we also want to keep jobs because I want to be able to afford healthier food.
Also, anyone attacking Jessica McCabe is a major red flag. She's done so much for the ADHD community with a great degree of vulnerability. It's the equivalent of shaming Bob Ross because he also sold paints.
Just watching the Twitter pile on in your recent thread and it's infuriating bc you can't, in 1 tweet of 480 characters, or multiple, build out enough context to get people to understand you're never critiquing them personally.
I agree with a lot of your read on this. I do want to add another layer — that saying is a play on something Ina Garten said on her old food network cooking show. She often would use super “high quality”, inaccessible ingredients and then say that phrase. Something like: “and if you can’t milk an organic free range goat as the sun rises and skim off the cream with a golden spoon, store bought cream is fine.” I’m not sure if this particular blogger has that in mind but I think it’s important in understanding how this phrase is used by some people. Encoded in the original use of that saying/meme is that achieving ideal mental health is inaccessible and difficult to “source” and that we can settle for a “store bought” version otherwise, if we “have to.” Obviously, like you said, medication might not actually achieve what it says it will but within the roots of that phrase is an acknowledgment medication is not ideal and essentially inferior, and the original thing isn’t able to be achieved without a lot of wealth and privilege.
In reality, ADHD people are taking stimulants so they can remember to brush their teeth.
The comparison with likely neurotypical WII pilots is a ridiculous strawman.
A trait is a disorder if, generally speaking, it is dysfunctional, deviant, and distress to the individual.
There are societal pressures that ADHD people struggle with. It isn't quite a disorder, so much as a different configuration of brain settings that's a normal part of a population that has its own benefits. I personally embrace my divergent thinking even though I fail at basic tasks. It is useful in certain situations and I don't take my meds when I want to exercise it.
However, stimulants DO help. We're not out here trying to grindset and hustle our way through capitalism because of big pharma ads.
I take meds so I remember to make gifts for my friends, so that I don't overeat to fill that dopamine gap, so that I can make plans to pursue hobbies. I can listen to people better without getting distracted. I remember to tell people that I love them because my brain usually moves too fast to acknowledge it.
Anti-stims people have no nuance or understanding of why people actually take it. We're not getting high, it makes us calmer. We actually use social media LESS when medicated. We have a natural deficiency in dopamine, and this raises us to normalish.
ADHD med stigma is toxic and laws already make it so hard to get. We're literally just trying to do our laundry without getting distracted by new hobbies. And yeah, we also want to keep jobs because I want to be able to afford healthier food.
Also, anyone attacking Jessica McCabe is a major red flag. She's done so much for the ADHD community with a great degree of vulnerability. It's the equivalent of shaming Bob Ross because he also sold paints.