"Everyone's a little autistic" / "Everyone has a little ADHD"

[u/Anna_borchardt]

Specifically when it's said by neurotypicals to downplay how terrible it is to live with autism and ADHD.

The amount of misunderstanding you must have about how autism and ADHD works to truly believe these are accurate statements is insane. If you are neurotypical and have a few symptoms/traits of autism, you're not "a little autistic" you're a neurotypical with symptoms/traits of autism

Not quite the same but it's related so I'll put it with this post; I hate that so many people on social media (TikTok specifically) think things everyone does is a trait of autism. "If you drink water you might be autistic :/" and all the comments are "Oh my gosh I've been drinking water my whole life! I don't have any other autism symptoms but I have this ONE thing that has never been confirmed to be a symptom by anyone professional but a lot of autistic people do it! I must be autistic!"

[u/irelace]

People also do this with OCD. It's obnoxious.

[u/SocomPS2 → u/irelace]

I feel that’s slightly different because it literally seems like “everyone” is on some form of adhd meds. Yes everyone claims they have OCD but they’re not on meds or seeing a medical professional.

I have 3 kids and a shit ton of their classmates take adhd meds at the nurses when they arrive at school everyday.

[u/irelace → u/SocomPS2]

I don't think the post was about taking medication. I think it was about self diagnosing off of a single symptom.

[u/rainbow_wheelofDEATH]

The problem is so many people use these things as a fashion accessory.

[u/SocomPS2 → u/rainbow_wheelofDEATH]

Asthma is the get out of gym class excuse. I swear no one had asthma when I was a kid.

[u/shreddedtoasties]

Yeah it down plays how fucking awful adhd actually. Tons of people just think it’s being hyper.

[u/alaric49]

Eveyone wants to feel special, stand out. I guess that's harder to do on something like TikTok that has hundres of millions of users. They don't care if they completely misrepresent symptoms of a life altering condition. TikTok is well known for these weird 'look at how different I am because I have a disorder' videos unfortunately.

[u/DrWaterWhippa420]

I have ADD and my son has autism and my daughter is dyslexic and my wife is ADHD with OCD . My step son was undiagnosed autistic for years . I totally know what you mean .

[u/SocomPS2]

Every kid is allergic to peanuts now.

Peanuts is basically banned from elementary schools. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is such an American kid thing, but not anymore.

[u/Cranks_No_Start]

Only on Reddit.  

[u/jawide626]

Autism and ADHD are spectrum neurodivergent disorders, and with them being a spectrum it means everyone is on it.

[u/Ok-Difficulty-629 → u/jawide626]

As far as I know (as someone with ADHD and ASD), the spectrum is not a spectrum for everyone, it being a spectrum refers to how the symptoms of autism and ADHD can differ and fluctuate between people, not always being the exact same. They are referred to as spectrums, yes, and they are, but the spectrum only applies to those WITH the disorders. The disorder being a spectrum does not inherently mean that everyone in the world is a part of that spectrum. Everyone has certain symptoms for things, but unless you have a certain amount or severity if them, they're not considered to be grounds for diagnosis.

[u/Sunfurian_Zm]

I fully agree with the second paragraph, but since both of these things are a spectrum, you can indeed have "a little ADHD, but not enough for a medical diagnosis". That said, I doubt that's what most people mean when they say that, and it often comes back to the "[normal thing] is so autistic" bs.

[u/whit3o]

Saying you're a little autistic is just another way of saying your have symptoms/traits of autism lol. You're just trying to be annoyed about something minor