I think the “hating being told what to do” leans a little toward the ASD side of ADHD. The difficulty dealing with transitions that trigger anxiety and frustration when being shifted out of a routine.
You’re doing what you’re doing and focused on it, in the groove, then someone inserts something between you and the goal you were aimed at and completely destroys your flow.
I have no routines. Or maybe I have a routine that’s super haphazard. To normal people it doesn’t look like a routine.
When I get interrupted, on say something that needs my focus and my meds help me focus on, I can switch.
This is not that. It’s not change, it’s not interruption. I find the concept of authority to be meaningless unless everyone plays by the same rules, which clearly is not the case.
So when authority presents itself, I find the most pleasurable response to something obnoxious is being obnoxious. And that’s probably the ADHD part.
You don’t have to have a routine, it can be something that you’re very focused on. ADD and ASD both can have hyperfocusing going on.
Not everyone will have difficulty switching. We don’t all have the same wiring. I don’t hyperfocus, but if someone/-thing shifts me from my path to a goal it can be incredibly irritating, more than l think is “normal”.
Authority (IMO) is difficult because it’s almost always hypocritical, and plays favorites. The concrete thinker views it as “I do the job right I get credit”. The authority rewards the schmoozer who takes 3 hour lunches and cadged everyone elses’s work instead. Or… authority says go do thing. This is how thing is done per training. You go to do thing per standard, but can’t because the correct tools aren’t available or time constraints, or everyone else says do it different to get it done on time. Everyone knows it’s done different without correct tools/procedure, including authority. Thing goes wrong, and authority punishes for not doing thing per procedure even though there was no reasonable way to do so within the limits given.
Authority sucks, but IMO “normal” people are better at playing the game, whereas concrete thinkers reject the hypocrisy or find the schmoozing necessary in office politics difficult and reject it as a reflection of the job at hand.
Anyway. My whole family is non-normative. Everyone’s different. Some things are shared traits, others are unique to the individual. Nobody really fits neatly into a single label.
That sounds more like ODD to me, though Autism sometimes comes with a fierce sense of justice (because things have to Make Sense) and I don’t know your personal neurospicy Chex Mix.
According to the psych the only things that line up well with ASD are my masking symptoms which are indistinguishable from ADHD masking. Well and my generalized anxiety.
The big commonly talked about things- black and white thinking, narrow interests, behavior camouflaging, ignorance of social cues, or flat affect are absent.
Though interestingly my exwife has all of that, and it didn’t occur to me until after we moved apart. She was hot, I was young, young men tend to ignore obvious problems until it’s way too late.
Yes. Though I don’t know how exclusive it is to ASD.
Cognitive flexibility is an issue. If you’re in a flow, say discussing a subject or working on something that has your attention and someone changes or tries to redirect your focus it can be very frustrating and can cause an emotional response.
ADHD and ASD can have a lot of comorbidity. So now you’ve got the ability to hyperfocus (ADHD and ASD both share this) and the emotional response to being forced out of that hyperfocus.
I think the “hating being told what to do” leans a little toward the ASD side of ADHD. The difficulty dealing with transitions that trigger anxiety and frustration when being shifted out of a routine.
You’re doing what you’re doing and focused on it, in the groove, then someone inserts something between you and the goal you were aimed at and completely destroys your flow.
It can really be pretty angering.
That doesn’t quite match up with my experience.
I have no routines. Or maybe I have a routine that’s super haphazard. To normal people it doesn’t look like a routine.
When I get interrupted, on say something that needs my focus and my meds help me focus on, I can switch.
This is not that. It’s not change, it’s not interruption. I find the concept of authority to be meaningless unless everyone plays by the same rules, which clearly is not the case.
So when authority presents itself, I find the most pleasurable response to something obnoxious is being obnoxious. And that’s probably the ADHD part.
You don’t have to have a routine, it can be something that you’re very focused on. ADD and ASD both can have hyperfocusing going on.
Not everyone will have difficulty switching. We don’t all have the same wiring. I don’t hyperfocus, but if someone/-thing shifts me from my path to a goal it can be incredibly irritating, more than l think is “normal”.
Authority (IMO) is difficult because it’s almost always hypocritical, and plays favorites. The concrete thinker views it as “I do the job right I get credit”. The authority rewards the schmoozer who takes 3 hour lunches and cadged everyone elses’s work instead. Or… authority says go do thing. This is how thing is done per training. You go to do thing per standard, but can’t because the correct tools aren’t available or time constraints, or everyone else says do it different to get it done on time. Everyone knows it’s done different without correct tools/procedure, including authority. Thing goes wrong, and authority punishes for not doing thing per procedure even though there was no reasonable way to do so within the limits given.
Authority sucks, but IMO “normal” people are better at playing the game, whereas concrete thinkers reject the hypocrisy or find the schmoozing necessary in office politics difficult and reject it as a reflection of the job at hand.
Anyway. My whole family is non-normative. Everyone’s different. Some things are shared traits, others are unique to the individual. Nobody really fits neatly into a single label.
That sounds more like ODD to me, though Autism sometimes comes with a fierce sense of justice (because things have to Make Sense) and I don’t know your personal neurospicy Chex Mix.
ASD really doesn’t like hypocrisy. Part of the “concrete thinker” aspect.
According to the psych the only things that line up well with ASD are my masking symptoms which are indistinguishable from ADHD masking. Well and my generalized anxiety.
The big commonly talked about things- black and white thinking, narrow interests, behavior camouflaging, ignorance of social cues, or flat affect are absent.
Though interestingly my exwife has all of that, and it didn’t occur to me until after we moved apart. She was hot, I was young, young men tend to ignore obvious problems until it’s way too late.
ASD being autism spectrum disorder and that flow breaking is an issue for people on the spectrum?
Yes. Though I don’t know how exclusive it is to ASD.
Cognitive flexibility is an issue. If you’re in a flow, say discussing a subject or working on something that has your attention and someone changes or tries to redirect your focus it can be very frustrating and can cause an emotional response.
ADHD and ASD can have a lot of comorbidity. So now you’ve got the ability to hyperfocus (ADHD and ASD both share this) and the emotional response to being forced out of that hyperfocus.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-autism-spectrum-disorder/202108/7-executive-functioning-challenges-people-autism
Simple summaries of some of the traits in the article here regarding ASD.