Weirdly Successful
Dedicated to helping you understand, navigate and enjoy your weird & wonderful neurodivergent life.
Restriction means being prevented from moving freely or being confined against your will. It can include being held down, trapped, or having your movement controlled by others. This is particularly important for neurodivergent people, who have historically faced harmful practices where restriction was used to stop stimming, force compliance, or 'manage' sensory overload.
ADHD paralysis is a form of executive dysfunction.
It refers to the difficulty in initiating, continuing, or completing tasks, even when the person understands the urgency and importance, and also has the ability to do the task. ADHD paralysis can be triggered by various factors, including overwhelm, anxiety, or the perceived complexity of a task.
Demand avoidance means you're opposed to doing something when it's perceived as a demand, especially coming from an authority figure, even if you want to do the thing. .
PDA stands for Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy.
Autonomy is the core value for people with PDA and any demand that threatens this autonomy triggers a danger-response (fight, flight, freeze).
Interoception is the ability to notice and identify feelings inside one's body, like thirst or hunger. It also includes the ability to notice and regulate temperature changes or notice pain.
Alexithymia is the inability to assign names to feelings, describe them to others or talk about them. It is considered a separate neuropsychological condition but has significant overlaps with autism.
Autistic burnout refers to a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion experienced by autistic people. It is a result of prolonged exposure to overwhelming sensory, social, and cognitive demands, often in an environment that does not accommodate their needs.
Misophonia is a neurodivergent condition characterized by an intense emotional and physiological response to specific sounds. People with misophonia experience strong negative reactions, such as anger, anxiety, or disgust, when exposed to certain sounds. These sounds can vary from person to person but commonly include chewing, slurping, tapping, or repetitive noises.
A brain network where dopamine travels, affecting motivation and reward, but also pain and many other functions.
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a neurological condition that affects the way an individual's brain processes and responds to sensory information from their environment.
PMDD is Premenstrual Disphoric Disorder, and refers to a severe, disabling form of PMS.
Masking is a partly unconscious effort to hide or suppress the manifestations of your neurodivergence. It is an exhausting process that many of us do to "fit in" more. Many people start to mask to avoid abuse, discrimination, bullying, harm and ableism.
A feeling of immense distress, a sensory overwhelm / autistic overwhelm is a strong reaction caused by the compounded effects of stress, exhaustion, lack of safety, a sense of danger, unmet needs, too much information, noise, sights or sounds, smells or touch.
