Weirdly Successful
Dedicated to helping you understand, navigate and enjoy your weird & wonderful neurodivergent life.
You won't lose yourself - in fact, most people find the opposite happens. As you gain clarity and self-compassion, drop the shame around your struggles, and learn to unmask more, you might discover you're more yourself than ever before. You'll finally get to meet the version of yourself that isn't constantly performing, compensating, or apologising for existing.
If you're worried about this, you're already not that person. Asking for accommodations (like quiet spaces, reminders, breaks) is self-care and self-advocacy. The difference between advocating for your needs and being manipulative comes down to respect: are you communicating your limits while taking responsibility, or are you demanding others tolerate harmful behaviour?
Internalised ableism is a psychological construct that refers to the internalisation of negative beliefs, stereotypes, and prejudices about disabilities that are prevalent in society.
It involves self-stigmatization and the development of a negative self-concept based on one's disability and onboarding negative beliefs said to us by parental figures, teachers, grown-ups and society in general.
High-masking refers to a person who is able to mask so efficiently that they ‘pass’ as neurotypical. High-masking is often one of the reasons women go undiagnosed – unfortunately, many assessors completely ignore masking and dismiss the experience of the individual.
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.
Self-compassion literally means what it says on the tin: you have compassion for yourself. You can feel empathy towards yourself, you can be kind, even loving towards yourself. But it is often overlooked in favour of self-care. Learn why it's so crucial for every neurodivergent person to learn self-compassion.
