Imagine for a second that you have a diagnosed medical condition which makes everyday tasks really difficult, sometimes impossible. That your medical condition stops you from being able to do the same things as others even when you really, really, really try.
Imagine the impact on your self-esteem and sense of self-worth because your disability means that you can't do the same things as others around you. Things that they can manage without even thinking about it.
Now imagine that a large section of society is telling you that you just need to "try harder" and that your condition doesn't really exist - even though you have an official diagnosis from a consultant.
Maybe there is a small handful of people who also claim to have the condition, but they're not officially diagnosed. Everyone else points to these people as proof that the condition you have is fake and made up. Even though you're properly diagnosed, this small minority just feeds public perception that it's not a real disability, and that your condition isn't real. That the consultants hand out these diagnoses to anyone and everyone (even though that's not true, but no one seems to care about the actual truth).
Every forum you go onto, there's a ton of people talking about how your condition never used to exist. Lot of jokes about how "everyone has got it now, right? LOL!!" - with lots of people nodding their head in agreement.
You know it's real. You have to live with the fucking effects of it every day of your life. Your consultant knows it's real. But the constant whispers and sneering makes others doubt whether this condition is just a cover for being lazy/weak/<insert other derogatory term>.
When public figures like Jo mock ADHD and autism, all of this is exacerbated. For our children, for the parents who are trying to support neurodivergent children, and for those of us who are neurodivergent ourselves.
But the people sneering about neurodivergence won't care - because they're convinced that most of us, and our neurodivergent children are fakes, and just a reflection of lazy modern society.
Give yourselves a round of applause. Well done on making people with genuine medical conditions feel even shitter than we already do about our difficulties. No wonder we have to fight so fucking hard to get our neurodivergent kids even the most basic support they need.