Neurospicy

[Bearinthesmallmessyflat]

I’ll preface this by saying I’m neurodivergent myself (adhd)
I’ve notice more and more people using the phrase neurospicy instead of neurodivergent. It started off online but now I know people who use it in person and I absolutely bloody hate it.
I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable because I can’t really articulate why I dislike it so much? It’s a bit like the ‘oh I’m just so weird and crazy people’ I feel

I hate it too. I have adhd and was only diagnosed in my late thirties. I’ve struggled all of my life to just navigate though it (life that is). I’ve been through addiction, depression etc etc and to see dickheads on social media trivialising a fucking debilitating disorder (ditto with autism) makes my blood boil. They wouldn’t do it with, say, MS or something that has more physical manifestations.

I will choose whatever term I like to describe myself, thank you.

Neurodivergent is a relatively recent term anyway.

Plus with 4 diagnosed ND conditions I think I qualify as diverse all by myself.

I didn’t know there were 4… isn’t being on the spectrum the only one?

There are many, including autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, bipolar, acquired etc.

It was a deliberate use of the word to mirror the bar-room bore level of disdain of some posters on this thread.

You can be ND and I can still think that you are wrong.

I haven't checked your posts specifically but there is a spread of opinion on language amongst ND people as there is in all loosely defined communities.

I find lots of the posts on this thread sneery, nasty and dismissive of people with whom they don't agree.

OMG what is your obsession with "bar rooms"? 😅

It’s a response to folk saying crude things like “mild autism”.

This is me 😁

It’s a response to folk saying crude things like “mild autism”.

I don't think it's crude. My diagnosis would have been Aspergers previously. And I clearly have a very different condition to someone who is non-verbal and needing lifelong care.
If you lump the lot of us together under the "autism" descriptor, of course people will reach for words like mild.

This whole policing of language and thin-skinnedness aligns more with identity politics than it does with a neurological condition.

No there’s many.

Not a dig against you - at least you’re showing curiosity - but it shows how far we have to go in educating people about neurodiversity.

I’m ND with two diagnosed conditions and neither of them are autism.

https://adhdaware.org.uk/what-is-adhd/neurodiversity-and-other-conditions/

It doesn’t hurt anyone. If you don’t like it. Dont use it. I am NT and I don’t care what anyone chooses to call themselves. Other than animals. That I cannot get on board with. Identifying as a cat is just poor mental health that needs therapy or treatment given to help the person identify as human IMO. But neuro spicy. who cares.

The vast majority of us on this thread who express a distaste for the phrase are neurodivergent ourselves.

And we are allowed to express both our opinion and our experience. It’s interesting that a lot of us have had similar experiences with the type of people that use the word, which suggests there could be some truth in it.

You don’t get to tell ND people that they’re not allowed an opinion in how they’re described. Those days are over.

Also worth pointing out that no stereotype is 100% true for everyone. I don’t know your or your DS. Maybe he fits the stereotype, maybe he doesn’t.

If he chooses to describe himself as neurospicy, that’s up to him. Might be worth him having an understanding of how it’s likely to be perceived by others outside his group though. Not to get him to change his mind, but because it could be significant in how he’s perceived.

Of those of us on this thread who intensely dislike the word and find it offensive, I can’t recall a single person who has said they tell others to stop using it. I certainly don’t. I may internally eye roll but that’s it.

You also could have made your point without using a derogatory slur. It didn’t add any weight to your argument and is just downright unpleasant.

Your DS will continue to describe himself as neurospicy. Many of us will continue to find it an unpleasant word. And the world will keep on turning with both things unchanged.

Hear hear @SpidersAreShitheads

I didn't say you don't get a say in how you're described

I said that so many of the posts were sneering and boorish.

You can complain about my choice of words but maybe make sure you've read what I've actually complained about.

I know this. I'm autistic. The point I was trying to make is that many people frame autism as a 'superpower'. In my view it is not. I would prefer to not be autistic. I would like to be like my siblings, highly talented but not fucking autistic.

Ah - ok - thanks. I’d always seen dyslexia and dyspraxia as under the umbrella of ‘specific learning difficulties’ (as my background is in primary school education) but not actually as part of neurodiversity which I tend to see as autistic spectrum stuff. Not that I particularly like the tendency of humans to try to label everything tidily in its own little pigeonhole, and I don’t see having one condition as meaning you can’t have another.

It's also a way to assert power, imo.

They probably wouldn't but I can't entirely rule it out!