Learn about neurodivergent experiences and how to best support those who live them.
Most ADHD-and-sleep content explains why you can’t fall asleep. This article is about why you can’t wake up. If you’ve been reading the dominant narrative on ADHD and sleep, it is almost entirely about insomnia: trouble winding down, racing thoughts at midnight, lying awake at 3 a.m. There’s a parallel pattern that rarely gets named … read more
An ADHD marriage does not have to turn one partner into a parent and the other into a kid. Worth saying that first, because almost everything written about ADHD in marriage starts from the opposite assumption. Most of the advice out there is written for the partner who does not have ADHD, and it reads … read more
You sit down at your desk with one task. Forty minutes later, you have answered three emails, started a different project, googled something unrelated, and the original task is still open on your screen. You sit down at your desk with one task. Forty minutes later, your shoulders are around your ears, you keep glancing … read more
You sat down to do the thing. Your heart rate climbed, your jaw set, and then nothing. The body refused to move forward, and an hour later you were still in the chair, no closer to the task and a lot more tired. Most people who land on this page have already wondered if what … read more
A friend mentions, almost in passing, that their week has been rough. Hours later, you are still carrying it. The mood settled into your chest somewhere around lunch and it has not left, even though nothing in your own day actually went wrong. If that sounds familiar, the word for it might be hyperempathy: feeling … read more
You finish a four-hour deep-work sprint Tuesday morning. The counter is clear, the inbox is empty, three things you had been avoiding for weeks are done. And you cannot tell whether that was a good ADHD day or the start of a hypomanic week. That question is the article. If you live with both ADHD … read more
You walk into the grocery store and it all hits at once. The lights buzzing overhead, the cart wheel that squeaks, the smell of rotisserie chicken, a song you half-recognize, two people talking behind you, and somewhere in your pocket is the list you came in with. Before you can find the first item, your … read more
You lock the front door. Then you check it. Then you check it again, this time with your hand on the deadbolt so you know for sure. Halfway to your car you cannot remember whether you actually engaged the lock, so you go back. Once you are finally on the road, you realize the keys … read more
Most lists of autism-friendly jobs are really just lists of job titles. Software developer. Accountant. Data-entry clerk. The trouble is that a job title cannot be autism-friendly. A workplace can. The same role can fit one autistic adult and quietly wear down another, and the difference is rarely about the work itself. It comes down … read more
You are sorting through a box of old report cards. Third grade: “doesn’t apply himself.” Fifth grade: “capable of more if he would focus.” A college transcript with one A surrounded by Cs you barely remember earning. A few therapist intake forms that always asked about anxiety, never about attention. A late ADHD diagnosis usually … read more