There's a theory around ADHD that I struggle with. That, if society were different and more attuned to the needs and strengths of people with ADHD, there would be no need to distinguish it as a disorder at all and no treatment needed.

Let's talk about cognitive autonomy.

Upfront, I completely understand that society is not set up for folks with ADHD to thrive. That's very true. And I believe that major systemic changes are needed to support neurodivergent people, especially in the workplace.

And? I don't think ADHD goes away when that happens.

When my ADHD is unmedicated, I lose something that I call "cognitive autonomy." Namely, the ability to choose where I focus my energy and attention, and to carry that focus through.

It is debilitating regardless of the circumstances around me.

Cognitive autonomy matters a lot. Because while it's great to get sucked into hyperfocus on something you're really passionate about, sometimes we need a certain level of command over our focus because other shit still needs to get done, you know?

I want to be able to be engaged in a conversation without blurting something out or wandering. I want to be able to stay on top of my email inbox. I want to be able to finish tasks without getting swept up in another one.

Executive functioning is important.

Medication can be helpful for folks with ADHD because it gives us the cognitive mastery we often lose because our attention is being pulled in multiple directions, and not all of those directions serve us or happen to be useful to us.

We shouldn't have to expend a ridiculous amount of energy trying to steer our brains in the right direction. And for some of us with ADHD, it's literally a tug-of-war to get our brains to do what we need them to.

Medication has helped me more effectively filter the information around me and allows me to choose what to engage with... without forgetting about what I wanted to do in the first place, losing track of it, or not sticking with it to completion.

Yes, society and workplaces and all of that should be set up to be accessible to all sorts of brains!

I also don't think that for me, my ADHD would magically disappear or become a "gift" if only my environment were better.

Brains gonna brain. Sometimes they need a boost.

This is a "both, and" for me. I want folks with ADHD to have what they need to thrive. AND, for some of us, we experience our ADHD as very debilitating in itself and medication is where we get the kind of autonomy we need to pursue what we care about and *want* to be doing.

That sense of cognitive autonomy — the ability to choose where we apply our focus and how we organize a supportive and effective structure around it to do it well — is a big part of executive function. And that isn't a strictly environmental or social issue for many of us.

I'm not letting capitalism off the hook, but society isn't the sole factor in why folks struggle with ADHD. And it's dangerous to suggest that medication wouldn't be necessary if capitalism were dismantled — we need greater access to meds, not claims that it will be obsolete.

Anyway. Please don't take my Adderall away. Otherwise, I won't be able to write Twitter threads that make any sense.

But do take capitalism away. Keep that energy. Just... let me have my meds, and stop telling me ADHD is a "superpower" if only I stopped pathologizing myself.

Because it's not pathologizing yourself to claim a disability and ask for what you need. But it miiight be ableism when you tell an entire community how to feel about their neurodivergence by reducing it to a "gift" or a social construction.