#again i don't care if you id with neurodivergence bc of ocd. i am glad you find solace in it

[six-of-cringe]

Am I the only one that feels super uncomfortable with being placed under the "neurodivergent" umbrella because of OCD? From what I understand, neurodivergence describes people whose minds process information/are wired differently, but is more of a neutral difference rather than all negative. It implies that there are pros and cons to the condition, that it's just another way of being, and that it makes up a part of your identity - who YOU actually are. Please correct me if that's not accurate, but if that's the case, then I hate the idea of OCD being associated with me in that way. I don't care if other people identify with neurodivergence on account of their OCD, but to me the condition is a burden, pure and simple, and I find strength in the idea that my OCD doesn't represent who I am as a person. I have my personality, and OCD is a malignant growth that I have to work to cope with so that it doesn't keep me from being my true and best self. Aligning it with neurodivergence feels to me like fusing it to my identity, implying that OCD is essential to my personality, how I take in the world, responsible for even the good aspects of me. It makes it seem like OCD HAS "pros" to it, which only suggests that if I treat it, the things that make me "good" or "myself" will go away, a fear I've struggled to overcome for a long time. It doesn't represent and is not responsible for what I am like as a person. It's a malfunction of my brain, and treating it as a neutral difference or as inextricable from my personhood spits in the face of all the work I've done to be okay