#you know - anime and manga. generalized fantasy novels. webcomics. fandom content. certain types of clothes

[greentrickster]

Honestly, one of the things that I’m starting to think is the strangest things I do as a neurodivergent is that I generally headcanon characters in media as neurotypical. I just do. I learned I have ADHD in sixth grade, but it was never, ever something that anyone made me feel less about or mocked me for, I just got put on some medication that legitimately helped me and it was basically all good. (And, when I was in my twenties and ready, I eventually got off that medication, and everything I learned while on it means I cope just fine without now.)

This was at the tail-end of the 90s, so I and those around me had no reason to think that some of my social struggles were due to me being neurodivergent, we just didn’t know as much about it back then. And we had moved several times during my childhood to very different places, so I always put my struggles down to that. And I never read the ‘hyperactive weirdo’ characters in kids’ cartoons as being supposed to have ADHD, because that wasn’t me and nobody told me it was supposed to be, so why would I think it was?

The weirdest thing that ever happened to me as a result of it was getting to university and being told, “Oh yeah, since you have ADHD, you can have time and a half to take midterms and finals in a private room if you want.” To which I was like “...bro, why? It’s just ADHD, it’s not that big a deal, no need for special treatment.” (Though yes, I did give it a try. Once. 1/10, terrible, harder to focus there than with everyone else, never did it again.)

For me, for the first twenty-seven years or so of my life, the perceived ‘difference’ between myself and people without ADHD was honestly very thin. Yes, it makes more sense and is a relief to have learned that some of the things I thought were just me being socially incompetent are actually just a result of my brain being wired very differently,  but again, I tend to view it more along the lines of a language barrier than anything else. And people overcome those all the time, it’s just a matter of learning. The difference between myself and neurotypicals can feel wider at times these days, but it’s still not something that ever feels truly insurmountable to me.

So no, I don’t tend to headcanon characters as neurodivergent, even though I am. Because no one ever made me feel that I wasn’t normal or like I was incompetent/less because of my neurodivergence. About other things, yes. But never about that. So it’s just not something I look for or think about when I’m searching for representation.