This female co-worker will not shut up about how she's "probably neurodivergent." She's self-diagnosed, of course. No formal evaluation. The closest she’s come to an evaluation is probably some tiktok quiz. It seems like she's claiming it for a desire to be special
She'll say things like:
"I can’t sit in the open office, fluorescent overload, y’know? my adhd or whatever…”
“the sounds people make give me sensory spikes”
"sitting next to too many people at once gives me anxiety tremors.”
She says with a sense of pride, like it's her new favorite personality trait.
What pisses me off is that she has no idea what this kind of struggle actually means if you're a male. For men, being neurodivergent or even just socially awkward isn't a quirky talking point, it's a life sentence of isolation. It's not getting invited anywhere, being the weird, quiet guy in the corner that people avoid. It's knowing your own brain is working against you every time you try to form a connection.
She's also in a relationship, has a circle of friends, functions perfectly fine in a social setting when she wants to. She gets to play up her "symptoms" for attention and then turn them off when it's convenient. She has no concept of the true, soul-crushing horror of being a man whose brain doesn't work "right." For us, it's not a label, it's a cage.
She talks about it like it's a good thing to have because for her, it gets her sympathy and attention. Although I don't think I'm neurodivergent, I do have social anxiety and am very socially awkward. Being part-time neurodivergent has only ever brought me silence and loneliness. She has no idea.
She'll say things like:
"I can’t sit in the open office, fluorescent overload, y’know? my adhd or whatever…”
“the sounds people make give me sensory spikes”
"sitting next to too many people at once gives me anxiety tremors.”
She says with a sense of pride, like it's her new favorite personality trait.
What pisses me off is that she has no idea what this kind of struggle actually means if you're a male. For men, being neurodivergent or even just socially awkward isn't a quirky talking point, it's a life sentence of isolation. It's not getting invited anywhere, being the weird, quiet guy in the corner that people avoid. It's knowing your own brain is working against you every time you try to form a connection.
She's also in a relationship, has a circle of friends, functions perfectly fine in a social setting when she wants to. She gets to play up her "symptoms" for attention and then turn them off when it's convenient. She has no concept of the true, soul-crushing horror of being a man whose brain doesn't work "right." For us, it's not a label, it's a cage.
She talks about it like it's a good thing to have because for her, it gets her sympathy and attention. Although I don't think I'm neurodivergent, I do have social anxiety and am very socially awkward. Being part-time neurodivergent has only ever brought me silence and loneliness. She has no idea.
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