I was diagnosed when I was eight - we're often far better communicators than "normal" people. Those of us who have needed to navigate the world without support for our differences learn how to play the game incredibly well because it's the only way to survive within it. It just tires us more than it does you.

Within the community, we call it "masking." And in abused children it's often even more prevalent because you learn to hide your "major autistic traits" for the sake of staying alive and getting through the day.

I've held many jobs that require high levels of communication and I both excel at them and enjoy them. But at the end of the day I need to go home to a quiet, controlled, low-stimulus environment so that my mind and body can recover. If that is not possible, I will slowly become extremely unwell.

Unfortunately, many neurodivergent people who don't have the support they need turn to drugs and alcohol to make these things easier as it allows an otherwise overactive brain to shut off a bit more in social settings. Not unlike our friends here.

"Awkward" is a surface-level view of us. Better to talk about how neurotypical people deem us "rude" or "unlikable" in our communication styles because we don't care for social rules. Also sounds like our friends here...

Oh aye definitely.

But that doesn’t rule out Liam from potentially having ADHD. People with ADHD are significantly more likely to take drugs than the neurotypical population and carry on using drugs in their adult life.

The mountains of marching powder gave Noel panic attacks and he gave cocaine up for good at the end of 90s, whereas Liam happily talks about chopping the lines out well into his 40s.

On that specific example we’ve only heard Noel’s side of the story though and we know he can exaggerate, be economical with the truth and outright lie!

It is a myth that a fork keeps champagne fresh anyway, so the joke is on Noel.

🍾

To be fair, I blame all erratic and odd behavior on cocaine……some one cuts me off in traffic, they must be on cocaine. The UPS delivery is delayed, the UPS delivery driver must be on cocaine. Some one posts lots of cat pics on a forum, they must be on cocaine….

God bless.

Liam is Liam.

Hate how we have to put a label on everything these days for people who have different personalities.

Yeah, well, I have nipples, can you milk me!?

Thanks.

I agree with this. Yes Liam is Liam and other neurodivergent people are just what they are, I agree 100%. I'm even absolutely convinced that there are more than we know that were just not yet diagnosed. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't and shouldn't matter to label it, unless that person needs specific medical attention for it, but that's not the case here.

Saying that, I think labelling things is a temporary thing in human history. For a while, maybe one or two generations, humans will need to know why a certain person acts a certain way to know how to act with them. Humans learn by being exposed to different realities. Just 30 years ago, a kid with ADHD was just a little brat that needed spanking and was punished over and over and over to no avail and that would ruin the kid's self-esteem and probably draw a specific path for his whole life. Now we know why they act the way they do and parents and teachers can adjust, sometimes the kid will have medication to help their brains focus. It's sad that we needed a word to understand that it's wasn't the kids' fault. In a way, as a society, we're trying to right the wrong caused by our previous ignorance about ADHD. The same goes for autism. When someone is more of a loner for example, we should just think that he's just a loner but instead, these people are sometimes picked on in school and labeled as weirdos in their workplace. But people are more understanding if they know that that person is autistic. It's like people need a label to adjust their behavior, which is a shame as we should just accept people are they are. That's just our monkey brains programmed as "different = potentially harmful". We need to keep moving past our monkey brains.

So, all of this to say that I think that, yes right now we need to put a label on everything but eventually, we'll get used to that existing and labels won't be necessary anymore.

Thank you for reading my TED Talk, I won't be signing any autographs.

It's not about putting labels on things. It's about learning why we feel and behave the way we do. Some people get on with life just fine, and all credit to them. Some don't. I don't particularly. I haven't had any checks yet but certain I've probably got ADHD amongst other things. Just building up the courage to get some checks and find out. But it apparently takes a very long time on the NHS.

Labelling things helps us understand and try to be better where our mind doesn't let us.

Don't know if Liam has it. But it wouldn't surprise me.

It's a discussion, about Liam and Noel, on an Oasis discussion forum... sooooo... I mean if you don't care, that's fine, just don't discuss. Although I guess you saying you don't care is being part of the discussion... I'm so confused.

Autistic? Noël can read minds?

God bless.