This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
One fun little ADHD superpower is the ability to notice patterns and predict their logical conclusions earlier and more frequently than neurotypical folks.
In my life as a web developer, it’s made me particularly good at building systems to make repeated tasks faster/easier, debugging code, and breaking complex problems down into smaller, more manageable parts.
Outside of my coding life, it helped keep me safe during the early misinformation years of the pandemic. It also makes me acutely aware of and angry with systemic oppression.
But as Black Aziz Anansi wrote on Bluesky this week…
Sometimes i get tired of feeling like Cassandra, not just because i feel like I’ve predicted so many horrible things since 2016, but also because when you try to point shit out to people in real time, they never even learn their lesson once they’re proven wrong, they just double down.
Tamara Houde chimed in to add…
Feels like it’s always “You’re overreacting” right up until it’s “This is horrible and completely unexpected. Somebody should have warned us!” (or alternatively, “nobody could have predicted this. It was a total surprise.”) It’s so tiresome.
This is the ADHD-autism experience in a nutshell, in my opinion.
You notice things. Point them out. Point them out again. Offer a solution. Keep pointing them out.
People tell you to shut up or stop being so negative or stop fixating on something that’s totally not a big deal just calm down no-seriously-please-leave-me-alone-you’re-bumming-me-out-I’d-rather-not-think-about-this.
Sometimes its work stuff.
Hey, I have concerns about how the code generated by AI is going to create more work for our team rather than less.
Often, it’s life stuff, like…
Hey, I think fascists want to take away our healthcare and reproductive rights and demonize trans people.
No matter the topic, the response is the same.
And then the thing you said would happen happens, and those same folks are like, “Wow, I did NOT see this coming!” They never acknowledge that oh-by-the-way you pointed out this very thing months ago and were ignored.
And when the next pattern match you see before everyone else happens? The process repeats itself.
You know who doesn’t do that, though? Fellow neurodivergent folks!
You can tell when you’re talking to someone with a brain like yours. They get it. You click in this hard to describe way. I love that!
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This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Go Make Things | Sciencx (2025-08-05T14:30:00+00:00) The ADHD-autism experience. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/08/05/the-adhd-autism-experience/
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