A majority of Britons may now consider themselves neurodivergent, meaning they have a condition such as autism, dyslexia or dyspraxia, according to a leading psychologist.
Not wholly and not quite but sorta – if it’s the majority then it’s not divergent, is it?
Also not quite but sorta on topic yesterday for the first time in ages I visited the Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock. In two of the four stores I entered I was either served or assisted by young people who I genuinely couldn’t tell if they were a boy or a girl (Rebel Rebel). Their voices gave away no clues
Both youngsters were polite, smartly dressed and by today’s standards pretty attentive. If I showed my confusion, highly likely to have been the case, they were not at all fazed.
For me at least the times really do appear to be a-changing.
Go on line and do a series of mental health quizzes. You will find that you will score strongly enough on some of them to indicate that you may have a mental health issue. However, I suspect that it is not a case of the population developing more mental health issues, but more of a case that people think you can get more money and resources if you have a mental health issue. For example, if you have been diagnosed with a mental health issue, then you can declare it on your CV and this will mean that you are more likely to get an interview due to some anti-discrimination laws.
Incentives matter.
“‘Zat a bird or a hairy wally?”
We’ve done androgyny before, and not just with the hippies. Being androgynous is a great way to discombobulate those around you, and thereby passively-aggressively dominate them and make yourself the centre of attention. Perfect for the solipsistic young.
– which we’ve all been.
My son in law is on the autistic spectrum, he jokingly refers to it as being neuro-spicy. While over at their place once, we all did an online quiz that supposedly worked out how spicy you are. I think that I’m a tikka-masala, SIL is rogan josh or jalfresi, my nephew is a madras, we know of another guy who must qualifiy as a vindaloo.
It depends on what people are diverging from, or, more accurately, what they want to diverge from. I get the impression that a lot of this is just about being special, unique, so that people around you pay you attention and assign you an identity.
If you’re surrounded by a lot of autistic people, or dyspraxic people, then maybe it’s time to try ADHD or the latest fad.
About 20 years ago I was working in Further Education and we accepted a girl on a day-release type scheme from a local secondary school. She was foul-mouthed, uncooperative and massively argumentative. My colleague running the course she was on complained about her, and was directed to her Ed Psych, who he phoned to see what was up with her and get some hints on how to real with her.
“You do realise”, said the expert, “That she’s O.D.D.?”
“Odd? You can say that again! She’s the oddest kid I’ve ever met! I can’t give the simplest instruction without her telling me to go fuck myself! She’s really odd!”
Long silence…
“I mean”, said the Psych., “That the girl has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder. O.D.D.. She’s neurologically predisposed to challenge authority figures…”
And we Googled it later, and Lo, it is a thing.
If I were young and fit again I suppose I might give in to a compulsion to larrup some of today’s commonplace arseholes. Does that make me neurodivergent is some cuddly, inclusive way?
My brother-in-law has always been ‘difficult’ and not a little weird (hobby: taxidermy, pets: cockroaches), but it was always possible for him to behave normally for a while on request. After an online diagnosis of autism, he refuses to modify his behaviour, insisting that he is what he is and others should adapt to his behaviour. His autism is now a ready-made excuse for his bad behaviour…
A majority of Britons may now consider themselves neurodivergent, meaning they have been reading too much shit in the Times.
‘according to a leading psychologist’
Being cited in the Times earns the title ‘leading.’
If this is true then it’s truly a paradigm shift, for should it not be that the majority cares for and supports unfortunate minorities?
Colour me normal and give me my fat benefits cheque.
Back in the day I seem to remember words such as “personality” and “temperament” being used to describe people. Whatever happened to them?
Oh, and “bit of a cunt”, but I think we still use that, don’t we?
For ODD, I do wonder how many of them have just had so many “authority figures” that also wrote Gruniad columns on the side that they’ve basically given up and thought “They’re *all* full of it”.
After a while, you stop listening to what the other guy is saying.
“… if it’s the majority then it’s not divergent, is it?“
No… it’s hypochondria onset by brainwashing that every slight thing is a medical condition that can be treated with pharmacology. £££££££
“I mean”, said the Psych., “That the girl has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder. O.D.D.. She’s neurologically predisposed to challenge authority figures…”
Translation: Nobody gave her a good slap when she was throwing a tantrum and grew up being told she was a “princess” and given everything she wanted.
BiND:
Indeed. The near-universal response to this among colleagues was: “How is that different from being a spoilt little bitch?”
Salamander – For example, if you have been diagnosed with a mental health issue, then you can declare it on your CV and this will mean that you are more likely to get an interview due to some anti-discrimination laws.
I know a lot of men with mental illnesses, and none of them wanted to tell their employer. I haven’t told my employer, because my personal struggles are none of their business and it hasn’t stopped me from working.
I don’t think declaring you’re mental helps get jobs, maybe in the public sector? People are more open to talking about mental health issues than before, which is great. But most people still aren’t comfortable being around mental illness, and despite all the corporate rhetoric most managers don’t have a clue how to deal with this stuff.
You don’t have to be crazy to work here, yet here we are.
But I do think a lot of younger people are always stretching for some kind of excuse, in lieu of performance. I think they learn that in school. There was no tolerance for excuses when we were schoolboys, but since then standards have slipped into the gutter.
Btw, in One Step Beyond news:
Father ‘who imposed Covid horror house lockdown’ was philosopher
Twin boys, 8, and 10-year-old son were forced to wear three masks each and use nappies in four years of captivity, police allege
A German father who allegedly imposed an almost four-year Covid lockdown on his three children in a squalid “house of horrors” was a HR manager with a doctorate in philosophy, it has emerged.
Christian Steffen, 53, and his wife Melissa Ann, 48, are accused of imprisoning their eight-year-old twin boys and 10-year-old son in their rented villa in Oviedo, northern Spain, since October 2021.
Officers raided the property on Monday and found a cesspit of a home in which the children were allegedly forced to wear nappies and three medical masks on top of one another.
The guest bedroom had been turned into a dumping ground for the children’s soiled nappies, and the bathroom by the twins’ bedroom was occupied by a one-eyed cat with a huge tumour, the El Español newspaper reported.
Children ‘astonished at release’
When officers led the children out of the home, they were astonished they were finally allowed outside. One of them is said to have knelt on the grass, touching it with amazement.
“They had three masks each on top of each other. They were oblivious to any contact with reality,” one investigator said
“They were very scared around the mother, who told us all the time that the little ones had serious pathologies and that we should not approach them.”
Medical examinations conducted by a paediatrician found that all three children were suffering from “severe constipation” as they would avoid defecating in their nappies for hours.
A large number of used sanitary pads and tampons were said to have been found underneath the couple’s double bed.
The wife is apparently American, Steve. But correlation need not be cause.
the girl has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder. O.D.D..
I suspect I suffer from the same. I would self prescribe firearms.
“After an online diagnosis of autism, he refuses to modify his behaviour, insisting that he is what he is and others should adapt to his behaviour. His autism is now a ready-made excuse for his bad behaviour…”
Exactly, thats what 90% of all this is, an excuse to be a selfish arsehole. In the vast majority of cases when these people were children they should have been told ‘you may be different but thats no excuse to behave badly, and if you do there will be consequences’. Beat a bit of common courtesy into them when they are young, and they can be as neurodivergent as they like when older, and not behave like a complete c*nt to everyone around them.
ODD is why my ancestors left Ulster centuries ago. When they got to Philadelphia, they kept on going, to the western frontier and down the Appalachian chain. Descendants of Knox’s Presbyterians, they hated churches and they hated government. I still carry that “red neck” attitude.
My great, . . ., great grandfather opened a tavern in central Kentucky ~1775, apparently while the British still forbid going west of the Appalachians.
Nice to have a name for it, though Oppositional Defiance Disorder seems haughty. And it isn’t a disorder.