They measure my time by widgets per hour. Me? Joy per minute... Come experience time through an autistic lens in a way you never imagined. #ActuallyAutistic
I'm autistic and I'm an ADHDer. Until recently I said "I have time blindness", but I think it's ableist. I'm not blind, but time does not provide any meaningful support to structure my day, week or life. Sometimes well meaning colleagues ask me if I have planned any vacation. I can't tell them "In August I'll be at the beach for two weeks", because I can't plan like this. Because I can't think like this. "I'm on vacation in two weeks" is as meaningful to me as "I'll be on vacation in two meters and a liter".
Short time time perception got more aligned with the neurotypical world with ADHD medication. Now it rarely happens that I go into the kitchen to make a coffee because I have ten minutes left to the next meeting and then get back at my laptop half an hour later because an ADHD cascade broke loose. Like in front of the coffee machine are some dishes, so I put them in the dishwasher. But I can't, because it has run and is full of clean dishes. So I start emptying the dishwasher. Damn, too late for the meeting. Now I have a bit of sense for these short periods of time.
Another thing is, that my memory is not organized in periods of time. Everything that happened in my life is either lost or it had enough emotional impact to stamp the situation in my brain. But then it's not like a movie but like a still. I see a picture of the situation and sense the emotions with full intensity. Which is fine for good ones, but like going through a daydreaming nightmare for the bad ones.
I've spoken to other neurodivergent people and for some of them, memory is organized in a similar way. I'm not sure what I'm going to make of it, but here you go. Take care!
Our experiences are remarkably similar. I experience my memory as scenes, not exactly stills. But you know language is a construct that fails me regularly.
I can feel the sun on my back, or see leaves blowing in the wind. I know what I wore. It's like a really short clip of a movie.
And I relive the emotions in the moment.
As memories fade... I'm less sure of details, or they get compressed or even overlaid other scenes...
I sometimes have trouble knowing if an early memory is exactly true. (I'm in my 70s.) But I've learned the ones that still contain sensory details. Others? Just facts and language? I probably made up... lol
I'm autistic and I'm an ADHDer. Until recently I said "I have time blindness", but I think it's ableist. I'm not blind, but time does not provide any meaningful support to structure my day, week or life. Sometimes well meaning colleagues ask me if I have planned any vacation. I can't tell them "In August I'll be at the beach for two weeks", because I can't plan like this. Because I can't think like this. "I'm on vacation in two weeks" is as meaningful to me as "I'll be on vacation in two meters and a liter".
Short time time perception got more aligned with the neurotypical world with ADHD medication. Now it rarely happens that I go into the kitchen to make a coffee because I have ten minutes left to the next meeting and then get back at my laptop half an hour later because an ADHD cascade broke loose. Like in front of the coffee machine are some dishes, so I put them in the dishwasher. But I can't, because it has run and is full of clean dishes. So I start emptying the dishwasher. Damn, too late for the meeting. Now I have a bit of sense for these short periods of time.
Another thing is, that my memory is not organized in periods of time. Everything that happened in my life is either lost or it had enough emotional impact to stamp the situation in my brain. But then it's not like a movie but like a still. I see a picture of the situation and sense the emotions with full intensity. Which is fine for good ones, but like going through a daydreaming nightmare for the bad ones.
I've spoken to other neurodivergent people and for some of them, memory is organized in a similar way. I'm not sure what I'm going to make of it, but here you go. Take care!
Our experiences are remarkably similar. I experience my memory as scenes, not exactly stills. But you know language is a construct that fails me regularly.
I can feel the sun on my back, or see leaves blowing in the wind. I know what I wore. It's like a really short clip of a movie.
And I relive the emotions in the moment.
As memories fade... I'm less sure of details, or they get compressed or even overlaid other scenes...
I sometimes have trouble knowing if an early memory is exactly true. (I'm in my 70s.) But I've learned the ones that still contain sensory details. Others? Just facts and language? I probably made up... lol
ADHD and time blind. Time just doesn't make any sense to me.