Read on Twitter
here’s a quick thread on this essay and the ‘ADHD is caused by capitalism’ discussion and what i think it gets wrong
and why people need to stop arguing on twitter and read more theory and engage w disability activism https://twitter.com/_pem_pem/status/1359570625375911938
and why people need to stop arguing on twitter and read more theory and engage w disability activism https://twitter.com/_pem_pem/status/1359570625375911938
having read a lot of academic work on ADHD, this essay more or less repackages rote ideas with an extra sheen of -capitalism is bad-
and it does so without meaningful engagement with neurodiversity or disability theory.
and it does so without meaningful engagement with neurodiversity or disability theory.
saying the social model has been advocated by disability activists ‘for generations’ is... an interesting claim when theory moved on to look at new avenues decades ago.
for example: the interactionist model that situates disability -between- the innate and the social
for example: the interactionist model that situates disability -between- the innate and the social
the mere existence of the interactionist model is a huge problem for this essay because the author either did not do their research or left it out in favour of setting up a false binary between -ADHD as innate- and -ADHD as construct-
as this twitter user points out, Hacking was discussing these issues in the 80s. there is heaps of work and debate on the DSM and whether or not disorders are socially constructed. again, none of this is mentioned at all. https://twitter.com/chotoranii/status/1359585352823037952
it’s much easier to frame your writing as necessary and compelling when you have an opposition case to knock down. but the opposition here is teenagers who (understandably) alsl haven’t read any theory so the debate essentially turns into easy-mode button mashing.
anti-psychiatry and disability activism have reclaimed diagnostic labels and wielded them against capitalism. said, no, we don’t need fixing. but they have refused to shed those labels altogether.
whether this approach can achieve meaningful liberation is another question.
whether this approach can achieve meaningful liberation is another question.
even I have made fun of the kind of ‘if you wore shoes to school you have ADHD now’ [2.5k RTs] stuff you see on here but we can critique that without lumping in people who are meaningfully describing experiences that haven’t been recognised by psychiatry
this kind of info sharing is vital bc for example: ADHD presents differently in women! what the author denotes is the buzzfeed-ification of mental disorder could also be construed as expressing neurodiversity within the sort of listicle vernacular that many of us grew up with.
marginalised groups (eg black people) are continually denied access to diagnosis and vital supports and framing pragmatic engagement with psychiatry in this context as somehow upholding capitalism and telling them to join the revolution is.... a take
with all that said, I do think that the ADHD community need to work hard to detach and unpack what the condition means to pull away from psychiatry in the same way the autistic community have done. but doing that does not entail a total denial of what ADHD is.
also: if anybody wants to read more theory on neurodiversity and disability stuff i’m happy to point towards some resources and open source books etc as I know it can be a bit overwhelming xx
