Autistic Enough

I'm wandering a little off-topic for a quick post about something that's been on my mind recently, as I work to identify better strategies to manage executive dysfunction. Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with ADHD -- very common among autistics, and with many overlapping symptoms. I honestly don't know how much this post will resonate for people who are autistic without ADHD, but I'm hoping it will help some of you. I want to start with a super-oversimplified explanation of one mechanism of ADHD: ADHD is, in part, a result of a muted reward response in the brain. Our brains give us "reward" signals for most things that we do -- eating, talking to a friend, day-to-day accomplishments, scrolling through social media... If you feel engaged, there's a good chance your brain is giving you a reward response to whatever you're up to. When you don't get enough reward response, your brain keeps seeking more reward sources, which is why people with ADHD m