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A thought I had this morning about neurodivergence and the modern world - opinions appreciated!

Loz

I hope this comes across the right way - I’m asking this out of curiosity and reflection, not to minimise anyone’s struggles.

I was thinking this morning about how the world today isn’t very accessible for a lot of people, especially those of us who are neurodivergent. The pace, noise, pressure, constant changes… it all feels designed for a certain type of brain, the "neurotypical" brain.

It made me wonder:

If we lived in a much earlier, slower world — before all the hustle and bustle — would traits linked to ASD or ADHD actually have been less of a difficulty? Or maybe even strengths?

I’m not questioning whether the struggles are real (they absolutely are). I’m more thinking about how different environments can either support or clash with certain traits, and how our modern world often makes things harder than they need to be.

I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this idea and I hope I am clear in expressing myself.

Parents

  • I think about his kind of thing a lot. I don’t feel a lot of things are designed with me\people like me in mind.

    The modern world is largely designed without inclusion in mind. In someways it makes for more attractive architecture and objects if they are defined and have one use. Particularly through a populist lens. We also have to buy more and take more actions in order to get things done. The problem is inherent, it’s in how we move and communicate and wear clothes. It needs to be undone and rethought. There are many other ways to do something this knowledge has been perpetually limited as humans evolved and became more ‘civilised’. 

    I absolutely believe this. if workplaces were not designed for and ruled by ‘normal’ extroverts with exaggerated self confidence then it would be a more fair and balanced place. It’s unlikely an all inclusive model would be largely adopted.if you think about high achieving work and capitalism they depend on there also being failure and those who do not make money to continue to exist. I think this truth is depressing and shows what an unfair playing field it is those of us who are not average. I used to believe there was a design bias in public municipal and office workplace, now I think it’s less introvert extrovert as diverse and normal. 

Reply

  • I think about his kind of thing a lot. I don’t feel a lot of things are designed with me\people like me in mind.

    The modern world is largely designed without inclusion in mind. In someways it makes for more attractive architecture and objects if they are defined and have one use. Particularly through a populist lens. We also have to buy more and take more actions in order to get things done. The problem is inherent, it’s in how we move and communicate and wear clothes. It needs to be undone and rethought. There are many other ways to do something this knowledge has been perpetually limited as humans evolved and became more ‘civilised’. 

    I absolutely believe this. if workplaces were not designed for and ruled by ‘normal’ extroverts with exaggerated self confidence then it would be a more fair and balanced place. It’s unlikely an all inclusive model would be largely adopted.if you think about high achieving work and capitalism they depend on there also being failure and those who do not make money to continue to exist. I think this truth is depressing and shows what an unfair playing field it is those of us who are not average. I used to believe there was a design bias in public municipal and office workplace, now I think it’s less introvert extrovert as diverse and normal. 

Children
  • in reply to pietro_21

    Do you think buildings etc were designed to be inclusive in the past? I don't, doors not wide enough to fit a wheelchair or pram through, stairs everywhere. Attitudes towards anyone even a bit different were terrible.

    I'm not sure about the quality of life in small agricultural villages either, you might have known what you were going to do that day and every day, but what if you couldn't do hard manual labour?

    It might seem a strange thing for an historian to say, but I wouldn't want to live in the past, there's so many things the modern world gives us, health care, anti-biotics is a good example, if you look in old church yards at the grave stones, you see people dying of things that a course of antibiotics would cure now. We don't have to fear getting a cut when we're out doing the garden, like they would pre WW2. Public health, like drains, flushing tiolets and and hot running water, clean drinking water just didn't exist for the many. We have so many diferent types of food availble to us, we can travel to other countries, we can make so many more choices about how and where we live and who we live with.

    Having lived in a couple of small villages I can tell you they become really stiffling after a time, everybody know's everybodies business, theres no such thing as privacy, how would you feel about people feeling free to walk into your house without knocking? If you locked your doors it would be because you have something to hide.

    How would you all cope without phones, computers, games consoles etc, I'm probably the least techy person here and even I would miss the internet for all its problems.