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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

  • Hi

    I think about this often. In relation to my ADHD, I wonder if Margaret Thatcher has made things worth - stick with me here : )

    She killed off 100,000s of manufacturing jobs  - just the type of roles that suit ADHD traits. She decided we should be a service and finance country  - so all those people who could have been on their feet, outdoors, doing physical tasks are now expected to sit in an office and mess about with emails and reports and spreadsheets.

    I personally LOVE spreadsheets but I guess that the ASD part in me.

  • in reply to stesykes77
    stesykes77 said:
    She decided we should be a service and finance country

    I think you will find it much more nuanced than this - the world changed a lot with the competition from other countries such as Germany and Japan which were building their manufacturing might in the 60s/70s and our manufacturing base just couldn't compete.

    Through a combination of short sighted lack of investment and the incredible debt we carried from 2 world wars, the county was in no fit shape to adapt to compete so the mood at the time (not just Thatcher but most of the right wing) was to take usi in a different direction - hence the service economy with a focus on financial services.

    Following the move the country did incredibly well - the service/finance sectors boomed, we grew to be world leaders and in the decades that followed the country was quite wealthy.

    That was until New Labour got in and started spending all the money we had, sold our gold reserves off at rock bottom prices and left the country nearly bankrupt ( https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-22897412 )

    The loss of manufacturing was inevitable I think. Our workforce demand too high a wage to be competetive and the workforce lack the same work ethic that the Germans or Japanese had.

    A combination of competition, poor productivity and mismanagement were the death knell for the industry.

    We do still have a decent specialised manufacturing base but this is far from the old style production line stuff that offers repetition and consistency.

Reply
  • in reply to stesykes77
    stesykes77 said:
    She decided we should be a service and finance country

    I think you will find it much more nuanced than this - the world changed a lot with the competition from other countries such as Germany and Japan which were building their manufacturing might in the 60s/70s and our manufacturing base just couldn't compete.

    Through a combination of short sighted lack of investment and the incredible debt we carried from 2 world wars, the county was in no fit shape to adapt to compete so the mood at the time (not just Thatcher but most of the right wing) was to take usi in a different direction - hence the service economy with a focus on financial services.

    Following the move the country did incredibly well - the service/finance sectors boomed, we grew to be world leaders and in the decades that followed the country was quite wealthy.

    That was until New Labour got in and started spending all the money we had, sold our gold reserves off at rock bottom prices and left the country nearly bankrupt ( https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-22897412 )

    The loss of manufacturing was inevitable I think. Our workforce demand too high a wage to be competetive and the workforce lack the same work ethic that the Germans or Japanese had.

    A combination of competition, poor productivity and mismanagement were the death knell for the industry.

    We do still have a decent specialised manufacturing base but this is far from the old style production line stuff that offers repetition and consistency.

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