A friend recently called my adhd a disease and it got me extremely angry and hurt. They didn’t have bad intentions, I don’t think they think that I need to be “cured” but it probably came from a more ignorant perspective.
But how do you feel about it? How would you handle that situation?
To me calling it a disease implies that my neurodivergence is wrong, that I should seek some sort of cure, which I find stupid and mostly laughable, but I guess hearing it from them hit some nerve and it felt like a personal attack. As if they were saying that as long as I have adhd I am not okay and that my struggles are my fault for not seeking a cure.
Just somehow it instantly made me so hurt and angry and I couldn’t help but feel insulted and small.
It would definitely strike me as odd, but I don’t think I’d be too bothered by it. Sometime people talk a bit faster than they think. Is it a disease or a mental illness or a learning disability? To some people the vocabulary can be a bit muddy and I understand that.
If they treat me like I’m sick or disabled over an extended period of time, that would offend me. I never met someone who did that, but I’m not afraid of confrontation. I’d just call them out. That usually weeds out the people willing to change from those unwilling.