I think it’s that attitude with any neurodivergence or mental health related issue. You know, all the things that doctors didn’t know about diagnosing “just didn’t exist” in the past.

Like we saw the consequences of people struggling through life, not getting a diagnosis, and not understanding why life was so challenging. For example, my dad was dyslexic and my mom very likely had ADHD, but neither was ever diagnosed.

They just struggled constantly through school, had terrible self esteem, and when somebody told them to just give up and choose a different career path they just said ok, guess I’m just not cut out for this.

Then I got both, and my parents were ok with acknowledging the dyslexia bc it was pretty easy to diagnose.

The ADHD was a whole other story, and I was told by my own parents (who used the excuse of being not wanting me to end up like them) and teachers I was just careless and lazy over and over. I started hating school when I was like 8 and barely finished high school. When I got to college by the skin of my teeth, I found stuff that interested me, but I still struggled so much through college and grad school. Then for a very long time I believed the reason everything was so so much harder for me than my peers was bc I was just dumb.

I had to wait until I was in my 30s and had my own real job and insurance to even attempt to seek help get with ADHD, and even then it took a very long time, but I’m so glad I did.

Maybe if we can stop society from devolving, in a few generations we can also stop pretending that acknowledging neurodivergence and mental health in kids means you have to accept some kind of dangerous magical sorcery, instead of just understanding that people often thrive when you allow them to just be themselves, and treat them like individuals with their own individual strengths, weaknesses, and unique skills.