Accommodation is a loaded word, and ableism is why. So many of us have internalized it to the point where asking for accommodations feels like asking for a crutch or special treatment.
What they actually are is a description of what allows us to perform at our best. Every employer should want that, and as neurodiverse people, we are the expert on what allows us to be the best we can be. Don’t be embarrassed, don’t be shy, and don’t feel like a burden for asking and getting them. It would be doing yourself, and your employer, a disservice to NOT implement accommodations.
We have power, and sometimes external changes need to be made to allow that power to flow. Let’s claim our power.
One of the reasons for the Professionally Neurospicy name is that we are the experts at who we are. We aren’t amateurs at being ourselves, we are highly skilled at it, and those skills are VALUABLE! We need to own who we are and what we can do.
What sort of accommodations do people ask for?
a very important insight that I have found similar to this is when it comes to asking for test-taking accommodations a lot of students with ADHD simply cannot handle the stress of the test and also take the test at the same time. so we often procrastinate the whole time up to it, arrive sleep deprived to oblivion, hopped up on coffee, and we spend the whole test stressed AF.
The accommodation to remove the time limit from a test and take it separately from our peers is not us admitting we cannot do a thing. It’s us telling the professor the way they are doing the test isn’t going to work, and if they actually want a real assessment of our worth and capacities after the course was taken, this is how it’s gotta be.
I think that small frame shift about getting the better data by putting us in the optimal environment is what made me okay with it.
I learned about this in college (I have an education degree), and I was truly shocked because growing up, I wish I had been tested and had that accommodation! As someone with ADHD who stresses over things not being perfect, while also being impulsive, the extra time would have saved me so much time with failing grades and retesting.
This post truly makes me feel seen, David! And makes me curious how others have approached accommodations within their jobs. Working from home does make it much easier to have accommodations, but I am truly curious how that looks in the office.
I love this!! As a fellow Neurospicy ADHD gal, I know this feeling all too well. I always find myself hesitating to ask for additional help (due to ADHD) in the workplace because it makes me worry that I’ll be seen as a burden or incompetent. Something else I struggle with is being feeling like some people see ADHD as “just an excuse”, meanwhile it can actually be very difficult to live with!! I’m actually starting a new role with a new company next week, and I need to remind myself that the accommodations I may need are completely valid and are there to help me perform to my highest potential, and there is nothing wrong with that! I do think if more employers and people in general were better educated around ADHD, we would feel far more comfortable asking for help.
A lot of us have internalized ableism that tells us that we should be able to do something with accommodations or tools. It’s a hard thing to get past.