a personal project that became a lovely collaboration with Revista Cutra
NeuroDive(rgent)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD is a condition characterized by hyperactivity, poor attention regulation and impulsivity, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. As the name suggests, this project is about the urgency of raising awareness through diving deeper into some lesser known aspects of this neurodivergence. In tandem, Cutra Magazine was preparing a series of poems for publishing and was on the lookout for matching visuals. Click here to see that.
Debunking Stereotypes
ADHD people are lazy, unreliable and overly hyper, FALSE!
They do extremes, oscillating between outperforming everyone else by a mile and underperforming. They are the best and the worst, somehow rarely falling in the average range. If compared to an egg, they would be a fried egg where the yolk and white are clearly delimitated, while neurotypical folk would be a scrambled egg where the two parts are mixed together. There is no argument whether a fried or scrambled egg is better, they are both eggs and offer the same amount of yolk and white in different styles.
Adrenaline Seeking
Living life in a constant state of boredom makes the harshest critic of fun. The result is a huge number of hobbies that come and go. Most films, books and outings are rarely stimulating enough and when hobbies fail there is only one thing to seek.. ADRENALINE!
Divergent Thinking
A big myth to bust would be the attention deficit one, there is actually an attention surplus what overwhelms the brain preventing it from giving 100% to one single task. On the bright side, all that extra information is stocked up like collage pieces and over time amounts for a big collection from which outside of the box ideas can arise, reason for which ADHDers excel at divergent thinking.
Time Blindness
less aware of the passing of time, arriving late or extra early out of fear of being late. Everything is either NOW or NOT NOW hence setting timers is a must.
Fidgeting
Turns out that pen clicking has a similar effect on the brain as stimulants. It is not that a person is purposely being disruptive, they are just trying to focus.
Working Memory
Working memory is that space in your mind where you store information for a short amount of time while performing another activity or a task. A good example is remembering the numbers on your card while writing down that information. Let's just say that the ADHD brain is a computer with very little RAM.
Overpowering Emotions
Even though emotional dysregulation is not an officially recognised trait, many with the condition present this comorbidity. Something as small as dropping an ice cream can feel as devastating as losing a pet, yet most do their best to mask those intense feelings out of fear of being labelled overly emotional.