I am interested in the kinds of systems that support people so that masking and addiction are not needed to cope. Today I highlighted the story of Parys Lapper, a neurodivergent teen whose learning differences and ADHD were punished as behavioral challenges before he turned to self-medication.
The systems in place could not manage his neurodivergence, mental health, and addiction. They sidelined his mother, since he was over 18, and sent him to an asylum hostel and an anorexia unit--despite no relationship to either's services--before ultimately just booting him with an all-or-nothing ultimatum that led to his death.
I'd be really interested in hearing from you what supports a family, community, and society can put in place to prevent this pattern from repeating.
What a sad story, and horribly all too common as so many neurodivergent people lack support, and often don't even realise they need support. They find what they need to feel okay, and this can have tragic consequences. It's a huge question, what supports a family, community and society can put in place to prevent the pattern from repeating. Education and understanding seems key. We seem to be living through a moment in which society begins to better understand neurodivergence, and its connection with addiction, suicide and crime... I definitely don't have all the answers, but I hope to begin to get closer to answering this question as I continue to research my book... I will share my findings here, so I hope to hear from you again. Thanks for reading and sharing.
This is very good. There's not much to add to that except maybe that neurodivergent people also tend to end up in prison to a much greater extent than those who aren't.
"Compared with published general population prevalence, there is a fivefold increase in prevalence of ADHD in youth prison populations (30.1%) and a 10-fold increase in adult prison populations (26.2%)."
It's more confused with Autism. There's less specific data and it's also underdiagnosed in comparison to ADHD, but even working from the limited information on that, they're undoubtedly also found at a significantly higher percentage as a demographic in the penal system than in the wider community.
Thanks for posting, and happy birthday for the other day, Chelsey.
I am interested in the kinds of systems that support people so that masking and addiction are not needed to cope. Today I highlighted the story of Parys Lapper, a neurodivergent teen whose learning differences and ADHD were punished as behavioral challenges before he turned to self-medication.
The systems in place could not manage his neurodivergence, mental health, and addiction. They sidelined his mother, since he was over 18, and sent him to an asylum hostel and an anorexia unit--despite no relationship to either's services--before ultimately just booting him with an all-or-nothing ultimatum that led to his death.
I'd be really interested in hearing from you what supports a family, community, and society can put in place to prevent this pattern from repeating.
What a sad story, and horribly all too common as so many neurodivergent people lack support, and often don't even realise they need support. They find what they need to feel okay, and this can have tragic consequences. It's a huge question, what supports a family, community and society can put in place to prevent the pattern from repeating. Education and understanding seems key. We seem to be living through a moment in which society begins to better understand neurodivergence, and its connection with addiction, suicide and crime... I definitely don't have all the answers, but I hope to begin to get closer to answering this question as I continue to research my book... I will share my findings here, so I hope to hear from you again. Thanks for reading and sharing.
I look forward to following your work!
This is very good. There's not much to add to that except maybe that neurodivergent people also tend to end up in prison to a much greater extent than those who aren't.
"Compared with published general population prevalence, there is a fivefold increase in prevalence of ADHD in youth prison populations (30.1%) and a 10-fold increase in adult prison populations (26.2%)."
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4301200/#:~:text=Conclusions,adult%20prison%20populations%20(26.2%25).
It's more confused with Autism. There's less specific data and it's also underdiagnosed in comparison to ADHD, but even working from the limited information on that, they're undoubtedly also found at a significantly higher percentage as a demographic in the penal system than in the wider community.
Thanks for posting, and happy birthday for the other day, Chelsey.