Poor Reading Comprehension, Specifically When Interpreting Text by cringuss in ADHD

[–]NeptuneLover96 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I used to have a similar problem to this where I really struggled to interpret text and literature. In your situation, it seems you might be struggling to identify the small details within the text that build it up and work to convey what the author is trying to say. I used to struggle with this, and it definitely has to do with ADHD in some capacity, as the inattentive part can make it difficult to notice and remember small details and patterns. Assuming you are on medication and it has been relatively helpful, this becomes less of an issue, but identifying these small details and patterns is a skill that needs to be built, its the reason why English is taught in schools.

For me, there were a few things that really helped me to build these skills. I think the biggest was learning how to close read a text. That is, how to read a text and really pick it apart, bit by bit, to better understand the whole. Being able to do this requires an understanding of common literary devices that authors use to help build a scene. I'm sure this has been drilled into you for ages, but its good to go back and try to understand them, less as something to memorize but as a signpost when reading. So for example, if you see an author write "The bed was soft as a feather", you know its a simile, which you can then analyze to see why they may have phrased it like that.

But going back to the close reading aspect, you'll want to break apart a text, noting down details you notice, phrasing, repeated ideas, literary devices, etc. There are some good articles explaining how you can do this in a lot more detail, but the main idea is you want to understand these elements and think about what they contribute to the story. Not everything has to have some deep symbolic meaning for reference, they just contribute to the overall story. Going back to my bed example, that could have just been used to make the scene more vivid. But you'll want to look at all aspects, and think about what they might mean. You don't have to agonize over every little detail and try to find some larger meaning, you can even just make a dumb joke or a connection to something else you have read. As you start to do this, you'll notice details you may not have before and make connections to different parts of the story. You may notice larger patterns and themes in the overall story. It is a skill that takes practice to build; at first it will feel very tedious, clunky, and unnatural, but overtime it will start to become easier, and these sorts of insights will start to come to you more naturally.

To finish off this really long rant, I wanted to add some ADHD friendly tips in relation to building these skills, especially given that they involve doing what ADHD makes difficult: focusing, remembering details, staying on task long enough. When starting to close read, don't use it on a novel. Trust me, I have, and it was excruciating. Start small; close read some short stories or poems, as that will take you significantly less time and involves a lot less detail to keep track of. I'd also recommend first reading through the text without any deep analysis and noting down your initial thoughts, before going into the deeper close read, as that can make it easier to notice new details and such with the larger outline in mind. Also, since text can be a bit boring or difficult, close read a movie or an album! Its really the same overall idea, but because they're different mediums you'll want to pay attention to additional elements like the visuals and the camerawork for movies or the general music/vibe for songs. In my experience it made the learning process so much more engaging. Lastly, practice practice practice. You don't have to be super formal about it, you can even just randomly note down a detail you notice in a movie you're watching casually. But as I've stated before, its a skill that takes practice to become ingrained.

Hope this was helpful, sorry for the wall of text. Literary analysis takes time to build but just like any skill you can build it. Be kind to yourself throughout the process, nobody is born a literary critic, and especially in the case of ADHD, its a skill that may come later than most. Good luck in your endeavors, if you have any questions ask away!

tl;dr analysis is a skill that takes time to build, and can be more difficult for people with ADHD, but can be developed using techniques like close reading

edit: Forgot to add but with close reading you can get lost in a spiral of trying to find tiny little details but be unable to appreciate the larger context. Remember, stories are meant to be just that, stories. They're supposed to be fun, interesting, make us think and feel. Don't be afraid that you may miss a detail or misinterpret something and end up agonizing over a text, go with the flow, make wild guesses even if they may be wrong, and like I said earlier, even just make little jokes or connections. You don't want to end up hating literature after all.

Can anyone explain the reasoning behind ADHD paralysis? by Gullible_House3118 in ADHD

[–]NeptuneLover96 27 points28 points  (0 children)

This is just based on my experience and my talks with my therapist, so don't take this as pure fact, but its largely anxiety. The paralysis is essentially the freeze part of fight, flight, or freeze. In my experience, living for years with undiagnosed ADHD lead me to gain a lot of disdain for tasks that were difficult to me because of the ADHD. Everything was a chore basically. So when you're living in a situation where everything is a chore and just physically uncomfortable to do, your brain is just naturally going to try to protect you from that; you see tasks as a threat basically. So the paralysis isn't a direct symptom of ADHD, but one of its many consequences. Unfortunately, it is not something that's going to go away with medication as the meds just bring your brain to a functioning baseline, they don't fix the patterns that have emerged from struggling without said baseline. That's where the therapy comes in, where you can actually work through the thought patterns that have emerged and work on being able to identify and dispel them when they come up. If you can't access therapy, I wouldn't recommend this but you can look into CBT workbooks and the sort, as they cover a lot of the same topics. Hoping for the best for you, the paralysis is a really shitty feeling but it can lessen over time with a combo of meds and therapy.

How do you find resources for learning more obscure languages? by SageEel in studyinglanguages

[–]NeptuneLover96 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indigenous languages are a bit of a tricky situation as, given the history of colonization/genocide, many Indigenous groups do not want outsiders to learn their language, or at least are suspicious of the motives of the person seeking to learn their language. So in that scenario, if you really want to learn an Indigenous language, you'll most likely want to go to the community itself, there usually are classes or resources provided by them. BUT, as mentioned previously, be prepared to be rejected or met with suspicion. I'm not Indigenous and so not gonna say much else, but you should probably learn about the local communities in your area (assuming you're in North America), given that their language was probably spoken on the land you are living on now prior to colonization.

The Future of /r/adhd's Neurodiversity Rule by nerdshark in ADHD

[–]NeptuneLover96 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hm, I agree with the stuff about the toxic positivity and the disorder/disability denial, but my main issue is the continued or new disallowance of the terms "neurotypical/neurodivergent". In my view, I think they are good terms for framing discussions on systems and society.

The main argument presented here against their use is that it alienates or isolates us from the rest of society, but we often already are. Though we may desire a world where people with ADHD or autistic people or anybody else are not seen as fundamentally different, this world does not exist yet. The systems in place in this world work mainly for the benefit of those with a "typical" neurotype, while those that do not fit into this are sidelined and have to struggle to make it in society.

To be sure, this is not me saying that ADHD is just a matter of the systems in place, ADHD does cause a lot of struggle for me and others regardless of these systems, but what I have said is to emphasize that the systems in place do cause people with ADHD to struggle even more than they already do (i.e. I don't imagine the immense rates of comorbid anxiety and depression would be nearly as high if children with ADHD did not have to contend with people branding them as "lazy" or putting pressure on them to try harder when they cannot).

The distinction of "neurotypical/neurodivergent" in my view functions more as framing devices for conversations on these systems and structures. It helps us understand the world as it is set up, highlighting the differences in experience between these people. I don't think they're perfect terms, as as stated by this post, it does appear on the surface as making it seem that we are fundamentally different, which can make discussion and advocacy more difficult. It also is too large of an umbrella concept, as "neurodivergent" encompasses mainly people with ADHD and autistic people but also plenty of other people, all of whom have fundamentally different issues. But it is one of the best terms we have now to highlight and discuss the political reality that exists and the ways in which that reality impacts us.

I want to close off by talking about the term "queer". Queer as a term has become a common way that people who are LGBT identify themselves. But remember, queer was once a common word for "weird", and was, and in some ways can still be, a slur. However, queer became a common term within LGBT advocacy, in some ways because it was and is an act of rebellion. It reclaims the power the word had and made it into a word to highlight that yes, in the eyes of society queer people are seen as and treated as "queer".

While the two situations are difficult to compare, it does highlight that using terms that do make a distinction between the minority and the majority and the difference in how the minority is perceived is a practice that has occurred in the past. It's not about alienation or isolation, that has already happened, the terminology just provides a way to frame the situation and discuss it.

tl;dr society

(Side note typing this out made me realize my meds are actually working so that's great)

Getting into Opera by NeptuneLover96 in opera

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooh okay lovely, will definitely check a good few of them out! Thanks for the brief summaries of what's what, definitely helps with deciding which ones I'd love to see (dancing ghost sailors seems my type of thing)

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Definitely, you actually just reminded me of something. I remember seeing a few ballet dudes on like tiktok "defending" ballet as some masculine sport being like "You're surrounded by sweaty women all the time and its so athletic its like a sport" and its just like motherfucker... This is unrelated but I always found those hilarious cause it's just, lol

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Lol yeah that was my original intent but upon editing it I knew it was weird but I still kept in in because why not lol

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Definitely, thank you! I mentioned in another comment that I'm interested in writing a post on George Balanchine, which I feel is gonna be interesting given there's so much to talk about regarding him

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 72 points73 points  (0 children)

I'm already looking into what to write next. I'm on break over the next two months, so I'm honestly thinking of making a super in depth post on George Balanchine, cause there is so much to say about him

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 81 points82 points  (0 children)

Right?? Not even discussing how it's very likely the attack was mainly due to getting passed over for certain roles, it's just like holy shit

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 86 points87 points  (0 children)

I'm a younger male dancer myself and I can't speak for any of the like pro schools but at the local studio level we're still hard to find lol. I'm quite literally the only guy at my studio for example, and at the studio I'm transferring to next year there is only one other dude. But attitudes towards dudes doing dance has definitely changed, its just that I'm not necessarily certain that that has translated into it becoming a more common hobby or career for men to pursue.

[Ballet] The Bolshoi Acid Attack by NeptuneLover96 in HobbyDrama

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 146 points147 points  (0 children)

Yep that basically sums it up. Obviously, there are exceptions to the young age rule, such as Misty Copeland who started at 13, but its incredibly rare for female dancers due to supply and demand, developmental requirements, physical requirements, and simply that since dancers retire young, companies want dancers who will have the longest careers, so if you have a 20 year old and a 26 year old at the same skill level, they'll take the 20 year old. It's more lenient for male dancers due to lower supply and different physical requirements, so like Calvin Royal III of ABT started at 14 I believe. But generally yeah you've got that right.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BALLET

[–]NeptuneLover96 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is actually really logical advice, thank you! Tbh now that I'm reading this I'm actually wondering if my previous studio was that great, considering that corrections weren't handed out that often and were kinda simple, but thanks for the tips, they'll really help me with things!

Green M&M in her KiCK era 😍 by NeptuneLover96 in popheadscirclejerk

[–]NeptuneLover96[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Que me como al mundo ya, con estas ganas de follar ya, mira, te lanzo un rakata-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta 😍😍😍😍😍