What's the most challenging thing about your dissabiliy

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Mine is having trouble being responsible i.e. rememberin to do things. It causes so many problems in my life.

Mine is being unable to recognize or remember faces and names. Literally if I meet a coworker and the next day she has her hair done a different way, I won't recognize her. It's embarrassing and people think I'm weird.

Mine is a toss-up between sensory problems which greatly restrict the number of activities I'm able to engage in comfortably, and my general oblivion to subtle or indirect social cues from others when they're trying to suggest that they'd like me to stop doing something, not say something to someone, or that something I'm about to do probably isn't a good idea. I wish more than anything that people would get over their fear of "hurting my feelings" and just be direct and tell me what I need to know.

Attention issues and social anxiety issues. Those affect me employment-wise because most jobs out there seem to rely on your attention and social skills. If I came into a lot of money and didn't have to work, I don't think I would have any issues, as when not in employment you can work around your challenges easier.

I find it exhausting to do ordinary, everyday activities that everyone has to do, like keeping the house clean, preparing a meal, talking to people, going to the grocery store. I can only get so many things done in a day.

I'm not sure.

I think my executive functioning problems might be the most disabling (e.g. forgetting/losing stuff, working memory problems, problems keeping track of time, difficulties regulating attention and inner states, information retrieval, task switching).

Sensory issues and language/communication problems are a very close second.

Everything mentioned so far can be terrifically problematic, depending on the day and the situation, but head and shoulders above everything else there are two that I find most debilitating and I don't know which is the worse handicap - the General Anxiety Disorder that causes me to stress and worry and fret over every little thing and panic over dreads that never come to pass - or the maddening impossibility of trying to get NTs to even recognize that I have a legitimate problem.

It is so frustrating and depressing to try to get people who have never experienced a sensory hypersensitivity to understand that:

A "little noise" is not just a "little noise," when it feels like someone is shocking you with a Taser every time you hear it.

Having your plans and routines altered at the last minute, without warning, is not just a "mild inconvenience," it's psychologically overwhelming and makes you feel disoriented, confused and panicky.

"Go see So-and-So at Such-and-Such place" is not a helpful suggestion for someone with Selective Mutism and Social Anxieties.


...and so on, and so on...I get so sick of "don't be so shy," that I could puke blood. You can't get through to these blockheads that just because its simple for them, does not mean all's right with the world. I just want to slap people who think everything can be solved with a pleasant attitude and that God has blessed everyone if they'll just accept magical thinking and see the unicorns and rainbows.

I get really upset by people making generalizations and saying things that I construe as mean. This is so bad that half the time I have to plug my ears to keep from hearing things I don't like.

A lot of the posters are describing things that go under the broad umbrella term "Executive Functioning" . Mine is multitasking (including following multiple conversations which presents as a social communication issue), planning, inertia, organization, time management

My worst:
1. I can organize and plan, but I can´t get it done. I´m distracted by small interruptions - and getting back to what I was doing after an interruption is NOT one of my strong sides.
2. When things go too fast, I jam. When the expected order of chores are disturbed, I need a long time to rearrange in my head.
3. When too any things happen at once - for instance on job - shifting chores and verbal messages, I process too slow, - especially when stressed.

My top two worst things, in order of how impairing they are to my life and ability to live normally:

--- Being unable to mentally process anything fast enough when under stress, leading to an inability to cope adequately with social interactions both casual and formal, in which I can't manage to stand up for myself, say what needs to be said in order to "put my case" well, think on my feet fast enough to avoid saying yes when I meant no and vice versa, communicate fully what I wanted to say, etc. Most of the time I seem to communicate normally enough, but when put on the spot or stressed, everything can go very bad, very fast if I haven't been able to say the right thing at the right time. This kind of thing is at its most scary when having a particularly sensitive conversation with people like the landlord of my building. What is said during a tense discussion can make or break whether they want to evict me or not, and I've put my foot in my mouth before, either saying the wrong thing or not saying adequately the right thing and putting my case.

This stuff can make you homeless. This stuff is where I'm starting to want a verbally articulate advocate to accompany me and help speak for and with me when it's important.


--- Sensory issues that can be nightmarishly distracting and disabling to me if I can't conveniently "fix" the issues without causing a fuss, seeming crazy/bratty/ridiculous etc to people who don't think what I'm experiencing is any big deal -- to them....

It's hard for me to handle stress and deal with it and I get so anxious about talking to people and I get overwhelmed from all the steps and it makes it hard for me to find a job because of all these road blocks they do. It would be so simple if all I needed to do was go in and fill out an application and give it to them and they require nothing else Another thing that is challenging is listening to lectures and following directions and hearing directions about how to get to places. I need it written down or just show me on the map.

I can't decide whether it's executive disfunction or social disfunction. Executive disfunction is more obvious, e.g. I need to do a lot of tasks by the end of the month but spend most of my time gazing at the list and feeling stupid and worried because I don't know why I can't just get on with the tasks, while for social things I'm not dissatisfied with the status quo, and just try to react wisely to people when they initiate things, so there's no task list to worry about. But I view them both as very regrettable traits.

I don't have a disability.

I don't have a disorder.

I have a condition.

Off hand I would say the most challenging thing about my condition is remembering to ask the other person about their life instead of talking about mine, and maintaining proper eye contact.

Extreme difficulty in speaking.
Getting lost easily.
Extremely poor coordination.
Cognitive impairments.