Do you have difficulty with ADLs or IADLs and why?

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Basic activities of daily living (ADLs) are things like:
>Brushing your teeth
>Shaving
>Bathing/showering
>Putting on clothing
>Using the toilet
>Eating

Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) are things like:
>Cleaning your room or house
>Doing your laundry
>Making a shopping list
>Buying stuff at the store
>Making appointments
>Cooking or preparing food that doesn't require cooking (e.g. making a sandwich)
>Finding a way to get to places like the store, the doctor, a friend's house (i.e. walking, cycling, public transportation, taxi, or driving)
>Keeping track of/budgeting your money
>Paying bills

"Primary executive functioning/attention problems" means that the problems are not the result of something like anxiety, depression, or stress but are a constant issue for you regardless of your mood, mental health, or the environment/situation you find yourself in.

For the "what causes your difficulties" question, you can choose all of the options that apply.

For myself, I have trouble with IADLs because of primary executive functioning/attention problems, sensory issues, speech/language and social cognition problems (depending on the task). I can, at times, experience disabling anxiety, but it just adds to any difficulties rather than causing them.

I don't think I have difficulty with ADL's .... if I do, they are few and minor and caused entirely by executive functioning problems. Things like: If I move my toothbrush, I probably won't brush my teeth at all for days (could be more than a week but would be less than 2 because the feeling of the plaque would start to bother me before then and cue me regularly enough that I would eventually make it from the point of wanting to brush my teeth to the point of actually doing so, without forgetting/getting distracted or muddled up in between) and it will take weeks to re-establish a consistent toothbrushing routine with the toothbrush in its new location; Forgetting to eat, especially if I have no routine for eating.

I've gotten myself into debt because of bad financial decisions.

Probably caused by my need for "instant gratification."

Otherwise: no trouble with ADL's or IADL's.

I was very late in learning how to do some of the ADLs. I don't know why; I think I had trouble with them due to fine motor deficits, and my parents didn't bother teaching me how to do them myself until very late. Now I can do them, although again fine motor deficits have caused problems. I used to drop toothpaste on my shirt sometimes, and my mom used to say that I wasn't washing my hair "properly".

As for IADLs, I don't know how to do most of them. I know when I get older and move out of the house I'll have to learn them. But I think I'll have a difficult time with it, because I often have trouble with these kinds of practical things. I don't know what to do and have to be taught step-by-step. I'm often perfectionistic about stuff like cleaning. I get nervous when buying things because I'm afraid I'll do something wrong and embarrass myself. I'm afraid to cook because I'm afraid I'll burn the house down

But I think I have a pretty good sense of responsibility and a good memory for these things, so hopefully I'll be able to do them when I learn how.

I have problems with keeping my home clean and tidy. I have some problems with one of the basic ones as well, though I don't really want to mention what it is. Anxiety and depression causes the second one that I've mentioned.

Basic Activities of Daily Living isn't a problem to me. (A few is rather a chore and end up forgetting it, but fine otherwise)

But Instrumental Activities of Daily Living... Just maybe, as long as I'm living with someone, I don't think so. I don't want anyone else touch my stuff or expect something from me. But then as I'm currently living at, I end up lazing around the house due to the fact that someone else is bothering my stuff. And if I do any chores for them, they end up complaining.

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I have problems with a few of those things because of my dyslexia, ADD, a tremor disorder that acts up when doing things with fine motor-skills, & a rare low vision disorder that causes some colorblindness.

I have issues with both ADLs and IADLs primarily because of sensory issues, secondarily because of executive functioning (task swapping, etc). I'd say mostly its sensory issues that end up causing all sorts of issues but there are some primary EF issues as well (and some mental health issues because of how much I've been mistreated for being autistic, but I mostly overlook that, because its so dependent on environment.)

Showers are physically painful to the point where I start chewing my hands because it hurts less than having just showered. I'll go all day without eating or drinking, because of not having body awareness and with lack of task swapping not going and getting food. I can't always eat because of my mouth being so hypersensitive to the texture of food.

IADLs though are where I struggle more. I get visually overwhelmed, and can't figure out what I'm doing. I hit sensory overload, can't think anymore, and shutdown, unable to function. I can't sort out the relevant from the irrelevant. This means I can't figure out where to put things if I'm cleaning, there's too much data, and my brain overloads. I can''t find food in a kitchen, again, I overload. I dissociate, stop seeing, get migraines, hurt myself walking on flat ground, because of a sensory system that isn't built for a world like this; and in the process doing IADLs is what is faltering.


For ADLs, I just need to not live alone. The prompting of having someone else with me doing the things that I need to do is all I need. If I'm alone, I won't be able to task swap. If someone is with me, I'll be prompted by their actions, and that will help me especially if I'm trying to remember these things.

For IADLs, I do need help. I do need to sit in my therapists office and make phone calls with her at times because I couldn't figure out what to say. I do need my boyfriend to suggest to me that I could have my phone have an alarm go off the next day so I do something that must be done while a place is open. I do need to have people make me food when I can't, do the setting up places for things to go in a room (and then have me do more of the putting things into places). I do use paratransit.

I've also fit it into my life, I think pretty well. It wasn't at one point, but its improved since then.

I don't have problems with these, eggsept that I don't make lists.
Sometimes, I suffer from disorganization problems, but I think that many people have these problems fairly frequently too, so my issues are probably not atypical.
I am not the type of person who is good at filling out paperwork and going from one task to another, but those are not the bulk of my daily activities, so it is not big problem for me.
I have always been quite independent in functional things.

I don't have issues with ADLs (in fact due to my OCD I shower / clean / change clothes / brush teeth too much).

However I have severe problems with anything that requires communication with strangers, so making appointments, going to the bank / post office, even buying something from a newsagent, all very hard.

I get frequent support worker visits at home to take me out and help me do things.

I cannot go to supermarkets alone due to challenging behaviour related to sensory overload. I do 90% of my food shopping online to get a home delivery. I don't need to write shopping lists as I can "memorise" the kitchen visually.

I can cook very basic meals but get confused very easiy with most types of cooking.

Doing my laundry and ironing I am ok with (and do it excessively due to OCD), but I didn't learn how to use a washing machine or an iron until I was 20, in supported housing.

Paying bills...I do direct debits on most thigs, but I don't know how to set up a direct debit, and paying bills is really confusing for me. I need my support workers or my friend to assist me in doing these things, and even then I can't seem to remember how to do it once they've helped me do it.

Cleaning I am fine with.....OCD means that I get a lot of practise. Although I find dusting difficult due to a visual disorder which means I struggle to see the dust properly. I have learnt how to get round that by just dusting every possible thing.

I only really learnt what few life skills I have in supported housing. I couldn't even book a taxi until I was 21.

What is interesting is that I have an IQ of 160. Obviously IQ tests only measure certain areas of intelligence as I cannot live independently.

LOL....We'd make a great team, Steel Maiden.

I suck at cleaning

But I'm pretty good at paying bills!

I'll admit, I often neglect my physical hygiene, I'm extremely disorganized, I'm lazy, I'm not very punctual, and I tend to make poor decisions. Most of it is my godawful executive functioning, some of it boils down to emotional issues and OCD, and some of it comes down to sensory issues as well, particularly how I neglect my dental health. There's also the issue of how my priorities line up compared to how other people think I should have them lined up; sometimes it's more of a priority for me to get my computer fixed than it is to clean my room or do my homework. Other people don't see it this way, but to me, it's more urgent to get my computer in good working order. I can live with a messy room, but not a broken computer.

I lack life skills, and I know it. I've actually been told that I should be in some sort of an assisted living situation, until I can demonstrate that I can take care of myself. This is complicated by the fact that I don't have an IQ below 70, so it has been difficult for me to attain funding for an assisted living situation. Hopefully they can work something out soon.