Ok, I slightly misunderstood and I see now better where you are coming from.

Yes, you are not wrong but as a ADHD person it comes off as super invalidating.

It is kind of like discussions where gender radical people tell to trans people that gender is just a social construct. Like it is but that doesn't exactly help trans people.

I mean I am sure you recognize this as you wrote.

> Yes I understand that given the environment, it makes sense to try to help as best as we can, and we can't single-handedly change society with a magic wand. Of course.

Still, I do believe that you massively overstate socially constructed aspect of having ADHD and underestimate the physical reality of it.

Yes, my environment makes a huge huge difference. But, as someone who was diagnosed very late in life, it was always with me. Even when I was alone. Even when I thrived. It is a fundamental part of who I am.

Not having a diagnosis earlier set up for constant spirals of failure, for internalized self hate. It did not allow me to find strategies to cope effectively.

I couldn't find or build the environment I needed because I didn't know my needs. This is why the diagnosis must come first.

ADHD is a disability and it is a real as being deaf or not being able to walk.

> it comes off as super invalidating.

Once this is on the table, it's hard answer in a way that doesn't come across as being the asshole. But that's kind of my point. People tie identities and emotions to labels. It reframes how people react. Since it's real, you're given support. If it were fake, you'd get scolded. The shift in view that I got from Scott Alexander is that the arrow points the other way around. Since we see people who can benefit from some support, and we generally don't want to be assholes and want the support to be paid by insurance etc, we have to declare the thing as a Disease(TM). But this categorization is in good part necessary due to the bureaucratic system we live in. There are many ways that societies have conceptualized such things. All the way to demon possession. In comparison blindness is much easier to understand mechanistically.