u/Cogsciencenerd

6 years ago, when I was 22. A partner I was with immediately decided to get an abortion at 6 weeks when we found out about an unplanned pregnancy. We both had thoroughly enjoyed our time together, but knew that we weren’t going to be together for much longer (a few more months max), and she had just graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and mathematics at the age of 22.

I wanted to keep the baby, she did not (she said that she wasn’t ready for a child, and that neither was I, and that she just didn’t want to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term). I was disappointed by this, but I supported her decision *wholeheartedly*.

Three days later, I drove her to the PP clinic, shielded her past the misguided and obnoxious protestors (who, imho, are too blinded by self-righteousness to realize that their efforts are utterly pointless), and then waited outside in the car until it was over. Passing the time by pondering what could‘ve been, and yet, that experience only reaffirmed my belief that women should have *sole* control over their health and bodies. My ex does not regret her decision to terminate the pregnancy, and I don’t regret helping her (we’re still in touch, she’s recently married and expecting her first child, and I’m married as well; though still childless for now) In fact, we both agree that those were the best decisions we could’ve made at the time, respectively.

I‘ve come to believe that the decision to have an abortion should be left entirely up to the woman until approximately 25 weeks gestation (and at any point after in cases where continuing the pregnancy poses a significant risk of injury or death to the mother) provided she is over the age of 18 (while special consent forms signed by parents or legal guardians should be required for minors). The current capacity for consciousness (which doesn’t begin until approximately 25 weeks gestation) should be the relevent criterion for legal personhood. Therefore, no human rights—including a right to life—should be assigned to the human organism during development before it becomes a person, and so, a woman should be able to remove or kill the zygote, embryo, or early fetus inside her, for ANY reason at all*, without penalty to her or others that help her, and without any interference from others (i.e., the father, parents, grandparents, etc)*. Legal abortion is NOT murder. A zygote or embryo, while technically human, is not a baby. An early fetus, while technically a baby, is not a person. Further, the risk of death from natural childbirth is 14X higher than that of legal abortion (therefore, ALL abortions qualify as time-sensitive, essential healthcare). Legal abortion should be accessible, affordable (if not provided by the state as part of a universal healthcare system for free as in countries Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, etc.) to everyone living in the United States, quick, private, and safe.

And of course (though it apparently still has to be spelled out to so many), abortion rights are indeed a matter of women’s and girl’s reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, and individual liberty.

Also, this is bound to trigger some controversy, but I believe that the label “pro-abortion“ should not just be accepted, but fully embraced (per Planned Parenthood)…

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-advocacy-fund-massachusetts-inc/blog/whats-wrong-with-choice-why-we-need-to-go-beyond-choice-language-when-were-talking-about-abortion

The combination of autism and exceptional cognitive ability is associated with increased suicidal ideation

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1074742722001228

“Autism co-occurring exceptional cognitive ability is often accompanied by severe internalizing symptoms and feelings of inadequacy. Whether cognitive ability also translates into greater risk for suicidal ideation is unclear. To investigate this urgent question, we examined two samples of high-ability autistic individuals for factors that were predictive of suicidal ideation.“

“In the first sample (N = 1,074 individuals seen at a clinic specializing in gifted/talented youth), we observed a striking excess of parent-reported suicidal ideation in autistic individuals with IQ 120 (Odds Ratio = 5.9). In a separate sample of SPARK participants, we confirmed higher rates of suicidal thoughts compared to non-autistic children from the ABCD cohort (combined N = 16,049, Odds Ratio = 6.8) and further that autistic children with suicidal thoughts had significantly higher cognitive ability than those without. Elevated polygenic scores (PGS) for cognitive performance were associated with increased suicidal thoughts (N = 1,983), with PGS for educational attainment trending in the same direction.“

“Notably, similar results were found in parents of these autistic youth, where higher PGS for educational attainment was associated with increasing thoughts of suicide (N = 736). Taken together, these results suggest that on a phenotypic and genetic level, increasing cognitive ability is an unexpected risk factor for suicidal ideation in individuals diagnosed with, or at risk for autism.”

Edit: Perhaps think twice before dismissing the struggles of high IQ autistic (and other 2e) individuals who dare to mention said struggles on this subreddit (especially as “trauma dumping“).

My case worker (who, among other things, is supposed to facilitate my moving from one assisted living home to another) stubbornly refuses to allow me to just out and get a job out in the community and instead arbitrarily insists that I spend at least three more months at the Day Program (where I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for maybe $20 to $40 every two weeks; nearly all (~96%) of the 200 people who also attend it have varying degrees of intellectual disability) that I’ve spent the last month at along with the other six residents of the assisted-living home I currently live in (who are very nice but all intellectually disabled, btw). When I tried to carefully explain to her that it was neither developmentally appropriate nor justified, to force an exceptionally or profoundly gifted (EG/PG) young adult to work with—and to do the kind of very simple, repetitive work as—individuals who mildly, moderately, or severely disabled when there was no actual need to, but she was quick to mention that she has a “gifted” son (though she didn’t—and indeed refused specify—whether he was moderately, highly, or exceptionally/profoundly gifted) who “did just fine” without radical acceleration. When I tried to explain to her that this can only be the case if her son were just moderately gifted rather than exceptionally or profoundly gifted as the need for academic and social accommodations is much greater for EG/PG students than it is for MG students (who by contrast, are generally not in need of radical acceleration), much like how the need for academic and social accommodations is much greater for the severely intellectually disabled (ID) than it is for the moderately intellectually disabled, who in turn require greater academic and social accommodations than the mildly intellectually disabled.

This apparently just went in one of her ears and then right out the other because she then accused me of thinking I was “better than others because my IQ was higher”. She then refused to listen and insisted that I was just making excuses (which I wasn’t) and said that I would have to remain in the day program I was being forced to attend—due to living in a group home for intellectually disabled adults at the time—rather than allowing me to just find a job out in the community, which had never been difficult for me before.

While I did have significant difficulties keeping a job out in the community up until about a year prior due to suffering from (what was at the time, untreated) obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), (severe, recurrent) major depressive disorder (MDD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, by the time I had this conversation with said social worker, my OCD, MDD, and GAD symptoms were being adequately treated by the correct doses of the right medications (Venlafaxine and Buspirone), which, for some reason, she also refused to acknowledge.

Keep in mind, this is a woman who has claimed multiple times that she is familiar with the topic of intellectual giftedness, but after this conversation and one or two others since then, it’s clear as crystal that she isn’t (yet her conviction that she does is so unshakable, it’s almost comical).

Any thoughts, advice, or other comments are welcome! Thanks for reading.

Hi, I was just wondering how many people on this thread who have been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can relate to the following description of a relatively small subset of ADHD patients, and for those who can relate, what are your thoughts on this? Any surprises or specific details you find particularly interesting?? Also, for those who are wondering, my interest in this niche question was initially sparked by the fact that my current girlfriend of 2 years happens to have ADHD and fits this profile to a T (we know this thanks to a combination of her neuropsychological evaluation and the fact that we’ve known each other for several years now), and I was just wondering how many more of such people I can find on here. A breakdown of evidence supporting all of this will be provided in the first comment (as it is too much to fit in this post). Note: this is NOT for the purposes of research study recruitment or anything similar.

Long story short: there is evidence to suggest that there is a subset of individuals with predominantly inattentive (ADHD-I) or combined ADHD (ADHD-C) where attention problems (APs) are more due to difficulties with quickly and clearly effectively shifting one’s attention from one task, stimulus, or line of thought to another (reduced attentional shifting) and less due to difficulties with consistently focusing one’s attention on a particular task, stimulus, or line of thought for an extended period of time (excessive attentional shifting) than most others with predominantly inattentive or combined ADHD symptoms.

Individuals with this lower-frequency subtype of ADHD tend to be characterized by the following traits...

1.) predominantly inattentive (ADHD-I) or combined (ADHD-C) symptoms

2.) reduced cognitive flexibility (i.e., set shifting)

3.) elevated perfectionism

4.) obsessive traits

5.) restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs)

   - circumscribed interests

   - need for sameness

   - adherence to routine

   - repetitive movements