Hello there, neurotypical person! Do you enjoy invalidating your neurodiverse friends, just because? Do you like making "triggered" jokes around them, or talking about how "happiness is a choice" with them? You know, the fun, little stuff that just makes them feel like their illness isn't real? Or the neat stuff that just completely invalidates their illness to the general public? What about those fun times when you're just saying things to "toughen them up" or "help them see" that their mental illness is "just in their head", and not in their colon, as previously thought? Well, this article is for you! Here are 10 fun ways to invalidate your neurodiverse friends!
1. Say to your friends with depression, "Just choose to be happy!"
That's ENTIRELY how it works, Susan! Good job! What a great idea! I had never thought of it before! Never! Not once in my entire time being depressed, had I ever thought that I could just choose to be happy! Not at all! Let me just think real hard and make my neurons pick up endorphins properly!
2. Say to your friends with OCD, "I love to organize! I'm so OCD!"
No, Stacey, you're not! But the fact that you put so much effort into coming up with a false fact about yourself is astounding! What a great way to invalidate! Good job!
3. Tell your friends with anxiety disorders, "Everyone gets a little nervous!"
We're not nervous, Dave! We're on the verge of throwing up over a scenario I thought of! We're shaking and crying because of something I mostly overthought! This isn't nervousness, but you get an A+ for invalidating us!
4. Tell your friends with PTSD, "You can't have PTSD, you're not a veteran/didn't experience war."
Of course! How could someone have forgotten that only war heroes can have PTSD? You have completely grasped the concept of trauma! There's no other form; there's only war! Good job, Daniel, A plus in invalidation!
5. Write a blog about how your loved one's mental illness affects you!
Don't forget to talk about how no one deserves to live like you do! And how much you love your loved one in spite of their mental illness! Tell the world how hard it is to watch! If your loved one has Autism, make sure you drive home the importance of finding a cure through eugenics and eliminating them from the planet!
6. Recommend more exercise to all of your Neurodivergent friends. All of them.
Don't forget to mention that their mental illness can be entirely cured by keeping up those endorphins! If it works for some of the neurodiverse population, it must work for all of them!
7. Recommend weird and specific foods to them!
Yes, Cindy! That's exactly what they need! They don't need to be medicated, they just need two handfuls of cashews! That will surely cure them! Goodness, you should be a doctor!
8. Recommend staying away from weird and specific foods, too!
Be sure to remind them that caffeine is bad! Make sure they know that junk food won't help anything! Basically, regulate their diet entirely. You are the neurotypical, so clearly you know best!
9. Let them know that their medication is DEFINITELY NOT the way to cope.
It's not about what makes them feel better or allows them to cope best, it's about the Neurotypical Approved™ coping methods! If they're not using a NT Approved method, then it's clearly not doing them any good, and you MUST insinuate yourself into the situation and inform your Neurodiverse friend that this is NOT the way to handle things.
10. If none of the above is entertaining enough for you, just gaslight them!
Tell them none of their illness is real! Tell them that you don't know what they're talking about! This is the BEST way to invalidate, because it completely just ignores their feelings and neurodivergence. It is the ULTIMATE invalidation.
