Justice Sensitivity: How Do ADHD and Autism Affect Your Response to Crisis and Injustice?
In this current timeline of intense turmoil and social upheaval, our sense of justice is triggered constantly as we witness an endless stream of atrocities flow from our screens. Each time a friend texts us about feeling powerless, each moment we spend watching a video of masked men marauding down our city streets abducting children, each instance of hearing an elected official tell us we didn’t see the evidence that was so clearly displayed before our very eyes, our sense of right and wrong gets louder until it blots all other thoughts from our minds.
For those of us who are autistic, ADHD, or a combo platter of both, it’s impossible to ignore this sense of the world being wildly out of balance. Though everyone has an internal compass of right and wrong, neurodivergent minds often have a heightened sense of wanting the world to operate fairly. Our minds are highly attuned to any slight deviance from what we consider morally correct and when we spot these discrepancies, we have the tendency to get even more vocally upset by them than others might.
This phenomenon is known as justice sensitivity.
Justice sensitivity means our sense of fairness extends past how we are treated and can make us highly attuned to the treatment of those immediately around us, that we observe on the news and witness on our social media feeds. A recent study on autism and moral judgement found that autists were more likely than neurotypicals to act morally in a hypothetical situation even behaving immorally would benefit them privately (Right Temporoparietal Junction Underlies Avoidance of Moral Transgression in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Yang Hu, Alessandra M. Pereira, Xiaoxue Gao, Brunno M. Campos, Edmund Derrington, Brice Corgnet, Xiaolin Zhou, Fernando Cendes, Jean-Claude Dreher) One only has to look to some of our most prominent social and climate rights activists such as Greta Thunberg to see that this focus on fairness, equality, and doing what is right for the greatest social good is a prominent feature for a lot of neurodivergent people.
Though justice sensitivity can be a wonderful force that drives us to take action, it can also be extremely distressing to the point that it paralyzes or consumes us. Even though justice sensitivity is rooted in fairness and compassion, it can easily turn into obsession or rigidity that can be more harmful than helpful for our own well being. Being aware of your own level of justice sensitivity can help you tune into the ways that the quest for morality is affecting you. Talking to a neurodiverse affirming therapist or coach can help you to identify and process how justice sensitivity shows up for you personally and how to best manage it for the greatest good.
One of the best ways to actualize your sense of justice in today’s climate is to take action. As a neurodivergent person, this might feel both vital but overwhelming as there are so many ways to make a difference, so I have compiled a short list of suggestions to help you.
Pick ONE lane and stick to it - no one can be everywhere or do everything at once so choose the way you would like to help. For example, you might choose to make sure people in your community have enough food when they are scared to go outside. The actions you might take could include donating money to your local food bank, gathering non - perishables with your friends and dropping them off, researching your local food vendors to see if they would be willing to donate to the cause, posting about the cause on social media, and dropping off or preparing meals for neighbors.
Incorporate justice oriented actions into your routines aka habit stacking - want to call your reps but can’t figure out the right time? Try attaching it to something else that you do regularly like walking your dog, brushing your teeth, eating lunch or driving home from work. Combining one task with another makes it more likely that it will get done and also makes it feel more approachable than if it’s a totally foreign part of your day.
Be informed but set reasonable limits on your media consumption - setting aside time without your device or with it bricked so you can’t read the news or access social media can help you take both take meaningful action and get quality rest instead of getting overstimulated and paralyzed by the barrage of the horrors. It’s hard to put these crises down both mentally and physically but doing so helps us cope with them more effectively.
Stay connected with your community and mentors - whether it’s a trusted neurodiverse affirming therapist, local organizing group chat, discord server or neighborhood council, the people you surround yourself with in person or virtually can help to support you in your quest for justice. While no person or organization is perfect, social support and cohesion are vital to creating lasting change and sustainable action.
If this post resonated with you, please share it and comment with resources for readers that want to take action during this time. We are here to help so if you are looking for neurodiverse affirming therapist or coach, please don’t hesitate to reach out for a free consultation today.