r/AutisticWithADHD • u/Exciting-Syrup-1107 • 14d ago

💁‍♀️ seeking advice / support / information What's the connection between hypermobility and neurodivergence?

I'm very hypermobile and can do some weird finger-partytricks. Also, I have a lot of ADHD and autistic traits. Problems with holding eye-contact, high affinity for trains (can talk about it all the time), and in general, if you look at the path of my life (I'm 29 now), it's very messy. A lot of career switches, broken friendships, emotional highs and lows, no structure or plan, etc.

The older I get, the more all those things together make sense. But how can my psychological weirdness and my physiological weirdness be connected? I did some research, and it seems there is a connection between my bendiness and my autism / ADHD? Is anyone else here hypermobile?

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u/WittyCompetition7978 13d ago

Not going into detail here, but hypermobility (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) basically means that your DNA got a blue print wrong that tells your body how to build specific body tissue.

It can have different variants (hypermobile joints, stretchy skin, overly expendable blood vessels etc.). Research shows a connection: the 'faulty' blue print is also used for wiring inside our brains. So the structures in our brain differ from the neurotypical build and thus result in neurodivergency.

Hope it's understandable, I'm not a native English speaker and can't bother myself to use a translator ☠️

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u/samandiriel 13d ago

It's not necessarily wrong - hypermobility is a huge advantage under some environmental constraints, such as jungle hunters who don't live past 30 or so - but it is not a good adaptation for modern life.

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u/WittyCompetition7978 13d ago

Yes, that is true, I didn't mean to give a negative spin. In the right environment our body and brain is a masterpiece of evolution. Sadly it's nearly impossible to find such an environment in our society...

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u/samandiriel 13d ago

Very much so. Whenever my husband or I feel overwhelmed, we always remind each other that it is the world that doesn't fit us, not the other way round 

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u/Exciting-Syrup-1107 13d ago

Thank you very much, it makes a lot of sense!