A brain that auto-solves

Finding out that other dyscalculic people also auto solve math without being able to tell you how they do it at least explains why I was able to do it in University when I didn’t have to show working most of the time.

I have intuition with math. I have absolutely no idea how it works. I cannot show you my working. I think it’s weird pattern recognition I do not understand. It caused me to suck at high school math.

I can’t do mental math. I can do math, new symbols or techniques take a lot longer to learn but at a certain point they are encoded in whatever background system my brain uses.

I was humiliated so many times in math classes for getting the right answer in school, then the teacher called me a cheater or liar and asked me to come up and show my working. I never could. I would make mistakes or get it wrong.

I have a software engineering degree.

My brain constantly impulsively solves problems when I’m doing other things.

“Intrusive solutions” are one of my most common features.

I think the second I stop stressing my brain often releases solutions to me. This explains why I solve a lot of problems in the shower or just as I am going to sleep. It’s a very frustrating thing as I have to get up and write it down or I will forget it. I have spent a lot of time late at night writing code that always works.

The higher my stress in a social situation = the worse my recall

The lower my stress alone = weird as hell super creative and usually correct answers I haven’t been thinking about.

My rants with insightful stuff on Twitter are most often background processing my brain is telling me to leak out. I don’t know where it’s going for a lot of stuff. It’s a “eureka” moment I have to write down.

This is so hard to explain. It’s like my brain lines up a perfect order of ideas that have been stewing and I just know to post them. It provides me with all the search terms to re-discover articles, and a general structure. Then my ADHD side fills in the chaotic parts.

I almost do not feel in control when this happens. It feels incredible. It’s like a web of disconnected meaning has been formed to finalise an argument I’ve been trying to express. I love it, but I don’t know how to explain how this works. I am a passive thinker for complex ideas

The best ways to bring these out for me, talk to me about an interest area or allow me to read a new book, some novelty starts a chain reaction in my brain that I feel absolutely compelled to express somehow.

Originally tweeted by Rory – ADHD Autistic OCD (@roryreckons) on November 22, 2021.