Thatadhdfeel when an adhd reddit thread is how you learn that sitting with your legs up on the chair well into adulthood is an adhd thing.
wait seriously? not sitting in chairs properly is an adhd thing?
(i mean i’d guess it could be a thing for many other reasons but…huh.)
I’ve never seen and can’t find any research on this, but my experience both as ND and in the field is that sensory issues (which come with ADHD, ASD, and SPD) usually lead to unusual sitting and/or standing postures.
Think about it though. Think about a regular standard chair, think what it’s like to sit on it. It’s pretty uncomfortable, right? Wrong! Most people actually have no trouble sitting on regular chairs! that’s why they are designed the way they are! most people can sit on them just fine without squirming or feeling pain or feeling the need to fit their legs onto the seat too!
And if this thought, that chairs aren’t just badly-designed discomfort-items, is as mind-boggling a thought to you as it is to me, you probably aren’t all that neurotypical (I won’t say either way about it being ADHD specific since I don’t have ADHD as far as I know, but I’m not neurotypical).
What the heckie?
I mean, I’m also short, so I just always assumed that was my problem with being comfortable in chairs.
But even in the car, I end up scrunching into the pressure stim of having my legs crossed or under me, so!
yeah this is def an autism/ADHD/etc thing. you see it all the time in coded characters as well
…there’s no WAY neurotypicals can possibly like chairs. Can some people without ADHD or autism chime in?
The invention of comfortable chairs/chaise lounges in the 1700’s caused a moral panic because it was finally comfortable to sit and read. Until the advent of modern office life, most people were not expected to sit in chairs while doing their jobs. Thus the stereotype of a tailor sitting cross legged on his table while he works.
Stools were cheaper and easier to make than chairs, which explains the comfort/stimming angle a little bit more. You can scrunch your feet into the rungs on stools, wrap your legs around the stool legs, and rock more securely than in a table chair. Additionally, it’s relevant that archetypal comfort chair is a rocking chair.
TL;DR: chairs have always sucked, but you’re not imaging your sensory issues.
Kimchi and Justice 