Stigma and Discrimination NUAA Admin Stigma and Discrimination NUAA Admin

Drug use, disability, neurodivergence and healthcare | Helio’s Story 

I first sought out an ADHD diagnosis when I was 23, and the psychiatrist told me, “No, actually you just have the learning capacity of a 16-year-old due to your drug addiction.” Yikes. It took me a couple of years to wrestle with that message – to make sure I rejected it on a deep level – before I tried again with another doctor. And boom, I was right: my ADHD scored off the charts. No wonder amphetamines help my brain feel regulated.

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More than just users NUAA Admin More than just users NUAA Admin

Who I Am, Pronouns They/Them

“Gender had always felt like play for me, and using meth felt like my way to indulge in the drama of the performance. I got off on how binary my expressions were – in a way it was kind of like drag.”

“My gender was linked to the type of sex I was having. And the type of sex I was having always closely related to the types of drugs I was using.  When I started shooting opioids, it wasn’t long before needles became a central part of my sex life…”

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