I started Obsessive Cleaning Disorder LLC in 2022 after a decade-long career in software, as an escape from what I would later realize, or confirm, was neurodevelopmental disabilities.

 

For me, those disabilities are primarily ADHD and Autism.  Incidentally, the business is not quite named after obsessive compulsive disorder, but rather as a way to describe my own skills and talents which I can evidently attribute to Audhd (obsession - even compulsion - are part of that). I choose to reclaim the word "disorder", and make a living doing what I enjoy.  Futhermore, because I enjoy it, I am good at it. My first 132 reviews on TaskRabbit were 5 stars, and it took another several-dozen to receive one less than 4 stars. 

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I often spend 2-5 hours cleaning a single bathroom (at least the first time), which at a professional level is not rare, and I'm not someone who knows what a "quick clean" means. My need to define things may be autism (don't worry, I have staff to keep your cleaning bill in check), but 14 hours in a kitchen is ok for us. 

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Speaking of defining our words, I believe that education regarding the involved disabilities is important. While those of us with ADHD are traditionally known for being unfocused, its because ADHD was named poorly (there is no attention deficit - that's a myth). In my case, my level of focus is unmatched - perhaps unearthly. I don't get to "decide" what I focus on as fluently as neurotypical people do, so regulation-deficit of attention is more accurate. We call our obsessions "hyperfixations" in the ADHD world, and on those we focus heavily. But don't get me wrong - if you have specific tasks you want me to work on, you still may be disappointed. I cannot guarantee where my focus falls, as my fixations are not up to me to decide.

 

My original business name idea was "Hyperfocused Cleaning Disorder" as a result, but I don't expect most people to know what that means (especially when the phrase "attention deficit" contradicts it). I changed the idea to "Obsessive" for clarity, and because cleaning starts with a "c", the name became what it is.

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While our acronym is "OCD" when shortening our name, you'll notice that we don't abbreviate it. Furthemore, we know (and respect!) that people out there also disagree with our name choice, due to still-more stereotypes that those with obsessive compulsive disorder face. 

 

While I fully respect the opinion that my business's name is offensive, I also respect my opinion that it is not. Not objectively, anyway, as there also exist people with OCD who like it. Still, I am grateful that people care, who reach out to provide education, and who are driven to stick up for what is right. That's amazing. 

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We neurodivergent folk tend to have a strong sense of justice, and I think that's a great thing.

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It is notable that I asked my own clientele who had diagnosed OCD (hence my cleaning for them, as we were a great match for each other), before I formalized the name, to ensure that I would make my decision out of due diligence. They responded with "I think its cute," and insisted that I not worry about it. To be clear, an individual's choice to be offended is not wrong, and that we are all offended by each other is also ok. 

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I can not deny nor confirm whether I myself have obsessive compulsive disorder, despite my doctor having identified some forms which were not enough for a diagnosis, and which are not related to cleaning. Labels require a lot of work to get sometimes (yet little effort to ascribe).

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There you have it. Despite all those words, our history was ulimately simple. After a 10-year career in software, I woke up on an otherwise normal day - on my best friend's birthday, who had long talked about business dreams in the industry together - and I decided to quit my tech job to clean strangers' homes. That was it! That's the story. Those of us with ADHD tend to be comfortable with risk. ​

While I choose to lean into the positive and fun side my neurodivergent traits, the symptoms can of course waver between incredibly powerful and out-of-nowhere debilitating at a given moment.  The lines that we draw between educating each other about cognitive disorders, navigating them, and celebrating them, is akin to what we programmers call "spaghetti code," and sometimes it's best to simply start over and get help cleaning up the messy expectations around it. Our goal is to be intentional, be articulate, and to lean into our strengths to improve quality of life for anyone that we come across.  As we say during our cleaning and organizing jobs, "it has to get messier before it gets cleaner!"