I had a manager a few years ago, and when we had our first meeting to discuss ways of working, I started speaking about my ADHD and all the accommodations that I needed. In response, he said to me, that’s great, but what does having ADHD give you?
It was refreshing.
My first ADHD awakening was when I was diagnosed and I realised how I had been internalising all my ADHD, and believing that I was a screw up because I couldn’t do basic things like stay on task, organise my work and stop talking after 10 minutes like everyone else.
I was then able to articulate that this is how my ADHD brain works and to get what I needed out of work I had to do certain things and needed certain accommodations from work to help me work optimally… just like everyone else
My second was in that moment when he asked me what strengths I bring… as a result of having ADHD… I went from going my brain is broken help me show up as fixed like everyone else to my brain is different, and I can bring a unique perspective.
It made me realise that as self-aware as I was, and understanding myself, now that I knew what I was working with, I still had to take that next step and accept myself, along with all the attributes that ADHD brings, and now I was finally in an environment that would accept those strengths and unique perspective that I could bring.
And more recently, I have been reading about neurodiversity, and neuroinclusion, and I found this great article which talks about the neurodiversity movement, and how we have been following the medical model which focuses on the deficits of neurodivergent brains compared to those without one of these diagnoses.
How the neurodiversity movement is changing this view, is by focusing on the fact that we all have different brains and ways of viewing the world, and individuals who happen to be so-called neurodivergent have strengths that they can bring. Thereby focusing on abilities and how they fit in, rather than deficits and how to make these individuals fit in despite these deficits.
We are quite comfortable in accepting that we all have different personalities, and the benefits that type of diversity has on teams. What this movement is calling for, is how do we bring all our different ways of processing and perceiving our worlds to better work together?
Read more here:
The Mispronunciation of Me 