So often, as a former teacher and mom, I have found my focus being pulled towards the deficits of the neurodivergent kids in my life instead of on the positives. It’s easy to do. Compared to “neuronormal” kids, there are many areas in which they lag behind.
But neurodiversity is also a gift. As we approach the season of gift-giving, I’m taking a little time to enjoy the gifts that the neurodiverse people in my life have to offer.
The Gift of Perspective
Neurodivergent thinkers tend to look at things from a totally different perspective. Sometimes that forces me to look at things differently as well. Whether I’m talking about me or the neurodivergent people around me, the ability to see things from a different perspective is a gift.
For example, my kids were out of school one day this week, so one of the activities my daughter joined me in doing was paper scrolling. I showed her how to attach the paper and roll it tightly to make cute paper circles. It was good entertainment. Then I made the mistake of leaving her alone with the paper craft box while I cooked dinner.
While I was in the kitchen, my daughter took every paper circle we had made and taped them all over the outside of the fish tank. I asked her what she was doing, and she informed me that the fish needed Christmas decorations too. She continued covering the fish tank until she ran out of tape. The thought of decorating the fish tank for Christmas had just never occurred to me.
Math prompts can be a real challenge, especially with Common Core math wanting students to explain their thinking. I cannot tell you how many times my son and many of my former students got caught in the trap of giving the right answer for all the wrong reasons. As someone once pointed out, there’s a difference between the correct answer and the expected answer.
Some time ago a friend of mine was checking her son’s school papers and came across one that was priceless. The math prompt showed a square, circle, cube, and triangle. It asked which shape didn’t belong with the rest and why. Her son’s response was, “The circle doesn’t belong because it’s, well, pointless.”
The Gift of Creativity
The list of examples of creativity in neurodivergent thinkers could go on forever. You can look at famous names like Dan Aykroyd, Anthony Hopkins, or Elon Musk who have all been diagnosed with high functioning Autism. You can look at any number of famous artists, musicians, and inventors who demonstrated neurodivergent characteristics but were never diagnosed. Or you can look at the neurodivergent people around you…like the one who decorated my fish tank.
For those with Autism, their hyper-focus and passion drives them to create and improve upon their creation. I had one student who loved maps. He would spend every spare minute on Google Earth. For Christmas, he created his own map of a place he imagined with details that would have put Rand McNally to shame. Another student created his own comic strip and yet another created a video sequence about each of his teachers. What do they all have in common? They were all nonverbal or semi-verbal Autistic students under the age of 15. You don’t have to look at Anthony Hopkins composing his own symphony to see the creativity of neurodivergent thinkers.
Creativity often inspires entrepreneurship as well. People diagnosed with ADHD / ADD are consistently more likely to be entrepreneurs no matter which study or poll you look at. When the topic or the work is interesting to neurodivergent thinkers, they often respond with a high level of focus and attempt to become experts on the topic. They have a drive and a passion for whatever they focus on, which is why so many people who achieve greatness in a particular area show signs of divergent thinking which is becoming increasingly diagnosed. Some examples include Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, David Neeleman (founder of JetBlue), and Sir Richard Branson.
For more information see ADDitude Magazine’s article here.
The Gift of Character
Being a neurodivergent thinker in a “neuro-normal” world is character-building. Because there are so many added obstacles, neurodivergent thinkers are often challenged to be resilient. They daily meet the struggles associated with learning disabilities, lack of social skills and awareness, impulsivity, poor working memory, and sometimes even physical handicaps. It takes significantly more energy and effort to achieve what others may find easy. While depression and anxiety are more common among neurodivergent thinkers, so is resiliency.
Some of the most loyal people I know are neurodivergent thinkers. For those with Autism or other learning disabilities, it’s often the undiluted honesty and simplicity they display. As one of my students put it, “You’re my friend because you said you were”. Unless your actions disprove this blatantly, what you do and say is taken as true. Many divergent thinkers know all too well that friends who help them understand their social setting and continue to be friends after misunderstandings are hard to find. Maybe this is one of the reasons they value loyalty so highly.
For those with ADHD / ADD, that loyalty is backed with a boatload of emotion. They’ll stick up for you in any fight, right or wrong. As a junior high teacher, separating fights was just part of the job description, and many of those fights involved at least one student with ADHD / ADD tendencies or a diagnosis. Inevitably, someone said something offensive or made a threat toward their friend. It didn’t matter if the person being insulted or threatened was ready to fight because their loyal friend was there to defend them. With girls, it often looks more like drama than physically fighting, but the principle is the same. If you have a friend with ADHD/ ADD, chances are you’ve experienced that fierce loyalty first-hand.
And That’s Not All
Perspective, creativity, resiliency, and loyalty are just a few reasons I’ve found that neurodiversity is a gift. There are so many more. Maybe you’ve seen other ways neurodiversity is a gift or have better examples of the gifts listed above. Feel free to share in the comments section below, and take time to enjoy the neurodiverse people in your life and the gifts they have to offer.
