My 6 yo loves all the series by Dav Pilkey and I have seen him refer to ADHD as a superpower quite often. I spend a lot of time talking to my kid about how our brains work differently than other people, but I don’t like the toxic positivity either. It IS hard to make connections that other people don’t follow. I have never been able to listen to music with lyrics while writing or working in any capacity but I always loved Hans Zimmer’s scores and the Pride and Prejudice score music was my favorite in college.
Yeah, its tough, because I am usually all for people defining things the way that works best for them, but this sticks in my craw. It could just be where I'm at in my journey - as I am still relatively new to the club - but it doesn't sit right with me.
I do listen to instrumental music once in a while if my brain is too busy - film scores are a great option! I also like classical music as well.
I was supposed to go talk to my grad school professor about how I would get paralyzed when I was overwhelmed, and I never did. Even though I had good grades, they were annoyed that I didn’t seem “emotionally mature.” Turns out I think it was an ADHD thing all along.
Thanks for sharing my post, and I'm so glad to have discovered your writing! In my day job as a diversity and inclusion consultant, I deliver training on neurodiversity, and one of the things I rail against in those sessions is the framing of neurodivergence as a superpower. We don't have to be superhuman to be accepted, and we also don't need to be "inspirational". True inclusion comes when we're able to accept that everyone is different, with different strengths and challenges, and that they're all equally valid.
Thanks so much for reading! I’m so glad that you feel the same way. I’m very new to this diagnosis - it’s been less than a year - and I am so prickly about it at moments. There’s been a lot of grief. But yes, in accepting that I am neurodiverse, I just want to see more understanding and acceptance vs. being put on some weird pedestal. It’s another way of “othering” IMO.
I totally understand why you feel that way. I've also only come to realise I have ADHD in the last couple of years, and I just turned 40! So it's been a long time not understanding why life felt different for me. For me, realising there was a reason for it made everything suddenly make sense and it felt liberating - but I can't deny there was a lot of readjusting my own views and facing the biases that I'd internalised from society that see ADHD as something "wrong" or to be ashamed of. It's not an easy process for sure. And yes, I totally agree, it is just another form of othering. And I find it patronising. I'm just a "normal" person - whatever "normal" means, and, really, normal means as different and imperfect and beautiful and messy as everyone else, just in my own unique way, just like everyone else! Society needs to let go of the idea that there's a default normal, and then people who are outside that. Everyone has their own strengths, their own challenges, their own talents and their own weaknesses, and we can support everyone in the different ways they particular need it and allow everyone's unique lights to shine and everything else is just putting barriers in the way for the sake of it!
My 6 yo loves all the series by Dav Pilkey and I have seen him refer to ADHD as a superpower quite often. I spend a lot of time talking to my kid about how our brains work differently than other people, but I don’t like the toxic positivity either. It IS hard to make connections that other people don’t follow. I have never been able to listen to music with lyrics while writing or working in any capacity but I always loved Hans Zimmer’s scores and the Pride and Prejudice score music was my favorite in college.
Yeah, its tough, because I am usually all for people defining things the way that works best for them, but this sticks in my craw. It could just be where I'm at in my journey - as I am still relatively new to the club - but it doesn't sit right with me.
I do listen to instrumental music once in a while if my brain is too busy - film scores are a great option! I also like classical music as well.
I was supposed to go talk to my grad school professor about how I would get paralyzed when I was overwhelmed, and I never did. Even though I had good grades, they were annoyed that I didn’t seem “emotionally mature.” Turns out I think it was an ADHD thing all along.
The idea of ADHD as a superpower is such BS!! I love how you mentioned the Superman cape — perfect description!!
Thanks for sharing my post, and I'm so glad to have discovered your writing! In my day job as a diversity and inclusion consultant, I deliver training on neurodiversity, and one of the things I rail against in those sessions is the framing of neurodivergence as a superpower. We don't have to be superhuman to be accepted, and we also don't need to be "inspirational". True inclusion comes when we're able to accept that everyone is different, with different strengths and challenges, and that they're all equally valid.
Thanks so much for reading! I’m so glad that you feel the same way. I’m very new to this diagnosis - it’s been less than a year - and I am so prickly about it at moments. There’s been a lot of grief. But yes, in accepting that I am neurodiverse, I just want to see more understanding and acceptance vs. being put on some weird pedestal. It’s another way of “othering” IMO.
I totally understand why you feel that way. I've also only come to realise I have ADHD in the last couple of years, and I just turned 40! So it's been a long time not understanding why life felt different for me. For me, realising there was a reason for it made everything suddenly make sense and it felt liberating - but I can't deny there was a lot of readjusting my own views and facing the biases that I'd internalised from society that see ADHD as something "wrong" or to be ashamed of. It's not an easy process for sure. And yes, I totally agree, it is just another form of othering. And I find it patronising. I'm just a "normal" person - whatever "normal" means, and, really, normal means as different and imperfect and beautiful and messy as everyone else, just in my own unique way, just like everyone else! Society needs to let go of the idea that there's a default normal, and then people who are outside that. Everyone has their own strengths, their own challenges, their own talents and their own weaknesses, and we can support everyone in the different ways they particular need it and allow everyone's unique lights to shine and everything else is just putting barriers in the way for the sake of it!