Having myself been diagnosed as gifted, and strongly suspecting I am also autistic (with plenty of traits those with ADHD will recognise), I’ve spent many years trying to figure myself out. Sometimes things are hard to face or deal with, and looking into why I am different from ‘normal people’, do things a certain way or think a certain way, can hurt. Coming face to face with thinking of yourself or traits you have as ‘less’ or as ‘not good enough’ is not fun, and can even hurt.
On the other hand, learning about why I am different from neurotypicals and figuring out that actually I’m just different and not ‘strange’ or ‘wrong’ made me feel seen, heard, understood and included in a way I never did before looking into what makes me ‘me’. Learning about my differences helped me accept myself more, and has helped me feel much more included and ‘normal’ than I ever did before.
I hope that one day I can help others figure themselves out, so that they too can get to accept and know themselves better, and learn that while they may be different from the norm and from people around them, that doesn’t make them ‘wrong’ or ‘defective’ in any way. Being different does not equal being less, is my main take-away.
How am I different, then?
Overall I’m very happy with who I am and how my brain operates. I love learning new things and figuring out how the world around me works. I’ll dive into something new and learn all about it, becoming an almost-expert on a tiny slice of something. When I needed open heart surgery at age 29, I devoured everything I could find on what was specifically wrong with my heart, even watching videos of actual surgeries and reading about different techniques the surgeon might use. All for the very specific (and also rather rare) heart problem I needed surgery for. I must say, I was happy to forget most of what I studied up on afterwards! 😉
Yes, I do also have special interests! I love science fiction and fantasy, and will devour books, TV shows and films on these topics. This extends to a general interest in exploring our solar system and the universe, keeping an open mind regarding the possibility of alien life, learning about new technologies and advanced in AI, and the like.
