Everything is More Intense. A Few Words about Neurodiversity

🌈 Neurodiversity is a huge umbrella, covering both people with severe disabilities and those you’d never suspect think differently because they’re great at blending in. Sure, they don’t have to, but let’s be real—how many companies would hire someone for a senior management role who walks in and says, “Hey, by the way, I’m on the spectrum,” without some BIG success stories behind them?🙃

When we hear “autism spectrum,” many of us picture a kid banging his head on a wall or someone like Rainman, doing complex math in their head. And yes, those cases exist, but they’re not the norm.

💡There are a million definitions of diversity, just like everything else these days. I like Baumer Freuh’s (2021) take: “Neurodiversity means there’s no single right way to behave, think, feel, or learn. People naturally experience the world and interact with it in different ways. These differences aren’t deficits; in fact, neurodiversity suggests they can be valuable traits.”

📕I’m finishing a Polish book by Jacek Hołub called “Everything is More Intense. Life on the Autism Spectrum,” and it’s really making me realize how broad the spectrum is. It also reminds me that instead of judging someone’s way of thinking, communicating, or achieving their goals, we should consider whether those differences are actually strengths. Because honestly, we’re all different but equal.

📚This book was published by my favorite publisher, Wydawnictwo Czarne, and I’ve got a whole shelf of their works 🙂. But this one is special because it opened my eyes.

I have a friend whose daughter is on the autism spectrum. The first time I met her, she introduced herself in a robotic voice: “Hi, my name is Ewelina Dańxxx, very nice to meet you.” Later, I learned that despite her clear disability, she graduated from university. She thrives in situations where she can find a clear system to follow, and she recently started a job ❣️

Her mom pointed out something interesting: “A lot of companies proudly talk about how open they are to diversity and disabilities. But the truth is, they’d prefer if the disability was something like missing a fingertip. If someone stutters, laughs too loudly, or can’t write perfectly polished corporate emails, suddenly it’s an issue no one can deal with”⁉️

📖I encourage you to read the book, but even more, to stay open-minded. Let’s try to see the light in the people around us and recognize our own differences as strengths.

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