Neurodivergence And The Spirit Of Progress: The Hill We Climb

This week Amanda Gorman stole the show at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Washington DC. The Harvard Student was appointed the National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017. Her artistic work, on display to the whole world yesterday is more than lyrical, it is profound, curating complex sociological themes of politics, inclusion and progress into a clear message which appeals to our human condition at this moment.

Gorman reports growing up with Auditory Processing Disorder, and hypersensitivity to noise. She had a speech impediment and needed to work hard to overcome her lack of voice, the results of which raise the bar for all of us, aspirational for her generation. So with Gorman’s neurodivergent and disabling characteristics, which are shared by many with Autism, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia and more, we have yet another example of disorder turning into difference turning into dynamism. Gorman has written three books and is planning a political career – she has had an auspicious start! So why are so many neurominorities able to tack this path? Why do so many of us go on to be trailblazers, entrepreneurs and innovators in our fields? Here’s what growing up “disordered” or “different” can teach you, if you have enough supporters to help you through the dark days.

Perseverance

The ability to keep pushing forward and trying again in the face of failure and adversity. Very few can claim a straight line of progress to success, meaning that at some point we had to be willing to keep going even when the future looked uncertain. Neurodiverse individuals are trained in perseverance from day one in our lives. Our very existence is one in which we are told that we are failing in one way or another because we cannot meet a set of standards created by society that define what is “normal”. For this reason many of us end up in therapies, with additional coaching, or with authority figures in our life that push us to keep working at achieving that normal standard. External forces aside, we also tend to pressure ourselves to fit in and keep up. Whilst it is up for debate if this attitude of pushing does more harm than good, I think it is fair to say that it is does impart an ability to keep trying when things are hard, and also a deep understanding that you cannot expect things in life to come easily. This early lesson about managing failure is something that more typical children don’t learn until they are much older, or in some privileged cases never have to learn!

When Gorman recited “The Hill We Climb” she expanded the metaphor of her personal journey to inspire all humans, a call for progress.

Focus

Neurominorities often have the ability for hyper-focus, this is ability to focus intensely on something for a prolonged period of time. We also often have special interests, meaning we develop a fascination with a particular subject and become consumed with learning about it. Whilst these traits don’t apply across the board, for the people who do experience them it is easy to understand why they would be of use in developing a career. Being an expert in your field can set you apart from competitors, and hyper-focus can allow you to get more done more in less time than others. As long as a good strategy for managing burnout is in place this can be harnessed to achieve great things.

Creativity

Ingenuity and creative thinking are really what sets neurominorities apart from the pack. By definition our thought processes are different to the majority of the population meaning that our chances of coming up with brand new ideas and ways of doing things are higher. I always love to hear the stories of how brilliantly innovative companies and products began. Very often it is with a problem that needs solving or a need that has gone unrecognised until someone with fresh perspective and insight becomes interested in it. Creativity of thought is exactly why the world needs neurodiversity and exactly why when our creative thinking is encouraged and supported we achieve amazing things. Creativity is often born from combining disparate ideas into one: Gorman has produced poetry and studied sociology, so in combining complex social science into an art form, she has developed a unique offering in both fields.

Flexibility

Adaptability and Flexibility are also traits that neurodiverse individuals have no choice but to learn. In fact one joke I often here in the Autistic community is how preposterous it is that Autisic people are referred to as “rigid thinkers” when in fact they spend their entire lives adapting their behavior to other people’s requirements! As with my earlier point about perseverance, we spend so much of our youth trying to meet other people’s standards of social norms, learning and communication styles that many of us are actually highly adaptable and flexible adults. This ability to shift with the circumstances is key to success as an entrepreneur or innovator. How many businesses would have gone under if their owner wasn’t able to roll with the punches, or turn bad news into a positive by shifting perspectives some how. I recently heard a wonderful story about how the maker of Kodiak Cakes pancake mix Joel Clark struggled to keep his business afloat for over a decade before the decision to try adding a scoop of protein powder into the mix one day saw the business explode with popularity as a fitness product. Creativity, plus a willingness to adapt along with the trends and circumstances of the moment will make any business or personal career trajectory more durable.

Motivation

My final point is about what drives you to want to succeed. The obvious answer for some is money, but I would argue that a deeper-rooted motivation than that is required for genius. A common thread from successful business people and also neurominorities is that the desire to prove something to others and to themselves is an incredibly powerful motivator.

I hope you are joining me in celebrating the achievements of this emerging young talent and cheerleading her future path. Never underestimate the drive of someone who has been told they can’t do something.

Thank you Helen Doyle for your essential contribution to this article.