Chimamanda Adichie in her TED Talk on ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ says “The single story creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story”.
I feel this holds true for so many neurodiverse youngsters living with Autism and ADHD. When I have used ‘creative, sensitive, quick thinker, class topper’ to describe a person with ADHD to the outside world, I am often asked, “But how? Aren’t people with ADHD inattentive, procrastinators who struggle with staying organised and getting stuff done?”
This is when I love to tell the many ‘alternate stories’ that I have witnessed through my work.
Let me introduce you to 10-year-old Rakesh (name changed). Rakesh is studying in class 5; he loves reading and learning about all things cricket. Shoot him a question about who is the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team or the names of players of the entire Indian team and he will tell you everything to the T. He hopes to become a cricketer himself someday. Rakesh also finds computers and maths fun, making those his top two favourite subjects. He helps his mum with household chores and loves experimenting with cooking Italian cuisine in the kitchen. Now Rakesh’s love for cricket or Italian cuisine did not bring him to me but rather his difficulty managing anger and concentrating on his schoolwork. He had come with a ‘problem’.
As we spoke, Rakesh and I discovered there were many different aspects to him, some of which were easy and fun and others that made getting routine mundane tasks such as written work completed for him very difficult. Having too many things to get done at the same time is overwhelming. Rakesh’s neurodiversity brought both strengths and challenges. If I had stopped with Rakesh’s difficulty with anger, we would never unearth the talented, passionate young boy that lay beneath this ‘problem’.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has so many stereotypes – ‘hyperactive’, ‘daydreamer’, ‘procrastinator’, ‘messy’. When we have looked beyond that, we have seen people who are quick in crisis situations, creative, generous, curious, and full of energy.
Here are a few ways you can get to know a person beyond the problem: What are some of the things that interest you? How did you get through the week? When are you the happiest?
I invite you to get to know children beyond their diagnosis, as the saying goes, ‘The danger of a single story is that it is incomplete’.
AILEEN DE SOUZA
Psychologist