The Advantage of Being a Neurodivergent Thinker

The term neurodiversity sprang from sociologist Judy Singer’s movement to promote “neurological minorities”—individuals with different ways of thinking, like those with autism and ADHD. Singer’s idea was to create more inclusivity for outside-the-box thinkers.

My son was diagnosed with inattentive-type ADHD 10 years ago, in the third grade. He is a hyperfocused, risk-taking, creative problem-solver with a brain that pays attention to everything all the time. My son’s neurodiverse brain works differently due to his ADHD, but it shouldn’t be considered a deficit.

It's Time to Change Our View of Neurodivergent Thinkers

“Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” This quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, describes the impact our neurotypical thinking can have on our neurodiverse ADHD children.

To most people, having ADHD is viewed as something negative. Neurotypicals are wary of those who think and perform differently than we think they should because we cannot relate to how the neurodiverse brain functions in someone with a different ability, like ADHD. Often, teens and adults with ADHD report they are fearful of being seen by others as incompetent, unappealing, or uncool.

Why Paying Attention to Everything All the Time is an Asset

My son describes his ADHD brain as an overstuffed garbage can; the lid doesn’t stay on, and everything is falling out all over the floor. His “garbage-can brain” contributes to his diverse thinking, allowing him to be a creative problem-solver. Neurodivergent thinkers can make connections between things that, to neurotypical thinkers, are seemingly unrelated.

My son has a passion for learning about anything related to space technology, rockets, space travel, and origami (the Japanese art of paper-folding). He took his innovative ADHD brain into a NASA-sponsored competition to design a vehicle to land on Mars. His creativity and unique approach to problem-solving led him to combine both of his seemingly unrelated interests, space technology and origami, into the vehicle design, for which he was named a national finalist.

Neurodivergent and Successful

Interestingly, independence, risk-taking, high energy, curiosity, humor, artistic gifts, emotionality, impulsiveness, argumentativeness, and hyperactivity are traits that have been identified in creative individuals, entrepreneurs, and children with ADHD.

At the age of 12, my son turned his passion for origami into a successful business, making his creations into jewelry and selling them at a boutique in our hometown. Successful entrepreneurs like David Neeleman, founder of several airline companies, and Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group of companies, attribute their success to their creative, neurodiverse thinking associated with their ADHD and other learning differences. Mainstream companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Goldman Sachs, among others, now offer neurodiversity hiring programs, finally realizing they were excluding a critical population whose members could give their companies a competitive advantage.

My son was fortunate to be accepted into the five colleges he applied to, despite his subpar grades in some of his classes. The essay he wrote for his college applications detailed how his neurodiverse thinking, because of his ADHD, made him stand out as he emphasized what he could offer, despite his limitations. Although I’ll never know for sure, I hope those colleges realized his potential contribution as a student who thinks differently.

I have learned to embrace my son’s neurodiversity, focusing on his strengths and unique capabilities. Author Harvey Blume wrote in the September 1998 issue of The Atlantic: “Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will prove best at any given moment?”