Neurodiversity week. A week of celebrating the diversity of the Human brain wiring.
A week to have conversations about neurodiversity because, despite autism and ADHD and other alternative brain wirings getting a bit more known and accepted, there are still lots of taboos or wrong assumptions about it.
I'm glad things are changing. I'm glad to have this week and now this book to talk about it. Between the moment you discover you are ND and the moment you are fully open about it, there is that weird space where you don't want it to be left unknown with your friends, colleagues and family, but it's a bit weird to drop in a conversation "oh by the way, I'm autistic."
This book is for me the end of that weird space, because "oh, by the way, I'm autistic". 😉
There I said it!
2016 was a tough year for me and a big unravelling of everything that was my world: the Brexit vote, the end of a very intense relationship, the death of my Godmother, and discovering I was autistic/Asperger. It took me a long while to settle with it, to understand it, make peace with it, stop feeling odd for it, and finally embracing my quirks as the fire that forged my strength.
Some people I have open to about it have reinforced the fact that it doesn't matter, that I'm Pascale first to them, or it's just a label... and yes, not everyone enjoy a label or feel they want to be defined by it.For me, I want to recognise that it gives me strength and challenges. The more I have embraced it and gave up on being the "normal" perso I was assuming people wanted, I have found my people and a new freedom.
My experience and quirks is often what draw people in nowadays.
So no more tip toeing for me about being different.
I'm grateful for G Sabini-Roberts and Sara Kedge for the How 2 EntrepreNeuro group and them showing up as they do and this book idea that has been the spark for letting go of the last bit of resistance I had about being transparent about my neurodiversity.
Being part of the people sharing their stories in the book is a big turning point in my life. If you want to read more about some awesome people including myself, pop to Amazon, the Kindle should be free in the next few hours/days and you can also download it from Smashwords here.
It would mean the world to us if you were to read and leave a review, send to any ND youngsters who need a bit of hope about their future and what they can achieve, not DESPITE being ND, but BECAUSE they are ND.
