Wired for More
Have you ever thought that your brain doesn’t seem to match those of the people around you?
As a kid you were different, but you couldn’t work out how. The other kids knew you were different too. They didn’t care why. Different was bad- that was all that mattered to them. So you became the butt of jokes or ostracised or rendered invisible.
And as you grew up you worked out ways to mask your difference. You learned how to fit in. But it cost you. It cost you your ability to relax and be yourself. You knew that being yourself got you into trouble.
The older you got, the better you became at playing ‘normal’. And you wondered why your levels of internal stress, anxiety and depression escalated.
Then eventually you found yourself in a tribe where people were dropping the veil and revealing their true selves. They were mirroring what you felt like inside. Maybe they were scattered or hyper-focused or spoke too much when they were nervous, or they had a ton of projects. The list goes on.
The point is, they had sought a diagnosis. For their difference. To get a label that allowed them to say I don’t think like you. I don’t work like you. I don’t socialise like you. I don’t find calm in the same way you do.
Not all of them wanted medication for their neurodiversity. Perhaps once they had their ‘label’ they were able to seek guidance on support tools and techniques for living life their way.
In fact what they had hidden all those years turned out to be a superpower when they were able to fire on all cylinders without the hampering and hindrances of societal norms..
And when you find your people you too decide to drop the curtain that hid your diverse thinking, your quirks and traits.
And out you come into the light.
And there you are with your full spectrum of possibility staring straight back at you.
And finally you feel fully alive.
My Brave New Girl guest this week Azryah Harvey, is such a person.
ADHD AMBASSADOR
Azryah Harvey is one of the ADHD ambassadors for Takeda UK’s Staring Back at Me campaign to raise awareness around neurodiversity..
Azryah Harvey is an anti-racism consultant, public speaker, writer, and content creator. She was diagnosed with ADHD aged 30 after suspecting she was living with the condition for a few years. While apprehensive about securing the diagnosis, Azryah felt validated when she received an ADHD diagnosis as it explained many of the challenges she had been experiencing.
Up to 75% of women living with ADHD are undiagnosed in the UK alone.
Azryah is an ADHD Ambassador for Staring Back at you Campaign by Takeda UK. She feels very strongly about ADHD and special educational needs in general - she was a teacher and pastoral lead in an SEN school for years - and she feels there is a very delicate balance between acknowledging your needs and advocating for yourself so you are accommodated correctly and also recognising that a portion of our issues is not that we have a disability, but more that the world is often a very rigid and discriminatory place.
Having ADHD can be very challenging, but not knowing you have it compounds everything! Creating that awareness and alerting people to the signs, she believes, will change lives. And as a woman we are socialised in a way that tells us to prioritise the needs of others. This campaign encourages women and non-binary people to prioritise themselves!
Azryah believes that we must find the strength to reject those ideals and acknowledge that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with us, but that the world does not account for or embrace difference and diversity the way it should.
The anti-racism work she does in schools consists of training, policy work, curriculum work and pupil workshops. They work with the entire school body to assess what areas the school need support in and use a holistic approach to increase racial literacy. The company is run predominantly by black women, so we use that sense that advocate for black and other ethnic minority groups and aim to improve the well being and quality of teaching for all children.
Thanks Azryah for sharing your journey to ADHD diagnosis and how you are helping schools to embrace diversity in all its forms. Thanks also for showing us how our difference can be our superpower
You can find out more about the Staring Back at Me campaign on https://staringbackatme.org.uk/
And follow her on Linkedin @Azryahharvey
SHINE YOUR LIGHT
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