Life is like a Rubik's Cube. The answer only serves to prompt the questions..

There are certain moments in life where something seminal occurs. A defining experience becomes a turning point - a marker in time from which everything can be measured in terms of before and after.

The discovery, somewhat later in life, that my cranial cave is occupied by what modern parlance dubs a “neurodivergent” brain, was one of those such moments.

Though it took decades of my life, the gradual, dawning realisation and eventual point of confirming was nothing less than transformative. Rather than an overnight discovery, the arrival at this clinical determination was the product of an almost two year diagnostic process, uncovering knowledge bit by bit. This enquiry arose through various hunches and incidentally observed data points, each of which wove themselves gradually into a tapestry of ever greater clarity. The musings that underpinned said theories were kindled at various points through my life, some as far back as early childhood and often by the most random, innocuous and seemingly unrelated/unfathomable occurrences.

It was like watching a Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie detective mystery in reverse, starting at the end of the plot (the present) and working back through the clues to the opening credits.

While, for me, it remains crucial to not be defined by any one particular trait (regardless of how intrusive it can be), the arrival at this revelation proved to be a life-changing moment of validation and insight. The slew of challenges I’d experienced with distraction, restlessness, cognitive/executive function and numerous other manifestations finally had some context and started to make sense.

While all of these phenomena occur in the spectrum of human experience, the best way I can articulate is to say that, like all human characteristics, they exist on a continuum and, for some parts of the species, they exert levels of influence which can (and do) have a tangible impact on peoples’ complex, modern lives. From education and professional life to mental health and well-being, numerous aspects can be affected. The challenges are compounded by the invisible nature of such functional anomalies, as well as the innate societal tendency to judge superficially, often writing off what is inexplicably different as inadequate, wrong or defective in some way.

Finally understanding all of this meant that, for the first time, I had insight, a voice, some vocabulary with which to describe (and be understood) and thus formulate the beginnings of a toolkit. Once I finally understood the challenge I could, at last, start to work on the measures. That is a key part of my mission going forward.