Part 11 — Understanding us: from the people who live it every day

A strengths-led exploration by🟠 the neurovision group

Introduction

This article is Part 11 of a 12-part series exploring neurodivergent lived experience from the inside, through the nervous system, the brain, the senses, the emotions and the strengths hidden beneath each layer.

Today’s chapter moves into something bigger than personal experience.
It’s about understanding, not sympathy, not tolerance, but accurate understanding.

Because so many neurodivergent people carry the same truth, silently:

We are not difficult people.
We are people living in environments that misunderstand and a re misaligned with how our brains and bodies naturally work.

This chapter is intentionally solutions-based, designed to give others a clearer lens through which to see us and for neurodivergent readers, a way to feel recognised without having to explain themselves again and again.

Understanding us: from the people who live it every day

The truth behind the behaviours and the strengths beneath the surface

We’re tired of translating ourselves. So here it is, straight,

1 We’re not “too sensitive.” We’re running on higher bandwidth. The lights are louder, the emotions are deeper, the details are sharper. Our brains and nervous systems are different, think iphone/android.

2 We’re not lazy or avoiding work. We’re waiting for the “go” juice (dopamine) to show up. When it does? We’ll finish your month-long project in one weekend. Promise. Your way is not the only way, your neuro chemistry fires different to mine.

3 When we disappear after a party or a meeting, we’re not ghosting you. We’re rebooting. Give us the evening, we’ll come back warmer and sharper than before.

4 A tiny mistake can feel like the end of the world because our alarm system is set to ultra. We’re not overreacting; our body just heard “major threat” when you heard “oops.”

5 We’re not flaky. We’re tidal. Our energy moves in waves. Work with the rhythm and you’ll see our magic.

6 We’re not cold or lacking empathy. Most of us feel everything at volume 11 and have spent years learning how to carry it without drowning.

7 We don’t do small talk because it feels like static, no depth. Give us something real and we’ll talk until sunrise. We’re not rude; we’re allergic to surface or fake.

8 Open-plan offices, fluorescent lights, surprise meetings, vague instructions… These aren’t annoyances. They’re like trying to work inside a nightclub with a hangover and sunglasses on.

9 We’re not “high maintenance.” We’re high performance, in the wrong environment. Change the environment and watch what happens.

10 We’ve been gaslit our whole lives into thinking we’re broken. We’re not. We’re just built for a world that hasn’t caught up yet. Thankfully, the world is now catching up and we have the lens and the language, join us. 

And when you finally see us clearly? We become the ones who spot the pattern nobody else noticed, solve the problem nobody else could, innovate like tomorrow depends on it, feel the shift in the room before it happens, stay when everyone else has given up.

We don’t want pity. We want partnership.

We don’t want tolerance. We want the lights dimmed, the instructions clear, the deadlines honest and the trust that we’ll deliver in our own extraordinary way.

Give us that and we’ll move mountains. Keep misunderstanding us and we’ll keep quietly burning out trying to move them anyway.

So please: Stop trying to fix us. Start listening.

Because the future isn’t neurotypical. It’s neurodivergent.

Reflections ✨

• Which misconceptions about you have caused the most harm?
• What truth about your experience do you wish people understood?
• What strengths sit beneath your so-called challenges?
• How would your life shift if your environments matched your wiring?

If you’re ready to stop explaining and start being understood, come find the rest of us who got tired of translating, over in our online community. For so many of us, trying to fit into traditional spaces has been exhausting, crowded rooms, sensory overwhelm, impossible timings, masking, overthinking.

A well-held online community is the opposite.
It’s calm. It’s spacious. It meets people where they are.

And when you bring together people who think differently, care deeply and want better for themselves and others, you get something powerful..... All Kinds of Minds™ together. 

The final part in this series: Part 12 - Why I’m sharing this: A call to honour All Kinds of Minds™

We hope you join us for the closing chapter of a series that has explored the unseen, unspoken and often unnamed experiences of neurodivergent life.