Part 2.5: Processing Differences [Est: 5m 34s]

All right. Welcome back to the course in this video, we’re gonna explore the differences in the processing speed and style between neurodivergent and neurotypical people. You’ve got a background now on how the brain works and some of the stuff that goes on, but it’s really important to understand the seeing mechanism like we were talking about. So before we dive into the specifics, we need to really, really sink our teeth into why this matters. First, it’s estimated that one in five people are neurodivergent, meaning they process information differently completely differently than what’s considered typical. This is a significant portion of the population. This means that walking down the aisle of a grocery store, likely somebody in that aisle is neurodivergent. This significant portion of the population faces barriers and challenges and setbacks in the educational system in their professional lives and even in private settings. You don’t know how many neurodivergent people I’ve spoken with that can’t even manage to do their laundry or clean off a pile of stuff behind them. But perhaps the most important thing isn’t the problems they face, even though we need to band together to fix them. It’s the fact that, that difference is something to be celebrated and embraced. Like we’ve said before, some of the most famous and successful people in history were neurodivergent. Albert Einstein, Nikola, Tesla, Steve Jobs and even Elon Musk. So what exactly are the differences in processing that we’re talking about? Well, for starters, neurodivergent individuals may take longer to process information because they process it a different way. And most of the time the burden is on us the neuro divergence to translate. It’s like um having to take that image that Galileo sees through the telescope and turn it into something that we can put into a camera, takes them. But this can also lead to frustrations because we’re not fast enough or misunderstandings with communication. Neurodivergent people also might have a stronger preference for visual or auditory learning because there’s more information there and we can get a richer picture in our heads without that. They may struggle with working memory and executive functioning that most neurotypical people find so easy. They just don’t even notice that they’re doing it and take it for granted. The only time if you’re neurotypical in watching this, the only time I would say you may notice this is imagine the last time you felt rage to the point where you couldn’t think straight now, multiply that by 10 and uh multiply that intensity by time and throw it in your life for about three or four times a day, you’re neurodivergent and you’re watching this with a neurotypical person. Confirm that for me please. Now let’s address some of the common misconceptions about processing differences. One of the biggest differences is the idea that neurodivergent individuals are less intelligent or slow. We just mentioned why they may seem that way, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, most neurodivergent people have unique strengths and abilities that are so valuable in a variety of places that make them super qualified for those places. But they can only allow those abilities to come out if they have accommodations to get out of survival and out of this nervous system issue, this intensity that I just described so to support neurodiversity is most important to support accommodating these differences. And that might seem one sided, it might seem unfair, it is what it is, this might mean allowing extra time for processing, providing visual aids or adjusting the way that information is presented. Ultimately, we’re either gonna have to translate or you will we can come together to do it. But if we’re concerned about speed and efficiency, we have to come up with a common protocol. Otherwise this information might just not get through. And because of that, we may feel misunderstood or ignored or like the neurodivergent person doesn’t care when it’s just overwhelming to try to figure out most of society doesn’t operate with the level of compassion, I’m inviting you to do here. And if you think that that seems ok with the neurodivergent that you know, or that you are check in with yourself or with that person and see if you’re just, if, if it’s really ok or if you just come to accept it and I wanna leave you with that for this video because this could be one of the most important moments to realize that the neurodivergent people need far more compassion than they’re being given and they need that by understanding these differences. So I hope these videos help do that. That is a brief overview of the processing differences in neuro divergence people. Remember we have to understand in order to be supportive. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you guys in the next video.