Leah Terrasi talks about her experience with Neurodiversity
June 2024
By Leah Terrasi
Finding out that you are neurodivergent as an adult is an interesting experience. It can cause you to reevaluate things that have happened in your life, especially during your school years. For me, it helped explain some things and made me question others. Every neurodivergent person has their own experiences, struggles, and superpowers. Here is a little insight into mine.
I stumbled into an ADHD diagnosis in my thirties after seeking help for some of the symptoms it causes for me. I was well into my career at this time and was successful. How could I possibly have ADHD? Like many others, I had an image in my head of what ADHD looks like. For me, it was the little boy bouncing off the walls because he was incapable of sitting still. That wasn’t me! But sure enough, the more I learned the more it became clear that this diagnosis fit me perfectly.
People with ADHD often struggle with attention and focus, leading to difficulties in staying organized, completing tasks, and paying attention to details. This inattentiveness can manifest in forgetfulness, distractibility, and difficulty following through on plans or instructions. This I can relate to. I used to have trouble understanding how I could be completely oblivious, make careless mistakes or have 35 tabs open in my internet browser. Luckily this is not always what I’m like, just when I’m distracted.
ADHD can have its benefits too. My number one ADHD superpower is hyperfocus. When I enter hyperfocus, everything else in the world melts away except for the task at hand. During these times, I can produce work at better quality and faster than usual.
The problem is that I can’t schedule hyperfocus. I have found that the stress of an impending deadline can help but it’s not foolproof. The length of my hyperfocus is also unpredictable. It can go on for hours or days. The longer the strength though, the higher the likelihood that I will have a burnout crash and have trouble maintaining focus on tasks for some time afterwards. One downside is that I cannot pick the task my brain insists on completing during a hyperfocus moment. Task A might be more pressing, but I might only be able to focus on Task B at that time.
Learning more about ADHD allowed me to come to terms with some of my struggles. At the very least it helped quiet the voice in my head that would beat myself up every time, I forgot to follow-through or made what I thought were careless mistakes. Now I know that I will occasionally forget what I’m doing mid task, overlook something that later seems obvious or hyperfocus on something that is not important. All I can do is put measures in place to minimize these and continue to do the best my non-typical brain will do at that moment.
Now as Director of Communications at NTI, I am fortunate to work for a company that understands people with disabilities and some of the challenges we may face will working. I appreciate the flexibility I am allowed in my schedule so I am able to adjust my work schedule to get the most focus while I’m working. Not everyone is suited for a 9-5 schedule. Luckily, not every job needs to fit into this strict schedule.
If you are an American with a disability or a family caregiver of someone with a disability, visit www.nticentral.org to learn what services are available.