Thread by @wimzkl

I don't usually pin tweets. Certainly not personal ones.
But this one is pinned and it's personal because #Neurodiversity is a real thing in my life and probably yours, too, whether you know it or not.
I'm talking generally now about #ActuallyAutistic #ADD #ADHD + so many others.

This is a thread, a single story only, about one person's relationship with #Neurodiversity

I did a thing I don't usually do. I talked about my personal relationship with it at a thing. I didn't plan it. As many life-changing things tend to do --> it just happened.

(2/n)

Before we go too far tho it's very important we establish that this is only a single story. There are many voices that need to be heard.

(3/n)

Also it's important to transmit some #gratitude to @HackersHealth @DerbyCon and all the people involved therein who created a time and space for such things.
(4/n)

@HackersHealth @DerbyCon We need to hear more stories like this because there are kids and grownups too who struggle with varying degrees of #Neurodiversity every day who will thrive with just a small bit more acceptance and inclusion. We are all different but share the same fate.
(5/n)

I know because it's taken me far too long to get to a degree of acceptance about myself to speak personally about my relationship with #Neurodiversity specifically #Hyperlexia. While I wish I'd gotten to this point sooner hey sometimes it just takes as long as it takes.
(6/n)

Truth is it takes us all a long time to integrate what we learn into practice. This is a tweet about #Neurodiversity with gratitude to @M_Kelter
(7/n)

And it's easy to understand why so many of us find it much easier to try and mask what makes us different so we appear to be just regular people.
Our differences can either divide us or bring us closer together.
Gratitude to @stevesilberman + @GretaThunberg
(8/n)

One thing that we all have in common is well illustrated by this great thought from @slooterman
(9/n)

Which is also closely tied to something else we all struggle with whether we are #Neurodivergent #Neurotypical no matter what race, creed, gender, religion, etc.
This is a tweet about #Empathy with a hat tip to @thinkingautism and @MxOolong
(10/n)

I didn't come to these realizations from reading a single tweet. It took years to even begin to accept myself for who I am and my personal relationship to this.
It started in the wonderful city of Seattle, which may explain my fondness for it.
(11/n)

It was there while working with kids on the Spectrum that I had faced a choice: either come to terms with and accept my #Neurodiversity or fail them as a collaborator and friend.
I owe them all a debt of gratitude, too, because without them I would still be in denial.
(12/n)

Instead it was the first time I ever tried acceptance.
Some unexpected things happened in a chain reaction.
Arguably the most important of these was learning the selfish value of helping others. I learned to understand and help myself better, too.
(13/n)

Discovering the power of #acceptance + learning to be cool with myself for the first time kicked off other chain reactions, too, which led to other experiences that were very different from all those that had come before.
#Neurodiversity #OriginStory #infosec

So here's to each of us finding our own way.
Acceptance is a sneaky thing.
It's not a small thing.
Takes as long as it takes.
There's no way I could've known the day it happened to me.
Maybe today's that day for you.
Good luck. You're certainly not alone.
Thanks for reading.