posted February 05, 2010 09:12 PM
I am a member of Dyspraxia group on yahoo.
One of the members had disagreed that Dyspraxia can be a gift. He just sees it as a disability and hindrance. He thought of himself as being dumber than most. I tried to explain to him that many neurodivergents are very intelligent but tend to have feelings of intellectual inadequacy because they process information differently from most and are being compared to normal people. Then he told me that his was caused by brain damage connected to accident. He told me that somehow the umbilical cord got around his neck which resulted in severe oxygen deprivation.
I couldn't relate to that at all. I don't have brain damage. Neurologists examined me when I was in preschool because of my problems with coordination and balance, and they ruled out brain damage. In 2006, Veteran Affairs neurologists ruled out brain damage when I got examined by them. They also confirmed my Dyslexia and Dyspraxia and ruled that it was genetic and not acquired because my symptoms weren't progressive. They even said that they couldn't do anything for me. After all, I had already had auditory therapy,speech therapy,phonics training,and motor skills therapy to correct my Dyslexic,Dyspraxic issues when I was a child. My Veteran Affairs neuropsyche tests also confirmed that I had significant strengths in visual spatial thinking,strategic thinking,and problem solving even though I had weaknesses in short term memory(both visual and verbal), eye tracking, auditory processing,motor skills,and overall coordination. A lot of people in my family have neurodivergent traits. I even showed my mom a list of neurodivergent symptoms that Dr. Levinson wrote about, and she told me that she had a lot of them. My aunt (my mom's half sister) told me that she did too,and her daughter was diagnosed as having ADHD at the age of 7 because of her hyperactivity. My grandmother (my mom's stepmother) told me that my Uncle Eddie was recommended to be medicated for being very hyperactive, but she refused because she didn't want drugs messing up his brain. She also said that she's hyperactive,and so was my grandfather and they weren't taking medication for their hyperactivity. My Uncle Eddie's son, Joey is very hyperactive like his father. He is gifted and gets straight A's if he is disciplined. He gets F's when he is without discipline. His father disciplines him,and he gets straight A's again.I am thinking of just creating a nonprofit neurodiversity organization just for people that have developmental neurodivergences and not for ones that are acquired. I believe that ones that are acquired and created by brain damage need advocacy too. I was told that my main life purpose is to help indigo,crystal types. I am thinking that's referring to the genetic neurodivergents that to tend have sigificant strengths in certain areas and not just weaknesses as well as are highly intelligent,ultrasensitive,and nonconformist. That's exactly how I am. I definitely have a genetic neurodivergence.
Take Ronald D. Davis' theory for instance. He has Autism and Dyslexia. He was labeled a Kanner's baby. He is an engineer,artist,and business man that heads an international organization to help people with neurodivergence through his methods.
This is what Ronald D. Davis said about basic abilities connected to neurodivergence:
1. They can utilize the brain's ability to alter and create perceptions (the primary ability)
2. They are highly aware of the environment.
3. They are more curious than average.
4. They think mainly in pictures instead of words.
5. They are highly intuitive and insightful.
6. They think and perceive multi-dimensionally (using all the senses)
7. They can experience thought as reality.
8. They have vivid imaginations.
That seems like stuff that pertains to Indigo,Crystal types
I can totally relate to that stuff,
especially thinking in pictures. I visualize things in my mind's eye nonstop. When I am doing things, I automatically see myself doing them like seeing myself in a mirror. It's like I am turning my mind's eye onto myself. When I look at a side of an object, I automatically visualize other sides of that object too. Man...I go see a dentist, get a root canal or filling done, I visualize the drill going into my tooth,seeing the inside,blood,nerves. I read a book,and it's like watching a movie. When I am listening to people talk, it's the same way. My mind automatically associates a word with a certain picture. When I massage a person, I visualize the muscles and the direction of the muscle fibers. I always visualize something before I do it
like visualizing myself walking to the door,putting my hand on the door knob and opening the door before I actually do it. It's just an automatic thing that I do.
I go to a club and visualize my dance moves in my head as well as visualize myself dancing in front of myself before I carry out my actual dance moves.
When I was a little child, I had no ability to think in words. I had to be taught to do that through the special education therapies that I had. Verbal thinking didn't come natural to me like it did with most children. Therefore, I had problems with overall language.
My mother told methat she thinks the same as I do as in thinking in pictures,visualizing things in her mind's eye nonstop. She is even righthanded but left ear dominant and left eye dominant just like myself. She has the same cross dominance like myself. So my neurological processes are definitely genetic.
I can totally relate to what Ronald D Davis is talking about. It seems that there are neurodivergents that can't relate. Those might be the ones that have acquired neurodivergence.
I can't help thinking that there is an issue with ADHDers with the DRD4 7R types (novelty-seeking types) getting looped up with ADHDers whose ADHD was caused by other things like vitamin/mineral deficiencies, fetal alcohol syndrome,food sensitivities/allergies, omega 3 fatty acid deficiencies,heavy metal poisoning,toxins.
I can totally relate to the novelty-seeking traits of DRD4 7R gene. I see these novelty-seeking traits throughout my whole family. Could it be possible that psychiatric community believes that ADHDers need to be medicated based on the acquired ADHDers and not the genetic ADHDers? I believe that is the case.
Autism is another one. There are low functioning autistics and high functioning ones. Some of the nonverbal autistics that have been thought as being mentally retarded are actually very intelligent with strong visual spatial problem solving skills, suggesting complexity in thinking. They are not just rigid types that paying extreme attention to details like it was once thought. Autistic traits tend to run in families too. Some people believe that vaccines are causing autism. Maybe that is true, but for only the low functioning autistics. I don't believe that brain damage linked to vaccines would cause high intelligence with strong visual problem solving skills,and complexed thinking. That makes no sense to me. Scientists have already found genes and spontaneous genetic mutations connected to autism. Genetic mutations make a lot of sense. That is how we humans evolved and branched into various haplogroups and subclades. For instance, I belong to Haplogroup J with J1c subclade on the matrilineal line.
Some Dyslexics acquire their Dyslexia through glue ear which causes problems with their hearing. This makes it difficult for them to process sounds in words,and so leads to problems with listening,reading,and speaking. This is completely different from a Dyslexic who has problems with language due to the right hemisphere being always being overactive and interfering with left hemisphere processing. This is true for me. I continuously think in pictures,visualizing in my mind's eye (right hemisphere) and that includes when I am reading,listening,speaking,and writing (left hemisphere). As for my hearing, I was asked if I need ear plugs when I go sleep. My auditory processing issues used to include auditory reversals, but now just including memory and speech input lags, and some confusion at times as well as problems with strings of words.
I can't help wondering that what New Age people think are Indigo,Crystal types are actually the genetic neurodivergents including even people with spontaneous genetic mutations. Theythey are different from neurodivergents whose issues were acquired by certain things like ear infections/glue ear,heavy metal poisoning,vaccines,Omega 3 fatty acid deficiencies,as well as overall brain damage of some kind. It's very possible that the genetic neurodivergents are getting the short end of the stick based on being judged by how acquired neurodivergents are.
I am thinking that my nonprofit organization would be about genetic neurodivergence because it is something that I can strongly relate to. Acquired neurodivergence is not something that I can relate to. Talking about neurodivergence having certain strengths won't apply to them. Even saying that neurodivergence can be a gift would totally rub them the wrong way. It would be like saying polio or cancer is a gift. Some Dyspraxics in the group have already done that in yahoo group. I could understand some people telling me that ADHD is disorder and calling me "stupid" because I disagree with their views. That's already happened. Maybe they are right. Maybe it's the acquired ADHD that is a disorder but genetic ADHD isn't. Because of the overlap with Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, I believe that some ADHDers could also be Dyslexics and Dyspraxics that are misdiagnosed.
I believe that the Indigo,Crystal types aren't just people that fall under genetic neurodivergences of Dyslexia,Dyspraxia,ADHD,Autism. I believe that these are also types that are just gifted,but don't conform to mainstream environments. I also believe that some of the schizophrenics and bipolars are misdiagnosed Indigo,Crystal types too. After all, metaphysical stuff isn't recognized by psychiatric,scientific communities. Astronomical community totally look down on Astrology. It's not farfetched that many Indigo,Crystal types are misdiagnosed as bipolars,schizophrenics for talking about their beliefs and perceptions. I believe that bipolar and schizophrenia have other causes that include not only vitamin/mineral deficiencies but also certain things like drugs,toxins,and even pyroluria. Even taking psychiatric medications could ironically cause bipolar,schizophrenic symptoms. Indigo,Crystal types are ultrasensitive, and so they would be hypersensitive to medications which could lead to certain side effects. Heck..taking a little Paxil or Effexor gave me temporary impotence.
Neurodivergence isn't cut and dry.
Raymond
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"Nothing matters absolutely;
the truth is it only matters relatively"
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posted February 05, 2010 09:12 PM