Neurodivergence, Supply Chain and Me

Well, this post will meander around a little, but its business related if you’re willing to stick with me.

To make an excessively long story short, a little over a year ago my daughter was diagnosed with “Level 1 Autism” (formerly known as Asperger’s).

I have learned an incredible amount since then. I learned that an autistic brain is wired differently than a typical brain, literally. This is referred to as neurodivergence. Often it is referred to as neurodiversity. It is a product of neurological development, it cannot be learned, cured, or acquired. Most importantly, it is a broad spectrum of variations, no two autistic people are the same or have the same set of skills and challenges.

What I was most surprised to learn through this process is that my daughter inherited it from her father!

My diagnostic process is still underway, but this much we now know for certain. And what I have learned changes so many things. Yes, its possible to go a lifetime without being able to name something that you know is present. When you finally do its an “aha!” moment. I’m grateful that my daughter’s experience has taught me this about myself, while trying to understand her better.

To be more specific, this revelation doesn’t change anything about me. I know who I am. But this changes what I know about everyone else. Up until now, I’ve assumed how I think is how everyone thinks (in terms of the thought process, not actual ideas) and now I have a chance to use some new knowledge to translate better.

For me personally (because I can’t speak for autistic people in general) I’m a sensory-based thinker. I do not think with words. I visualize all my ideas, thoughts, and concepts like movies, photos and 3D models. Colours represent emotions, and sounds have colours. And I take in everything around me, all the time, all at once. I process a lot of information, and it can be draining.

My neurodivergence allows me to project the path of any situation or set of data (if the data is sound) with reasonable accuracy. This is because I “see” data. I can see a situation or event as a whole thing, including its development, current state, and where it will end up if left on its own. Think of a mechanical device or a system. I see it for what it is, what it does and how it does it all at once, not sequentially, based on the data available. That’s the plus side for me, the negative is that it takes far more effort and energy for me to communicate those ideas. It requires multiple levels of translation from the visual/sensory to the verbal/written, a translation process that is not present in most people. Some concepts don’t translate verbally at all. As it turns out, some neurodivergent people can learn to imitate (like a chameleon) neurotypicals as a means to get by. That’s called masking, it can take an unimaginable amount of effort. For me, I’m done with masking. This is me, and I wouldn’t change it.

Now here’s the business side of things that I promised: neurodivergence and supply chain. From my first memories I examined everything in my environment – why did it exist, where did it come from, how was it made, why was it made, who made it, what happens to it when it’s no longer useful, and overall, how do you avoid wasting things. Because my young mind could see that waste was always associated with negative things. And most negative things I encountered boiled down to someone somewhere not seeing the waste for what it is. That’s supply chain. And system thinking. It turns out that what evolved into my career focus on supply chain was my method of reconciling the world around me. For me its not a career, its hard-wired into who I am.

So now, I’ll be using my neurodiversity as a strength instead of trying to shoe-horn it into conventional constraints. I’m shifting my focus towards helping people to visualize their supply chains and act on them the way I have for years, to make them easier to understand. There’s lots of translation involved but hey, I’ve been doing that for years now. What I won’t do anymore, is attempt to bury my individuality in order to conform to a neurotypical world. I encourage everyone to try to actually know people as individuals and work with their individual strengths. True diversity begins with the individual mind - that’s where the gold is.?