The Resilience of Neurodivergents

I'm told that I'm dyslexic. I can't say I have any enthusiasm for get tested and having a label that's classed as a "learning difficulty". Looking back on my school days (I still have my school report), I've been labeled as "lazy" and "facetious" and off course, I "must try harder". But I knew I was working hard. My grades in science and maths were moving up to the top of the class. And as well as trying to keep up with my schools rote learning, I was busy devising alternative strategies to get through my education.

I had an interesting conversation with an educationalist who seemed surprised that despite my physics degree I had not memorised my times tables. It seemed pretty obvious to me that with a few simple rules, you only need to memorise a couple of lines. Physics was a God send. Lots of rules and logic and, if you understand them, very little to remember.

My disenchantment with the way I was getting treated at school lead to me devising my own, cooler curriculum. Getting information for the t.v., magazines and specialist books I set to work teaching myself electronics, photography and mechanical modelling. I had a good grasp of aviation through Airfix kits and when Apollo landed on the moon, I recorded the whole thing on ciné film and reel-to-reel audio tape.

In terms of character building, I was developing a "can do" attitude, resilience, innovative skills and most importantly enthusiasm. It's no use telling someone who is neurodivergent that they are lazy and must try harder. It just drives them into a corner and sucks their enthusiasm. But, I can hear you saying, "things have changed! That was the 1960s". Well they haven't. In 2010 I took a PGCE at the University of Leicester and my undiagnosed dyslexia was met with the same ineptitude. It seems some educationalists a stuck in a 19th century time warp. Something that is encouraged because rote learning is very easy to test and useful in demonstrating "good" school league table ratings.

But I have no intention of fixing the British education system. I do recognise that my own "off-piste" curriculum and its learning methods have put me in a very good position for a career in innovative technologies and I'd like to create my sense of enthusiasm in others. I'm working on a project called "Replacement Hipster". The Urban Dictionary definition being something like; an old guy who, by doing what he's always done, is using technologies that are very cool and sought out by younger people. Excuse my technology twist on the definition.

Replacement Hipster will showcase a range of topics from analog photography, to neolithic stone circles to visits to radio telescopes and technology museums. I'll be sharing it on multiple social media channels but if you want to get a flavour of the content, follow my Instagram account: @ReplacementHipster .

I'm hoping that what I'm going to do will encourage other to follow their own "off-piste" curriculum and sow a few seeds for innovative ideas. I'm always driven on by the fact that Bill Gates dropped out of collage to peruse his idea that industrial controllers could be used to make home computers. I bet he didn't get that idea from rote learning!

If you are interested in anything I'm doing or anything you find on the @ReplacementHipster Instagram, send me a message or drop a comment.