With their book Abnormaal goed (Abnormally Good), Peter Ampe and Emily Rammant demonstrate not the dark side, but the positive aspect of being neurodiverse. It zooms in on the special talent that all too often remains hidden. Peter is the creative partner at the advertising agency FamousGrey, Emily a professional coach and co-founder of Yin United. Their mission is to create awareness about ‘thinking differently’. Emily: “The subject is still taboo. We want to increase understanding between employers, employees and colleagues. It’s about applying your strengths. The subtitle of our book, which translates as ‘Use your disorder to discover your talent’, was not chosen at random. People with ADHD often find it difficult to concentrate but at the same time that provides the basis for multitasking.”

It is not a small group. For every person with autism, there are five who share some of the characteristics. Others are introverts, but have taught themselves to be extroverts because that’s the prevailing norm in our society. Peter: “When our son was diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder), the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree. Suddenly it dawned on me, the way I am put together and why I function differently. Initially, a label can be a shock and it may only feel like a relief after it is accepted. Now I know that I will not lose my creativity because it is a part of who I am.” Emily: “Being able to understand more how Peter thinks was a revelation. If the seeds of conflict lie in unspoken expectations, you can avoid them by knowing the other person better. If you have the right expectations, you can’t be disappointed. Writing this book became a journey of discovery: it was Peter’s idea, he started, but couldn’t finish it due to his ADHD. The fact I was able to do this feels like a gift to Peter.”

Peter has a thing for words, constantly makes associations and doesn’t dwell on the social consequences. “I am always looking for kicks, I have to maintain my dopamine levels. The words come gushing out. In certain jobs, that’s an asset. Business leaders sometimes ask us how to attract neurodiverse people, but they are already there, they just need to be identified and valued.” The book helps readers discover their unique talents, which lead to more focused choices in their work and life. Peter: “I often felt like the court jester, whose ideas were brushed off with laughter. In fact, a nurturing framework is important. Neurodivergence can help a work environment thrive. Our book aims to be an inspirational guide and proposes a number of professions for each ‘disorder’. However, nothing is set in stone because every brain is unique: if you know someone with autism, you know one person with autism. We all have our unique manual.” 

Peter: “Someone with ADHD, who does not elaborate their incredible ideas, is the perfect pairing for a talented individual in the organisation with a touch of OCS (obsessive-compulsive disorder), who completes everything to perfection. That, by the way, is how our book was written. Music is created when everyone can focus on their strengths. Then again, other constellations rarely work, such as three people with ADHD, who appear to be busy, but never finish anything.” Emily: “Defining what is normal and abnormal is pretty arbitrary. Ideally, the focus should shift from labels to symptoms. On determining the talents and then ditching the labels attached to them. Many recognise symptoms without being diagnosed. They experience a eureka moment when reading the book, which is confrontational, on the one hand, but reassuring too. A lot of neurodiverse people are still in the closet.”

Tom Tosseyn is an acclaimed graphic designer and a firm believer in the power of being different. “Reading the book De gave van dyslexie (The Gift of Dyslexia) was an eye-opener. Although I had a strong suspicion, it was never referred to as such during my childhood. Today, thankfully, things have changed. Because I found reading aloud difficult, I often hid. It was traumatic as a child. It made me very sad. On the one hand, there was no diagnosis and, on the other, the problem is magnified because you are pushed into a corner. The world is a lot easier and makes much more sense since I found out. I think it is important to share my experience. Because I had to fight so hard to get where I am now.”

“I turned dyslexia to my advantage. While others use verbal understanding and think in terms of the sound of language, I think in images. It means I am able to process more information while reading than non-dyslexics. For the word ‘horse’, I see a multidimensional horse. I often experience the information I have to process while reading as incoherent. Reading causes me stress and my brain looks for a way to deal with it. Our brain is trained to think in a solution-oriented way and that’s why we often see things differently. Once you realise how your brain works, it gets easier. My friends also need to read the book so they can better understand my logic. For example, my text messages are very disjointed. I work out the essence and sometimes my answer is totally unrelated.”

“My strength as a dyslexic designer is that I see letters as shapes, not in 2D, but in 3D and in countless variations: inverted, rotated, at the top, left, right and centre. We see a three-letter word like ‘cat’, in forty variations because we think in images. Someone without dyslexia just reads cat, while I have to process all that information. It’s an advantage in my job, especially in creating logos, because I mainly see the relationship between the shapes, the way the letters look to me. Perhaps I would never have become the graphic designer I am today without my disorder. I found my way by experimenting and I still do. Dyslexia helps me think more creatively. My tunnel vision means I zoom in on things. And that also differs from competing colleagues who take another approach. My way of working attracts certain clients who are looking for exactly that.”

Interior architect and furniture designer Nina Mathieu has long carried a heavy burden. “I was a good student, followed some successful internships and had a decent portfolio. Expectations were high. My career took off and initially everything went smoothly. For the first few weeks, all that was new provided a lot of dopamine, which works well for someone with ADHD. But as soon as I had to execute things, it ran out. I encountered obstacles that I found difficult to express in words. All around me I could see how it was supposed to be done, but I just couldn’t do it. What was inside me did not come out. I couldn’t stay focused in an open-plan office. At the end of the day, I still had a lot of work to finish. I started having doubts.”

“Time was my greatest enemy. I wondered why so often I put things off that I didn’t actually want to put off. I compensated by taking work home or staying in the office later. And because I was embarrassed I also didn’t explain how much time I needed. In fact, time blindness is often linked to ADHD. I felt a big difference between wanting to do something, being able to do it and actually doing it. The goal was always more important than my well-being. But I couldn’t maintain my energy level and in the evening, despite working overtime, the result was not what I’d hoped for. My energy increasingly went into hiding my struggles. I was heading for a burnout. The ADHD diagnosis was liberating and helped me gain self-knowledge and the vocabulary to deal with it. Today, I am proud of the specific way I do things.  The convergence of and balance between weakness and strength became a game.”

“To experience that, I first had to downsize. I used to carry a heavy backpack but now I have a compass instead. It’s a shame I didn’t embrace my struggles sooner. What could I have been? What could I have done? Since my diagnosis, I look at neurodiversity from a different perspective. I am now more amenable to both colleagues and myself. It really feels like a gift. Medication that regulates the balance of dopamine was a revelation. My life used to be chaotic: I constantly made to-do lists, but once they were on paper, the mountain they symbolised was too big to climb. Today, they are no longer never-ending lists. More young designers are discovering it. That’s why I want to make it easier to talk about the subject. And I don’t refer to it as a flaw, but my way of being. That sounds softer.”

Bogenna Ivana is a designer in the broadest sense of the word. She doesn’t limit herself to one niche by any means. And that is less of a choice than a necessity. For her ADD, she has her own interpretation, not the usual Attention Deficit Disorder, but her own meaning in which the last ‘D’ stands for Designer. “Neurodiversity often has a negative connotation, but I think it’s my superpower. There’s a lot going on in my head and my energy level sometimes makes crazy jumps. It makes me question lots of things. At times, I was labelled stubborn, but for me it’s normal to think in this way. I often wondered why, but as it turns out, it’s my fuel.

“My diagnosis in 2015 resulted in a roller coaster of emotions. At first it was a relief because it explained my behaviour, but it also confused me. It helped me look for the right support, because I also didn’t understand why I feel certain things differently and don’t always function like the prevailing norm. Acceptance and self-knowledge became important. Today, I teach at the school where I studied. Back then, I was afraid to be open about my ADD and thought I could study ‘my way’. Perhaps my journey would have been less lonely if I had talked about it seven years ago. Today I am open about it and as a teacher, I want to create a safe place in which you can flourish. My ‘outing’ sometimes takes people by surprise, because there’s no obvious physical sign. Whatever is inside your brain is invisible to the outside world, but all the more present to me. I come with a manual and love the safe zone where I can, may and be bold enough to say something. Since I no longer make a secret of it on social media, clients speak to me about it and I embrace the strength of my neurodiversity.”

“Because I am so easily distracted, I combine several jobs. I need to be continuously challenged. I now transform my impulsiveness and spontaneity into an asset, combining interior design with the creation of objects, installations, artistic projects and communication. I can and need to do all that at the same time. That’s the reason for my own interpretation of ADD. It is important to know what works for you. I found the tools to harness the assets of my brain. In my home office, I took all the doors off the cabinets. That way, I can see all my projects at a glance. I remove any visual obstructions, to make it easier for me to see what I am doing.”

It’s no coincidence that entrepreneur An Luyten positions fashion brand SAM Sensory & More at the interface of fashion and health. “I started it after searching in vain for cute low-stimulus clothing for my highly sensitive son. Normal clothes produced one scene after another because they are uncomfortable to wear. My collection, on the other hand, has no sensitive seams, itchy labels or other stressful features, minimising any excessive tactile stimuli.” An’s efforts help a growing target group in addition to her son, who struggles with a daily overload of sensory stimuli of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling or tasting. This overstimulation occurs when our brains struggle to filter all those impulses.

“I am no stranger to high sensitivity either. As a child, I was always sensitive to smells and noise. And in my youth, I went through life feeling less ‘free’ than my peers. I often came home from school with a headache. When our son also turned out to be sensitive to stimuli, it dawned on me even more and I delved into it. Although it is not in any diagnostic book, parameters do exist and if you can identify with enough characteristics, you fall under them. All too often people still say: “Don’t be silly” and “Stop crying”. But that’s exactly how children and adults sink into depression. Because people are rather quick to dole out that label, especially at school. Constantly dealing with stimuli can be really exhausting and result in stress, problems concentrating or even learning difficulties. The turning point starts in school. Fortunately, more and more teachers are realising that there’s a reason behind all bad behaviour. Every day that realisation hits home a little more.”

“My sensitivity partly defines who I am, but mostly it energises me. If everyone who is highly sensitive was labelled abnormal, abnormal would become the new normal. They are umbrella terms. With SAM, I started with a blank canvas, but brought in experts. Call it multiple authorship: each T-shirt is tested by stimuli-sensitive individuals and each pair of trousers breathes sensitivity in terms of their material and design. Clothing should not stigmatise. Feeling safe and comfortable in your clothes are the basic requirements for feeling good. Clothing is rightly called our second skin. There’s no pill that can cure high sensitivity, but I try and regulate it with several aspects that I am able to control. Inclusive clothing can help. In any case, it strikes a sensitive chord, although that may not be the right word here.”