Power of Neurodiversity – Video #2: The Culture of Flowers |

I’m producing a series of videos to promote my new book The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Neurodivergent Brain. This is the second video: ” The Culture of Flowers.” I begin the book with this story, telling about people waking up one morning and finding everyone has been changed into a flower. I explain how a rose psychiatrist examines a calla lily and diagnoses him with ”petal deficit disorder,” a sunflower with ”hugism,” a cactus with ”anti-social disorder,” and so on. The ridiculousness of the story underpins the practice that too often occurs when unique individuals are diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and other labels. I’m not against the use of diagnostic labels when they’re helpful, but they still can’t undo the damage done by their negative language (notice that ADHD has THREE negative words in it ”deficit,” ”hyperactivity” and ”disorder”). This story suggests that we need to celebrate diversity in brains in the same way we honor and value biodiversity and cultural diversity.