College Admissions for Neurodivergent Students 👩🏾🎓👨🎓| Clinical Psychologist | Writer ✍️ | Keynote Speaker 🎤
👩 An #ADHD diagnosis can make a difference at any age! Sara Tilley writes: A woman who was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 45 has used her creative talents to help others who "think differently". Lydia Berman had felt she "didn’t fit in" at school, and then later when she started work as graphic designer. “We’re all wired differently… and I think it is only logical that we learn differently and process things differently," said Lydia. After starting her own brand and marketing agency, she launched Mapper Cards – visual planning tools for visual thinkers. At age 12, she was diagnosed with #dyslexia and believed that was the reason she was struggling. She found exams especially difficult and anxiety-inducing as sitting still for a set amount of time, not being able to fidget and having to constantly concentrate, was "the polar opposite" of what worked for her. "I suppose I’ve always known that something was different between how I work and how I process things," said Lydia. However, she always excelled in art, so went on to study at Camberwell College of Arts and became a graphic designer – but even then something still did not feel right. She said: "I was conscious that I didn’t fit in, but I just always thought it was my personality." On the side, she tutored art and design students, and found that teaching them lessons in confidence and creative learning approaches really helped them – she even helped one pupil go from failing to getting an A* in one year. In 2019, she started her business, Creative Stripes, and then launched her Mapper Cards, which provided "a different way of thinking for people that think differently". They were aimed at budding #entrepreneurs or people building their business, with each deck of cards containing "everything you need to visually lay out" a monthly social media plan, marketing plan or business idea. Lydia said: "I can see quite clearly… that my brain thinks differently to other people now. I think I just think in a creative way, so I’m very good at problem solving." She added: “I think my ADHD traits became more obvious when I worked for myself because I had to do everything across the business – it was so hard to be organised. The diagnosis meant that I could better understand what I can do well, and what I should not be doing – I allocate tasks to other people now.” "What the diagnosis has done, and what it could have done when I was younger, is encourage me to look at different ways of learning things." Lydia thinks the concern about ADHD being over-diagnosed is unwarranted, as if a diagnosis helps someone achieve their potential, "it can only be a good thing". #AdultADHD #ADHDwomen #neurodiversity #ADHDsupport #GraphicDesigners #VisualThinkers
