Formal Diagnosis: “I can’t believe it’s not better”. A case in point.

I recently wrote an article on LinkedIn which documented my own experience of the formal diagnosis process. While I was writing the piece, I could feel myself getting more and more agitated. Recounting the experience was not a pleasant one, it brought up the emotions and feelings I recall while undertaking the diagnostic process, in particularly the helplessness I felt at knowing I was being set up to fail. The experience was made worse by the less than empathetic report I received following the assessment. Even now I find it difficult to read the report without feeling like I dislike the person documented in the report, the person that fails more than they succeed in the assessments set, it is a hard read, and even harder to accept the person I am reading about is me.

I have decided not to use this space to repeat the LinkedIn article but if you wish to read more about my personal experience, then please do access the article by clicking on the link at the end of this post. My own experience is not a unique one, and for this reason I wanted to raise this as a point of consideration for employer schools and colleges. Education employers need to be mindful that the formal diagnosis process is both an exhausting and, in some cases, a painful experience. Furthermore, the diagnostic report is often no more than a descriptive list of what the neurodivergent person cannot do, it does not equip them with what to do next, in short, the formal diagnosis stage is the very start of the journey, and not the end point.

This post is a reminder to all school and college employers to be mindful in their management of a neurodivergent teachers’ disclosure.  To not assume the teacher is comfortable with their diagnosis. Or expect the teacher will know how their neurodivergence can be best accommodated within a teaching environment. Treat all disclosure with compassion and remember that unlike neurodivergent students, neurodivergent teachers are also balancing professional integrity, and neurotypical expectations of what it means to be a teacher.  

If you would like some guidance on how to accommodate disclosure, and teachers going through the formal diagnosis process, please do get in touch via the ‘Contact’ page.  You can also have a read of my earlier blog posts on disclosure.

Be a neuro-inclusive advocate!

Formal Diagnosis: “I can’t believe it’s not better”. One Dyslexics story.