Danielle RalstonFounder, How Capacity Works · Founder of ND Hive | Building the productivity hub where work actually gets done | Execution spaces, body doubling & community accountability

From Misdiagnosis to Master's Degree: A Neurodivergent Triumph #adhd #neurodiversity #mentalwellness

14 Jun 2024 · 1 min

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This content was created by Danielle Ralston. This content was uploaded by Danielle Ralston. This is a YouTube video titled "From Misdiagnosis to Master's Degree: A Neurodivergent Triumph #adhd #neurodiversity #mentalwellness" (created 2024-06-14). The excerpt is a first-person account in which the speaker describes childhood experiences at a private Christian school—difficulty reading and speaking, repeated punishment and spanking, being labeled lazy—and later being placed in public school and officially misdiagnosed as "mentally retarded" in 2nd grade during a school psychologist evaluation. The content focuses on misdiagnosis, neurodivergence, and mental wellness.

Chapters

I am not hard of hearing, never have been. However, I went to a private school for my kindergarten and first grade, and it was unfortunately a very, very bad private Christian school who believed in capital punishment. I couldn't read. I did not speak very well. I couldn't do any of the work of the program that they had, and unfortunately, I was just considered lazy, And everything at that school. And I got punished constantly. I got spanked in school constantly because I wasn't doing the schoolwork. Newsflash, I couldn't do the schoolwork. Then they put me in public school. When Tim started school, I got put in the public school. And in the beginning part of 2nd grade, I got diagnosed as mentally retarded. Mm-hmm. I remember sitting in the school psych, and I remember her name. I'm not going to say her name. I remember sitting in the school psychologist's office and them telling mom and dad I was mentally retarded.