It isn’t healthy to go through life believing you only have strengths. You must acknowledge your areas of challenge as well. If you don’t, two things end up happening.

1. You avoid activities where you may need help.
2. You stick to activities within your skill set at the expense of learning something new.

We do a great disservice to those with challenges like ADHD and ASD when we use RAH RAH language like, “Autism isn’t a disability its a different ability.”

NEWSFLASH! It’s both, and that’s okay.

It isn’t an either or proposition when talking about disabilities. It’s an “and” conversation.

I have ADHD and Asperger’s, I have many strengths I attribute to these conditions AND there are aspects of both that are quite disabling, such as difficulty reading nonverbal cues.

You aren’t propping up the negative side of these conditions by acknowledging they exist. It isn’t automatically disempowering unless you believe the downside of disability shuts you out from life.

It doesn’t have to. In fact, the more intimately aware you are of your challenges the more precisely you can accommodate them.

Accommodate them so you have greater access to opportunities to use your strengths. That’s a more mindful and confident way to approach living with any kind of chronic challenge.