Sonia Gray, host of the podcast No Such Thing As Normal. Photo / Michael Craig
Sonia Gray, host of the podcast No Such Thing As Normal. Photo / Michael Craig
At least one in five New Zealanders are classed as neurodivergent, a label that covers conditions such as ADHD, autism and dyslexia - yet society insists everyone should be ‘normal’. No Such Thing as Normal, a 10-part NZ Herald podcast with broadcaster Sonia Gray, explores how we can do better.
Rich Rowley is a business consultant with a master’s degree, but, like a lot of neurodivergent people, he didn’t have an easy time at school.
“I didn’t do very well. I came to believe certain things about myself, you know, that I was stupid. I wasn’t good at learning. I was naughty.
“All of that kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy”.
Rowley is one of the guests in broadcaster Sonia Gray’s new NZ Herald podcast No Such Thing As Normal, made with the support of NZ On Air. In the series, Gray speaks to dozens of experts and people with lived experience, to help us better understand the complex world of neurodiversity.
“One of my many diagnoses is ADHD, so I’ve got a deficit and a disorder and that’s actually not true” says Rich Rowley.
“I can focus better than almost anybody that I know, but only when I’m interested.
“I think neurotypical people, their cognition’s incredibly weird to me because they seem to to be able to sit down for hours and hours on end and do stuff that’s of no interest to them. I do not understand that, I can’t make myself do stuff that I’m not interested in. But when I am, it’s an obsessive interest and there’s a power to that. It’s incredibly valuable.”
Rich Rowley, who has ADHD, features in episode 1 of Sonia Gray's podcast No Such Thing As Normal on iHeart Radio and nzherald.co.nz
More and more New Zealanders are becoming aware that they - or their children - have characteristics which fit conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia. But the understanding, support and access to a diagnosis hasn’t caught up, and for many the fallout can be disastrous.
“The outcomes for neurodivergent children can vary greatly, and I don’t think we’ve explored that enough” says Gray. “Over 50% of our prison population are dyslexic, but 50% of the world’s billionaires are dyslexic too. That is fascinating to me, because it’s like there’s a fork in the road. We need to better understand what factors decide which path someone takes”.
Gray knows the challenge of having a neurodivergent child firsthand. “I did not think as a family we’d survive”, she says. “But I knew that if we came out the other side, I had to find a way to be an advocate in this space”.
Sonia Gray with her daughter Inez. Photo / Woman's Day
Last year, Gray made a documentary with Ruckus Media called ‘Kids Wired Differently’ for TVNZ. She describes the response as overwhelming, but distressing, “I knew there was a need but I didn’t realise just how great it was. We are lucky, we can afford to pay for services which aren’t easy to access in the public system. For most families that is not an option”.
Gray believes that focusing on and celebrating the strengths of neurodivergent people - rather than the challenges - is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle. " The diagnostic criteria for these conditions is based on a deficit model. It looks at what people can’t do – not at what they can. My daughter Inez has the most incredible brain, she sees things in a way most people don’t. But none of her many diagnoses reflects that”.
No Such Thing As Normal was made with the support of NZ On Air.
No Such Thing as Normal launches June 10, with new episodes every Saturday. You can listen to it on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
