Existing in an ableist world as a teenager with NVLD can be exhausting. Growing up, I often felt like an outsider looking in and struggled to find a sense of belonging. I didn’t quite fit into certain friend circles. I tended to heavily mask to survive the unwritten social code that existed within high school. I often felt like a fish out of water. I knew I was different, yet I didn’t quite understand why.
I craved connection. I wanted a friendship circle of my own where conversation didn’t feel forced, rehearsed, or inauthentic. I continually felt like I was orbiting, struggling to find the right friends without feeling as though I had to earn a special place to belong. High school felt like an endless jungle of social hierarchy. Everyone seemed to have a social position, yet I was still struggling to make sense of mine.
Staying quiet and remaining masked often seemed like the easiest thing to do. I had so much to say, yet finding the right people to connect with felt so out of reach. Bullying was prominent when you strayed away from what appeared to be “normal” or “typical.” I continually tried to camouflage myself to blend in with my neurotypical surroundings.
I was a bookworm and often found friends within the pages I read. At least within imaginative worlds, these friends were deemed safe and safeguarded from neurotypical expectations. Nobody teaches you social skills; it is something that becomes an
embedded blueprint. For neurodivergent teenagers, it often means suppressing their authentic selves and adhering to a foreign, unwritten language.
High school continually felt like a social test, a survival of the fittest. Reflecting on the social gaps that existed, there was so much room and potential for neurodivergent social spaces. There is no returning, only lessons to carry forward.
Something I learned from high school that I brought into my adult years was an understanding of what it means to exist and belong as a neurodivergent person in a neurotypical world. Bridging that understanding into the work I do as a neurodivergent
entrepreneur through my business, Beautiful Minds, is something I strive toward every single day.
To create a neurodivergent community, it must be founded on the fundamental understanding of what it means to feel belonging. I created a Teen Neurodivergent Social Group, which was born out of my own lived experiences of not having a community where I truly felt belonging and felt seen.
Teens with NVLD, especially due to having strong verbal skills, often crave the intimacy of connecting with others who truly “get it.” When you have NVLD, particularly as a teenager, you have so much you want to say, but finding genuine connections and safe
people to open up to and feel vulnerable with can be difficult.
I created the Teen Neurodivergent Social Group as a safe haven for teens with NVLD to feel as though they finally have a neurodivergent space where they can truly be themselves and find others who are on a similar journey. Friendship and connection should never feel forced. The Teen Neurodivergent Social Group is a low-pressure way for teens to connect.
My goal in creating the Teen Neurodivergent Social Group is to provide a safe haven free from ableism and free from the need to mask. Growing up with NVLD can be complex and come with many challenges, but if there is anything I can do with my own
lived experiences, it is to help create a neurodivergent world and space where embracing NVLD feels a little safer.
Reach out to me at beautifulmindsinformation@gmail.com if you’re interested in joining an NVLD social group. We would love to have more members!
Megan
I’m a graduate of the Child & Youth Worker program from Cambrian College and recently graduated with a degree in Disability Studies at Ryerson University, along with a certificate in Aboriginal Knowledges & Experiences. I am a Project Social Ambassador for The NVLD Project.
