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More Tired
Exhaustion in a neurotypical world.
Note: I’m writing about neurodiversity below, and I am not particularly neurodiverse. To that end, if I’ve whiffed, I trust you’ll be kind (and also let me know).
It’s mid-year break. And I’m tired. I don’t think I’m any more tired than I usually am at this time of year, but I know that I was only too happy to button up the semester and retreat to a period of relative hibernation for the next three weeks. And I’m not alone here. Basically every teacher I work with, and every student in my school feels much the same way that I do. It’s a tired moment that reflects how the cumulative pressures of the school environment wear on everyone. A shared sense of exhaustion.
And I’m as neurotypical as they come.
As the parent of a neurodiverse seventh grader, one of the things I have noticed is how absolutely exhausting school is for them. Whereas I’m gassed at the end of a semester, my kid is spent on the daily. I don’t think I ever really focused on this aspect of neurodiversity until I was living with a person going through it. But it makes perfect sense. School, and society more broadly, are designed for neurotypicality. I’m not saying that we don’t have accommodations in place that aim to help my kid navigate their way through the school experience. I’m just saying that even with these kinds of…
