WE ROAR Issue 02 - Flipbook - Page 5
Add a little bit of body text
From my many conversations
with neurodivergent people –
whether athletes/sports people
or not- I find three key
neurodivergent
experiences
regarding sport and exercise.
One is the elite athlete. They
often have to stretch (much)
further than their peers to fit the
(very) narrow standards of
thought and behaviour expected
of them. These standards are not
a prerequisite for performance;
they are a social construct, and
for
many
neurodivergent
athletes,
spending
energy
conforming
diverts
precious
energy from the most critical
tasks – training and performance.
They spend many of their careers
making mistakes to learn and
carve their paths. The advice
they receive from peers, coaches,
and support staff is only partly
relevant, and they don’t have role
models to follow.
The neurodivergent athletes who
have succeeded before them
have had to do so in private. The
reason for this is widespread
stigma and discrimination. For
neurodivergent athletes of the
present, there are no visible
footsteps to follow. Because of this, they
tend to have very short careers or very
long and particularly exhausting ones.
But as much as their journey is a struggle,
they are the lucky ones in many respects.
Many events had to have fallen in their
favour for them to be where they are
because, as sad as it is, elite sport is not
just about hard work and talent…
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