I had a thought the other day, about how “ADHD and Autism never existed in history”, and realised that in pre-industrial society, autistic people, who weren’t very good at socialising, but knew every detail about every sheep in their flock, probably made brilliant shepherds who would happily stay on the moors with their sheep.
And ADHDers who were creative and couldn’t keep still were probably troubadours and artists, or fruit pickers who moved from town to town.
It’s only since the industrial revolution began that working in tedious professions for 8 hours per day, and enforced socialisation has made life unbearable for neurodivergent people.
Even today, in those communities that don’t rely on 8 hour working days, and see people for who they are and what they can bring to the entire community and not how productive they are, you don’t really hear about ADHD and autism… they aren’t a problem needing to be fixed, just different neurotypes that fit into society.
Maybe I would have made a terrific troubadour…
What do you think?
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