756. Expert Interview: Neurodiversity–The Art of Being Different

Bernie Taylor

“I realized that there is a spectrum of what people can see and that we are wired for the spectrum because it is not something you can learn in school. That eventually brought me to the concept of neurodiversity. We have to accept people for who they are. You cannot put a square peg in a round hole. Let that square peg do what square pegs do best.”

Bernie Taylor is an independent naturalist, thought leader and author whose research explores the mythological connections and biological knowledge among prehistoric, indigenous and ancient peoples. His works in these areas include “Biological Time” (2004) and “Before Orion: Finding the Face of the Hero” (2017). Taylor proposes that select cave paintings are fundamental pieces in the human journey to self-realization, the foundation of written language, and a record of biological knowledge that irrevocably impacted some of the artistic styles, religious practices, and stories that are still with us.

Neurodiversity: The Art of Being Different

“Can you imagine waking up one morning and realizing that you see the world differently, that you have actually always seen the world differently? That happened to me in my mid thirties when I realized that I was dyslexic and that I was a picture thinker versus a verbal thinker. Then years later I worked on a project that was the foundation for the current book—’Before Orion: Finding the Face of the Hero.’ When I began researching cave art from 34,000 years ago, I saw something in the rocks, in the images, that no one else in the world had seen. I realized the cave art was a test, a test of seeing differently.”

Why Is This Important?

“So how does an organization go forward in this world and optimize the employees who comprise its greatest resource? What they have to realize is that we are wired differently and because of the differences in our wiring, we have to source people differently. Just because everyone does not have the same psychology or mannerisms sitting around the conference table does not mean they should not be sitting around the table.”

What Are the Key Lessons Learned Here?

“We are in a whole new world now—we’re in a world created by people on the other end of the spectrum. Einstein was dyslexic, so was Picasso and Steven Spielberg. You can go down the line and find the visual innovators who either created visual images or saw the world in textures, such as Einstein did. The question for corporate America and corporations across the world is not about discovering your talent but finding the talent that is out there to make your organization more fulfilling, accessible and interesting to those individuals that drive your vision and mission.”