A Bit more about me... I was a sophomore in High School when I was first tested for a learning disability. My English/Communications teacher couldn’t make sense of the discrepancy in my written work and my oral work. So after a few meetings I was given the examination. Remember the results being described as “he’s just lazy.” At least that’s the take away I remember having after it was all over. It would be nearly twenty years later when I would get a diagnosis of Combined Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). But more on that later. I was a quiet not a well performing student who felt stupid because I struggled to understand what was being taught to me.  After High School I floundered for a year before enlisting in the Army, where I came out of my shell. It was also the first time I can say I was officially put in charge of other people’s learning. On the first day of boot camp I was made 1st Squad Leader, which essentially mad me second in command of the “student” leadership. As such I was responsible for mentoring and leading not just my squad, but the overall platoon as well. We were 40 strangers from all over the country from various backgrounds and experiences, and I had to figure out how to get us all working and communicating together. I actually have fond memories of that time of my life. I was a dorky, goofy kid, who barely graduated high school, and yet in this environment, it was the first time I didn’t feel stupid. Not only that, but it gave me my first real taste of mentoring and guiding others towards accomplishing goals and tasks together. How to motivate and engage when the body and mind want to quit. It set the ground work for a fundamental truth I would later realize, which is not everyone thinks and learns the same way. And if you want to have an effective team, you need to learn how to teach to everyone in your squad. After Basic Training, I went on to train as an Intelligence Analyst for the United States military. Interestingly side note: while I had clawed my way out of high school, my military aptitude tests had me in the 98th percentile, which honestly surprised me, it was the first time I was told I was smart, and it was joining the (deleted) Army! So I arrive at my new duty station to begin my advanced training and it was intense rigorous training. This schooling was where I learned to really “think”. One of the key things they drill into you as an Intelligence Analyst is “assume nothing, identify and verify the data, collect the data, and then formulate your analysis.” This way of thinking completely unlocked my brain. I credit it with teaching me “how” to think. I really began to excel in the training, it was the first time I was scoring at the top of the class, and found myself even tutoring and supporting my classmates throughout the 8 month training. I once again found myself working to understand why someone was struggling with a particular subject then find ways to make it accessible to them. Something I have carried with me ever since. Making information accessible by understanding how someone else understands something and guiding them to different perspectives to think about it until they got it.  When I got to my first Duty Station, I quickly found myself as a shift lead and trainer. By the time I left the military a few years later, I had personally trained over half the staff of two different shops, and accidentally created SOPs and training guides for each department.  I would next find myself earning an early childhood development certification as I worked with school age children in before and after school care. In addition to planning and administering games and activities, I would also help with homework and projects with the older kids. I would soon transition to another school that specialized in children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Here I would get my feet wet with lesson planning, and execution. I’ve always really enjoyed the feeling of watching someone understand something and seeing their mental horizons expand.  All this and I didn’t even know I was neurodivergent. I explain all this to illustrate the point, that I truly believe anyone is capable of learning anything if the material is made accessible and adaptable to different ways of thinking.