Taming The Organizational Beast
By Dena L. Gassner, Director: Center for Understanding
When teaching about social cognitive challenges, I often vacillated on the question of whether a person should be evaluated or not. I often copped out, saying, "...each person has to make their own decision." While there is some truth to that, my answer now is a hearty "YES!"
A proper evaluation performed by an adequately trained psychologist, psychiatrist or developmental specialist can be life changing. Yes, it may be difficult to find a qualified professional and no, the evaluation system for us is not yet perfect (although the Ziggurat Model is looking pretty hopeful) but an assessment can help to identify relative strengths and challenges. Knowing this information can help you to leave what I refer to as the "World of Not Knowing." Instead of living in bewilderment and confusion about why you can't execute tasks, you may find a valid, measurable reason. Instead of just "not knowing" why you are not succeeding, you can learn a new system or seek assistance. But without knowing, you are stuck, underachieving.
One of the areas, which impact many of us in this way, is organization.
I was burned out and frustrated with what I had been taught, which failed for me again and again. I had been taught to define organization as "putting things away" and that things left out represented "a disorganized mess"; it was a lack of effort. I experienced my most shame and self-criticism about organization and while I could not figure out why organization was such a demon for me, I knew enough to see it as the hugest barrier of my disability.
Like many of you, I came to the diagnostic process battered and diminished. I had adopted unsuccessful outcomes as my identity. I wasn't Dena but "disorganized", or "a mess" demeaned and degraded by what is actually an OUTCOME rather than a reasonable explanation.
Tasks that cannot be overcome but require adaptation may include filing or dealing with papers and digging into the core issues. My assessments allowed me to realistically understand why I was not achieving the way I had hoped, in this area. I came into the assessment process already painfully aware of the failed outcomes of my organizational issues. What I did not know was what caused them and as such, how I could "fix" the issue.
My assessments demonstrated a measurable inability to categorize information into groupings. How a filing system be set if you can't think in categories? I would just sit in front of a pile of papers and spend hours trying to think of the names to put on the file folders.
I learned that have attention deficit issues, which would make it impossible for me to get through the pile without pulling out "interesting" things. How could anyone sort information if they keep stimming on it?
The evaluations reflected that I have challenges in memory, so when I do try to file, I can never recall what is in the file. This issue impacts me with paper files as well as electronic ones (I presently have over 300 files in my email in box).
Knowing all these inherent, neurological (REAL) reasons (NOT EXCUSES) freed me to look for new systems. It allowed me to understand that this was not going to get better trying and failing with traditional organizing systems. What I needed was someone to help me identify MY system and to maximize what was working. Still, knowing it and releasing it was two different things!
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