Recently I came across some articles discussing a condition called Aphantasia. Have you heard of it? I had not heard of either before. I never realized that Aphantasia was a condition. The term Aphantasia was first described by Francis Galton in 1880. In 2015, Professor Adam Zeman led a team that published a study about the condition and he coined the term Aphantasia. There is still not a lot of research about Aphantasia.
Growing up I would read books and not imagine or produce mental images of what I was reading. I remember when teachers use to say "Paint a picture in your head of this scene from the story", I never was able to do that on command. I honestly did not see anything wrong with it, because I thought everyone was not able to produce mental images while reading. I use to have to create and draw pictures as placeholders of what I thought the scene from the book was about. If you look at any of my books or notebooks, they have stick figures and doodles everywhere lol.
So all of that to say, basically I have a lack of mental imagery or I have difficulties bringing images to mind. Looking back, I see how Aphantasia has become my superpower!
- I am extremely detailed, when I am understanding concepts, I write everything down and then I go back over all information multiple times. I then take all of that information and reorganize it in a format that is concise. I usually understand others concepts better than they understand it themselves.
- I think outside the box all of the time. I see things from a different lens and it allows me to innovate in unimaginable ways.
- I get to recreate everything the way that I think it would be if I was able to create the mental images.
The Resource Key Takeaways:
- We all have limitations, but we also have incredible superpowers that are waiting to be unlocked.
- Share your story with others to continue to build community and to empower others.
- We can change the narrative of how our limitations do not have to be setbacks, but they can be the fuel that drives us to take action and innovate adaptations.
What are your Superpowers? Feel free to comment below.