For many neurodiverse editors, meeting deadlines, keeping up with administrative work and maintaining focus are well-known barriers to doing their jobs more effectively. But editors with ADHD often haven’t been taught that they also gain strengths, such as a propensity toward empathy, an ability to hyperfocus and creative problem-solving skills that they can use to excel at their work. Using her experiences with managing (and mismanaging) ADHD, the presenter will briefly outline the challenges and opportunities posed by ADHD and how they impact our work as editors. Participants will learn proven strategies that they can use to minimize their ADHD challenges and maximize their potential as editors. Despite its ADHD focus, the strategies shared in this session can benefit all editors, especially those with other neurodiversities and chronic illness.
Rhonda Kronyk
Rhonda Kronyk is a settler/Dene research, writing, and editing consultant and specializes in editing documents with Indigenous content. A member of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation (Treaty 8), she calls amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, AB) in Treaty 6 home. After receiving her ADHD diagnosis at 52, Rhonda began to research the ways her brain works and how that increases the challenges she faces as an editor. Her research is turning into two courses about owning a small business and editing with ADHD, where she will share her research and strategies for turning ADHD into an asset rather than a perceived deficit.