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The Moment He Saw His Son and Finally Understood Himself
Description
From Refugee Childhood to Neurodivergent Fatherhood with Norbert
What happens when raising your children helps you finally understand your own past? In this episode, I sit down with Norbert for a deeply personal conversation about immigration, survival, autism, ADHD, and what it means to break painful family patterns.
Norbert shares what it was like to grow up in Cold War Poland, come to the United States as a child refugee, and carry years of misunderstood traits without the language to name them. Then, as he and his wife supported their autistic children, old memories came back into focus in ways he never expected.
We talk about grief, identity, sensory experiences, school struggles, and the quiet weight of living in survival mode for years. More than that, I explore how recognition can lead to compassion, and how a parent can choose a very different path than the one they were given.
If you’ve ever looked at your child, your student, or yourself and thought, why did no one see this sooner? this conversation will stay with you.
About the Guest
Norbert is a father of two autistic children whose life spans refugee resettlement, cultural change, and decades of making sense of his own neurodivergent traits through parenting, reflection, and lived experience.
Key Timestamps
0:02 - I welcome Norbert and start at the beginning of his story
2:48 - The traits that were missed in childhood
8:44 - Leaving Poland and arriving in America
16:28 - What it felt like to translate himself, not just language
20:49 - Survival mode and the outdoors as refuge
30:32 - Raising autistic children and breaking old cycles
36:01 - How his children’s diagnoses brought buried memories back
42:51 - Recognizing family patterns across generations
55:52 - What still gives him hope
Show Affiliate
https://shop.adhddd.com/NEURODIVERGENT_CONNECTION
If this episode speaks to you, listen through to the end and share it with someone who needs this reminder: understanding can come later, and it still matters.
#NeurodivergentConnection #AutismAwareness #ADHDSupport #ParentingAutisticKids #Neurodiversity
Hosted by Reid Miles.
Conversations unfold naturally — no scripts, no rush.
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