June 16: Neurodiversity Pride Day

When prince Leukippos fell in love with beautiful Daphne, he disguised himself as a girl to spend time in her company. It worked and they became best friends. Until a jealous Apollo planted the idea in her mind to go swimming. Leukippos’ manhood was revealed and it cost him his life. In modern terms, we could attribute Apollo’s selfish and vengeful behaviour to a narcissistic personality disorder. And since we’re talking disorders, let’s look at his fellow Olympians. Doesn’t Hera show signs of OCD? And Artemis of ADHD? Could Aphrodite have had synesthesia? Hestia was highly sensitive, for sure, while Hades suffered from social anxiety. Athena was quite the perfectionist, Dionysos was bipolar, Hephaistos could be placed on the autism spectrum, Zeus had problems with impuls control and son Ares struggled with learning disabilities. And Poseidon? He must have fought the depression of the middle child syndrome. The Greeks clearly embraced the concept of neurodivergence, so let’s do the same and celebrate uniqueness!

Dionysos, Naiskos, National Archaelogical Museum of Athens, Greece

Playmobil, Twelve Olympian Gods