How ADHD and Autism Became My Greatest Creative Strengths

Growing up with ADHD and autism, my imagination was constantly active. My thoughts moved at extraordinary speed — processing ideas, making connections, seeing possibilities that others didn't seem to notice. Where someone else might look at an object and see what it was, I would immediately start imagining what it could become.

At school, this wasn't always celebrated. Teachers who didn't understand neurodivergence sometimes saw my energy and creativity as disruptive. The qualities that made me who I am were occasionally treated as weaknesses rather than strengths. For a young person, that's a difficult thing to carry.

But I had something many neurodivergent young people don't always have — people around me who believed in me. My family, and later my wife Kirsty, encouraged me to stop seeing my differences through the eyes of people who didn't understand them.

One of the most misunderstood aspects of ADHD is hyperfocus — the ability to become completely absorbed in something that captures your interest, to the exclusion of almost everything else. It's often described as a symptom to be managed. For me, it became a superpower.

When I discovered 3D printing and digital sculpting, hyperfocus meant I could spend hours — sometimes entire nights — learning, experimenting and refining. While others might dabble, I would dive deep. That intensity of focus is one of the reasons I developed skills quickly and built a business that genuinely stands out.

The ADHD brain is often described as having a Ferrari engine with bicycle brakes. The challenge is learning to steer. Once I found something that genuinely excited me, the engine became an extraordinary asset.

My autism also shapes the way I create. I experience music with unusual intensity — the compositions of Hans Zimmer, Ludovico Einaudi and Enya don't just play in the background when I work. They become part of the creative process itself, shaping the mood, movement and emotion of whatever I'm designing.

I don't just want people to see my artwork. I want them to feel something when they look at it. That philosophy — that design should carry emotional weight — is something I believe my neurodivergent perspective helps me access in a way that's genuinely different.

3D Scotsman Studio began as a personal creative journey and grew into a business through sheer passion and determination. I taught myself digital sculpting, CAD design and 3D printing through countless hours of self-directed learning — the kind of deep, obsessive learning that ADHD hyperfocus makes possible.

Today, the studio offers professional 3D printing services, custom design, personalised gifts, cosplay props, luxury animal busts and 3D printing education. We've served over 8,762 customers across Scotland and the UK, and we're still growing.

None of it would have been possible if I'd listened to the people who told me my mind was a problem.

My youngest daughter Sophie has faced significant medical challenges throughout her young life. Watching her courage and resilience changed the way I see the world — and inspired me to use my creativity for something far greater than producing sculptures.

My wife Kirsty and I developed the Children's Medical Awards — a collection of meaningful awards celebrating children facing serious medical conditions. The initiative has received support from healthcare professionals including NHS staff, and represents something deeply personal: taking the challenges our family has experienced and turning them into something that brings recognition and comfort to other families.

Sophie also inspired a children's book series — Sophie and the Inside Out Adventure — which takes young readers on imaginative journeys through the human body, helping children understand medical experiences without fear.

If you're neurodivergent — if you have ADHD, autism, dyslexia or any other condition that makes you experience the world differently — I want you to hear this: your brain is not broken. It is different. And different, in the right context, is extraordinary.

The qualities that made school difficult for me — the restlessness, the intensity, the inability to do things the 'normal' way — are the same qualities that built my business. The hyperfocus that frustrated my teachers is the same hyperfocus that allowed me to master 3D printing and digital sculpting.

Never allow someone else's inability to understand you to determine what you believe you can achieve. Sometimes the very thing that makes you different can become the thing that makes your contribution to the world extraordinary.