The Blog
Why Neurodivergent People Are More Susceptible to Workplace Bullying
Neurodivergent individuals are disproportionately targeted for workplace bullying due to power dynamics, ableism, and a lack of understanding about neurodivergent communication and work styles. Many workplaces prioritize neurotypical norms, forcing neurodivergent employees to mask, struggle with unclear expectations, and endure mistreatment that is often dismissed or justified. Protecting oneself involves recognizing the signs of bullying, setting boundaries, documenting incidents, and seeking support, while also pushing for systemic change that values neurodivergent workers for their strengths rather than forcing them to conform.
Reclaiming Your Autonomy: Understanding and Unlearning People-Pleasing as a Neurodivergent Person
Many neurodivergent individuals struggle with people-pleasing, a behavior rooted in masking and learned survival mechanisms that prioritize the needs of others over their own. Breaking free from these patterns requires recognizing when people-pleasing is happening, reconnecting with personal needs, and setting boundaries without guilt. Healing from a lifetime of suppressing one's own desires and limits is a gradual process, but it leads to greater self-trust, authenticity, and the ability to build relationships based on mutual respect rather than appeasement.
How to Reconnect with Lost Special Interests
Reconnecting with lost special interests is a deeply personal and healing process for neurodivergent individuals who have set aside their passions due to burnout, external pressure, or the demands of adulthood. This article explores ways to gently reintroduce curiosity and creativity into daily life, emphasizing self-compassion, exploration without expectation, and reclaiming joy for its own sake. By removing the pressure to be productive or "good" at an interest, neurodivergent people can rediscover the fulfillment and comfort that special interests provide, allowing them to reconnect with a part of themselves that may have felt lost.
Why So Many Neurodivergent People Struggle with a Sense of Self
Neurodivergent individuals often struggle with a fractured sense of self due to factors such as alexithymia, identity masking, and the pressure to conform to neurotypical expectations. Many spend years suppressing their natural traits, leading to a disconnect from their authentic identity and internalized feelings of failure or inadequacy. However, through community, self-acceptance, and engagement with special interests, neurodivergent people can reclaim their sense of self and build an identity that embraces their unique ways of thinking, feeling, and experiencing the world. A guide to knowing yourself is included in this article.
ADHD Medication Is Under Attack—And It’s a Dangerous Precedent for All Psychiatric Care
The article examines the Trump administration’s executive order targeting ADHD medication, driven by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s long-standing anti-science rhetoric, and the dangerous implications of framing these essential treatments as a "threat." It highlights how ADHD medication is not a luxury but a necessity for millions of neurodivergent individuals, enabling them to function, regulate emotions, and maintain stability in daily life. The piece calls for urgent advocacy against misinformation and political interference in medical care, emphasizing the need to protect access to ADHD and other psychiatric medications as a fundamental disability and healthcare right.
How Special Interests Shape Identity in Neurodivergent Adults
Special interests play a profound role in shaping identity, providing comfort, and fostering connection for neurodivergent adults, offering a deep sense of joy and stability in a world that often feels overwhelming. These passions serve as a form of self-care, a pathway to career fulfillment, and a means of building community, yet societal stigma often discourages neurodivergent individuals from embracing them fully. Recognizing special interests as a vital part of neurodivergent identity allows for greater self-acceptance, validating their importance as more than just hobbies but as essential aspects of well-being and self-expression.
What are Sensory Sensitivities and What Do I Do About Them?
Sensory sensitivities mean that everyday sights, sounds, textures, and smells can feel much more intense and sometimes overwhelming, impacting your emotional and physical experience. These unique perceptions can be both challenging and enriching, allowing you to notice subtle details and beauty that others might miss, while also requiring adjustments to maintain comfort. By understanding your triggers and creating supportive environments and routines, you can honor your sensory profile and live more comfortably and authentically.
How to Meal Plan When You Have Executive Dysfunction
If meal planning feels overwhelming due to constant decision-making and executive dysfunction, the article offers strategies to simplify the process. It suggests creating a go-to grocery list, establishing small, regular meal prep routines, and arranging your kitchen to be calm and organized. Ultimately, it encourages you to embrace a personalized, flexible approach to meal planning as a form of self-care and empowerment.
How to Design a Neurodivergent-Friendly Work Schedule
Traditional 9-to-5 work schedules often fail to accommodate the natural rhythms and cognitive strengths of neurodivergent individuals. The article explores strategies like flexible scheduling, energy mapping, and alternative work structures to align work tasks with your natural energy cycles and reduce stress. It also emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy and tailoring your work environment to support your unique sensory and cognitive needs.
Climate Justice and the Neurodivergent Community
Neurodivergent individuals face unique and often overlooked challenges in the context of climate change, particularly during climate-related disasters. From sensory overload in emergency shelters to inaccessible communication systems and a lack of structured emergency planning, these barriers leave neurodivergent communities disproportionately vulnerable. Addressing these inequities requires neurodiversity-informed climate policies, including accessible disaster preparedness, sensory-friendly resources, and the active inclusion of neurodivergent voices in policy-making to ensure that emergency response systems work for everyone.
Speaking the Truth About Autism, Gender, and Suicide: My UN Experience
Autistic girls, women, and gender-diverse individuals face significant challenges due to systemic biases, gendered expectations, and a lack of understanding about how autism presents beyond the male-centric model. These barriers lead to widespread underdiagnosis, masking, social exclusion, and limited access to gender-affirming and neuro-affirming care, all of which contribute to high rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Addressing these issues requires systemic change in healthcare, education, employment, and policy to ensure that autistic individuals, regardless of gender, receive the recognition, support, and accommodations they need to thrive.
Neurodivergent Parenting: Breaking the Cycle of Shame and Ableism
Neurodivergent parents are breaking the cycle of shame and ableism by rejecting the harmful parenting practices they experienced and raising their children with acceptance, validation, and autonomy. Instead of forcing their children to mask, suppress their natural behaviors, or conform to neurotypical expectations, they are creating environments where neurodivergent children are supported in ways that honor their needs. This shift not only helps children thrive but also allows parents to heal from their own past experiences, fostering a new generation where neurodivergence is embraced rather than erased.
Sensory Processing Isn’t Just About Sensory Sensitivities—It’s About Sensory Joy, Too
Sensory processing differences are often discussed in terms of challenges, but for many neurodivergent individuals, they also bring deep sensory joy—whether through textures, sounds, movement, or nature. The intense pleasure of certain sensory experiences, like the feel of soft fabrics, the rhythm of music, or the grounding presence of nature, is just as real as sensory sensitivities, yet it is often overlooked. Recognizing and embracing sensory joy allows neurodivergent people to fully engage with their environment, self-regulate, and experience the world in ways that are meaningful, fulfilling, and uniquely their own.
How Hyperfocus and Burnout Exist on the Same Spectrum
Hyperfocus, a common experience for autistic and ADHD individuals, allows for deep concentration and bursts of productivity but often leads to burnout when unmanaged. Because hyperfocus does not come with built-in regulation, many neurodivergent people push themselves past their limits, leading to exhaustion, shutdowns, and difficulty sustaining long-term productivity. Understanding that hyperfocus and burnout exist on the same spectrum can help neurodivergent individuals develop strategies to balance deep engagement with necessary rest, allowing for a more sustainable and fulfilling approach to work and creativity.
Why Many Neurodivergent People Are Drawn to Speculative Fiction and Fantasy Worlds
Speculative fiction and fantasy resonate deeply with neurodivergent individuals because these genres offer alternative ways of existing, exploring identity, and imagining a world beyond rigid societal norms. Many autistic and ADHD readers connect with characters who process the world differently, struggle with conventional expectations, or find strength in their uniqueness, reflecting their own lived experiences. These stories provide both escapism and validation, showing that difference is not a flaw but a source of power, and that belonging can be found in the spaces where individuality is embraced.
The Emotional Cost of Being ‘High-Functioning’: The Reality Behind the Label
The label “high-functioning” is often misleading and harmful, as it erases the real struggles neurodivergent individuals face while pressuring them to perform at neurotypical standards. Many autistic and ADHD individuals are denied support and accommodations because they appear to be managing, even though masking and overcompensating lead to exhaustion, burnout, and self-doubt. True inclusion requires moving beyond functioning labels and recognizing that all neurodivergent people—regardless of outward appearance—deserve understanding, support, and the freedom to exist as they are.
How to Stop Masking (When You’ve Done It Your Whole Life)
Masking is a survival mechanism many neurodivergent individuals adopt to navigate a world that often demands conformity, but over time, it leads to exhaustion, burnout, and a loss of self-identity. Unmasking is a gradual process of self-discovery that involves recognizing masking behaviors, creating safe spaces to exist authentically, and reconnecting with suppressed traits and interests. While the journey is deeply personal and may come with challenges, it ultimately allows neurodivergent individuals to embrace their true selves with self-compassion and without apology.
5 Steps to Make Virtual Meetings More Inclusive
Virtual meetings can be overwhelming for neurodivergent individuals, but intentional adjustments can create more inclusive and accessible spaces. Providing clear communication ahead of time, embracing "come as you are" policies, and prioritizing sensory and cognitive accessibility help participants feel safe and supported. By balancing structure with flexibility and actively seeking feedback, meeting organizers can foster virtual environments where all participants can engage in ways that work best for them.
Parental Estrangement and Autistic Adults: Understanding the Why and What Comes Next
Parental estrangement among autistic adults is often the result of years of unmet needs, invalidation, and the pressure to mask or conform to neurotypical expectations. Many autistic individuals reach a breaking point where continued relationships with family members feel harmful, leading them to make the difficult decision to go no-contact as an act of self-preservation. While some relationships can be repaired through genuine understanding and respect, others require separation for the sake of well-being, highlighting the need for greater societal recognition of autistic experiences and family dynamics.
How to Recover from Years of Internalized Ableism as a Neurodivergent Person
Internalized ableism develops from societal messages that frame neurodivergence as a problem rather than a natural variation, leading many neurodivergent individuals to mask, doubt themselves, and struggle with feelings of inadequacy. Undoing these beliefs requires unlearning harmful narratives, embracing neurodivergent strengths, setting boundaries, and allowing space for grief. Healing is an ongoing process that involves self-compassion, community support, and creating a life that honors neurodivergent needs rather than suppressing them.