Neurodiversity Awareness

A great introduction to Neurodiversity

Emma Davey on 12 August 2024

Lots of 'new' terminology and enlightening explanations. A really helpful introduction for gaining an understanding of a little discussed, but very important, subject.

Very good, very minor confusing wording

Sophie Sharples on 8 August 2024

One of the first questions says 'no two neurodivergent people are alike' and the correct answer is 'true' - however the word 'alike' can mean both the same and similar. 2 neurodivergent people can be similar, so the word 'alike' is ambiguous and open to misinterpretation. It is mentioned Autism can range in severity. The word severity is often used to refer to something bad or undesirable being more or less intense. I feel the word 'profound' would give the same effect without the negative connotations. Finally, it is mentioned that people with ADHD can be described as hyperactive, impulsive and poor at paying attention. Hyperactive and impulsive overrepresents one type of the condition while ignoring the Primarily Inattentive type that may not present this way. I also feel that 'poor at paying attention' is quite a negative framing of a simple difference. Hyperfocus is a trait of ADHD which contradicts this statement - it is not a lack of attention, it is difficulty regulating attention in the desired direction.

Well meaning, but ...

Harper Oldale on 7 August 2024

As someone who has no formal diagnosis, but certainly find a lot in common with certain features of autism and ADHD (like my son, who also has no formal diagnosis, but has been screened and scored very highly and has been on a waiting list for formal diagnosis ever since), I found the following points might help: - Getting a formal diagnosis - currently years for kids; I was told by my GP not to even bother because 'we can't even get children seen thanks to the demand'. This needs to be acknowledged. - How having combinations of types of neurodivergence makes things much harder to decipher: for instance, it's only recently that autism and ADHD have been considered together, and can cause problems in both diagnosis (one can be seen to cancel the other out when considered one at a time - specialists are apparently often qualified in diagnosing one or the other), but also things like ADHD medication can apparently make autism worse. It also causes issues with roles: I seem to be a mix of both, and found in my last career (music teacher), the ADHD suited, but the autism didn't, meaning I did brilliantly but fell in a heap every summer. This spills into the next point: - Care needs to be taken with accommodating needs - I find it calmer working from home, but I get distracted more: I'm great when my current hyper-focus is on the spreadsheet task in front of me. However, if my focus is elsewhere, then I keep getting pulled onto that, even if I know it shouldn't. Getting a balance is critical. Instead, making pockets of time and finding related tasks which help decompression is the most useful. - Beware of metaphors! Your opening description of me being one of many colourful and varied trees was quite sweet, but you derailed me by claiming each type shares the same ecosystem. They don't - this is factually incorrect and I had to drag myself through the next three chapters with my focus going all over the place because of this - I kept wanting to correct the mistake instead of taking in what I needed to on the videos, which was stressful. - Please please please, take out that silly article on autism and hunters. If ever there was something that reduces autistic people to a stereotype - even well-meaning! For me, yes, I'm quite good at seeing patterns in things. And I can be solitary and am not bothered by this. But what about when a downpour leads me to cowering in a cave because I hate the feeling of rain on me? Or when I get hyper fixated on adding to my collection of fancy stones from the river (my equivalent would be fossils, but you get the point), get distracted and am eaten by a saber-toothed cat?! And clearly, I have a greater development than a three year old, even if I am currently shopping for an Arcane/Genshin/She-Ra-themed duvet cover because I love these three things? I can do these things alongside reading a book on the archaeology of late-Roman settlements, which is my current read. As the course tries to say, we're not just one thing. Hope this helps. And no, don't ask for a one paragraph summary from an autistic person. And apologies for the mistakes: if I take time to re-read this I will be here for the next 5 hours revising before I delete the whole thing because it doesn't make 100% the right point.