Category: Concepts & Language

Plain-English explanations of ideas that often come up in neurodiverse life: masking, burnout, executive function, time-blindness, sensory overload, and more. Lightly informed by research, always tied back to everyday situations in study, work, and life.

Unfounded Overdiagnosis Concerns

Thinking About an Autism or ADHD Assessment When the World Is Shouting About “Overdiagnosis”

Posted on by

Headlines about “overdiagnosis” and people gaming the system can make it harder to take your own struggles seriously. This article offers a quiet counterpoint: why many of us seek autism or ADHD assessment for clarity, self-understanding and fair support rather than money, how minimising phrases like “we’re all on the spectrum somewhere” miss the point, and why you’re allowed to ask questions about your own brain even in a hostile political climate.

Read More
Guilt Free Saying No

Social Invitations, Guilt and Saying No Without Burning Bridges

Posted on by

Around Christmas, New Year and other busy seasons, social invitations can pile up fast. For many autistic and ADHD people, every event carries hidden costs in energy, masking and recovery time. This article explores why invitations can feel so heavy, how to get honest about your social capacity, and offers gentle scripts for saying no – or “yes, but differently” – without burning your relationships or yourself out.

Read More
Vague Descriptions at Work

Vague Instructions Are an Access Issue

Posted on by

“Can you just pull something together?” can feel like a small request, but for many autistic and ADHD people it creates a huge amount of hidden work. This article looks at why vague instructions are an access issue, how our brains juggle multiple interpretations at once, and offers simple, kind scripts and questions to get clearer outcomes, deadlines and formats without feeling difficult.

Read More
Writing Neurodiversity Statement

How I Explain How I Work: Writing a Neurodiversity Statement

Posted on by

Knowing you’re neurodivergent is one thing; explaining it to managers, tutors or coordinators is another. This article walks through how to write a short “how I work” neurodiversity statement, using a simple structure, example sentences based on my own statement, and ideas for adapting it to work, study and volunteering while still protecting your privacy.

Read More
Neurodivergent Meetings

Surviving Meetings When Your Brain Is Already Full

Posted on by

Meetings can look like “where the real work happens” from the outside and like sensory and cognitive overload from the inside. This article explores why meetings are so tiring for autistic and ADHD people, shares how I cope with agendas, notes, quiet fidgets and reset time, and offers small, realistic tweaks that can make your next meeting a little less overwhelming.

Read More
Go Quiet and Deliver

When Your Default Is “Go Quiet and Deliver”

Posted on by

Many autistic and ADHD people naturally “go quiet and deliver”: we disappear into the work and only update when there’s something concrete to show. This article explores why that happens, how it can worry managers who can’t see what’s going on, and offers tiny, realistic ways to agree check-ins and send short updates without turning into someone who lives in email.

Read More
Masking Neurodiversity

Masking, Burnout, and Quietly Falling Apart When You Get Home

Posted on by

From the outside you might look calm and capable; at home you’re collapsing on the sofa, forgetting to eat and avoiding people. This article explores how long-term masking can feed into autistic burnout, what “quietly falling apart” can look like in everyday life, and offers small, realistic ways to unmask safely and protect your limited energy.

Read More
Informing Others of Neurodiversity

Telling People You’re Neurodivergent: Who, When, and Whether to Say Anything

Posted on by

Deciding whether to tell people you’re neurodivergent can feel huge. This article explores the pros and cons of disclosure with family, at work and in community roles, and shares how I’ve handled it so far as an autistic adult, employee, PhD student, parent and Beaver Scout Leader.

Read More
Passing as "fine" at work

Passing as “Fine” at Work (When You’re Quietly Falling Apart)

Posted on by

Many neurodivergent people look calm and capable at work while quietly falling apart afterwards. This article names that pattern of “passing as fine”, explores why autistic and ADHD adults so often do it, and offers small, realistic ways to make work 5–10% kinder to your brain.

Read More