Neurodiversity - ADHD, Autism & mixed ADHD and Autism

Neurodiversity is one of my specialty areas that I am currently writing a book on how to integrate neurodiversity into business team development. I also offer speaking engagements to businesses and schools to educate workers and students on neurodiversity.

 

I’m going to start by saying I despise how the current classification of Autism and ADHD has been medicalised and defined by negative traits that cause problems and ignore the positive traits that make someone unique and talented.

 

Despite Neurodiversity being widely spoken about in education, business hiring and mental health, it is my experience that most people including many psychologists and psychiatrists have a poor understanding what it is truly like to be neurodiverse.

 

I consider myself to be neurodiverse and a lot of my medical practice, mental health counselling, business engagements and public speaking is dedicated to neurodiversity.

 

I have helped countless patients including some psychologists who were unaware that they were neurodiverse, come to terms with being neurodiverse and then learn how to implement this knowledge into their life.

 

If you don’t feel like you fit in, are excessively nerdy or geeky, struggle with socialisation, and find that you are too intense for other people with your feelings and/or thinking then it is highly likely that you have some neurodiversity to your personality. Burn out, exhaustion, work life balance and relationship problems are the things that all neurodiverse people struggle with. But neurotypical advice doesn't work for them.

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My approach is that neurodiversity is a superpower, but it also comes with some kryptonite that needs to be managed.

 

I use evolutionary psychology to show patients, parents and businesses understand where neurodiversity exists in a village. Then this can be translated into parenting, business and career decisions, and team building with the aim of helping neurodiverse people fit into the world and businesses benefitting from their skills.

 

Many high functioning people are often mixed ADHD and Autistic and because a lot of the traits of Autism and ADHD are opposites, they can cancel each other out. Which then makes people hard to diagnose. There are many patients who have mixed traits of ADHD and Autism who have been told by therapists that they are not neurodiverse when they actually are.

 

In dealing with mental health problems, I have worked with many people who have had psychologists and psychiatrists focus solely on their anxiety and depression without looking deeper to see that their mood problems are a result of them being neurodiverse.

 

My area of interest is helping high functioning people realise their neurodiversity so that they can manage their life better to avoid burn out and exhaustion.