I AM A

I AM A 💡 I AM A | Translating neurodiversity-affirming evidence into everyday practice.

🧩 Communication & Neurodiversity Implementation Consultant

11/09/2026

I AM A and my constant battles with exhaustion.

My life seems to consist largely of having to explain to everyone around me why I have such strong boundaries around everything.

I need to count my spoons — yes, spoon theory — all the time, because I need to make sure I don’t run out. If I do, I become ill. Sometimes that means being in bed for days, barely able to move. Other times, I become physically ill, anxious and worried about everything under the sun that could affect me negatively — and currently, a lot of it does.

From living in an HMO that doesn’t feel like home, to wondering: am I ever going to be able to work and earn a decent living?

I am doing my best in spite of all that, because I need to hold on to hope. If I lose hope, I will be six feet under. This is what happens when hope dies.

But in this video, I’m in my natural habitat. By myself. My partner in crime lives thousands of miles away.

I hate filming myself talking. I hate being filmed talking. I hate constantly having to explain my needs to a world that doesn’t get them.

Here, I don’t have to.

Here, I feel good.

For a little while, I have a home that I can organise however I like. I can cook and eat outdoors — my favourite place to be. I can hear the birds, smell and feel nature around me.

I come alive.
I breathe.
I listen to the birds.

And I connect with the right type of people. We share stories and laugh. Together, we experience the wonders nature has to offer.

This is where some of my spoons come back.

I AM A — A little note on ableism and disablismI've been thinking about the difference between ableism and disablism, es...
01/09/2026

I AM A — A little note on ableism and disablism

I've been thinking about the difference between ableism and disablism, especially after writing about my own experience.

Ableism includes assumptions, norms, environments and systems built around ideas of what a "normal" body or mind should be able to do or tolerate.

It doesn't have to be intentional.

People can create barriers for disabled people without realising they're doing it. An environment can be ableist even when nobody deliberately set out to exclude anyone.

Disablism is prejudice, negative attitudes or discriminatory treatment directed towards disabled people because they are disabled.

It can be deliberate, but it doesn't have to be.

For me, this distinction matters because we often focus on whether somebody meant to exclude or hurt a disabled person.

But intention and impact aren't the same thing.

Lack of intent doesn't make a barrier disappear.

I AM A and my personal experience of ableismAugust Bank Holiday weekend was an absolute sensory nightmare.I went to an o...
01/09/2026

I AM A and my personal experience of ableism

August Bank Holiday weekend was an absolute sensory nightmare.

I went to an organised thing with people I trust without asking about the environment. Nearly everyone there is autistic, ADHD or AuDHD — not all are aware of that or agree with the terminology, but that's another discussion. Some also have experience of autism, ADHD and AuDHD in their families. I thought two of the organisers knew me well.

Big mistake. Lesson learnt: never assume. I will definitely ask next time.

Four days in a train station venue meant constant traffic and train noise. Closed windows meant stuffiness; open ones meant more noise. Add people running around, social media out loud, clapping and a packed programme.

Meal timings were tight and inflexible. Some of my comfort foods disappeared when things were cleared away, and I didn't have the energy to ask where they'd gone.

I hate feeling trapped, and this became a weekend of endurance. Luckily, on Sunday I escaped to the sea for a few restorative hours.

By Monday, my body had had enough: a terrible headache, dizziness and nausea when I moved my head, and hot and cold flashes. It seemed like a migraine.

I keep wondering about the detachment when I was clearly struggling. Empathy fatigue? Compassion fatigue? Perhaps neither. A lack of consideration when it comes to the other? I don't know.

Knowing someone well, or having experience of autism, ADHD and AuDHD, doesn't necessarily mean recognising what they need in the moment.

And yes — I should've asked. Next time I will: about noise, food, timings and somewhere quiet to retreat to.

But accessibility shouldn't depend entirely on a disabled person anticipating every barrier and asking for it to be removed.

When I'm that overwhelmed, I need someone to hug me and ask what I need — not give me options. My brain freezes. I need darkness, quiet, safe food and access to food without feeling like I'm disturbing the organised order.

Sometimes access is also noticing the person in front of you.

C'est la vie.

I AM A and my personal experience of ableism.Dear friends, acquaintances, potential friends, and anyone out there,Please...
28/08/2026

I AM A and my personal experience of ableism.

Dear friends, acquaintances, potential friends, and anyone out there,

Please allow disabled people to decide for ourselves whether we can make it to the gathering, outing or event you’ve organised or not.

Making that decision for us by not inviting us is robbing us of the agency to decide what works for us. It creates a different type of exclusion — exclusion based on the anticipation of how our disabilities might affect us.

Even if we keep saying no, continuing to invite us makes us feel included. It gives us the opportunity to make our own choice and creates a sense of belonging.

Please, next time, make sure you invite us.

Perhaps an explanation like this can help us make an informed decision while still feeling included:

“I'm inviting you because I want you there. I know this event might be sensory-heavy, so absolutely no pressure if it isn't accessible for you.”

Let us decide what we can and can't do. Don't decide for us.



Photo credit: JF

I AM A and my personal experience of abelism Some of you might remember that I felt exhausted for a week, doing as littl...
24/08/2026

I AM A and my personal experience of abelism

Some of you might remember that I felt exhausted for a week, doing as little as cooking and crashing.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go to North Wales. Still my favourite part of the world.

I did hill walking, scrambling and climbing — three of my favourite activities — in three days. My body feels broken, but my soul feels refreshed.

I'm somewhat more ready to embrace the nonsense our wonderful ableist world has to offer.

You’re probably wondering how this fits into my current work.

Well, it does.

Because my experiences of ableism — including my own internalised ableism — have made me want to contribute to changing the systems rather than changing the autistic, ADHD and AuDHD individual.

I've experienced the constant and consistent questioning of my negative AuDHD experiences in medical and community settings, as well as within governmental institutions.

I've been told versions of the same things again and again: that everyone is a little bit autistic, or that if I can walk, talk and dress myself, I must be fine.

But being able to climb a mountain doesn't mean I can always cook a meal.

Being able to communicate doesn't mean communication doesn't come at a cost.

Being able to function doesn't tell you what it takes for me to function.

And perhaps that's exactly the point.

We need to stop measuring neurodivergent people by how well they appear to function within systems that were never designed with us in mind — and start asking what those systems could do differently.



Photo credit:JF

I AM A and my personal experience of ableismLast week I stayed with a close friend and her neurodivergent family.Only th...
19/08/2026

I AM A and my personal experience of ableism

Last week I stayed with a close friend and her neurodivergent family.

Only then did I realise how exhausted I am from doing life.

Sensory overload. Constant demands. Emotional burden — a concept I'm developing as part of my PhD proposal 😊

All three are very real for me as an AuDHD person. I'm sure some autistic and ADHD people will recognise this too.

After 2 years of advocating for LCWRA and PIP, I finally managed to get both.

PIP didn't award me Enhanced Daily Living nor Mobility, because the system is rotten and ableist, excluding disabled people whose experiences don't fit neatly into its boxes.

I didn't leave the house for the entire week. I couldn't cope with the outside world.

Luckily, we are all neurodivergent. We need time alone and give each other space.

I cooked — that's usually how I contribute to household chores — and played with the boy twice.

I was absolutely shattered just doing this.

And I still crashed on Friday.

I didn't cook.
I didn't clean the kitchen.
I couldn't talk.

My nervous system was going through a sensory nightmare too.

And no, of course I don't have a Mobility problem.

Lying down most of the week because I don't have the capacity to deal with the outside world isn't a Mobility problem.

I'm making it up.

And no, programmes like ITV's The Great ADHD Myth? don't contribute to the constant questioning of our experiences either.

We're all just making it up.

Emotional burden, as I'm currently conceptualising it, is the cumulative emotional and regulatory load of managing sensory demands, everyday demands, our own emotions, other people's emotions and expectations, while functioning in environments that weren't designed with neurodivergent people in mind.

When that keeps accumulating without enough recovery, support or environmental change, burnout can be one consequence.

I swear I will fight for my right to take up space until I die.

Existing is no longer on the cards.

I AM A — and very proud of who I am.

This isn't about teaching neurodivergent people to tolerate more.

It's about changing systems that demand too much.

18/08/2026

Sometimes less language creates more understanding.

adhd

🤖 Something I wanted to share —I use AI tools (ChatGPT and Claude) to help with research, structuring my posts, and edit...
11/08/2026

🤖 Something I wanted to share —

I use AI tools (ChatGPT and Claude) to help with research, structuring my posts, and editing. And some of the "hand-drawn" style illustrations in my carousels are actually AI-generated.

The ideas and the writing are still mine — AI just helps me get there more efficiently. Figured it's worth being upfront about, so wanted to put it out there 🙂

A neurodiversity framework is not the outcome.Creating a policy, delivering training or implementing a framework doesn't...
09/08/2026

A neurodiversity framework is not the outcome.

Creating a policy, delivering training or implementing a framework doesn't automatically mean practice has changed.

For me, neurodiversity-affirming practice needs to be flexible and responsive to the organisation it exists within.

Different organisations may not need entirely different frameworks, but they do need different applications of neurodiversity-affirming principles.

Standardise the principles, not necessarily the practice.

And implementation shouldn't be where the work ends.

We need to come back and ask:

Did practice actually change?

How are neurodivergent people experiencing it?

What's working?

What isn't?

What needs to change next?

That's where audit comes in — not as another tick-box exercise, but as part of continuous learning and improvement.

Framework → Implementation → Audit → Adapt → Improve → Repeat.

Because the real question isn't:

“Do we have a neurodiversity framework?”

It's:

“What changed in people's everyday experience — and how do we know?”

Beyond the framework. Into practice.

🌱 Generating evidence. Translating evidence. Embedding change.

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