NeuroDiversity Affirming Training and Supervision

05/09/2026

A part of me wishes I was diagnosed with autism earlier, but I also know that if I had I would have been pulled out of school, stuck in special ed several towns over, and just generally be treated worse.

I think we can have more empathy for older ppl who don’t want an autism diagnosis now or find it hard to accept other ppl autism diagnosis.

Autism was talked about really differently in the 60s 70s 80s 90s. That horrible I am autism video from Autism speaks was only released in 2009…

While we have this neurodiversity affirming paradigm now, we are still only a growing minority in talking about autism in this way.

03/09/2026

My birthday present to myself today was submitting the final draft of a chapter for a book for counselling educators.

The chapter is on experiential learning, so I got to enthusiastically ramble about things I'm wild about, including the Zone of Proximal Development and disequilibrium. I'm endlessly fascinated by what happens when people encounter the limits of their current understanding and have enough support to build something new.

Very excited and very grateful to be included.

22/08/2026

Ok I know there’s a lot of ranting about AI, but this is meant to be just a light, funny story… so bear with me…

I rarely use AI in my actual work. I mean I like it for things like checking spelling in a PDF or editing my reference list that I can then just double check, basic stuff. Mostly because it just knows very little about autism (or rather, it’s regurgitating what most people talk about autism online, and clearly there are a lot of inaccuracies), and tbh the writing just isn’t as good as I could do myself. I am, however, endlessly fascinated by seeing what it gets wrong, so I occasionally experiment with it. Perhaps I'm just repeatedly choosing to rage-bait myself.

The other day, it stubbornly argued with me that my definition of neurodivergent was incorrect. I was using the term’s original meaning, as Kassiane coined it. It still insisted I was wrong... which is a bold position for a machine whose entire job is averaging what most people say.

I do use Grammarly, though, and one of its tools is a "humaniser". And again, I clearly don’t need it bc I write my own work, but it’s sitting right there under the grammar check, and I can’t help myself. The last piece of text I ran through it produced this recommendation:

"𝙎𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙡. 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙄. 𝙒𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙡."

And that just says it all.

15/08/2026

The ACT now has a Minister for Disability, Autism and Neurodiversity.

I spoke with the ABC about what the new portfolio could mean for Autistic and neurodivergent people in Canberra. My main point was that representation and consultation need to translate into actual partnership with and positive outcomes for our community.

There is a lot of expertise within the Autistic (and other neurodivergent) communities, including people who work professionally in this space. If the ACT is serious about improving outcomes, that expertise needs to be part of the process, not something people have to keep advocating to have heard.

I also raised a question about why autism has been separated from neurodivergence in the portfolio. At the time of the interview, I had not been able to find a definition of what the ACT Government will include under “neurodivergence”.

I use neurodivergent in its broadest sense: people whose ways of thinking, communicating, sensing, learning or experiencing the world significantly diverge from neuronormativity. This is consistent with how the term has been developed within the neurodivergent community, including through the work of Kassiane Asasumasu, a Lived Experience Educator, and others.

It will be interesting to see how the new portfolio defines its scope, and more importantly, how that definition translates into policy and practice: how will this improve the lives of Autistic people?

The ABC article is here:

Neurodivergent support organisations welcome the creation of a dedicated autism and neurodiversity portfolio in the ACT government, but say the government needs to work alongside neurodivergent Canberrans to improve support systems.

04/08/2026

Just a reminder:

Neurodivergent is:
- where someone diverges from the typical or the norm
- where someone cannot perform neuronormativity
- not a medical diagnosis
- can be present from birth, acquired, or situational
- about who has power, who has a voice, who is listened to

This means that mental illness and personality disorders are included in the neurodivergent umbrella.

It means that situational mutism is a neurodivergence.

Dementia and acquired brain injury are also neurodivergences.

31/07/2026

I really dislike it when so called advocates (or anyone else) throw other neurotypes under the bus. Even more concerning is when this kind of neurosupremacy is built on claims that simply aren’t supported by the evidence.

It’s frustrating because this happens so often in this field. I try to base my work primarily on peer reviewed research because it’s incredibly easy to believe content like this. We all want to believe there are simple explanations or that our own neurotype has unique strengths, and that makes us vulnerable to confident sounding misinformation.

It’s one of the reasons I’m so careful about the research I draw on in my own teaching and training.

Meanwhile, people like this can produce quick, catchy social media content that spreads far faster than careful, evidence based discussion. This particular creator is problematic for other reasons as well, and Dr. Inna has published several videos critically examining some of his claims.

Whether you’re a therapist, neurodivergent yourself, or both, I’d recommend following accounts that critically examine these kinds of claims rather than simply repeating them. Protect yourself from the charlatans!

30/07/2026

Gosh, was just compared to the brilliant Pete Wharmby, Autistic Author by someone attending my full day workshop on supporting neurodivergent clients and couldn’t think of a bigger compliment to receive.

I love Pete Wharmby’s openness and vulnerability, and they are certainly things I try and incorporate those into my workshop.

❤️💜

27/06/2026

I just signed a service agreement with a new bookkeeper because admin can absolutely get in the bin.

I wanted to work with an ADHD/Autistic bookkeeper, and I found one.

There was a whole Teams meeting kerfuffle where we somehow managed to miss each other while trying to attend the same meeting, which feels deeply on brand.

But also? Within 24 hours of me contacting her, we had talked, sorted the details, signed the agreement, and set everything up.

On a Saturday.

This is the kind of neurodivergent business support I wanted. Clear, practical, fast, slightly chaotic, and still extremely effective.

12/06/2026

Here's a service not many people are aware of: The Employment Assistance Program.

It can cover the costs of workplace changes for people with disabilities. This can include workplace training and mental health support, as well as physical adjustments.

The Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) can cover the costs of workplace changes and equipment for eligible employees with disability. It can also fund Auslan interpreters and other workplace support services. JobAccess refunds the costs after you apply for the EAF and get approval. Workplace changes a...