Dear Dyslexic Podcast

ADHD, Women’s Health, Brain Fog and the Research Gaps We Still Need to Talk About In this full episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, Dr Shae Wissell is joined by Associate Professor Carolyn Gerwitz for an important conversation about ADHD, women’s health and neurodivergence. Together, they explore emerging research alongside lived experience, discussing brain fog, diagnosis, self-care, and the sig...

In Part 3, Dr Shae and Associate Professor Carolyn Gerwitz bring together hormones, dyslexia and ADHD, while exploring practical wellbeing, connection and the need for better research.  For organisations and leaders, this conversation is a reminder that neurodivergent experiences can shift across life stages. Awareness helps create workplaces where people feel able to ask for support without judge...

In Part 2 of this conversation, Dr Shae Wissell and Associate Professor Caroline Gurvich explore one of the most common questions women ask during perimenopause: Is this ADHD, perimenopause, or both? Together, they discuss the impact of hormonal changes on the brain, including brain fog, memory, attention, and executive functioning. The episode examines why many neurodivergent women report increas...

** Content Warning:** This episode includes discussion of suicide, mental health, and emotional wellbeing. Have you ever felt like your ADHD suddenly gets worse, even when nothing else has changed? It might not be stress, burnout, or a bad week. It could be hormones.  Could hormones be influencing your ADHD, attention, executive functioning and emotional regulation more than you realise? In this e...

What does it take to build a successful career in engineering and automotive manufacturing while navigating ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, workplace bias, and the challenges of being a woman in STEM? In this episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, Dr Shae sits down with Diana, Senior Project Coordinator and Planner in Toyota's Product Planning Division. Diana shares her remarkable journey from Colombia...

In Part 3 of our Neurodivergent Women in STEM series, Dr Shae Wissell sits down with Diana from Toyota to explore how neurodiversity, universal design, and communication styles shape inclusive workplaces. Together, they discuss Toyota’s broader DEIB approach, practical workplace accommodations, hybrid work, onboarding around working styles, and why reframing neurodivergence as a strength benefits...

In Part 2 of our Neurodivergent Women in STEM series, Dr Shae Wissell sits down in studio with Diana from Toyota to explore ADHD at work, sensory overload, hybrid work, and the challenges facing women in STEM. In this episode: ADHD-friendly productivity strategies that actually work Why capture lists can be more effective than relying on memory Flexible routines, task chunking, and managing motiva...

In this episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, Dr Shae Wissell speaks with Diana, a Senior Project Coordinator and Planner at Toyota, about her journey from Colombia to Australia and into the automotive industry. Diana reflects on her love of mathematics and science, the challenges of studying engineering as a woman in a male-dominated field, and building a successful career across Ford, Holden, an...

In this full-length episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, Dr Shae Wissell sits down with Nick Nagzam, host of The Inclusive Shift, to explore neurodiversity in the workplace, parenting neurodivergent children, and the importance of creating environments where people can thrive. Nick shares how his understanding of neurodiversity deepened following the diagnoses of his two sons, one autistic with a...

In Part 3 of our deep dive with Nick, Dr Shae continues the conversation about the realities of parenting neurodivergent children while navigating your own neurodivergent traits. Nick reflects on how neurodivergence often becomes more visible within families as children are diagnosed and parents begin to recognise similar characteristics in themselves. Although he has not received a formal diagnos...

In Part 2 of this Deep Dive series, host Dr Shae speaks with Nick Nagzam and introduces the show’s mission to share honest conversations and build community around dyslexia and other  neurodivergent conditions, then moves into a discussion about working from home in a global, largely neurodivergent team and how home “distractions” can be less disruptive than office interruptions. Nick shares how d...

The office is not always the most supportive place to work. In Part 1 of this Deep Dive series, host Dr Shae speaks with Nick Nagzam about his work and his podcast, The Inclusive Shift, and his journey into advocating for neurodiversity inclusion at work after his two sons were diagnosed (autism with a PDA profile and ADHD, and ADHD). Nick shares how he founded a neurodiversity resource group at h...

What if struggling with numbers wasn't just about being "bad at maths"? In this episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, Dr Shae is joined by Michael from Dyscastia, an intervention tutor and advocate with lived experience of dyslexia and dyscalculia. Together, they explore the often-misunderstood learning difference of dyscalculia and discuss why awareness remains so low compared to other neurodiver...

Rethinking Maths, Dyscalculia & Confidence: Scaffolding, Practice, and Practical Tool In part 3 of our latest episode DR Shae and Michael focus on lived experiences of dyslexia and other neurodivergent conditions and explore maths anxiety, shame, and the lasting trauma of school experiences such as being discouraged from using fingers. The conversation reframes “not being good at maths” as a diffi...

In our just released Part 2 of Ep 87 Dyscalculia Explained: Number Sense, Time Blindness, and Building Confidence with Practical Strategies, Dr Shae Marie Wisszell on the Dear Dyslexic Podcast sits down with Michael Shanaha to explore dyscalculia and why it is often invisible due to low awareness, even among maths teachers. Michael explains dyscalculia as a core difficulty with basic number sense...

In this episode of Dr Shae and the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, our host Shae,welcomes Michael from the podcast Dyscastia to discuss dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, and why there aren’t enough conversations about these learning difficulties. Michael explains his view on labels, using “disability” for official funding and support contexts and preferring “difficulty” personally, while questioning t...

In this Dear Dyslexic podcast episode, Shae speaks with consultant and leader Ben Walkenhorst about psychosocial hazards and how to create psychologically safe workplaces, especially for neurodivergent people. Ben shares his background (20+ years’ experience across sectors and leading teams up to 200) and his lived experience of dyslexia, including an auditory component and visual stress helped by...

Neurodivergence, Feedback & Psychological Safety at Work (Dear Dyslexic Podcast) This episode of the Dear Dyslexic podcast explores how feedback and workplace practices can impact neurodivergent people, including those with dyslexia, ADHD, and autism, particularly when feedback feels overly critical or triggering due to past experiences. The conversation focuses on the role of great leadership...

Creating Psychologically Safe Workplaces for Neurodivergent Teams | Dear Dyslexic Podcast This Dear Dyslexic podcast episode introduces the show’s focus on lived experiences of dyslexia and other neurodivergent conditions, then explores strategies for supporting neurodiverse people at work through psychologically safe environments. Ben discusses leadership practices grounded in understanding indiv...

The Dear Dyslexic Podcast introduces its mission to share honest conversations about dyslexia and other neurodivergent conditions and welcomes guest Ben Walkenhorst, a consultant at BW Communications with over 20 years’ experience across government, private, and not-for-profit sectors leading teams up to 200 people. The episode sets up a discussion on psychosocial hazards in workplaces, psychologi...

Recorded as a podcast for International Women’s Day, this panel brings together Nicci Richman, Dr Kim Gordon, and Dr Annalisa Contos, to share experiences of late diagnosis (ADHD, autism, dyslexia/dysgraphia) and how it reshaped identity, self-compassion, and career trajectories. The discussion links perimenopause/menopause to reduced capacity to mask, emotional peaks and troughs, and grief over m...

In a first in-studio Dear Dyslexic Podcast interview, the host chats with Dr. Kim Percy and UK-based Dr. Helen Ross about dyslexia and broader neurodivergence in adulthood, focusing on transition points from school to university or work. Helen, in Australia on a Churchill Fellowship, describes how lack of clear, accessible support and long assessment waitlists can leave people—especially girls—unr...

In this powerful episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, host Dr Shae Wissell sits down with Brad Beach, Director of Strategy, Quality and Learning at TAFE Gippsland, to explore dyslexia and neurodivergence in vocational education. Brad shares his personal journey as a dyslexic student—from struggling in remedial reading classes to accidentally getting into Melbourne University and eventually leadin...

Ever wondered why speech pathologists are unsung heroes in the world of dyslexia? In this eye-opening episode of the Dear Dyslexic Podcast, we dive deep into the fundamentals of dyslexia, bust myths about assessments, and explore how early intervention can transform lives—plus, practical tips for navigating co-occurring challenges like ADHD and dysgraphia. Joining us is Elise Cassidy, a passionate...

For years, I thought I was just busy. Running a podcast, a charity, doing my doctorate, working full-time, raising a child - that's just life, right? But when I was diagnosed with combined ADHD (moderate to severe) in my 40s, everything finally made sense. In this deeply personal episode, I'm stepping away from our usual dyslexia focus to share my own ADHD diagnosis journey - the signs I missed fo...