The Different-Functional Podcast

Handshakes. Eye Contact. Small Talk. Hierarchies. There are so many social customs that we’re expected to know and to perform in any given social interaction. If you’re neurodivergent, many of these customs can seem silly or pointless or difficult to adapt to various social settings. Chances are that the customs aren’t going to change anytime soon, but what if they could? Would any of them be wort...

This time around we’re exploring ARFID. If you’re unfamiliar with this acronym, it stands for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and while it’s not the most common experience, even among neurodivergent people, there are still plenty who do experience it. Like many things, ARFID exists on a spectrum of severity and the specific foods that a person may struggle with are highly variable from o...

Who doesn’t love a good coping skill? If you’re anything like us, you probably have a whole collection of them to choose from at any given time and are always looking for new ones. So, this time around we thought we’d play a little game where we look at different coping skills from a randomized list, without any context at all, and pit them against each other to judge which one we think would be t...

There are plenty of fish in the sea, so they say. That may be true, but the actual sea is full of poisoned fish and, from what we hear, the fish in the digital dating pool aren’t much better off. So, how about going back to the basics and meeting people in the real world? Join us as we scour the internet for some neurodivergent-friendly pickup lines to help you break the ice, find your people, and...

If you’re on a healing journey, you know the struggle of the steep and perilous upward climb. If you’ve been on it for a while, you likely also know the sense of accomplishment and pride you feel when you reach the summit of a challenge and can see how far you’ve come. We all know these peaks and valleys are integral and repeating parts of the journey, but if you’ve been on your journey for a very...

It’s a couple of weeks into the new year, which means many of us are probably starting to feel just the faintest resurgence of those old struggles and habits we had confidently declared that we would conquer this time. At first, we’re filled with enthusiasm and hope and determination, but old habits die hard and the internal mechanisms which drive those habits are even harder to force into submiss...

Christmas is over but we’re still technically in Yuletide territory so we decided to do something a little different this year to acknowledge the festivities before they slip away from us for another year. We like folklore. We like weird creatures. We like traditions and rituals that make no sense to us because they’re not part of our time period or culture. If you like those things too, we hope y...

Happy Holidays! Shopping for gifts sucks! Unless you’re one of those people who is naturally gifted at knowing exactly what to give as gifts to other people. Let’s be honest though, most of us probably don’t have that talent, so we sat down and did some brainstorming about what might make for good gifts. We can’t guarantee you’ll want any of these gifts or that you’ll know someone who will but the...

Ivy is sick! And so is everyone else it seems. It’s that time of year when bugs and viruses and bacteria skulk around and infect the unsuspecting. So, we interrupt our scheduled content to talk disease instead. Grab a box of tissues and join us as we spill the tea on 90s sick day nostalgia, our tips and tricks, embarrassing moments, and some good old-fashioned complaints. If you’re enjoying the po...

Things are rough right now, and by right now I mean for so long that it’s getting hard to remember when they weren’t rough. Walking through the world feels a bit like getting a scrub down with coarse grit sandpaper. If you’re feeling a little raw too then join us for a cognitive restructuring game where we look for the silver linings and seek out some meaning in the misery. If you’re enjoying the...

Is it just us or has Halloween ghosted everyone this year? Usually this is a holiday loved and looked forward to by dang near everybody, but this year the enthusiasm feels a bit lacking. We’re not seeing as many decorations for Halloween or even for fall in general. Our social media feeds are dripping with political bickering instead of flowing over with the annual ghosts, ghoulies, pumpkins, cost...

Okay, we’ll admit, this reaction isn’t very reflexive since it took several weeks to come to any conclusions, however, we will say that the outcome did not meet the reflexive expectations. Social media is full of creators touting all kinds of health and nutrition advice; and with so much of it seeming extreme, conflicting, or too good to be true it’s easy to look at these recommendations with a sk...

If you’re an OG listener, you’ll remember a couple of years ago when we played a game we made to encapsulate the neurodivergent social experience. Well, for our first installment of Games for People Like Us, we decided to revisit this game and see if it was just as fun as it was the first time. We had a blast, and we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did. If you’re interested in playing the game...

Do you ever feel like you get trapped in your own thoughts, spiraling out into negative rumination and worries about the future? If you do, then you know how detrimental it can be to your quality of life, your capacity to truly enjoy anything, and your ability to maintain healthy and happy relationships. In this episode, we’re discussing the concept of cognitive restructuring, a valuable tool that...

Why, oh why, is it so hard to rest?! We know we need rest and relaxation and sleep and all of that good stuff, so why can’t we just do it? It sounds so simple, and it should be so easy, yet many of us feel like we are actively struggling to rest. If you also find it easier to multi-task a dozen projects than to relax for even 10 minutes then this episode is for you. Join us as we discuss: why rest...

Mindfulness is one of those pop psychology suggestions we’re often recommended for stress relief, and while its benefits are also historically well-rooted in various cultural and spiritual practices it’s not always as easy as it seems like it should be. Similar to meditation, it’s a classic example of “simple, not easy”.  In this episode, we’re exploring the idea of mindfulness on a personal...

We’re starting back up after our hiatus on a more serious note, so we’ll give you the trigger warning that this episode contains discussion of suicidal ideation. It won’t be all doom and gloom though. While we are discussing depression and the struggles that lead to self-destructive thoughts our goal in this episode is to find ways to quiet the noise and find reasons to keep going. If you’ve ever...

A lot has changed since we first started the podcast so we figured it was time to reintroduce ourselves.

It's time for a candid talk about where the podcast has been and where it's headed. While we're still holding true to our core values and goals we are also overhauling some things about the podcast, so we'll be taking off the month of July so that we can reset, recalibrate, and make some important changes happen. Thanks for being here and supporting us and we'll see you in August!

Join us for a romp and a rant through the five senses and explore with us all of the various ways we can become overloaded by our sensory experience of the world. If you’ve ever felt sensorily overstimulated into a state of rage, tearfulness, or catatonia you’re not alone. If you’ve ever been treated like a crazy person for feeling overwhelmed by sights, sounds, and textures that other people don’...

How often do you hear that “exercise is important”, and that you should “get more active” or “work on your relationship with movement”? If you had a penny for each time you’ve heard those kinds of phrases from social media influencers, magazine covers, doctors, family, or friends you could probably for a year’s worth of gym membership fees up front. I mean, thanks for the super vague advice but wh...

Spring is here for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and as the weather starts to warm up it becomes uncomfortably obvious just how extra dependent we were on our digital devices to get us through the cold, winter months. Honestly, regardless of the time of year, most of us are probably on our devices too much; it’s hard not to be when nearly everything we use is now digital, from our forms...

There’s a lot of talk right now about autism. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a resurgence of people pathologizing the autistic experience and reinforcing social stigmas and negative stereotypes. Yes, autism comes with its challenges but to demonize it is complete and utter nonsense; it’s simple fear mongering from people who have clearly never truly known or loved an autistic person. Join us for this...

We’re back again with another installment of Futile or Functional, where we explore the usefulness of the internet’s suggestions for our mental health. This time we’re diving into some ADHD life hacks. Since Autumn isn’t ADHD, we’ve welcomed Jake back for another episode to give his feedback on these suggestions. So join us as Ivy and Jake try to determine whether these hacks are futile or functio...

We’ve all heard some iteration of the serenity prayer, but what does that actually look like? What does it mean to accept the things you can’t change and work toward changing the things you can? How do you even decide what to change and what to accept? Join us as we discuss how living by the serenity prayer can positively impact your life. If you’re enjoying the podcast we’d love it if you could h...