Let's Talk Neurosense: the psychology of neurodiversity

How does the meaning of words change over time - and what are the implications when those words are clinical terms? Nick Haslam is an academic psychologist, and his work has looked at the expansion of psychological terms like ‘trauma’, ‘abuse’ and ‘bullying’. He suggests that these concepts expand over time, becoming both less extreme (vertical expansion) and broader (horizontal expansion). In thi...

Nabeelah got in touch with us because she was concerned. She has an autistic 6-year-old whose autism has been obvious since she was very young and who is minimally speaking. She felt that children like her daughter were invisible. Her family’s priorities are not represented in the conversation about neurodiversity and it’s more than that, she thinks that we are lacking the language that we need to...

“I would love if the phrase nature vs nurture disappeared from the planet. I think it’s really held back a lot of progress. It’s nature and nurture. If we think of science as nature and nurture we are going to make progress a lot faster than if we keep dividing it into separate things because that’s just not how the world works.” Robert Wright Are you confused by the nature vs nurture debate? Are...

When Helen Minnis was tiny, she was affectionately referred to as ‘a nightmare baby’. As an adult, she has a diagnosis of ADHD. She counts herself lucky, because her parents had each other, they had enough money, they had community support - and so they were well enough resourced to look after her. It could have been very different. All of this is very relevant to what Helen researches now. ‘Doubl...

Big announcements this week in the UK autism world. The National Autistic Society have declared that they are stating definitively that autism is genetic and that we can all stop looking for answers elsewhere. The question, they say, is resolved. This statement has been very positively received, with many sharing it and heralding it as a great step forward. But is the science really as cut and dri...

What does lived experience really mean? Should lived experience be given the same status as scientific studies? Could it sometimes be used as a shield, preventing ideas from being challenged? Have clinicians historically ignored lived experience, and how can we redress the balance? Talking about these questions is difficult, and Paul Hutton knows that directly. When he started posting about the co...

Susie brings a number of unique and valuable perspectives to the topic of neurodiversity and joins Naomi and I this week to to help us kickstart season 3. As well as working clinically as a psychologist and having her own diagnosis of dyslexia, Susie works as a tutor on one of the UK’s clinical psychology training programmes. She is also part of the British Psychological Society’s working group su...

The Channel 4 documentary The Great ADHD Myth? has sparked a national conversation, and it’s a heated one. For some, it was a much needed balance to the dominant narrative, while for others it was a biased and dangerous polemic. One of the contributors to the Channel 4 programme, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr Sami Timimi, argued in his book that the onus should be on those making claims abo...

The Channel 4 documentary The Great ADHD Myth? has polarised discussion, with one side saying that it was unbalanced and unscientific, while others say that it is a necessary challenge to the dominant narrative. ADHD UK raised concerns about it from before the programme aired, and in this special episode we sat down with Chris Benson, Education Lead for ADHD UK, to find out what he thought. Chris...

The Guardian called it the most controversial show of the year. Amnesty International called on Channel 4 to make multiple changes before broadcast. ADHD UK complained to Ofcom . There was widespread fury on social media, with people arguing that the question posed in the Channel 4 documentary press release - is ADHD a neurodevelopmental disorder, or a social construct - was a dangerous one that c...

In the 1990s, Janyce Boynton was working as a speech and language clinician when she started using facilitated communication with a young non-speaking girl, Betsy. Through facilitated communication, Betsy started to make allegations about abuse at home. These were reported to the authorities and things quickly started to escalate. What happened next changed the course of Janyce’s life. Betsy was r...

Aleida Verhoeven understands disability from many angles. She’s autistic herself and also has other disabilities. But in addition, she works in Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme as the equivalent of a case manager, primarily with autistic people. She tells us about the situation in Australia, where, as she puts it, they have some of the highest disability spend in the world, yet som...

Richard has spent his whole career working with autistic adults. He initially worked in a diagnostic assessment service before moving into his current role in an intensive support team for autistic adults. He is a prolific poster in online discussions about neurodiversity, and has written about some of this on his Substack. In this interview, Richard explained how his experience has enabled him to...

When Chrissie’s son Daniel started school, the teacher asked her on first day why they had not told her that he had an emotional disability. Later, he explained that he was terrified of being inside tall buildings. He was scared and so he hid under tables. Daniel found school expectations hard, and school found it hard to manage Daniel. The school needed extra support and wanted to refer him for a...

Does it help, being a psychologist when your children have additional needs? Or can it make things more complicated? This week we are delighted to talk to Rosie Gilderthorp. Rosie has worked in forensic and learning disabilities services and she now runs the Psychology Business School, which helps other psychologists to find their way in private practice as well as working clinically. Two of her c...

Guardian readers were asked last week to ask themselves if their parents might be neurodivergent. Apparently up to 97% of autistic adults over the age of 60 are undiagnosed, and the Guardian is here to guide their adult children in how to broach the subject. That is, by our calculations, 194,000 people. So what does this mean? What is the research this is drawing on and what are the assumptions be...

Have you noticed that the way some people talk about neurodiversity has changed? Have you heard that diagnostic language is violent, that neurodivergent people are oppressed by neuronormative standards and that it’s ableist to suggest that it’s preferable to be non-disabled, if that’s an option? Have you noticed strange similarities in the way that disability, race and gender are discussed, and wo...

This week’s guest is Dr Alison Flynn, a clinical psychologist who has specialised in working in neurodevelopmental and forensic services. She told us of her strong sense of professional responsibility, particularly when it comes to working with people who have been poorly served by the systems that were supposed to care for them. We talk about the need to have robust discussions about issues such...

This week, we speak to Jonathan Machnee, an autistic computer engineer and independent autism researcher from Canada. Jon got in touch after the response to our episode with Uta Frith because he is particularly interested in the online dynamics around autism and neurodiversity. Jon is the host of Christianity on The Spectrum, a long form podcast where he talks to people about the intersection of C...

Dan Lovesey is an autistic researcher, academic and creative who is part of the disability and inclusion team at The University of Law, UK. He has recently completed his PhD and has written a book about neurodiversity and the creative industries, Creative Minds, Divergent Paths. Dan got in touch with us because he was concerned about the lack of balance he saw in conversations about neurodiversity...

Dr Chris Bagley is a psychologist, teacher, writer and musician with an interest in the evolution of ideas, educational transformation and systems change. He is Director of Research at social enterprise, States of Mind , Co-Director at Square Peg CIC and a Tutor at The Institute of Education, University College London. I (Naomi) first met Chris several years ago, as we were both critiquing the edu...

Dr Danielle Drinkwater is a clinical psychologist and co-host of Let’s Talk Neurosense. In this interview-with-the-hosts episode, Dani talks about her path into clinical psychology and why she wanted to work with children. She explains her clinical experience working as a neurodevelopmental diagnostician, and explains why she found herself increasingly uncomfortable with her part in the diagnostic...

We’ve released ten episodes of Let’s Talk Neurosense. We’ve interviewed ten different people, all with quite different perspectives on neurodiversity. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, and we’ve learnt a lot along the way. Now we’d really like to know if you have questions you’d like us to answer - or people you’d like us to talk to in upcoming seasons. Please let us know in the comments. And pl...

This week, Dani sits down with Naomi to find out about her journey into clinical psychology, her relationship to the topic of neurodiversity, her experiences of home schooling her two children, and some of the reasons she wanted to start this podcast. They reflect on some of the responses that Naomi has received since speaking out about the things that concern her online, as well as some of the wa...

Children across the UK are waiting for years in order to get a diagnosis of autism or ADHD. And in the meantime, it can be impossible for their families to get the help that they need. Some of them are stuck; without a diagnosis they cannot access support, but waiting lists means that needs are going unmet. Subscribe for free to be the first to hear about our new podcast episodes In Portsmouth, th...