All posts tagged: neurodivergent

Why Autistic Children Are More Likely To Run Off Or ‘Elope’

Why Autistic Children Are More Likely To Run Off Or ‘Elope’

Published by Sam Flores

You probably saw the heartbreaking news this week that the body of a child was recovered from a pond in Suffolk, not far from where a three-year-old boy went missing after running away from a playground. Noah Woods, described in news reports as partially deaf, non-verbal and awaiting an autism assessment, was last seen at a playground in the village of Brantham on Tuesday. He ran away from a relative as they left the playground, heading down an alleyway towards a new-build housing estate, before ultimately becoming lost. After a huge search effort on Wednesday – which saw over one thousand people travel from as far as Birmingham to try and track down the young boy – police revealed the heartbreaking news that a child’s body had been found in a nearby pond. As of Wednesday evening, the body had not been formally identified, but Noah’s family had been told, with the discovery being treated as “not suspicious but unexplained”. On Thursday, Noah’s father Rhys Woods confirmed the worst. “Noah was the sweetest and most …

Autism And Menopause: Why Researchers Call For Urgent Study Into Neurodivergent Health

Autism And Menopause: Why Researchers Call For Urgent Study Into Neurodivergent Health

Published by Sam Flores

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how menopause is increasingly driving women with suspected ADHD to get a formal diagnosis. The life stage can “amplify ADHD-related challenges,” Eve Lepage, a reproductive health specialist at Clue, shared with us previously. Scientists have long suspected that hormones like oestrogen can affect how ADHD presents. But researchers only began formally tracking ADHD symptoms across women’s menstrual cycles recently, with scientists calling the much-reported issue scientifically “overlooked”. And in an article published in Frontiers in Reproductive Health, study authors wrote that “Autistic women navigating the menopause transition face a constellation of challenges that remain critically understudied”. Issues with body awareness, sensory overstimulation, and systemic barriers can make the experience uniquely challenging for autistic women, they added. Here, HuffPost UK spoke to Dr Claire Agathou, a GP with a specialist interest in women’s health and the co-founder of A-Z General Practice at HCA’s The Wellington Hospital, about the topic. How might autism affect menopause and vice versa? Dr Agathou told us that menopause “can affect virtually every aspect of …

TV’s Neurodivergent Casting Reckoning

TV’s Neurodivergent Casting Reckoning

Published by Daniella Wilson

Television’s portrayal of neurodivergence has long suffered from a persistent blind spot. By casting neurotypical actors to play stereotypical — and often heavily coded yet undiagnosed — white male savant archetypes, Hollywood built a rigid standard that has largely erased women, people of color and the broader diversity of real-world neurodivergent experiences. “When you lump all neurodivergent perspectives into the same story — like ADHD, dyslexic and autistic adults — without showing the difference in lived experiences, people start to assume that they’re all the same,” says Tal Anderson, a first-time Emmy nominee for The Pitt. “People start to think that autistic people are all low-support needs [i.e., highly functioning] if that’s all they see onscreen. When that happens, an entire half the autistic community is left out of the conversation and, long-term, that’s really damaging for all of us.” When director Cian O’Clery co-created Love on the Spectrum — first in Australia, then as an Emmy-winning U.S. adaptation for Netflix — he never expected the docu-reality dating series to “become such a focal point …

Channel 4’s The Great ADHD Myth? Documentary Dramatically Divides Viewers

Channel 4’s The Great ADHD Myth? Documentary Dramatically Divides Viewers

Published by Sam Flores

A documentary questioning whether attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a genuine condition or a social construct has aired on Channel 4 – and it’s proven predictably divisive. The show, titled The Great ADHD Myth?, has prompted a wave of responses online from doctors, charities and people with the disorder who are concerned it will contribute to stigma surrounding the condition. A reactionary survey by the charity ADHD UK in the wake of the documentary revealed that (at the time of writing), of 1,566 people who watched the show, 92% believe it has increased stigma surrounding ADHD, while 93% do not believe the show was fair in its representation of the condition. ADHD UK’s CEO and co-founder, Henry Shelford, told HuffPost UK: “We are shocked by this programme. The fact it got commissioned at all speaks to the stigma around ADHD – a stigma that is now likely to get worse because of this show.” The charity had previously penned an open letter to Channel 4 urging it to make a series of changes to …

Why Emotional Permanence Can Be Harder For Some People With ADHD

Why Emotional Permanence Can Be Harder For Some People With ADHD

Published by Sam Flores

You send your partner a text. Hours pass without a reply. Logically, you know they’re probably busy. But emotionally, your brain starts spinning. Are they upset with you? Did you do something wrong? Do they still love you? Most people have moments like this from time to time. But for many people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), those feelings can be much more intense, and may be tied to something often referred to as emotional permanence. Emotional permanence is a non-clinical term used to describe the ability to hold on to the feeling that someone loves, values or cares about you even when they aren’t physically present or regularly communicating with you. “Emotional permanence is not an officially recognised diagnostic symptom of ADHD, although many individuals with ADHD report experiencing symptoms that closely resemble it,” said therapist Stephanie Lewis. “Many report a lack of ability to maintain the emotional reality of a relationship as long as the individual involved is not physically present or actively engaged in communication with them. The phenomenon is much more than …

Neurodivergent kids face special mental health risks. New initiative seeks ways to protect them

Neurodivergent kids face special mental health risks. New initiative seeks ways to protect them

Published by Sam Flores

Like many young people with a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Jacob Schreiber was creative, empathetic and endlessly curious. He found deep satisfaction in composing music and studying the stars. He took solace in understanding how and why the world worked as it did. His 2024 death from suicide at age 19 devastated his loved ones. In their grief, Schreiber’s family has turned to the questions Jake grappled with his whole life. “He was always searching for answers,” his mother Lori Schreiber said. “Why am I different from my sisters? Why do I feel different in my brain?” Jake Collective, a nonprofit foundation founded in Schreiber’s honor, is partnering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention on a five-year, $5 million research initiative devoted the mental health needs of neurodivergent children and adolescents. Brown University student Jacob Schreiber died by suicide in 2024 at the age of 19. (Courtesy of the Schreiber Family) “Neurodivergence” is an umbrella term for a variety of conditions that affect the way a person thinks or processes information, such as …

At What Age Should Your Neurodivergent Child Get a Cell Phone?

At What Age Should Your Neurodivergent Child Get a Cell Phone?

Published by Jenni Sidey

In the United States, 90 percent of kids have a smartphone by the age of 13. Perhaps even more remarkable, 42 percent of them have one by the age of 10. If you don’t like the idea of your 10-year-old having a smartphone that can access anything in the world, you’re not alone. And I’m willing to bet (something that your 10-year-old can do on their phone) that if your 10-year-old doesn’t have a cell phone, they’ve asked you for it repeatedly. I’ll start with the cell phone because it’s the gateway to most of the other things on the internet. That little magical computer places more computing power in a kid’s hand than the astronauts had when they first went to the moon in 1969, and it has only grown more powerful with the arrival of AI chatbots. A decade ago, only about 20 percent of 10-year-olds had smartphones, so their access to other technologies and apps was far less than it is today. Kids are growing up in a digital world, and virtually …

For Neurodivergent Mums, Birth Trauma Can Start Long Before Labour

For Neurodivergent Mums, Birth Trauma Can Start Long Before Labour

Published by Sam Flores

Birth trauma can begin long before labour happens, writes midwife Kate Mortimer. For some neurodivergent women, birth trauma is not just about one terrifying moment in a delivery room. It can begin during pregnancy, build through months of feeling unseen or unsupported, and follow women into the earliest days of motherhood. As a midwife, I have supported many of these women through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood, and have seen first-hand how much additional pressure these experiences can place on those whose brains process the world differently. Autism and ADHD do not disappear when someone becomes pregnant, yet maternity care still often assumes that every woman experiences these life-changing transitions in broadly the same way. Pregnancy can bring unsettling changes  For some neurodivergent women, pregnancy can bring an overwhelming loss of certainty. Their body is changing, routines disappear, decisions come quickly and uncertainty becomes part of daily life. Many have spent years developing routines and coping strategies that help them navigate the world, only to find pregnancy disrupts them completely. Busy waiting rooms, unfamiliar clinicians, …

There’s A Vast ADHD ‘Diagnosis Gap’ In The Over-65s

There’s A Vast ADHD ‘Diagnosis Gap’ In The Over-65s

Published by Sam Flores

Experts have warned of an ADHD “diagnosis gap” in people aged 65 and over. ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a form of neurodivergence characterised by a pattern of symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity. It’s estimated 2.6 million people in the UK have ADHD, almost 700,000 of which are children. A study published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe highlighted there’s been a substantial rise in ADHD diagnoses across the UK. But despite this, there remains a significant under-recognition of the condition in the over-65s, with just 0.05% of this age group diagnosed with ADHD. Study author Dr Gavin Stewart said the findings “mirror what we see in other types of neurodivergence, such as autism, where upwards of 90% of middle-aged and older people are likely to not be formally recognised as being autistic”. Dr Hugo de Waal, consultant psychiatrist at Berkeley Psychiatrists, said the findings “reflect something many clinicians have observed for years: ADHD does not disappear with age, but recognition of it has historically been much lower among older adults”. …

How Motivational Interviewing Supports Neurodivergent People

How Motivational Interviewing Supports Neurodivergent People

Published by Jenni Sidey

I was recently reading the fourth edition of Motivational Interviewing by William H. Miller and Stephen Rollnick, and often found myself thinking about how this approach to helping is a great fit for neurodivergent people in general—and autistic people in particular. Miller and Rollnick define motivational interviewing, or MI, as “… a particular way of talking with people about change and growth to strengthen their own motivation and commitment.” I am especially inspired by Miller and Rollnick’s summaries of the basic tenets of MI—what they refer to as the spirit of MI. I will review many of these principles, the spirit of MI, in this post. The Spirit of Motivational Interviewing (MI) Miller & Rollnick write that the spirit of motivational interviewing “ … lies in … the helper’s underlying attitude of partnership, acceptance, compassion, and empowerment.” More specifically, the spirit, or heart, or way of being associated with MI includes (adapted from Miller and Rollnick): Acknowledging and honoring a person’s freedom of choice and self-determination (their autonomy) Helping a person work towards their goals …