Tag Archives: neurodiversity

Welcome to my articles about neurodiversity.

Lived Experience and the Question of Usefulness

Part 3 of a seven-part series exploring what it feels like to live inside a system that values certain minds for their usefulness. Recognition of neurodivergent strengths in modern industries has created new opportunities, but lived experience reveals a more complex reality. This article reflects on the gap between technical usefulness and social understanding, exploring masking, misinterpretation, and the persistent challenge of belonging in environments built around neurotypical expectations.

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Neurodiversity and the Question of Usefulness

Part 2 of a seven-part series examining how modern societies frame neurodivergent cognition as economically valuable. As neurodiversity gains recognition, autistic and ADHD cognitive traits are increasingly framed as valuable assets in technical industries. This article explores the tension between genuine acceptance and economic instrumentalisation, examining how societies celebrate neurodivergent minds for their analytical strengths while often overlooking the broader realities of neurodivergent experience.

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The Spectrum Didn’t Collapse. It Was Flattened. A Response to the Uta Frith Autism Debate.

A response to Dame Uta Frith on autism, diagnosis, and the limits of the spectrum. Dame Uta Frith’s claim that the autism spectrum is “close to collapse” reflects a real tension in modern diagnosis. This article argues that the issue is not over-inclusion, but diagnostic flattening following the DSM-5 consolidation of distinct profiles into a single category. Drawing on a broader series of work, it reframes the problem as structural, shaped by simplification, usefulness, and misalignment between cognitive diversity and fixed systems.

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Asperger’s Syndrome and the Question of Usefulness

Part 1 of a seven-part series examining how societies understand neurodivergent minds through the lens of usefulness. The uneasy history of a diagnosis born in Nazi-era Vienna. Hans Asperger first described a group of intellectually capable but socially atypical children in Nazi-era Vienna. Later research has shown his work occurred within a medical system shaped by eugenics and the classification of human usefulness. This article examines the difficult history of the Asperger’s diagnosis, the children it helped protect, those it did not, and the lasting implications for how autism is understood today.

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Can’t Understand Neurodivergent Thinking

Using the February 2026 BAFTA controversy involving Tourette’s activist John Davidson as a cultural flashpoint, this essay examines why neurodivergent people are instinctively rejected. Blending research, lived experience, and sector insight, it argues that discomfort with autistic cognition is not merely institutional but biological and tribal. Instinct, however, is not justification. Inclusion requires discipline, not sentiment. Tolerance must extend beyond what feels comfortable.

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The Work Speaks for Itself

This article explains why I am stepping back from writing about neurodiversity as a primary lens for my work. Not because the subject no longer matters, but because over time it has begun to obscure achievement rather than illuminate it. This is a reflection on explanation, authority, and the point at which context stops being helpful and starts getting in the way.

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The Hidden Costs of Masking: What Research and Autistic Voices Reveal

This article explores the hidden psychological, physical, and social costs of autistic masking, drawing on current research and lived experience. Combining academic insight with personal anecdotes, it examines how masking impacts wellbeing, identity, and burnout, and argues that masking is not an individual adaptation but a response to structural neurotypical norms and inequality embedded in modern social and professional life.

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The NCSC Annual Review 2025: Between Capability and Stasis

The article examines the NCSC Annual Review 2025 as both a testament to accomplishment and a warning. It praises the NCSC’s technical competence but questions its identity: regulator, delivery agency, or state-backed market player? It highlights contradictions — DSIT hailing it as “the jewel in the crown” while eroding its remit, diluting CyberFirst into TechFirst, ending its startup work, and overstating the benefits of Cyber Essentials. The piece concludes that the NCSC is overextended and under-defined, needing clarity of purpose more than new initiatives — less performance, more direction.

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The Problem with High-Performing Autistic Masking

This reflection explores the psychological and emotional toll of high-performing autistic masking, the survival skill that demands total authenticity in artifice. Drawing parallels to method acting and philosophy, it considers how masking can blur identity itself, offering insight into the lived experience of neurodivergent authenticity and exhaustion.

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Pre-Launch Reflections: The West Midlands Cyber Hub

The pre-launch of the West Midlands Cyber Hub at Enterprise Wharf brought together over 100 leaders from across the region’s cyber ecosystem, CISOs, CTOs, startups, universities, government, community partners, students, practitioners, and members of the interested public. What began as a vision to give the West Midlands a proper home for cyber has now become real, supported by DSIT, Innovate UK, Aston University, West Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre, Midlands Cyber, TechWM and the Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands.

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CyberFirst Celebration in the West Midlands: Reflections on What Makes Cyber Special

A reflection on the CyberFirst Celebration in the West Midlands, marking its transition to TechFirst. The event highlighted achievements, explored what makes cyber unique, and underlined the importance of maintaining the sector’s distinctive strengths, especially its uniquely inquisitive culture, as the programme broadens.

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My Years at Sun Microsystems: From Dream Job to Oracle Redundancy

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A memoir of nine years at Sun Microsystems, from the revelation of “The Network is the Computer” and parachuting into nasty projects, to the culture of contrarianism, the pressures of leadership, press training in Nice, and the slow decline into redundancies that culminated with Oracle’s takeover. It closes with reflections on philosophy, craft, people, and the enduring value of diversity and neurodiversity in engineering.

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Tech Nation Rising Stars Midlands Final 2025 – Notes from the Canopy

There’s a quiet satisfaction in sitting on the edge of things, absorbing detail, thinking clearly, watching structure unfold. Last April, at The Canopy at The Bond in Birmingham’s Digbeth district, I was glad to attend the Midlands Regional Final of Tech Nation Rising Stars 2025. This wasn’t just a pitch competition; it was a sharp snapshot of the region’s entrepreneurial promise, delivered without bluster but full of energy.

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Beyond Masking: The Other Forms of Camouflaging in AuDHD Lives

This article explores the broader spectrum of camouflaging behaviours among neurodivergent people with AuDHD, extending beyond masking. It describes overcompensating, over-explaining, role-playing, disappearing, hyper-mirroring, caregiving, channelling intensity into acceptable pursuits, and intellectualising emotions. A comparison table shows how these strategies differ from masking while still leading to exhaustion, identity confusion, and misdiagnosis.

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Neurodivergent Couples: Why Autism and ADHD Pairings Are More Common Than You Might Think

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Romantic relationships between autistic and ADHD individuals are more common than many realise. Shared understanding, complementary traits, and the rise of neurodivergent communities all contribute to these increasingly visible partnerships. This article explores why these pairings work and what they can teach us about connection, communication, and neurodiversity.

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Magic Mouse My Arse… Apple Doesn’t Build for the Neurodiverse… They Build for Neurotypical Convenience

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For me, and for many neurodivergent people, the way we interact with technology isn’t just a matter of preference. It’s about accessibility, functionality, and ease-of-use in a world that too often ignores our needs. People like me who aren’t great at coordination or balance, and who have Autism, ADHD, Asperger’s, or Dyspraxia, struggle to use “simplified” products.

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Exploring the Interplay, Similarities, and Differences between Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and ADHD, Comparing Them to Neurotypicality: A Comprehensive Analysis

This article explores the nuanced interplay between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Asperger Syndrome, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), comparing their shared traits, differences, and their contrasts with neurotypicality. It delves into the unique challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals, including the pressure to conform to neurotypical norms, such as reading facial expressions, which can feel unnatural and burdensome. The article highlights key similarities, such as sensory sensitivities and executive functioning challenges, while distinguishing between hyperfocus in ADHD and intense interest in Asperger’s, emphasising the role of above-average intelligence in the latter. By focusing on strengths and fostering inclusivity, it advocates for greater understanding and tailored support for neurodivergent individuals.

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Rethinking Autism: The Evidence Behind Milton’s Double Empathy Theory

Milton’s Double Empathy Theory, developed by Damian Milton in 2012, challenges the traditional “empathy deficit” model of autism. Rather than seeing autistic individuals as lacking empathy, it argues that communication difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people arise from a reciprocal empathy gap, where both groups struggle to understand each other’s perspectives due to differences in communication and social experience.

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Guide to Masking for People without Asperger Syndrome (or ASD)

Masking, at its core, is a kind of impersonation, not to deceive, but to adapt. Everyone does it to some degree, but for people with Asperger’s or ASD, it becomes a survival tool, a way to navigate a neurotypical world that feels alien at times. It’s not about being fake; it’s about blending in, building connections, or simply staying safe.

“We’re all impersonating a personality.” Jean-Paul Sartre (allegedly)

In this guide, I’ll explore the reality of masking, the principles behind doing it well, and the risks it carries. This is a firsthand account from someone with ASD who has learned how to mask, sometimes too well, and the lessons I’ve taken from years of experience, including moments where the mask inevitably slipped.

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Asperger’s Syndrome and the Skepticism towards Social Science: A Personal Perspective

From the outside looking in, the world of social science – particularly concepts like personality types – can appear fascinating and revelatory. However, for many individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome (part of the broader autism spectrum), these structures can sometimes feel like contrived categorizations. This isn’t to say that all those with Asperger’s share this sentiment, but a segment does find it challenging to relate to these constructs. Let’s delve into why, using myself as a template and lens.

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