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Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold
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conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne
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Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration
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into the heart of inclusion, belonging, and
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societal transformation. Ever wondered what it
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truly takes to create a world where everyone not only
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belongs but thrives? You're not alone. Join me as we
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uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo, and
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share stories that resonate deep within. Ready to
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dive in? Whether you're sipping your morning coffee
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or winding down after a long day, let's connect,
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reflect, and inspire action together. Don't
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forget, you can be part of the conversation too.
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Reach out to jo.lockwood@seschangehappen.com to
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share your insights or to join me on the show. So
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adjust your earbuds and settle in. It's time to
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ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites.
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And today is episode 231 with the title Never Broken,
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Just Misunderstood, and I have the absolute honour
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honour and privilege to welcome Jenny Lucas. Jenny
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is a late-diagnosed autistic ADHD woman, a coach,
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best-selling author of Autism, ADHD, and Me, who
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founded Audhdistically Me — that's easy for me to say—
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Audhdistically Me to help late-diagnosed adults stop
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masking and start living themselves. When I asked
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Jenny to describe her superpower, she said that it is
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translation. Taking the messy, overwhelming,
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often lonely experience of being a late-diagnosed
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adult and turning it into something that finally
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makes sense without the clinical judgement or
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jargon, without the toxic positivity, because
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she's lived the burnout and the masking. She's not
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speaking from a textbook, she's speaking from the
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inside. Hello, Jenny, welcome to the show.
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Hi, Joanne, thank you very much for having me on. It's a pleasure.
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That accent. So, whereabouts in the world are you?
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So, originally I am from the west coast of Scotland. I'm from
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Glasgow, but I now reside in the outskirts of
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Reading. I had the privilege of marrying an Englishman and we have
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settled in England. So, the World Cup, did you, did you have
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competitions? I mean, did you support Scotland a bit? No,
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no, but I very much enjoyed watching all the social media content
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of Scottish fans in America and the Americans being
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kind of bamboozled by their antics. So, that was a real highlight for the
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World Cup for me, not thinking so much about the winning or the losing, it
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was the taking part that counted. It always amazes me how
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unboundedly positive Scottish fans are about every
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match. It's like, we're going to win, we're going to beat Brazil, we're going to
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beat this. Yeah, we've got the team, we've got the squad, best ever. Pot 11.
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Yeah, it is. And the Scots as a nation, a very hopeful
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nation, aren't they? Always, always hopeful. We can. I mean, to be honest, with the
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amount of rain that we live with, we've got to hold on to some happy
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thoughts. So yeah, I would say that you're right there.
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So now you're out of Reading, just off the M4, living in that sort of
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part of the country. And I was at a networking event once and
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someone said to me, where am I from? I said, oh yeah, from the Portsmouth
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area. It's so great living in a city with lots of
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heritage and lots of, lots of places you can talk about. It's a
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destination. I said, absolutely proud to be here. I said, I'd hate to come from
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somewhere like Reading. And this person said to me, and I said to them, where
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are you from? Reading. I was like, oops, sorry, my
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bad. Awkward. So I do it a
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injustice and, you know, it's a bit like Slough, isn't
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it? Yeah, what did Betjeman want to bomb Slough or
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something in his poem? But yeah, the inner country
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towns are just as valid. Yeah. Reading, Swindon,
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Slough. They're beautiful in their own way. They're all fine.
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Yeah. Yeah. But you've got some
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nice waterways. You've got the Thames
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not far from you. We just spent a week near
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Swindon and you've got the Kennet and Avon Canal and some of the areas around
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Bath are really beautiful. So yeah, you don't need a seafront. or, or a
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naval heritage. There's a lot of other stuff going on. That's true. I would like
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a seafront though, one day. One day I'll live by the sea.
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You can go on holiday. Maybe that's the secret. Yeah. So Jenny, you, you spent
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16 years in teaching. I did. Kind of in
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your own words, you were slowly falling apart before your, your
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diagnostic, uh, or diagnosis at late 30s.
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And that kind of changed everything for you. So talk a bit about that and,
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and do you think you'd you'd like to sort of drop into the conversation at
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the beginning about what you'd wish someone had said to you in those early
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days? So it's interesting, you know, I was, I was a
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secondary school teacher for 16 years and kind of during COVID
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times, that was really the breaking point that year in
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2020 when everyone came back into schools in
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September and we had bubbles and then we had to start testing
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children on site and it was just so dystopian. It
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was such a strange experience to live through that.
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There was a, you know, a huge number of factors that came together that meant
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that in the March of 2021, I ended up signed off work
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for 3 months with burnout, which I didn't realise at the time was
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actually autistic burnout because I was undiagnosed at that point.
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And it was just during that time where I was
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off I came to the realisation,
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and I don't really know how to describe it, it was more of a kind
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of, it was like a physical reckoning that I cannot return to
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full-time teaching. There's no way that I'm going to be able to go back into
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that school, to go back into the classroom all day, every day. I
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just, it was like an invisible brick wall. I could not see
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past it. Um, and it was sort of at that time that my eldest daughter,
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who
was, she was kind of year 3 or 4 at the time,
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was really struggling with like recurring tummy pains,
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recurring tummy pains. We had them physically investigated. She had her appendix out,
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like there was a whole thing and they, they were not easing.
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And she'd be telling us dozens of times a day, oh, my tummy really hurts.
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And it was eventually the paediatrician that said, could this actually be
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psychological? And we spoke to school about it. And it was
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at that point that sort of neurodivergence entered the conversation. And it was
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through Seeking a diagnosis for her and her being accommodated
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and that easing, like significantly easing— the tummy pains disappeared
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almost overnight when they started to put support in place for her at school— that
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I started to look into sort of what neurodivergence could look like in
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girls and women and how the ADHD could show up differently and how
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autism could show up differently, and that there had been kind of practically no research
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into the area of neurodivergence in women.
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And, you know, started to identify myself with lots of the different things that we
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were investigating for my daughter. And it was kind of mind-blowing
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going through the assessment process and diagnosed with ADHD first and then a
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few months later with autism and just kind of sitting
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and— I mean, it's kind of an overwhelming sensation, the
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idea of I've lived with something my whole life and I didn't know
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about it until now. And there was also a
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sense of a bit of shame as well, because I had been a secondary school
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teacher for such a long time and I thought I knew what autism and ADHD
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looked like in humans. Turns out that
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I didn't really have any idea at all and that we were not
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trained on that as kind of, you know, bog standard teachers, if you like. That,
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that did not enter the chat. So there's a whole gamut of emotions that came
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up with that. alongside a bit of an understanding as to
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why I had so spectacularly burned out of the thing that I trained for.
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I, I can relate to a lot of that. And I think for me,
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the realisation was, was probably this podcast, having lots of conversations with
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people who, who brought themselves on the show to talk about their autism,
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their ADHD, their neurodiversity, their neurospiciness,
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as some people have called it, whatever, or talk about their children. And
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I didn't ever go through it with my children as such. So
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I, I became sentient and aware of it just by lots of
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conversations with people like yourself. And I think
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there's a bit you put in your notes, you, you went from, what's wrong with
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me? This isn't, you're not broken, you just
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function differently. And that's the realisation I think that I had that
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I never knew I was broken. I never knew I was functioning differently. I just
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went, now it kind of makes sense. Yeah. That concept
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that, cuz you spend, when you are undiagnosed
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neurodivergent, you spend most of your life being told that the way that you see
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the world or the way that you experience the world is wrong. There's something wrong
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with you. Why do you think like that? Or that it's not
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that loud. Or why is that weird? It's just so many little
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subtle moments. Of there's something wrong with you, you're
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different, that's wrong. And so you internalise that, of course, because
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the whole world is telling you at various different points that your experience is
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incorrect. And you come up with the concept of, well, there must be something wrong
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with me then, I'm just broken. And when you have that realisation and
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you go, all those people were wrong, actually the world was wrong, um, I was,
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I was right— not in a kind of haha, I was right, Bowie, but it's
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a kind of revelation of I was actually experiencing those things and
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you people have been gaslighting me this whole time. Yeah.
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And, you know, there is a period of time sort of after that, I think,
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where you, you almost have to relearn how to listen to yourself
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because depending on when you had this revelation and you got the diagnosis or you
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had the discovery, not everybody wants to have a diagnosis or is in the position
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to go for an assessment. When you start to kind of accommodate yourself and
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realise that this is what has been happening the whole time, you
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have to unlearn all of that conditioning that you've put on
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yourself to like fit in. Um, and that can take, it can
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take some time to be able to start trusting yourself
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again and that your experience is valid. The other thing I suppose I've realised is
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that everyone's experience of their own neurodiversity is, is
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unique. It's, it manifests itself in different ways, and I think
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for someone to Yeah, for me to go for a diagnosis
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based on what? Yeah, I see a bit of myself in you. I see a
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bit of myself in you. I don't do that. I don't do that. I don't
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do this. So I'm worried, you know, do I tick enough boxes?
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Am I neurodiverse enough for you? You know, am I just
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a little bit diverse? You know, it's— so I think I'm
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quite happy not knowing, just being me, just not needing a diagnosis for
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that. And, you know, that is a, it's a really valid point. And
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quite a lot of the people that are in my world, as I say, don't
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have a diagnosis and have got to an age where they think, I don't need
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it. I don't need the bit of paper that tells me XYZ. I know
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myself well enough to know and trust that this is my experience and
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I am accommodating myself as such, and I don't need anybody's permission to do
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that. And that's really powerful and validating in its own way. Yeah. I
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think I've also learned the various aspects in my own self
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that resonate and go, oh yeah, it's probably a bit of that.
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It's probably a bit of that. And I can go back in time and go,
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yeah, that's probably how it happened. Around the age of
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puberty, I became a nightmare. I developed this binary
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personality, if you like. I'm either all in or all out. And
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now I understand that if I'm really up for it, I will plough
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in both feet. my whole
body, if I'm not bothered, I'm like
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our puppy. I'm just not going in there. I'm not interested.
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I'll just ignore it and drop it. And I think realising that
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is a trait that I and others have. And I don't apologise for
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it anymore. I actually work out what I really want to do and
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put both feet into it. And then everything I don't want to
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do, I just go, I don't do that. I don't do that. Yeah,
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that's the thing, because you, you know, you understand that you have an
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interest-based nervous system, and so your motivation
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comes from doing something that is interesting. And I think it's so
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fascinating. There's, there's some stat out there that I can't remember, that there's a significant
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proportion of, of founders and CEOs of the world that are neurodiverse in
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some way, ADHD in particular. And they're like the visionaries,
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they're the ideas people, they have the ideas, and then they employ the teams to
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bring them to fruition. And I think being in a position
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where you can employ your brain in the way where the magic happens, and that
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works best for you, and then you can outsource or delegate
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all the other bits and pieces that don't work for your brain to bring a
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project together, I think that's, that's the ideal way to be able to work with
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your brain. The other thing I had realised was that
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I realised I didn't want to be an extrovert anymore. And I
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probably never was, but the, I think my intense brain
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pushed me into spaces, into that extrovert space.
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And I used to come out exhausted and absolutely wiped out.
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And now I've also stopped drinking a couple of years ago. So now I
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don't feel the need to drink. I don't hang on at parties longer than I
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have to. And I'll go, I don't want to go. I'm not, nope, I don't
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want to go. Or if I am somewhere, I want to go home now. I've
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had enough. And so those sort of things, you know, you talk about late, late
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diagnosis and late age, if you like, this realisation. I think
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a lot of us perform, don't we? We perform. Yeah. That's it.
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And that, you know, one of the most common questions that people will ask me
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when they have the discovery, usually pre-diagnosis, is what is
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masking? How do I know if I'm masking? How will I know when I'm masking?
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And that was the question I had myself, you know, this revelation of, oh, I've
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been autistic and ADHD my whole life. How did I not know? And where am
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I masking? Surely if I was masking, I would know that I was putting on
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a performance. And it's exactly as you describe it there. The, the
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best way to start figuring that out is to look at the experiences and
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the people who exhaust you the most, because they
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are normally the ones that you are using the most energy to be in front
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of. And that tends to be because you are performing in front of them. You
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are wearing a mask. You're having to hold yourself in shapes that
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are uncomfortable for prolonged periods of time, and therefore afterwards you need recovery. recovery
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time, you're exhausted. Um, those— that's probably the
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biggest clue as to where you can start looking and going, actually, if I didn't
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have to behave that way in that situation, what would
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that feel like? Would I still be able to be in that situation? And,
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you know, when you mention alcohol, that's a very common thing as well for particularly
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neurodivergent people. When they give up the alcohol, the alcohol is
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very much part of the mask, you know. And actually, when you don't have that
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as a kind It's almost like a security blanket anymore. You realise,
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actually, I don't— the reason I'm drinking is so that I can stay in these
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situations that I don't want to be in for longer. Yeah. Also, it can lead
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to having a kind of an addictive trait, isn't it? I, my, I
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discovered that I couldn't, I couldn't have one drink. It was
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either one drink or 100 drinks. And I, I couldn't stop. I was the one
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on the bar going, give me another one. Give me— we're closed. I
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remember, I'll tell this story on another podcast episode. I
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remember being in Australia with a friend of
mine. I was speaking
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at a conference over there just before COVID and the bar shut. And
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he said to me, oh, I know of a petrol station around the corner that
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sells alcohol 24/7. So we ended up going to this petrol station and
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buying bottles of beer, sitting on a park bench, drinking
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alcohol. And it's like 4 in the morning from bottles from a petrol
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station. And I looked at myself in the mirror thinking,
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Something's got to change here. This is, this is not who I want to
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be. This is not who I am, but I'm kind of feeding myself. And yeah,
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and it's, it's stepping out of that. And my friend who still goes,
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they've just actually what they've done is they found other
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people who will feed that habit with them. And I just step back and
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go, well, you're welcome to him, you know? Yes.
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This, some people just latch onto the next drinker and then, yeah.
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And I didn't want to be that person anymore. Yeah. Yeah. It takes a lot
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of strength to do that. So what other things did you notice that you look
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back on it now that, that there it is? It's so
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interesting because, um, I, when I had my
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burnout and when I look back on it, I think very much it was like
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the ADHD part of me that burned out. There is a real contradictory
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nature to being autistic and ADHD at the same time. And again, this is just
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my My personal experience, but sometimes it feels like they are
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competing inside my head. And so I am a person who
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enjoys people. I enjoy people's company. I find humans endlessly
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fascinating and their motivations for things and the way that people view
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the world. I find that fascinating. And at the same time, I hate
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people and I don't want to be around people and they're frustrating and endlessly annoying.
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Um, and I don't understand why they do the things that they do. I
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certainly, when I was younger, when I was unmarried, childless in my
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early 20s, I had more capacity for social events
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and I could go out with colleagues after work and, you know, go to parties
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and do different things and to kind of find that an interesting way to spend
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my time. And what I realised was the more that I put on my plate.
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So when I got married and had more than one
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person to consider, and then when we had my first daughter and
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I then had to balance that and work and The more life
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responsibilities that ended up piling on the plate, the less capable
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I was for doing those other kind of things, you know, the other sort of
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more frivolous things. I just didn't have the capacity anymore. And I remember at one
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point thinking to myself, probably about 10 years ago now,
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uh, when I had 2 small children, I just don't think I'm the kind of
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person that is able to work full-time. I just don't think I have the capacity
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to work full-time. And now I look back at that with the knowledge that I'm
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autistic and ADHD and think, no wonder, no wonder. When I'm trying to hold all
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of these plates at the same time with my limited Capacity and executive function.
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Absolutely not. I'm not the kind of person that can work full-time and do all
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of this at the same time. But if you're anything like me, you can
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actually work 36 hours on the straight because you
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get stuck into something. Yeah. And it absorbs you. And then you go,
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I'm out for a week. And the other problem I have is that I've
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got, I think I've got a whole letterbox full of stuff I've
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almost finished. Yeah. I've recognised I've got a kind of a
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window of opportunity to start and finish something before
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something else comes along. And I've got to really got to stop
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myself getting involved with that if I go with this and I've
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got to go. So I've got all these brainwaves, all these
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entrepreneurial things I've been doing for the last 10, 20
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years, half finished. Yep. That's quite common. I have to say
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the, the multiple different sort of special
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interests or hyperfixations and the real issue either with
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getting started on something that you don't want to do or getting something finished. I
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--> 00:19:47.667
really identify with that. Once I'm in it, I'm in it.
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And then if I get distracted by something else or something breaks my
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hyperfocus, going back in to then finish it almost feels
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like torture. That is, that's the real, and I used to find that when
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I had colleagues and worked with other people where If someone interrupted me,
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it would take me an hour, 2 hours, or even a day to go back
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to where I was because you can't just sit back at your desk and carry
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on. You've got to, you've got to replay the entire thing in your head to
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get back to where you left off. Where you were, yeah. Yeah. Nightmare. Absolute
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nightmare, isn't it? It's, yeah. Do you, I don't know if
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you're a fan of The Matrix, there's a bit in there which I
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related to quite quickly where I can't remember the
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character's name though, but she wanted to learn how to fly a helicopter. So they,
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they basically put the Apache helicopter training module into the machine and she went,
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right, now I can fly the helicopter. I've got this kind of brain that
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if I say, right, I want to do that, I'll go, and I'll
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absorb it and absorb it. I'll suck it, suck all of that in. At the
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end of it, I go, I could do that if I wanted to. Yeah. I
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don't want to any— I don't want to anymore right now. What else can we
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do? So I've always had this pick it apart and learn it and sort of
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feeling. Because that's how you end up as a kind of, you know, the
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old clichéd phrase, a jack of all trades and a master of none, is that
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idea. Like, I find lots of things endlessly fascinating, and I know a
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little bit about a lot of things. Yeah. But
334
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there's very few things that hold my interest enough that I want to know
335
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everything from A to Z. What are you like with the names and faces? Uh,
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worse as I've gotten older, I have to say. Yeah, when I was a
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teacher, uh, for some weird reason I always used to remember kids' surnames
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better than their first names. So I would get to know their surnames. I had
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to try— I was terrible. Like, that was one of the
things that I think
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made teaching really hard for me in the beginning, was when you're trying to do
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behaviour management in a classroom, you can't remember children's names to tell them off or
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write them on the board. So, uh, I used to have to try
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and remember their surnames, and then the first name would come to me. But I
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live in fear of people. In fact, I had it the other day when I
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was in the office. I still work a day job, and I came outside and
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someone else was coming in, and they started chatting away to me like, oh, blah,
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blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, yep. I had to actually have a
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little subtle look at their name badge to be like, I still don't know who
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you are. I still don't know why I know— why do you know me? But
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I have one of those jobs where I work now where lots of people do
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know me, but I don't necessarily know them, which is
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fascinating. People just come up and start chatting away. I suppose it's a bit like
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being a celebrity, isn't it? People just come up and start chatting away to you
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and you're like, yeah, I don't know who you are. I was at this
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networking function in London, I think it's an award ceremony or something, and someone came
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up to me and said, Joanne, and they could tell instantly that I
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had this— all I saw was this weird woman coming to give me a
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hug and it was like I had this look on my face. You don't remember
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me, do you? No, no, I don't. Sorry.
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And she went, I'm so sorry. No, no, give
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me some clues. We met, we talked last year, we sat next to each other,
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we were— no, sorry. And so I said to her, look, I, this happens to
363
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me. I very rarely remember people's names and faces
364
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outside of a certain window, which is probably about 30 seconds. It's literally
365
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sometimes 30 seconds. I said, look, tell me your name.
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Tell me how we met and I'll practise. I was going, and I said, right,
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Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, whatever it was I was saying to
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her. And I, and I, at the end, before we, before I said, ah, see,
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I remembered your name. I've remembered your name. I tell you what, now
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I've absolutely no idea who she is and what her name was or whatever, what
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the context was, but I do remember not remembering her. Yeah. And
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so it's, and I've learned that's me. And I
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say to people, look, I'm sorry. I find it very difficult to know
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names and faces, but my wife, it's incredible. She'll have a phone
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call with somebody, and at the end of every phone call, she says, oh, can
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I just take your name? And she never writes it down. And we were talking
377
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the other day about something. She said, oh yeah. I said, who was that person
378
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you spoke to about the other day? She said, oh, that was, she was Charlotte.
379
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I went, how do you remember that? She said, I just do. I said,
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I barely remember the phone call. I come out of a film, we go to
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Cineworld and see a lot of that. see a film, before I've got home in
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the car, I can't remember the film. It's like,
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it's like, but it's in there, but I just don't remember the detail.
384
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Yeah. It's fascinating, isn't it? Like, and then, you know, that is a real thing.
385
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People do struggle. I can't remember, face blindness is like the common
386
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term for it. There is another, there's a medical term. Prosopagnosia or something. Yeah, yeah,
387
00:24:22.040 --> 00:24:25.530
yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Where you struggle to remember names and faces. Fascinating.
388
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I met a lady who actually used to be a professional speaker talking about it,
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and she had probably had an extreme, more extreme version of it. I thought so
390
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at the time, but actually as I've got older, I suddenly realised that I've got
391
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exactly how she described it. And yeah, it's,
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it is. I see people remembering people. It's like my brain just
393
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goes, why do I need to remember your name? It's like, that's a bit of
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trivial information I haven't got space for. Sorry. Too busy for this. So before
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we, before we press the record button, we were talking about AI.
396
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Um, how has AI had an impact on, on your neurospiciness, if you like?
397
00:25:01.445 --> 00:25:03.869
I'm a big fan. I have to say, I know that AI can be
a
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bit of a controversial topic for places. And actually, I, um,
399
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I had an Instagram follower who a couple of weeks ago, I had done a
400
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series of videos on something and I mentioned in one of those
401
00:25:15.874 --> 00:25:19.561
videos as a kind of a way to support your executive function. Sometimes I
402
00:25:19.561 --> 00:25:22.847
like will brain dump something into AI and ask it to, you know,
403
00:25:23.712 --> 00:25:26.854
put a to-do list together for me or something. It was a really subtle mention
404
00:25:26.854 --> 00:25:30.685
of AI, and this person took the time to comment on the post and say,
405
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oh, I'm gonna have to unfollow you actually, because I don't, I
406
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don't support people who, you know, support ecocide
407
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and, uh, and whatever. I was like, okay, thanks for letting me know.
408
00:25:42.402 --> 00:25:46.249
Lovely. Each their own. But I very much view it as an accessibility
409
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tool for myself. And the ideas that I
410
00:25:50.260 --> 00:25:54.226
am now able to bring into the world, still
411
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from my brain, but the, the executive function of being able to have that
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idea and then action all the steps that it takes to bring that into the
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world. I now have essentially a thought partner to be able to say, I've had
414
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this idea, I want it to look like this, I want people to be able
415
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to get this from it. What are the steps that I need to take to
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be able to make that happen? And then we can work through it together. Have
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I not thought of, you know, what are the pitfalls of this that I haven't
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And yet being able to have those back and forth conversations has enabled me to
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essentially build my whole business because I've had somebody else to have
420
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that back and forth with. And when you're working by yourself as an entrepreneur,
421
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it can be a really lonely world to know, who do I ask for advice
422
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about this? Or how would I do this thing? Because it's impossible to know how
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to do all of the things that are involved with running a business. And so
424
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having AI there is a really useful tool. Yeah, I'm with, I'm 100% with you
425
00:26:44.816 --> 00:26:48.666
on that. And, uh, do you, I dunno if you watch MasterChef or— No.
426
00:26:49.708 --> 00:26:52.772
No, but you're aware of the cooking programmes, aren't you? I am, yeah. Right, MasterChef.
427
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--> 00:26:55.820
And, uh, I don't watch it often, but I remember watching it once where one
428
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of the first rounds is they give everybody this laminated sheet of paper
429
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with the instructions and method of how to create this dish.
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And then the presenter or the expert creates the dish in front of them
431
00:27:08.637 --> 00:27:12.315
and says, right, there's your sheet. Go and make that, or
432
00:27:12.491 --> 00:27:16.396
maybe they do show them or don't show them. And then you see the diversity
433
00:27:16.428 --> 00:27:19.947
of delivery of that dish based on those instructions.
434
00:27:20.526 --> 00:27:23.466
And AI is no different. 50 people can
435
00:27:23.498 --> 00:27:26.326
prompt and drop stuff into AI. But
436
00:27:26.375 --> 00:27:30.038
it's about the method. It's about how you nurture that, how you
437
00:27:30.504 --> 00:27:34.377
interrogate, how you adopt and reroll it and try
438
00:27:34.409 --> 00:27:38.241
again. And I think There's as much skill in being able
439
00:27:38.241 --> 00:27:42.151
to use AI well as any skill.
440
00:27:42.442 --> 00:27:46.384
And I think that's where the augmentation happens, you know, the digital writing assistant, the
441
00:27:46.384 --> 00:27:49.279
augmentation, whatever it may be. And if you're poo-pooing it,
442
00:27:50.201 --> 00:27:53.937
then that's up to you. But I think there's a, the
443
00:27:53.937 --> 00:27:57.654
skill is having a partner and AI can be that
444
00:27:57.654 --> 00:28:01.597
partner. Yeah, very much so. And you're right in terms of the prompting, we hear
445
00:28:01.597 --> 00:28:04.981
a lot about AI slop and you know, it's very easy to just say, oh,
446
00:28:05.125 --> 00:28:08.572
give me this, and it will produce just any old generic stuff.
447
00:28:09.197 --> 00:28:12.387
But there is a real skill in being able to get it to produce what
448
00:28:12.483 --> 00:28:15.416
you want in the way that you want it to. And of course, the more
449
00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:19.199
that you interact, the better it learns
450
00:28:19.552 --> 00:28:22.870
your style, your voice, the things that you want, the output that you want.
451
00:28:23.896 --> 00:28:27.295
So there really is more to it than just opening a ChatGPT window and going,
452
00:28:27.327 --> 00:28:30.853
give me some social media ideas. There's far more to it than
453
00:28:31.238 --> 00:28:35.116
that. I don't know how you use it, but I've been using Claude and
454
00:28:35.116 --> 00:28:38.962
I've developed a few websites, my own, mainly my own sites
455
00:28:38.962 --> 00:28:42.727
and a few other things. At some point I had 4 or 5 different
456
00:28:42.727 --> 00:28:46.092
windows open developing 4 or 5 different websites
457
00:28:46.092 --> 00:28:49.858
simultaneously. And each of those windows probably had
458
00:28:49.858 --> 00:28:53.143
sub-agents fired off doing stuff as well. And I'm
459
00:28:53.143 --> 00:28:56.990
literally flipping between them, trying to keep track of
460
00:28:56.990 --> 00:29:00.092
it. Yeah. And a number of times, a number of times Claude came back to
461
00:29:00.092 --> 00:29:03.620
me and went, I don't understand. I'm like, oh, sorry, that prompt wasn't meant for
462
00:29:03.620 --> 00:29:06.190
you. That was meant for— I was cutting and pasting something into the wrong window.
463
00:29:06.260 --> 00:29:10.100
Sorry. I just think it's so fun. Like, that is a real special
464
00:29:10.100 --> 00:29:12.800
interest for me. I've always been a bit of a geek when it comes to
465
00:29:12.800 --> 00:29:16.780
technology. And so this has been like the last 18 months has been a real
466
00:29:16.780 --> 00:29:20.510
joyous time for me in terms of like really nurturing that.
467
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:24.100
But being able to use it to, like you say, develop websites, build an app
468
00:29:24.100 --> 00:29:28.060
with it. I have— I've used it to essentially outsource my executive
469
00:29:28.060 --> 00:29:31.675
function. So the latest thing that I have built for myself as a project manager,
470
00:29:31.851 --> 00:29:35.447
yeah, I have got lots of information that feeds into a database.
471
00:29:36.186 --> 00:29:39.846
And then I have got, I've got agents who then
472
00:29:40.423 --> 00:29:44.260
can break tasks down into smaller chunks, can assign to-dos and
473
00:29:44.453 --> 00:29:48.161
deadline dates to it. And then I have got an agent that I converse with
474
00:29:48.209 --> 00:29:52.046
through Telegram, we text each other. And I can voice note this
475
00:29:52.142 --> 00:29:55.513
agent and it will tell, it's my project manager, it tells me what meetings I've
476
00:29:55.529 --> 00:29:59.476
got up today. What things are on my to-do list, what is coming up
477
00:29:59.476 --> 00:30:01.306
on my calendar that I need to be aware of, what I need to be
478
00:30:01.306 --> 00:30:05.220
prepping for, what deadlines I've missed. It will rearrange things for me. I can't
479
00:30:05.237 --> 00:30:08.173
do that today. Can you move it to Friday? Yes, no problem. It's like having
480
00:30:08.606 --> 00:30:12.088
a human project manager, but it's an AI.
481
00:30:12.601 --> 00:30:16.452
And the ability to hand over that mental
482
00:30:16.452 --> 00:30:20.078
load to something else so that I'm not the human in the loop. Well, I'm
483
00:30:20.078 --> 00:30:21.731
the human in the loop, but I'm not the human in the loop that is
484
00:30:21.827 --> 00:30:25.741
holding all of that, all of those dates and remembering all those things. allows
485
00:30:25.773 --> 00:30:29.765
me to then be so much more creative and know I've
486
00:30:29.781 --> 00:30:33.596
got, I've externalised that mental load to something else. And that has
487
00:30:33.628 --> 00:30:37.091
changed my life. I like the phrase human in the loop. I use that often.
488
00:30:37.235 --> 00:30:40.778
And that's the important bit is to, you are still in charge.
489
00:30:41.227 --> 00:30:45.074
You are still the person that makes the decisions. I remember seeing someone
490
00:30:45.074 --> 00:30:48.953
present on it a few years ago. And what they said was at the
491
00:30:49.017 --> 00:30:52.948
point where the other human is about to detect
492
00:30:52.948 --> 00:30:56.881
they're talking to AI, you need to seamlessly drop in
493
00:30:56.881 --> 00:31:00.542
yourself and be that human back. So it's working out at what
494
00:31:00.655 --> 00:31:04.653
point is the optimum point to grab hold
495
00:31:04.749 --> 00:31:08.442
of the responsibility again and what you can let free will. And that's the skill
496
00:31:08.442 --> 00:31:12.087
as well. Yeah, definitely. I think it's fascinating.
497
00:31:12.215 --> 00:31:16.037
Yeah. Well, if anyone's listening to this and they're neurodiverse and you're not using Claude,
498
00:31:16.856 --> 00:31:20.595
Other AIs are available, of course, and I do have Gemini. I
499
00:31:20.707 --> 00:31:24.270
do have this one. I do have probably most of the AIs because I run
500
00:31:24.270 --> 00:31:27.191
out of credits otherwise. So I've got them all over the place.
501
00:31:28.587 --> 00:31:31.796
One question I have for you is going back to
502
00:31:31.796 --> 00:31:35.311
your self-described autistic ADHD.
503
00:31:36.129 --> 00:31:39.628
What's the difference as far as you're concerned between autism and
504
00:31:39.900 --> 00:31:43.862
ADHD or neurodiversity? Are they just parts of the bigger spectrum? For
505
00:31:43.862 --> 00:31:47.784
me personally, my experience is that the— for me, the ADHD is the
506
00:31:47.784 --> 00:31:51.706
excitable, fun-loving, adventurous part of myself that wants
507
00:31:51.706 --> 00:31:55.406
to do 50 things at once. And so like you could have 4 different
508
00:31:55.406 --> 00:31:59.180
Claude windows open doing different things at the same time.
509
00:31:59.180 --> 00:32:03.102
Well, this idea, this idea, this idea, what do I do first? This is
510
00:32:03.102 --> 00:32:06.950
exciting. And the autism part of me is the bit that lassoes that
511
00:32:06.950 --> 00:32:10.724
and keeps it in cheque and essentially goes, right, we need to
512
00:32:10.724 --> 00:32:14.572
remember. This, and we must remember to do this in order. And it
513
00:32:14.572 --> 00:32:18.494
kind of— and that is, I think, where they then start to fight with
514
00:32:18.494 --> 00:32:22.046
each other. And so, as I was saying earlier on, when I had my
515
00:32:22.046 --> 00:32:25.672
burnout, it was very much like the ADHD part of me burned out
516
00:32:25.672 --> 00:32:29.520
because suddenly it felt like autism was fronting. And autism
517
00:32:29.520 --> 00:32:33.146
was like, I do not want to be in the spotlight and be in charge
518
00:32:33.146 --> 00:32:36.846
of all of these decisions. I do not want to see people. I do not
519
00:32:36.846 --> 00:32:40.842
want to be, you know, the engine that is
running this ship. And so I
520
00:32:40.842 --> 00:32:44.616
wouldn't change my brain. I really wouldn't, because in some
521
00:32:44.616 --> 00:32:48.464
senses they balance each other out. And I don't know if that is,
522
00:32:48.464 --> 00:32:51.942
you know, that may well be a common ADHD experience. It's
523
00:32:51.942 --> 00:32:55.642
certainly my ADHD experience. But being able to experience
524
00:32:55.642 --> 00:32:59.638
things in extremes, whether that is joy or despair, to know that I
525
00:32:59.638 --> 00:33:03.486
feel things physically and emotionally at a far greater depth
526
00:33:03.486 --> 00:33:07.482
than what seems to be that of the general population. I like that.
527
00:33:07.482 --> 00:33:11.330
And I actually feel sad for people that do not get to experience
528
00:33:11.330 --> 00:33:15.178
the range of things that I do in terms of like those real highs of
529
00:33:15.178 --> 00:33:18.952
emotion that are then balanced out by the real lows. It's like
530
00:33:18.952 --> 00:33:22.578
experiencing the world in Technicolour. And I don't think
531
00:33:22.578 --> 00:33:26.513
everybody gets that experience of life. Excellent. I love that. I love that.
532
00:33:27.638 --> 00:33:30.690
Jenny, it's been absolutely fascinating talking to you. And we yacked away
533
00:33:30.690 --> 00:33:34.574
for Probably 15, 20 minutes before I'll press the record button. It's a shame,
534
00:33:34.798 --> 00:33:38.168
it's a shame we have to, uh, you, you, yeah, you have to do other
535
00:33:38.168 --> 00:33:41.891
things, but how can people get hold of you? So I am
536
00:33:42.148 --> 00:33:45.999
all over the social media. My handle tends to be @audhdistically.me.
537
00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:48.502
You'll have to look at the show notes for how that is spelled, but I
538
00:33:48.502 --> 00:33:51.807
am on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. I also have a
539
00:33:51.807 --> 00:33:55.691
Substack where my lots more longer form thoughts live.
540
00:33:56.108 --> 00:33:59.754
Um, I write on there on a reasonably regular basis. I have my own
541
00:33:59.802 --> 00:34:03.702
podcast, Autism, ADHD and Me, and Us Three, sorry, uh, which is kind
542
00:34:03.702 --> 00:34:07.280
of more about the parenting of neurodivergent children as a neurodivergent
543
00:34:07.377 --> 00:34:11.338
adult. Uh, my website. Yeah, I've got, I'm out there.
544
00:34:11.435 --> 00:34:14.653
If you Google my name, you'll find me. Right. That's the easiest thing to do,
545
00:34:14.686 --> 00:34:17.499
isn't it? Google your name. That's what I always say to people. If you can't
546
00:34:17.499 --> 00:34:20.374
find me on the first page of Google, you're not trying hard enough. Yeah. Jenny
547
00:34:20.406 --> 00:34:24.170
Lucas. L-U-C-A-S. That's it. Audhdistically Me.
548
00:34:24.218 --> 00:34:25.155
A-U-D-H-D-I-S-T-I-C-A-L-L-Y.me.
549
00:34:30.655 --> 00:34:34.538
So find you there, find you on LinkedIn, find you on Substack,
550
00:34:34.764 --> 00:34:38.113
and also in the show notes. Perfect. It's
551
00:34:38.113 --> 00:34:41.819
been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on. Thank you.
552
00:34:42.606 --> 00:34:46.589
Cheers. Bye. Bye. As we bring this conversation
553
00:34:46.589 --> 00:34:50.258
to a close, I want to express my deepest gratitude to
554
00:34:50.258 --> 00:34:54.183
you, our listener, for lending your ear and heart To the
555
00:34:54.183 --> 00:34:57.681
cause of inclusion. Today's discussion struck a
556
00:34:57.681 --> 00:35:01.437
chord. Consider subscribing to Inclusion Bites and
557
00:35:01.437 --> 00:35:05.106
become part of our ever-growing community driving
558
00:35:05.106 --> 00:35:09.030
real change. Share this journey with friends, family,
559
00:35:09.030 --> 00:35:12.955
and colleagues. Let's amplify the voices that matter.
560
00:35:12.955 --> 00:35:16.625
Got thoughts, storeys, or a vision to share? I'm all
561
00:35:16.625 --> 00:35:17.906
ears. Reach out to
562
00:35:17.906 --> 00:35:22.601
jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk,
563
00:35:22.601 --> 00:35:26.441
and let's make your voice heard. Until next time, this
564
00:35:26.441 --> 00:35:30.366
is Joanne Lockwood signing off with a promise to return
565
00:35:30.366 --> 00:35:33.863
with more enriching narratives that challenge,
566
00:35:33.863 --> 00:35:37.618
inspire, and unite us all. Here's to fostering a more
567
00:35:37.618 --> 00:35:41.544
inclusive world, one episode at a time. Catch you on the
568
00:35:41.544 --> 00:35:42.312
next bite.