FEATURE NEURODIVERSITY
therapist? So I don’t tell everyone about my different
wiring.’
For Danielle, email is both her nemesis (‘the
notification that an email is waiting is too tempting
to ignore’) and her best friend (‘severe auditory
processing issues make phone conversations really
difficult to participate in’).
‘Being a researcher has many advantages, as you
are largely mistress of your own time,’ she reflects. ‘I
never write lists unless I’m feeling very overwhelmed
(even though everyone treating people with ADHD
suggests this).
‘People assume that medication for ADHD
solves everything, but I am still left with significant
hyperactivity (which I actually love), variable selfregulation
(which can be exhausting) and
absolutely no internal sense
of time (which screws
up any attempt at time
management).
‘I know I get much less
done in the afternoons
– the medication is
starting to wash out of
my system, and I can’t
sustain paying attention
and sitting still for a
whole day. However, this
is the time of the day when
I feel most like me and I get
my best ideas.
‘So I use this time for creativity.
At home time I do my little ritual of tidying
my desk to help me transition from work to home.
But it’s just a change of location – work is in the
whirlwind of my thoughts all the time, emerging from
the background of family, friends and life ideas at
all hours of the day. And that’s OK – occupation is
everywhere.’
Bill Wong’s neurotype is Autism Spectrum
Disorder (Asperger’s Syndrome). He reflects that
‘unless he needs to do something important’, he
doesn’t have an alarm in the mornings, and wakes
anywhere between 6.30am to 8am.
‘Having this flexible schedule helps me, because
I do not have to be worried about being on time to
work,’ he says. ‘There are days where I don’t have a
sense of time and knowing that I can come as late as
noon for an eight hour day reduces the panic I have if
I feel I have a slow morning.
‘At work, I might have been told something the
evening before. However, things can change by the
morning – like co-workers calling in sick, or patients
getting discharged or admitted overnight. So, I can’t
really plan for my next day.’
Music on the drive to work helps Bill with marking
the transition time to and from work, he says. ‘But
mostly because working in a nursing home setting
can be depressing – knowing that some patients will
never return to their homes, seeing some decline with
my very eyes over time, and frustration about lack of
progress sometimes made.’
is estimated that
approximately one in seven
people are neurodivergent,
meaning that their brains
function, learn, and process
information in different ways
‘‘It
to their neurotypical
counterparts
(ACAS 2019).
At work, Bill has to deal with intensive sensory
input in the setting sometimes. ‘It can be the smell of
faeces, hands with skin integrity issues, diapers – all
of which usually make me want to leave the room so
as to avoid the sensory disturbances,’ he explains.
‘It can also be unexpected fire alarms. It can be
fluorescent lighting. It can be smoke when
going through smoking areas. These
experiences made me think – do I
think autistic individuals want to
live in this setting when they
grow older?’
For Michelle
Perryman-Fox, an
occupational therapist
and PhD candidate at
the University of Cumbria
living with attention deficit
disorder and dyspraxia,
medication has a huge
impact on her day in terms of
regulation.
‘Today I am on the other side of
a hyper-focus,’ she says. ‘I took my meds
wrong yesterday; I took my morning meds in the
afternoon and my afternoon meds in the morning.
The life of living with ADHD and dyspraxia. Lost in
time, place, and space.’
She adds: ‘The impact this has on my following
day really depends on how I can hide my symptoms.
If I am around people I am close to, they ask me
what’s wrong, but If I am not, I fall into a shell of trying
my best to make it through without offending anyone
with my nonchalant exhausted way.
‘My main challenge of making it through is that I
do not share my condition, unless it’s for a teaching
moment with my students. I find people define me
through it, over the confident sociable and outgoing
person that I am.
‘I never blame it, because it’s me, but I am aware
of it, oh so aware, and I reflect, learn, and take
responsibility for how it impacts my daily function.’
Michelle uses coping strategies to avoid the
overstimulation.‘I don’t drink coffee, I maintain regular
34 OTnews August 2020