Show Notes
It's less than a month until Christmas! This can sometimes be a tough time for neurodivergent people, sensory overload, immense amounts of social interaction, opening presents IN FRONT OF PEOPLE!!! 🤮🤮🤮
In this episode I had a great chat with the fantastic Hester Grainger about how her family navigates Christmas and New Year in a neurodivergent household with a variety of different individual needs. We also talk about Hester's experience of the diagnosis process and get distracted by a special guest appearance at the halfway point.... my beautiful cat, Fanny. 🥰
For those of you who don't know... Hester Grainger is a leading ADHD advocate, international keynote speaker and neurodiversity consultant, known for her honest, engaging and empowering talks on ADHD and neurodiversity. Diagnosed with ADHD at 43, she brings a unique mix of lived experience, professional insight and storytelling to her work. With a background in media, broadcasting and communications, Hester began her career at ITV, working on The Wright Stuff, Loose Women and other daytime shows, before spending over 20 years in PR, leading campaigns for brands including BMW and Sport Relief. She later returned to broadcasting with her own BBC radio show and is now a regular contributor on the radio, in the press and on leading podcasts. Hester is co-founder of Perfectly Autistic, which she runs with her autistic and ADHD husband, Kelly. Together they deliver workplace training, coaching and mediation for organisations including Red Bull Racing, Sony Music, TUI, Marks & Spencer and the NHS. This year Hester toured the UK visiting 27 theatres with her one-woman show ADHD Unmasked and was invited to speak at the House of Commons about ADHD. For all things Hester: www.perfectlyautistic.co.uk www.instagram.com/hestersvibe Thrive membership for women with ADHD
Send me your little wins so I can celebrate you on the podcast by either sliding into my DMs here or email me at [email protected] Find your local ADHDAF+ peer support group here!
More from AuDHD... Or just a bit weird..?
This week my guest Blanka and I are talking about her experience of being pregnant, giving birth and the following months as someone with AuDHD. Blanka shares how she felt throughout her pregnancy and the pressure she felt to bond with her baby, both before and after giving birth, and how difficult that was as an autistic person. This is a very raw and personal episode tackling a lot of things that often don't get talked about publicly, so I am so thankful to Blanka for sharing so much. For more about Blanka and everything she does click here! Also... the day this episode is released is the 5th annual ADHDAF day! So get your leopard print on and ROAR! Donate to help provide free ADHD peer support groups nationwide here!
When I first had Hannah on the podcast neither of us had started medication for ADHD. Hannah and I have become great mates since we first met and as luck would have it we have been going through titration at the same time so we became titration buddies and started sending each other voice notes updating each other on how we were finding Elvanse, side effects, positive changes, things we were excited about and also things we were feeling anxious about. I was thrilled when Hannah agreed to share it all with you in this very ADHD episode! We also touch on *that* Channel 4 dodgy documentary... Enjoy!
After spending the summer in a titration bubble, I'm back! And who better to get season three off to an awesome start that the author of the new book "The ADHDer's Guide To Self Discovery", Professor Sol Smith! As always, I had an excellent time chatting with Sol, and this couldn't have happened at a better time as I was a couple of weeks into titration for Elvanse. We talked about how life has changed for both of us since starting medication for our ADHD, the adjustments we've made and how we've worked through self acceptance. Enjoy!
To tide you over while AuDHD Or Just A Bit Weird is on summer hiatus... Welcome to The Weirdo Files! Candid chats between two late diagnosed/realised neurodivergent besties, where we work through our "oh!" moments post diagnosis and how our neurodivergence affects every aspect of our lives. This is an unfiltered, unmasked insight into our friendship so prepare yourself for stimming, forgetting what we are saying halfway through a sentence and plenty of oversharing! This week Jon has discovered that neurotypical people don't literally roll their eyes (mind blown!), Erin's allegedly neurotypical child shows us how beautifully unfiltered he is and we talk about how our floordrobes came to be. (A strategy gone very wrong... ) Enjoy!
To tide you over while AuDHD Or Just A Bit Weird is on summer hiatus... Welcome to The Weirdo Files! Candid chats between two late diagnosed/realised neurodivergent besties, where we work through our "oh!" moments post diagnosis and how our neurodivergence affects every aspect of our lives. This is an unfiltered, unmasked insight into our friendship so prepare yourself for stimming, forgetting what we are saying halfway through a sentence and plenty of oversharing! This week we are talking about how much our homes have changed since accepting our neurodivergence. Out with "greige" and in with the dopamine decor! Erin shares how much her style has changed since she's realised that she doesn't need to fit in with the norm & we celebrate our friendship and talk about what it's like making friends later in life as our unmasked selves. This episode was recorded in the lead up to us meeting in person for the very first time so we also talk about how we planned that to make sure we both felt safe and secure. Enjoy!