Are We Getting ADHD & Autism Wrong? Dr Emma Offord on Masking, Diagnosis & Burnout

takeaways

1. Dr Emma Offord discusses how traditional diagnostic criteria for autism and ADHD were built on biased research dominated by white male participants and observable 'naughty boy' stereotypes, leaving many groups unrepresented.

2. Late identification is common in women, often triggered by seeing themselves in their children, or by hormonal shifts during perimenopause, post-pregnancy and adolescence.

3. Offord questions the 'spectrum' and mild-to-severe framing, arguing neurodivergence is dynamic and shifts across life stages, sensory environments and demands.

4. Masking and unmasking are explored, including the sense of becoming disembodied, and the practice of returning to the body to notice what feels safe, regulating or joyful.

5. Identification can bring both self-compassion and significant grief, shame and neurodivergent-specific trauma, with a 'positive disintegration' and rebuilding of one's life story.

6. The conversation reframes neurodivergence through a strengths-based, neuroaffirming lens, including giftedness, while noting strengths like hyperfocus can also be depleting.

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