In this Hot Topic episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott respond to shocking recent comments from Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice — whose claims about “overdiagnosis,” ear defenders, and SEND support reveal just how dangerously out of touch his party is with neurodivergent realities.

They break down Tice’s statements about “too many labels,” “overdiagnosed children,” and the idea that SEND support should be pushed back onto already-burnt-out schools. Jordan and Simon explore why this rhetoric isn’t just ignorant — it’s harmful, ableist, and deeply rooted in a political movement that treats disabled children as a financial burden rather than human beings.

Across the episode, they dive into:

• Why claims of “overdiagnosis” are factually wrong — and why autism and ADHD remain massively underdiagnosed
• The danger of framing neurodivergent support as “optional” or “too expensive”
• How right-wing parties in the UK and US mirror each other in attacking disabled communities
• Why ear defenders, sensory tools, and accommodations matter — and what it means when politicians publicly mock them
• The long history of autistic people driving innovation, science, technology, art, and culture
• How austerity politics weaponise public ignorance about neurodivergence
• Why dismissing assessments, EHCPs, and support plans harms every child, not just SEND students
• What happens when politicians shape policy around stigma instead of science and lived experience

This is a fiery, unapologetic episode about the real political threat facing autistic and ADHD people — and why our community cannot stay silent when elected officials target disabled children to score votes.

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• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

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In this episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott look back at five years since the COVID-19 lockdown — and how that period reshaped society, mental health, and the lives of autistic and ADHD adults.

With honesty, humour, and emotional depth, they revisit the fear, isolation, shifting rules and political failures of 2020, and how lockdown exposed their neurodivergence in unexpected ways. They share how regression, unmasking, burnout, identity loss and relationship strain collided with a world in crisis — and how many neurotypical people began showing traits often associated with autism and ADHD.

They explore how lockdown changed behaviour, communication, social skills, empathy and online culture — and how those long-term effects are still shaping autistic and ADHD lives today.

Together, Jordan and Simon discuss:

• How lockdown triggered autistic burnout, regression, and forced unmasking
• Why do so many neurotypical people develop “autistic-coded” traits during isolation
• The collapse of social norms, empathy, boundaries, and patience post-lockdown
• The rise of selfishness, social withdrawal, and digital dependency
• The emotional impact on teens of losing key developmental years
• How family dynamics shifted for better and worse
• Why remote work has transformed accessibility for neurodivergent people

This is a reflective, raw, and deeply human conversation about the way lockdown reshaped us — individually and collectively — and why neurodivergent people felt those shifts more intensely than anyone.

Our Sponsors:

🧠 RTN Diagnostics - Right to Choose – Autism & ADHD Assessments (UK)

🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

• Instagram: @theneurodivergentexperiencepod
• Facebook: The Neurodivergent Experience & Jordan's Facebook page
• YouTube: @TheNeurodivergentExperience
• TikTok: @neurodivergentexperience

❤️ Support the Show

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Your brain is constantly switching between two modes of knowing: the left hemisphere’s precision and prediction, and the right hemisphere’s intuition and imagination. Between them lies the tender space where narrative forms — and where regulation becomes possible.

In this episode, we explore how these two worlds create your ongoing “story of self,” and how that story becomes the map your nervous system uses to determine safety, danger, overwhelm, or possibility. You’ll discover why old narratives feel so sticky, why neurodivergent minds process story so intensely, and how awareness creates the tiny space where freedom begins.

Through vivid metaphors, grounded neuroscience, and a powerful guided practice, you’ll learn to step into the witness — the part of you that can see the story without becoming it. And from that place, you can shift the state, shift the narrative, and shift your next move in the world.

This is narrative neurobiology in action — and it changes everything.

❤️ Support the Show

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Our Sponsors:

🧠 RTN Diagnostics - Right to Choose – Autism & ADHD Assessments (UK)

🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

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In this Hot Topic episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott break down a new research article showing how major autism charities portray autistic people as helpless, burdensome, and in constant need of “saving.”

Jordan and Simon explore why so many large charities rely on harmful tropes (puzzle pieces, sad children, deficit language) to generate donations, while autistic-led organisations struggle for support despite doing meaningful work. They discuss tokenism, the “non-disabled saviour” complex, and why proper representation — especially leadership by autistic people — is essential.

Together, they discuss:

• How major charities use stigma and pity to raise money
• Why are autistic people often shown as “helpless children” instead of adults
• The problem with puzzle pieces and deficit-based imagery
• Tokenism and non-autistic leadership in autism organisations
• How charities profit from pity and maintain their monopoly
• Why many autistic-led charities struggle — despite doing better work
• How misrepresentation harms autistic adults seeking dignity and support
• Why nothing should be “about us without us”

The article:https://theconversation.com/autism-charities-can-portray-autistic-people-as-helpless-and-a-burden-our-research-shows-why-it-matters-267385

Jordan also shares stories about being approached by big charities, navigating the ethics of working with organisations, and how he nearly got pulled into a profit-driven model disguised as “non-profit.” They close by highlighting autistic-led charities worth supporting, including Autism Southeast, and why grassroots organisations are essential for real change.

This episode is blunt, necessary, and gives a voice to autistic adults tired of being framed as problems to be fixed. If you’re frustrated with how autism is portrayed, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Our Sponsors:

🧠 RTN Diagnostics - Right to Choose – Autism & ADHD Assessments (UK)

🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

• Instagram: @theneurodivergentexperiencepod
• Facebook: The Neurodivergent Experience & Jordan's Facebook page
• YouTube: @TheNeurodivergentExperience
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In this episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott dive into a huge question many late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD adults wrestle with: Would a childhood diagnosis have actually changed anything — or possibly made life harder?

Jordan and Simon share personal stories of bullying, masking, meltdowns, stigma, and internalised ableism — and reflect on how childhood diagnosis might have affected their families, identities, independence, careers, and relationships. They also read listener responses on how late diagnosis shaped (or didn’t shape) their lives.

Together, they explore:

• Why early diagnosis can bring validation, language, and support
• How lack of awareness in previous decades created stigma and misinformation
• Whether childhood diagnosis could have prevented trauma — or simply added a label for bullies
• The fear of being limited, infantilised, or underestimated as a neurodivergent child
• How family understanding (or lack of it) shapes identity and self-esteem
• The generational shift in autism knowledge — and why today’s kids have more tools
• Late diagnosis as both a relief and a grieving process
• Why the past can’t be changed — but the future absolutely can

This is an honest, nuanced conversation for anyone who has ever wondered how life might have looked if they’d been understood sooner. Whether you were diagnosed as a child, in your 30s, or at 60, this episode reminds you that your neurodivergent journey starts when you finally have the language for it — and it’s never too late to rewrite your story.

Our Sponsors:

🧠 RTN Diagnostics - Right to Choose – Autism & ADHD Assessments (UK)

🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

• Instagram: @theneurodivergentexperiencepod
• Facebook: The Neurodivergent Experience & Jordan's Facebook page
• YouTube: @TheNeurodivergentExperience
• TikTok: @neurodivergentexperience

❤️ Support the Show

If this episode resonated with you:

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⭐ Leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

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November Neuroscience for the Neurodivergent Nervous System

In this deeply grounding episode, we explore the gentle, transformative world of somatic regulation - the bottom-up path that helps a neurodivergent nervous system feel safe, calm, and connected again.

You’ll learn why the body is often the first place we must return to when the mind becomes overwhelmed, and how sensation, rhythm, movement, touch, breath, and stimming can become powerful allies for healing. Together, we’ll explore how widening your gaze, adjusting your posture, shaking out accumulated stress like animals do in the wild, and allowing intuitive movement can shift you from dysregulation into presence.

With insights from neuroscience, mindfulness, Ram Dass, and trauma-informed wisdom, we’ll reframe somatic practices not as “techniques,” but as ancient forms of remembering - ways the body whispers, “This is the way home.”

This episode includes a deeply soothing Yoga Nidra journey, guiding you into the restorative space between wakefulness and sleep, where your nervous system can truly unwind, repair, and return to itself.

By the end, you’ll not only understand your body more -

you’ll trust it more.

You’ll hear it more.

You’ll come home to it more.

❤️ Support the Show

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Our Sponsors:

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🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

• Instagram: @theneurodivergentexperiencepod
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In this Hot Topic episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott pull apart the latest headline claiming that “COVID during pregnancy causes autism.”

With sarcasm, dark humour and actual science, they look at why every week the media invents a new “cause” — Tylenol, vaccines, circumcision, video games, rain — and how these stories spread without logic, peer review or any understanding of genetics.

Jordan and Simon explain why this reporting is dangerous: it fuels stigma, panic and political agendas, while ignoring the real science behind autistic brains — including genetics and reduced synaptic pruning. Instead of treating autism as part of human diversity, the media keeps framing it as a threat, tragedy or contagious condition.

They discuss:

• The latest claim: “COVID during pregnancy causes autism”
• Why correlation is not causation (no matter how many headlines say it is)
• Politicians weaponising autism for attention and votes
• The Tylenol lawsuit and RFK’s shifting conspiracies
• How media language treats autism like a disease or warning label
• Why autism isn’t “caught” — it’s genetic and always has been
• Why support and accessibility matter more than fearmongering

This episode is a sharp, honest takedown of pseudoscience and scare tactics. If you’re tired of autism being used as clickbait, you’ll want to hear this one.

Our Sponsors:

🧠 RTN Diagnostics - Right to Choose – Autism & ADHD Assessments (UK)

🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

• Instagram: @theneurodivergentexperiencepod
• Facebook: The Neurodivergent Experience & Jordan's Facebook page
• YouTube: @TheNeurodivergentExperience
• TikTok: @neurodivergentexperience

❤️ Support the Show

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In this episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott open up about imposter syndrome — the belief that you’re never good enough, never qualified enough, and that one day everyone will “figure you out.”

With humour and honesty, they share personal stories of childhood bullying, masking, perfectionism and self-doubt, and how growing up misunderstood leaves many autistic and ADHD adults feeling like their achievements aren’t real. From turning down opportunities to assuming every success is luck, they explore why confidence is so difficult for neurodivergent minds.

They discuss how imposter syndrome shows up in work, relationships, creativity and social media — and how therapy, self-compassion and supportive people can slowly rewrite the story.

They explore:

• Why imposter syndrome is so common for autistic & ADHD adults
• Growing up hearing you’re “lazy,” “too much,” or “not trying”
• How masking and people-pleasing destroy self-worth
• The fear of failure — and the fear of success
• Social media, comparison and anxiety
• Why confidence takes time and why small wins matter
• When self-criticism becomes self-harm
• Why reaching out can save people from spiralling alone

This is a raw, validating conversation for anyone who has ever worked twice as hard and still felt like a fraud. If you struggle to believe in yourself, this episode is proof that you’re not alone — and that healing is possible.

Our Sponsors:

🧠 RTN Diagnostics - Right to Choose – Autism & ADHD Assessments (UK)

🧘‍♀️ Ashley Bentley – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy

• → https://bit.ly/ashleynde

🔗 Stay Connected

• Instagram: @theneurodivergentexperiencepod
• Facebook: The Neurodivergent Experience & Jordan's Facebook page
• YouTube: @TheNeurodivergentExperience
• TikTok: @neurodivergentexperience

❤️ Support the Show

If this episode resonated with you:

✅ Follow or Subscribe to The Neurodivergent Experience

⭐ Leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.