Neurodivergence &...

About Neurodivergence &...

Neurodivergence &… Activism, advocacy and analysis from the front-line of neurodivergent politics and cultures. A weekly podcast from Hel (Heledd (Hel) Straker (Instagram: @adhdjoy)), an HR coach and consultant specialising in neurodivergence, and Gareth (Gareth (S.) Farmer (Instagram: @writingautism)), a lecturer & writer. Neurodivergence &... will discuss neurodivergence & associated subjects, multitudinous as they are! These might range from workplaces, language, co-morbid conditions, precarity, vulnerability, stimming, collecting, perseveration, as well as the joyful and beautiful things about being neurodivergent.

Publisher

gsfarmer

Category

health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Oct 2026

Latest episode

5 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Nov 2026

   Neurodivergence &...Episode 4 - Autism and Gender

   Neurodivergence &... – Episode 4: Autism and Gender Activism, advocacy and analysis from the front-line of neurodivergent politics and cultures A podcast hosted by Hel (Heledd (Hel) Straker, (Instagram: @adhdjoy), an HR coach and consultant specialising in neurodivergence, and Gareth (Gareth (S.) Farmer, an academic, teacher and writer (Instagram: @writingautism) What does autism have to do with gender? A lot! Possibly. Maybe. There seems to be a significant two directional overlap between trans, non-binary and GNC people, and autistic people. Some studies report a range of figures, including 11% of trans people being autistic, and transgender and gender-diverse adult individuals being three to six times more likely to be diagnosed autistic compared to their cisgender counterparts. While another range of other reports indicate a range of anywhere between 7.5 and 20% autistic people identifying as gender diverse in some way. What is interesting is that no-one seems to really know why this is, just that it is. What is happening in the autistic brain that prevents us from emotionally connecting to our bodies in a way that seems natural to most everyone else? And also what does it say about how sex and gender are conceptualised and normalised in our society? This topic really resonates with Gareth and me, as we both feel like aliens in a man's and woman’s body, respectively. We're both from a time when this kind of discussion just wasn't possible. We had neither the language nor the community to explore and validate our experiences and it's only in our 40s that we're each finally wondering if it's ok to be identified as they/them, as opposed to he or she. So, let's talk about it, shall we? Hel can be contacted for sessions via Instagram or https://www.audhdjoy.com/ Gareth can be contacted via https://garethstuartfarmer.com Writing Autism: A Critique of Life, Language and Neurodivergent Cultures is now available to pre-order via the Revol Press website: https://www.revolpress.com/writing-autism Auties of the World, Unite!

2. 

   29 Oct 2026

   Neurodivergence &...Episode 3: Ableism, Disablism and the Capitalised Body

   Neurodivergence &…Episode 3: Ableism, Disableism & and the Capitalised Body Neurodivergence &... Activism, advocacy and analysis from the front-line of neurodivergent politics and cultures, with Heledd (Hel) Straker & Gareth Farmer. Hel (Heledd (Hel) Straker, (Intagram: @adhdjoy), an HR coach and consultant specialising in neurodivergence, and Gareth (Gareth (S.) Farmer (Instagram: @writingautism). Introduction If disablism is individual, institutional or cultural and social prejudice against people with disabilities, what is ‘Ableism’? In short, ‘ableism’ is a socially constructed system which values people’s bodies and minds in relation to often unquestioned and unexamined notions of ‘normality’, ‘productivity’ and ‘intelligence’. As such, ableism is also rooted in white supremacy. Jay Dolmage’s (2017) Academic Ableism synthesises the evolution of disability scholarship brilliantly. Disablism, he writes, “negatively constructs both the values and the material circumstances around people with disabilities”, whereas ableism “positively values able-bodiedness”. (p. 6) He continues: In fact, ableism makes able-bodiedness and able-mindedness compulsory. Disablism constructs disability as negative quite directly and literally. Ableism renders disability as abject, invisible, disposable, less than human, while able-bodiedness is represented as at once ideal, normal, and the mean or default. (Dolmage, 2017:7) In other words, the constructions of disability as negative are more overt, whereas ableism is a more subtle or stealthier way of rendering the disabled body and mind obsolete or without value. While disablism can be nominally combatted by anti-discriminatory language, ableism is more difficult to wield. And this difficulty is because, as Gillberg (2020: 25) writes: “ableism is deeply rooted in historical and political ignorance of the material realities of disabled people’s lives and there is no incentive to examine such ignorance as there are no repercussions.” Like laissez-faire marketisation, if left un-touched or examined by critique, ableism and its attendant ideologies of bodily and intellectual perfectibility, remain unchallenged and continue to oppress the ‘able’ and ‘disabled’ alike. But disableism and ableism are also tied to economics and, yes, capitalist modes of being. Wendy Brown’s pioneering work Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution (2015) makes agonisingly clear the ways in which neoliberal ideology and its “normative order of reason” (p.9) have stealthily “transmogrify[ied] every human domain and endeavor, along with humans themselves, according to a specific image of the economic.” (p.10) Efforts by governments and leaders of institutions, by the preponderance and naturalisation of neoliberal ideas of free markets, privatisation, efficiency (and austerity), have made it so that bodies, minds and being are always-already measured by their use-value to a capitalist system. So, external and then internalised forces are designed to keep us this way, disabling us to compliance to the conformities of ableism. References Andrews, A. (2020). “Autoimmune actions in the ableist academy.” In Ableism in Academia: Theorising Experiences of Disabilities and Chronic Illness in Higher Education, edited by Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh. London: UCL Press: 103-123. Brown, N. (2020). “Theorising ableism in academia.” In Ableism in Academic: Theorising Experiences of Disabilities and Chronic Illness in Higher Education, edited by Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh. London: UCL Press: 1-10. Brown, W. (2015) Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalisms Stealth Revolution. London: Zone Books. Cain, Susan (2012) Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. Crown Publishers Carnegie, D. (1936) How to Win Friends and Influence People Dolmage, J. T. (2017). Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Gillberg, C. (2020). “The

3. 

   11 Oct 2026

   Neurodivergence &... Episode 2: Social Media, Ableism and Whiteness

   Neurodivergence &... Episode 2: Social Media, Ableism and Whiteness Activism, advocacy and analysis from the front-line of neurodivergent politics and cultures, with Heledd (Hel) Straker & Gareth FarmerHel (@audhdjoy) is an HR coach and consultant specialising in neurodivergence and Gareth @writingautism is a lecturer, writer and woodworker. Their respective websites can be viewed, here: AuDHD joy; garethstuartfarmer.It is Black History Month in the UK. In this second episode, Hel and Gareth discuss social media, white neurodivergent “influencers” on social media, “palatable” autism (replicating white-centric beauty standards), using privileged platforms to foreground under-represented voices, bodies and cultures, productive awkwardness, 19th and 20th “Ugly Laws” in the US and their stealthy reemergence online, algorithmic replication of white supremacy, “reformist” or “revolutionary cultures”, intersectional differences with autistic and neurodivergent peoples, Professor Jason Arday, Anand Prahlad, “Vanessa May is Autistic” (@vanessamayisautistic), UK reports on “BAME” and neurodivergence in medicine and culture (we know that “BAME” is a contentious term. Gareth was quoting from the reports which use this term), wealth and representation, cultural and social pushbacks against neurodivergence and support and accommodations, lack of critical intelligence present on social media, Tony Macalpine, Skindred, Hed Pe and Skepta. Books and resources discussedHamja Ahsan, Shy Radicals: The Antisystemic Politics of the Militant Introvert (Aldgate Press, 2017)Sascha Aurora Akhtar, The Grimoire of Grimalkin (Salt, 2007) (@sash.dluxx)Jason Arday, Great and Unfortunate Things (Simon and Schuster, UK, 2026) Autism Voice UK Symposium, Advances in Autism Journal, 2018, https://www.autismvoice.org.uk/report-on-2018-autism-voice-symposium/Department of Health & Social Care, “Independent review into mental health conditions, ADHD and autism: executive summary”, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-final-report/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-executive-summary Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. Charles Lam Markmann, with introduction by Homi Bhabha  (Pluto Press, 1986)Gareth Farmer, “Neurodivergent” Terminology and Palatable Euphemism’, https://garethstuartfarmer.substack.com/p/neurodivergent-terminology-and-palatable?r=3rsmp Gareth Farmer, “Why palatable Neurodivergent Culture is Ableism by Stealth”, https://garethstuartfarmer.substack.com/p/why-palatable-neurodivergent-culture?r=3rsmp Lamar Hardwick, How Ableism Fuels Racism: Dismantling the Hierarchy of Bodies in the Church (Baker Publishing, 2024) National Autistic Society, ‘Autism and BAME people’, https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism/autism-and-bame-peopleAnand Prahlad, Secret Life of a Black Aspie: A Memoir (University of Alaska Press, 2017)

4. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Neurodivergence &... Episode 1 - Why Words Matter

   Neurodivergence &... Episode 1: Why Words Matter In this first episode, Hel (Heledd (Hel) Straker, (Intagram: @adhdjoy), an HR coach and consultant specialising in neurodivergence, and Gareth (Gareth (S.) Farmer (Instagram: @writingautism), introduce each other and as well as their new podcast. Hel and Gareth discuss the burgeoning skepticism about 'hidden' disabilities and bureaucratic gatekeepers; capitalist conditions meeting neurodivergence; accessibility; descriptions of neurodivergent conditions or disorders and the risks and dangers of identification; corporate linguistic violence; therapy; libertarianism, neo-liberalism and 'well-being', and lots of other interesting things. References Gareth Farmer, Writing Autism: A Critique of Life, Language and Neurodivergent Cultures (Revol Press, 2027) Anna Stenning, Narrating the Many Autisms: Identity, Agency, Mattering (Routledge, 2024)

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