Many late-discovered neurodivergent women describe difficulties identifying emotions, recognising their strengths, or knowing how they feel in the moment. Sometimes this is linked to alexithymia or delayed processing, although experiences vary from person to person. This article explores these experiences through my own reflections as a late-discovered autistic and ADHD woman.   I was thinking […]

For many late diagnosed ADHD and autistic women, discovering neurodivergence in midlife is not a neat moment of clarity. It is the slow, ongoing process of re-examining decades of masking, burnout, people-pleasing and survival – and gently learning who you are underneath it all.   People often talk about receiving a diagnosis or identifying as

One of the things I hear again and again from late-discovered AuDHD women is this: “I want connection so badly… but I also find people exhausting.”    It’s a contradiction that can feel incredibly confusing, particularly for women discovering ADHD and autism in midlife, often during perimenopause or menopause, when coping strategies and masking can begin

Reflecting on how sobriety, menopause and understanding my neurodivergent brain helped me build a more authentic life I’ve been thinking recently about how strange life can be sometimes. If someone had told me ten years ago that choosing sobriety, navigating menopause and discovering that I am both ADHD and autistic would eventually lead me towards

How years of self-criticism can make it difficult to recognise what we’re doing well Since writing my previous article about discovering ADHD and autism during menopause, I’ve found myself reflecting on what came afterwards. Not the diagnoses themselves, but the process of beginning to see myself differently. Recently, I was asked a question that, on

How menopause became the beginning of understanding myself for the first time   For much of my life, I thought I was simply struggling more than everyone else. I was the woman who held everything together on the outside whilst quietly battling chaos on the inside. I was raising children, working hard, supporting everyone around