507 | Neurodiverging, Masking, Burnout, and More - with Danielle Sullivan

In today’s episode, Danielle Sullivan joins the podcast! Danielle is the founder of Neurodiverging Coaching, which offers sliding scale neurodiversity-affirming coaching options for the community.  Danielle is also a certified Positive Psychology coach, a certified Parent Coach, and a certified trauma-informed specialist!  They had intended to remain in academia to work on gendered disability and religion, but then pivoted after she was diagnosed as autistic around age 30 after her eldest child was also diagnosed.  In looking for resources for herself, she found very little, and began producing the Neurodiverging Podcast to try and develop and offer resources for others like her. In this episode, you’ll hear about communication nuances and unpacking the challenges and adaptability for people with both ADHD and autism across different social contexts, managing the home, exploring home dynamics and practices for managing a neurodiverse household, and the importance of non-judgemental regulation. Then, you’ll hear discussions about advocacy, ableism, confronting ableism, burnout and understanding burnout with sensory overload, burnout strategies and prevention, and explorations with technology and ADHD.  Learn more about Danielle and find their podcast at Neurodiverging.com Questions/Topics:  [00:01:36] Episode Summary [00:03:21] Introducing Danielle [00:06:29] Sensory differences, being the “difficult child”, stereotypical presentations, and exploring autism as an adult [00:09:53] A discussion on politeness norms and how environment can affect presentation  [00:13:28] Coping with variables and novel situations  [00:15:08] Managing a neurodivergent household, sensory mismatches, overwhelm, and regulation strategies  [00:19:34] “What if I just do one more thing?”  [00:23:53] Raising awareness around autism in adults: What is Neurodiverging all about?  [00:27:53] Industries attempting to accommodate [00:29:13] A discussion on internalized ableism  [00:33:04] Overly formal speech, chronic ear infections, and asynchronous development  [00:37:37] A discussion on burnout: neurotypical vs. neurodivergent burnout  [00:41:33] Recognizing burnout, autistic behaviors, and the effects of a dysregulated nervous system [00:45:19] “If you can name it, you can tame it.”  [00:46:30] Danielle’s go-to strategies for managing burnout and burnout prevention  [00:47:03] Learning about your own sensory systems and triggers  [00:48:49] An ADHD moment…   [00:49:42] Addressing physical stress, emotions in the body, and closing the stress-cycle  [00:53:29] Words of wisdom and closing thoughts  Resources & Honorable Mentions: Book: Burnout - The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA