In this season 3 opening episode of The Neurodivergent Experience, Jordan James and Simon Scott revisit a foundational question from the very first episode of the podcast: what makes me neurodivergent?

Returning to the topic with years of lived experience, self-understanding, and community insight, they reflect on how their understanding of autism, ADHD, and neurodivergence has evolved.

They explore neurodivergence as an alternative neurotype, not a single deficit, and unpack how traits often grouped under autism and ADHD — including dyslexia, dyspraxia, PDA, hypersensitivity, RSD, and hypermobility — can show up differently in every person.

They discuss their abilities — challenging both deficit-only narratives and toxic positivity — and explore special interests, bottom-up processing, pattern recognition, empathy, storytelling, and deep knowledge-gathering.

They discuss:

• Revisiting “what makes me neurodivergent?” years later
• Neurodivergence as an alternative neurotype, not a single condition
• How disability is shaped by environment, not just diagnosis
• Energy, hypersensitivity, executive function, and burnout
• Masking, communication gaps, and being misunderstood
• Why “autism” alone doesn’t explain lived experience
• Special interests, knowledge-gathering, and bottom-up thinking
• Neurodivergent culture, labels, and identity

A reflective, wide-ranging conversation about disability, ability, identity, and why neurodivergent people make sense — even when the world around them doesn’t.

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