On the Empower Students Now podcast, host Amanda Werner shares that she pursued an autism diagnosis at 43 after years of researching autism following her child’s 2021 diagnosis. During this time she was also diagnosed with ADHD, identifying as AuDHD. She describes feeling overwhelmed trying to organize her ideas into traditional formats and turns to poetry as a way to express the “messy” chaos of her mind. Amanda discusses stigma and misconceptions about ADHD and autism, including a “bandwagon effect” narrative, and argues that more diagnoses reflect increased information while autism may still be overlooked, especially when ADHD is diagnosed. She emphasizes the importance of teachers understanding neurodivergence and encourages exploring this co-occurance further. She then reads a poem listing AuDHD paradoxes and concludes that learning about neurodiversity has improved her self-acceptance.
00:00 Late Autism Diagnosis
01:04 Overwhelm and Chaos
02:37 Why Poetry Helps
03:50 Teachers and Undiagnosed Kids
04:59 Stigma and Bandwagon Talk
06:06 ADHD Parent Dismissal Story
08:24 Why She Wrote This
10:09 Poem Paradoxical AuDHD Poem
13:22 Closing Reflections
