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October is ADHD Awareness Month, and this week is Dyslexia Awareness Week, with the 2026 theme Dyslexia in real life: At work.

I’m diagnosed with both ADHD and dyslexia, and the more you look at the two together, the more interesting it gets.

They are different neurodevelopmental conditions, but they overlap far more than many people realise. Working memory, organisation, processing information, following instructions, getting thoughts onto paper, fatigue and overwhelm can all show up in both. Sometimes the outward struggle looks exactly the same, even when what is happening underneath is different.

And when you have both? They don’t sit neatly in separate boxes.

In this episode, I talk about:

• how ADHD and dyslexia overlap, and where they differ
• how commonly they occur together
• what both can look like in everyday adult life
• why “careless”, “disorganised” and “lazy” are so often completely the wrong interpretation
• some of the strengths that can come with ADHD and dyslexic thinking, without resorting to the “superpower” narrative
• what workplaces can do differently
• reasonable adjustments and what UK equality law actually requires
• why good neuroinclusive practice often makes work better for everyone

Most importantly, this isn’t about creating a list of “ADHD adjustments” and another list of “dyslexia adjustments”.

It is about asking a much better question:

What is this person trying to do, what is getting in the way, and what would remove or reduce that barrier?

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Kathleen Helm had never pictured themselves retiring. When the thought of a future in Italy appeared one day, they realised how much had changed: for the first time, a future felt imaginable.

In this episode, Jannine and Kathleen talk honestly about the mental health impact of growing up neurodivergent in a world that keeps asking, “Why can’t you just?” They discuss suicidal thoughts and survival, but also what helped them move towards a life they wanted to live.

The conversation takes in ADHD, autism, chronic boredom, the difference between capability and capacity, and the shame that can follow years of being misunderstood. They explore how coaching, community and understanding your own needs can help you accept praise, set boundaries and stop saying yes when you have nothing left to give.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicidal thoughts, psychological distress and difficult childhood experiences.

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Content note: This episode discusses the death of a young child, accidental harm and parental grief.

Every parent has a sliding-door moment. A second when something could have gone terribly wrong, but thankfully did not.

For parents of neurodivergent children, those moments can be frighteningly familiar. A child runs, hides, follows an impulse or moves towards something without recognising the danger. Parents must somehow balance constant vigilance with their child’s need for freedom, movement, exploration and an ordinary childhood.

Following the tragic death of three-year-old Noah, Jannine is joined again by Jo Roberts and Luisa Gray for a deeply compassionate conversation about SEND parenting, risk and the rush to blame families when tragedy occurs.

Together, they share their own near misses and explore:

• The exhausting vigilance involved in raising neurodivergent children
• Why running, hiding and an urgent need for autonomy can create unpredictable risks
• The impossible balance between protecting children and allowing them to live
• How hindsight creates the illusion that every tragedy could have been prevented
• Why parents are judged whether they are considered too protective or not protective enough
• The grace and humanity families need when the unthinkable happens

As Luisa puts it:

“A parent’s place is in the wrong, because no matter what you do, somebody’s going to decide that you are wrong.”

This episode is for every parent who has carried the responsibility, fear and loneliness of trying to keep a child safe in a world that does not always understand them.

Our thoughts remain with Noah’s family and everyone who loved him.

Content note: This episode discusses the death of a young child, accidental harm and parental grief.

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Hyperfocus can feel incredible.

You can lose yourself in an idea, a project or a piece of work and achieve more than you thought possible. The rest of the world quietens down. Everything narrows into one absorbing thing.

But hyperfocus also has a cost.

In this solo episode, I talk about what hyperfocus actually feels like from the inside, how I have learned to create the conditions that help me access it intentionally, and what happens when it takes over when I didn't mean it to.

I explore monotropism, flow, movement, the practical strategies I use to support myself during periods of deep work, and why the recovery afterwards matters just as much as the productivity itself.

Because the week when you produce extraordinary work may need to be followed by a week when you can do less.

That isn't inconsistency.

It is the Wave and the Ebb.

Becoming ADHD Wise is about understanding your own patterns well enough to work with them, advocate for what you need, and stop expecting yourself to function in exactly the same way every day.

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What happens when autistic girls are given a space where they do not have to mask, explain themselves or make themselves smaller?

Jannine talks to Cath Parry from the Autistic Girls Network about the power of community, peer support and volunteering.

They explore how volunteering can provide purpose, connection and a supported route into contributing, particularly for neurodivergent women whose education, employment or careers have not followed a conventional path.

Cath shares how the Autistic Girls Network creates spaces where young people can build genuine friendships, explore their autistic identity and learn about interoception, alexithymia, sensory needs and self-advocacy.

Jannine also shares her daughter Vicky’s experience of volunteering and challenges the idea that our worth should be measured by our employment status or how much we earn.

Everybody has something valuable to give. Sometimes people simply need the right environment, flexibility and support to make that contribution possible.

This episode includes:

• Why volunteering can feel safer and more accessible than paid employment
• Finding purpose after a late autism or ADHD diagnosis
• Supporting autistic girls to develop a positive identity
• Friendship, masking and the lasting impact of social exclusion
• Interoception, alexithymia and understanding our needs
• The expansion of the Autistic Girls Network into Scotland
• Why human worth is not determined by commercial productivity

Find out more about the Autistic Girls Network:
https://autisticgirlsnetwork.org/

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What changes when future doctors are taught not only about conditions, but to listen to the people living with them?

Jannine is joined by her long-time friend and collaborator Michele Gutteridge, Assistant Professor and Communication and Lived Experience Co-Lead at Warwick Medical School.

Their conversation begins with the shared roots of their work in arts and health and explores how theatre, storytelling, simulation and virtual reality can help medical students understand experiences beyond their own.

Together, they discuss psychological safety, neurodivergent access to healthcare, the risks people take when they speak about what they need, and why clinical frameworks must never replace curiosity about the whole person.

They also firmly challenge the idea that lived experience stands in the way of clinical progress. Research, clinical knowledge and lived experience are not competing forces. Each informs the other—and better healthcare depends upon bringing them together.

This is a hopeful conversation about what is already changing within medical education, what still needs to change, and how listening to ADHD, autistic and other neurodivergent people can help create more accessible, compassionate healthcare.

Michele's social media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-gutteridge-51ba4115/

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Channel 4’s controversial ADHD documentary, The Great ADHD Myth?, has triggered anger, fear and widespread criticism across the ADHD community.

In this episode of ADHD Wise Podcast, Jannine Perryman and Dr Helen Wall bring together specialist ADHD practice, medicine, education and lived experience to examine what the programme claimed, what it left out and the real-world harm already following its broadcast.

Jannine is a consultant specialist teacher, psychoeducational ADHD coach, trainer and author who was diagnosed with ADHD at 41. Dr Helen Wall is a senior GP, menopause specialist, BBC Breakfast doctor and author of Menopause and ADHD.

Together, they ask whether The Great ADHD Myth? was genuinely a science-led investigation—or whether selective editing, flawed comparisons and a predetermined narrative misrepresented the evidence about ADHD, diagnosis and medication.

Jannine and Helen discuss:

• Why the absence of a definitive brain scan does not mean ADHD is not real
• The scientific and ethical concerns raised by the programme
• Dr. Max Pemberton’s ADHD assessment and portrayal of stimulant medication
• Why one dose cannot represent a properly supervised medication titration
• The risks of stopping or changing ADHD medication without medical guidance
• Why changing medication, sugar, screens, routines and parental support simultaneously proves very little
• The women and girls almost entirely missing from the documentary
• Late diagnosis, masking, medical misogyny and years of misdiagnosis
• Why increased demand for ADHD assessments was predictable
• NHS waiting lists, private providers and the cost of leaving ADHD unsupported
• The effect of the programme in schools, workplaces and families
• Why diagnosis can bring understanding and practical strategies, whether or not someone chooses medication
• How clinical evidence and lived experience should inform one another rather than being placed in opposition

This is not an argument against asking difficult questions about ADHD. Questions about assessment quality, access to treatment, medication and support matter. But serious questions require balanced evidence, scientific rigour and respect for the people whose lives are being discussed.

The law has not changed. An employer, teacher, colleague or family member cannot use a television documentary to dismiss somebody’s diagnosis, support needs or lived experience.

Most importantly: one sensationalist programme does not erase what you have lived through. Your experience remains real.

IMPORTANT: Do not stop, start or change prescribed ADHD medication without speaking to the clinician responsible for your care.

Find Dr Helen Wall:
Website: https://tvhealthdoctor.com/
Instagram: @doctorhelenwall
Book: Menopause and ADHD by Dr Helen Wall

Find ADHD Wise and explore our neurodiversity services:
https://adhdwise.uk

If this episode helps you, please subscribe, leave a comment or review, and share it with somebody who may need to hear it. Every interaction helps these conversations reach someone who may still believe they are alone.

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In the first episode of Season 2, Jannine is joined by Louisa Gray, author of We Are Not Seeing It: How and Why Mainstream Schools Break SEND Kids, for an honest conversation about what it costs parents to fight for their children.

They explore the masking that happens behind closed doors: holding yourself together while your child falls apart, staying calm in intimidating meetings and carefully managing your emotions because showing distress may be used against you.

This is also a conversation about systemic harm, advocacy, the impossible pressures facing families and professionals, and why parents should never have been expected to become experts in SEND law simply to secure the support their children need.

Above all, it is a reminder that needing support does not reflect your capacity as a parent. The circumstances are difficult, the system can be hostile—and you are not alone.

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