Let's Talk Neurosense: the Psychology of Neurodiversity

In the 1990s, Janyce Boynton was working as a speech and language clinician when she started using facilitated communication with a young non-speaking girl, Betsy. Through facilitated communication, Betsy started to make allegations about abuse at home. These were reported to the authorities and things quickly started to escalate.

What happened next changed the course of Janyce’s life. Betsy was removed from her home and court proceedings were started. As part of the court process, controlled testing of facilitated communication was ordered by the judge. The results were clear. Betsy was not the author of the allegations. They were influenced by Janyce, without her being aware of it. Their story is told in the Prisoners of Silence documentary.

Prisoners of Silence.

In this fascinating interview, Janyce tells us what happened, and how she made the fateful decision to turn towards the evidence. She told us why she has felt that it’s imperative to continue sharing her story and informing people about the harm that can be done by facilitated communication. She explains how the illusion of facilitated communication is created and why it can appear so compelling.

Facilitated Communication website

Aleida Verhoeven understands disability from many angles. She’s autistic herself and also has other disabilities. But in addition, she works in Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme as the equivalent of a case manager, primarily with autistic people.

She tells us about the situation in Australia, where, as she puts it, they have some of the highest disability spend in the world, yet some of the poorest outcomes. We discuss the reasons why that might be, and Aleida explained how she sees a misalignment between what autistic people need and what is being provided.

Aleida's Substack

Aleida has some very forthright opinions and this conversation was an insight for Dani and I into how things work over the other side of the world. We hope you enjoy this episode.

Richard has spent his whole career working with autistic adults. He initially worked in a diagnostic assessment service before moving into his current role in an intensive support team for autistic adults. He is a prolific poster in online discussions about neurodiversity, and has written about some of this on his Substack.

Richard’s Substack

In this interview, Richard explained how his experience has enabled him to look beneath behaviour and the formal diagnostic criteria to identify underlying processes common amongst autistic people. He tells us how he thinks that those who criticise concepts such as masking miss the serious impact on autistic people’s lives.

He talks about how he feels that better awareness and less stigma has enabled more people to come forward for diagnostic assessment, and how he sees this as a positive change.

Join Naomi, Richard and I as we wrestle with some of the big questions, such as whether masking is unique to autism, the specificity and reliability of an autism diagnosis, how funding and resources should be allocated and whether we should be talking about diagnosis at all.

We certainly don’t agree on everything, but I do think we manage to hold space for different perspectives and put some of the popular ideas in neurodiversity discourse under the spotlight.

Do let us know what this episode brings up for you.

When Chrissie’s son Daniel started school, the teacher asked her on first day why they had not told her that he had an emotional disability. Later, he explained that he was terrified of being inside tall buildings. He was scared and so he hid under tables.

Daniel found school expectations hard, and school found it hard to manage Daniel. The school needed extra support and wanted to refer him for a diagnostic assessment. Chrissie and her husband Paul could see that everyone needed more help and extra funding - but they didn’t want to give Daniel a label that he would have no choice but to carry with him for life.

Since then, Chrissie and her family have been navigating education and social systems that increasingly understand the world in what they consider to be binary or overly simplistic ways. She describes here the difficult position of trying to be an appreciative friend to other parents and thoughtful psychologist whilst opposing the languages and practices that risk defining children and reducing possibilities for wellbeing and change.

Daniel is now in his twenties, and Chrissie tells us how they have found ways through the system for him. She also told us how she thinks this has been for Daniel, and how it has affected how he sees himself. She is talking to us with his consent.

This is a really unusual story and we hope you’ll find it interesting.