The Neurodivergent Connection / The Curious Storyteller

What Self-Acceptance Can Change for Neurodivergent People
What happens when I stop fighting who I am and start working with myself instead? In this episode, I sit down with Amanda Scott to talk about the quiet harm of being misunderstood, the weight of masking, and the relief that can come when things finally start to make sense.
Together, we explore what it feels like to grow up hearing harsh labels, missing support, and wondering why everyday things seem harder than they should. Amanda shares parts of her own story, from school struggles to the moment she began seeing herself with more clarity and compassion. Along the way, I also reflect on how those same patterns show up for so many of us in neurodivergent life.
You’ll hear us talk about self-acceptance, flow, joy, and why so many people feel pressured to be “fixed” before they can feel worthy. We also get into what it really costs to hide parts of yourself—and what can open up when you stop doing that.

About the guest: Amanda Scott is a therapist and coach at Manda’s Pathway, where she supports clients in understanding themselves, building self-trust, and finding ways to live that fit who they are.

Timestamps
0:02 - I welcome Amanda Scott and we start with her early school experience

6:54 - Hidden struggles, dyslexia, and what people missed

12:25 - What it means to work with yourself instead of against yourself

15:21 - Avoidance, exhaustion, and the friction of forcing yourself through life

23:59 - The mix of relief, validation, and grief after self-understanding

26:51 - Why acceptance can teach what self-improvement alone cannot

31:37 - What “flow” looks like in real life for neurodivergent people

36:13 - Masking, negative feedback, and what it can cost

44:21 - The loss of joy and why that hits so hard

46:38 - Where rewriting the “I’m broken” story begins

51:32 - What Amanda would tell her younger self now

55:46 - What I hope you take away from this conversation

Amanda's Links:
Website:https://mandaspathway.com

Instagram:https://instagram.com/mandaspathway

Show Affiliate: https://shop.adhddd.com/NEURODIVERGENT_CONNECTION

If this conversation speaks to you, listen through to the end and share it with someone who needs a little more understanding and a little less shame.
#Neurodivergent #ADHD #AutismAcceptance #SelfAcceptance #MentalHealth

Hosted by Reid Miles.
Conversations unfold naturally — no scripts, no rush.
🎧 Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
🌐 More about the show and past episodes: https://podcast.ausha.co/neurodivergantconnection-thecuriousstroyteller
📩 Guest inquiries & media: Reid@AspergersStudio.com

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

From Refugee Childhood to Neurodivergent Fatherhood with Norbert
What happens when raising your children helps you finally understand your own past? In this episode, I sit down with Norbert for a deeply personal conversation about immigration, survival, autism, ADHD, and what it means to break painful family patterns.
Norbert shares what it was like to grow up in Cold War Poland, come to the United States as a child refugee, and carry years of misunderstood traits without the language to name them. Then, as he and his wife supported their autistic children, old memories came back into focus in ways he never expected.
We talk about grief, identity, sensory experiences, school struggles, and the quiet weight of living in survival mode for years. More than that, I explore how recognition can lead to compassion, and how a parent can choose a very different path than the one they were given.
If you’ve ever looked at your child, your student, or yourself and thought, why did no one see this sooner? this conversation will stay with you.
About the Guest
Norbert is a father of two autistic children whose life spans refugee resettlement, cultural change, and decades of making sense of his own neurodivergent traits through parenting, reflection, and lived experience.

Key Timestamps
0:02 - I welcome Norbert and start at the beginning of his story

2:48 - The traits that were missed in childhood

8:44 - Leaving Poland and arriving in America

16:28 - What it felt like to translate himself, not just language

20:49 - Survival mode and the outdoors as refuge

30:32 - Raising autistic children and breaking old cycles

36:01 - How his children’s diagnoses brought buried memories back

42:51 - Recognizing family patterns across generations

55:52 - What still gives him hope

Show Affiliate
https://shop.adhddd.com/NEURODIVERGENT_CONNECTION

If this episode speaks to you, listen through to the end and share it with someone who needs this reminder: understanding can come later, and it still matters.
#NeurodivergentConnection #AutismAwareness #ADHDSupport #ParentingAutisticKids #Neurodiversity

Hosted by Reid Miles.
Conversations unfold naturally — no scripts, no rush.
🎧 Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
🌐 More about the show and past episodes: https://podcast.ausha.co/neurodivergantconnection-thecuriousstroyteller
📩 Guest inquiries & media: Reid@AspergersStudio.com

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

When a Label Helps, Hurts, or Hides the Person Beneath It
What happens when we trust a diagnosis more than we trust the person living it? In this conversation, I sit down with Andre Maurice Davis to explore that question from several angles, and it leads us somewhere deeper than labels alone.

We talk about ADHD, autism, identity, trust, and the stories people tell themselves after a diagnosis. But this episode isn’t about easy answers. Instead, I’m opening up a thoughtful conversation about how people think differently, why labels can both help and limit us, and what it means to really see the human experience underneath the words.
Andre Maurice Davis is a creator and systems thinker whose work spans music, web applications, educational tools, and data projects. Throughout our conversation, he brings a sharp, reflective lens to questions about community, culture, language, and self-understanding.
You’ll hear us wrestle with how society responds to diagnosis, why context matters more than most people realize, and what thriving communities might look like if people listened more carefully to each other. If you’ve ever wondered whether a name brings clarity, confusion, freedom, or all three, this one will stay with you.

About the Guest
Andre Davis is a multidisciplinary creator focused on music, technology, educational tools, and data systems. He’s deeply interested in communication, culture, human behavior, and the ways people make meaning from their experiences.

Key Timestamps
0:02 - I welcome Andre and ask where his fascination with people began
5:04 - We get into ADHD, ADD, and what makes diagnosis so complex
8:02 - Andre shares why labels can be helpful, but also risky
12:22 - We explore whether people trust the label more than the person
20:19 - Freedom vs. confusion when there’s no diagnosis
25:34 - What healthy self-understanding looks like
27:18 - How workplace culture reveals growth or stagnation in a community
40:37 - Andre describes what a thriving community could look like
45:00 - We talk about his creative work and the thread connecting it all
57:20 - The one question he believes everyone should ask themselves

If this conversation speaks to you, listen through to the end and share it with someone who’s questioning how we talk about neurodivergence, identity, and belonging.
#Neurodiversity #ADHD #AutismAwareness #CommunityCare #MentalHealthConversations

Hosted by Reid Miles.
Conversations unfold naturally — no scripts, no rush.
🎧 Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
🌐 More about the show and past episodes: https://podcast.ausha.co/neurodivergantconnection-thecuriousstroyteller
📩 Guest inquiries & media: Reid@AspergersStudio.com

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What Dating Feels Like for Me as an Autistic, ADHD Adult
In this episode, I hand the mic to Kailee Rae and open up about something I don’t usually talk about this personally: dating, rejection, loneliness, and what I hope a future partner understands about me.
We talk about what it’s like to date as an autistic, ADHD adult, why being understood matters so much to me, and how past relationships shaped what I want now. I also share the quiet fears that can make dating feel harder than people realize, especially when neurodivergence is often misunderstood.
If you’ve ever wondered how to talk about your neurodivergence while dating, how to handle rejection without letting it define you, or what a healthy relationship can look like when your brain works a little differently, this conversation will give you a lot to think about. And while we touch on some hard moments, we also get into hope, connection, and what real understanding can look like.
You’ll hear me share what I’m looking for, what I’ve had to learn the hard way, and one dating shift that may change how you see relationships moving forward.

About the Guest
Kailee Rae is a relationship coach who helps people build healthier, more honest connections. In this conversation, she brings thoughtful questions and practical insight as she interviews me from the other side of the mic.

Timestamps
0:04 - I share why this episode is more personal than usual

1:05 - Kaleigh Rae takes over and asks about my dating life

4:34 - What I’m looking for in a partner now

5:36 - What “understanding my neurodivergence” really means to me

7:04 - Why dating apps haven’t felt right for me

12:37 - My idea of a better first date

17:28 - The pain of being rejected because I’m neurodivergent

20:01 - What I hope a future partner knows about me

29:14 - Why I don’t lead with my diagnosis right away

40:01 - What relationships have taught me about moving too fast

44:12 - A dating experience that left me feeling used

46:27 - What a healthy relationship looks like to me

54:11 - My advice for neurodivergent people who are dating

55:16 - What neurotypical partners should understand before dating someone neurodivergent

You can learn more about me here: https://aspergersstudio.com/

If this episode speaks to you, listen all the way through and share it with someone who needs this reminder: you’re not too much, and you’re not alone.
#NeurodivergentDating #AutismAndADHD #DatingWithAutism #Neurodiversity #Relationships

Hosted by Reid Miles.
Conversations unfold naturally — no scripts, no rush.
🎧 Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
🌐 More about the show and past episodes: https://podcast.ausha.co/neurodivergantconnection-thecuriousstroyteller
📩 Guest inquiries & media: Reid@AspergersStudio.com

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What a Brain Injury Took, What Purpose Gave Back
What happens when the life you built disappears, and you have to figure out who you are from the ground up?
In this episode, I sit down with Herb for an honest conversation about traumatic brain injury, depression, identity loss, and the slow work of rebuilding a life that no longer fits the old rules. He shares what changed after a snowboarding accident, why invisible injuries are so hard to explain, and how he found his way back to focus, purpose, and hope.
We talk about the kind of struggle people often can’t see from the outside: the fear, the shutdown, the frustration of looking capable while feeling anything but. At the same time, Herb also shares the shift that helped him stop chasing his old life and start building a new one with meaning.
If you’ve ever felt like your future got knocked off course, or you support someone living through that kind of loss, I think this conversation will stay with you. You’ll hear the small wins that mattered most, the mindset that kept him moving, and the question many people in pain are quietly carrying.

About the Guest
Herb is an entrepreneur and brain training coach who helps people recover lost capacity after brain injury, stroke, and other life-altering setbacks. His work is shaped by his own lived experience of rebuilding after traumatic brain injury.

Timestamps
0:15 - Herb’s life before the brain injury and the business he was building
2:20 - How everything started falling apart after the accident
5:14 - The turning point that made him want to be alive again
12:17 - When traumatic brain injury became part of the story
15:40 - Why depression was harder than the physical pain
21:53 - What the early days felt like from the inside
30:21 - The first signs that brain training was changing daily life
42:41 - Letting go of the idea of “going back”
56:11 - What rebuilding really looked like in real life
79:52 - Why purpose mattered so much in recovery
86:06 - What Herb hopes others hear when their future feels lost

Herb's Links
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bringing-education-home/id1651695357
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herbert.heaghavritt
Website: https://herb-brain-training.vibepreview.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUrd5JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMXp5a2doaGZkTEs5RnJVMVVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeo69t99Xf--_wUo61TC09egmfKKxi4pYwLoybHg70szFNy3PBGERf8UA_4i4_aem_d7sNLV90HodgTDE0iMEi0g

Show Affiliate: https://shop.adhddd.com/NEURODIVERGENT_CONNECTION
If this episode speaks to you, listen to the full conversation and share it with someone who may need that extra bit of hope today.
#BrainInjuryRecovery #TraumaticBrainInjury #MentalHealthAwareness #PurposeAfterPain #InvisibleInjury

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.