I had been meaning to write a full article regarding my thoughts on the name for my neurotype "Pathological Demand Avoidance" for a while and then another PDAer, and a friend of mine now, wrote one and so I chose not to. Sally Cat's article is excellent, raising many different voices, including my own and crediting me appropriately. You can read it here. Why change it? There are a few issues here. Some people object

So many professionals, "experts" other autistics and even people in the PDA community do not understand this distinction and it is important. There is a term "autistic demand avoidance" and many people believe PDA is just that. It is Not. So you can see how people think it is the same when PDA is described often as "someone who avoids the demands of everyday life". Equally, when any autistic person is in a constantly high

It costs a lot of money being neurodivergent, especially in the ADHD type. That might sound ridiculous but it is so true. It can be financially debilitating and the worst part is, it looks so avoidable to others that there is a shit ton of shame attached to it. Why spend so much on lunches out, and takeaway? Why shopping for just a few days at a time, when it clearly costs more? Why didn’t

Autism, Spectrum disorders, conditions, disability, Aspergers, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, difficulty, deficiency, neurodiversity, neurodivergence, Neurodivergent, neurotype,  neurology,  ADHD, ASD, ASC, OCD, SPD, SLD, PDA, pathological. Not that long ago I started interacting with a new community. It started with ADHD and moved on to looking more widely at “conditions and disorders” that are based in neurology. In the “neurodivergent” community, there were so many letters and so many words and to be honest, two years later

I have talked about emotional cups for a number of years now with parents. Some people talk about not being able to pour form an empty cup meaning that you need love and energy to give. I actually believe we all have enough love to give, but agree energy isn’t always there. I talk about an emotional cup in relation to emotional regulation. Difficult emotions fill our emotional container and if it becomes to full,

In some official descriptions of PDA, a "Lability of mood" is described. Here is my interpretation of the many moods of PDA and yes, much like Jack Jack from the incredibles, we can switch between them pretty fast.

Overview My programme of study will include four core modules, each covering eight areas of study, culminating in a dissertation: Module 1: An integrated study of human development in contextModule 2: A neuropsychological investigation of human needs and motivationModule 3: An integrated investigation of key human neuro-psychological variationsModule 4: Analysing oppression as a factor in human development​Dissertation: An independent research project bringing together the subjects above. Title to be confirmed. * Study for this will include

When you tell people about Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), the first reaction is often, ​”so you avoid doing things you don’t want to do, and especially if you are told to do them”?. The answer then starts with “Well yes, but” and I always fear that no-one hears anything after the first two words, because their immediate reaction is, “well that’s no different to anyone else”, or “no-one much likes being told what to do”

Saturday 13th July – Winchester Guildhall 6:00-9:30pm – Harry thompson and Jodie Isitt Book now oh.. and me. Yay. here is the description: An evening of insight into the Pathological Demand Avoidance neurotype featuring Harry Thompson, Jodie Isitt and Emily Fackrell. Emily Wilding Fackrell of CalmFamily, hosts an evening with Harry Thompson and Jodie Isitt at the Winchester Guildhall. This awesome opportunity to hear talks and be involved in conversations on the topic of Pathological

One of the questions I hear often is, "what is the difference between Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)". This question often comes from parents who are trying to figure out what is happening for their child when they are seeing them struggle to an extreme degree. These parents are struggling to cope and to understand and are desperately researching oppositional or defiant behaviour, or they have reached out for support and a