I’m Jennie, an autistic adult with ADHD. I was diagnosed later in life, after years of knowing something felt different but never quite being able to put my finger on what.

Going to school in the 80s and 90s was very different to now, and girls like me weren’t on anyone’s radar as being autistic or ADHD.

In true ADHD style, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I dropped out of college at 17 and joined the circus as an acrobat. I then spent the next three years touring America and Europe, spinning by my neck for a living. I lived in a lorry and then on a train, performed in tents and then arenas, went to showbiz parties and experienced a whirlwind few years as part of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus (You can read more about that HERE)

I got married and had children young, and life became very different, very quickly. When my dad died while I was pregnant with my son, my mental health declined. The contrast between those intense, fast-paced years to suddenly being in one place with two small children felt overwhelming at times.

I lived in different places along the way, including London, Florida, Ohio, before eventually settling in Manchester when my son started school. From the outside, it probably looked like a varied and full life. On the inside, I was still trying to understand why things felt harder for me than they seemed to for other people.

I was always drawn to working with disabled and neurodivergent people, even before I understood why. Over the years I worked in a range of roles supporting children, young people and families, including as a residential assistant in Ohio, a teaching assistant in a specialist primary provision, a family liaison officer, a neurodiversity specialist for the council, and an autism practitioner for a private assessment company.

It wasn’t until I was working closely with autistic young people in a mainstream high school that things really started to click. I had several “aha” moments where I began to recognise myself in what I was seeing.

That was the start of my own assessment journey.

I am now diagnosed with both ADHD and autism, and there is Tourette’s in our family too.

Looking back, so much of my life makes sense through this lens. The masking, the adapting, the feeling of never quite fitting, even when everything on the outside looked fine.

I started ND Matters because I know how confusing it can be to reach this point and realise you don’t fully know who you are underneath it all.

I now work with women who have discovered they are neurodivergent later in life and are trying to make sense of that. Women who have spent years holding it all together, fitting in, and doing what was expected, and are now asking themselves what feels right for them.

I’ve recently completed my NTA certified ADHD coaching and my focus is on supporting women like you to untangle who you are, where you fit, and to begin to rebuild your sense of self in a way that works for you.