The Neurodivergence Skills Workbook for Autism and ADHD: Cultivate Self-Compassion, Live Authentically, and Be Your Own Advocate (The Social Justice Handbook Series)

by Jennifer Kemp

As a neurodivergent person, you are more likely to be criticized, corrected, and judged negatively and feel greater shame and lower self-worth as a result (Price 2022).

Autistic people and ADHDers tend to be harder on themselves than their non-neurodivergent peers and have lower levels of self-compassion (Cai et al. 2023;

Being compassionate means having sensitivity to suffering in yourself and others, with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent this suffering (Steindl 2020; Gilbert 2009).

We can now identify six information processing differences that directly influence your experience of life as a neurodivergent person: 1. Orienting your life around your interests 2. Executive functioning that is often overloaded 3. Experiencing the world and yourself differently through your senses 4. Having difficulty understanding and regulating your emotions 5. Approaching social situations with expectations of equity, fairness, and consistency 6. Communicating directly, accurately, and in detail

Your executive functions give you the ability to: • Start tasks and switch between them • Organize, plan, prioritize, and make decisions • Retain and use mental information (working memory) • Maintain your attention • Track the passing of time • Control your impulses and urges • Monitor what you do and understand the impact of your behavior on others • Adapt when things change • Regulate your emotions (an important function that we explore later on)