Neurodivergent Empowered

04/04/2026

And for those who need to hear / not read, here is my last post on my different brains analogy as a video, as cringe as it is to hear my own voice on social media.

But since it’s not about me, here you go, lol.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HPYKjW66L/?mibextid=wwXIfr

04/04/2026

It's Easter long weekend and I have been in what I lovingly call "feral" hyperfocus mode.

For the whole 4 days I am continuing building our new internal system, client portals, family portals, and a handful of other things that have been sitting on the list waiting for exactly this kind of uninterrupted stretch. My brain has locked on and I am not fighting it.

What this looks like practically: alarms set for everything involving my child and the absolute basics of human survival.
Eating.
Water.
Have I been to the toilet today.
My yoga is non-negotiable so that is happening. Everything else is off the table.

My teenager is absolutely ecstatic at the prospect of 4 days at home with zero commitments and a mum who is always present but operating in another dimension entirely while we both exist in the lounge room together, with the occasionally response to the others exclamation, a discussion about whats going on, happy stimming with loud music and dancing then back to it. Rinse and repeat.

Do not turn up unannounced. I mean it. I will either be in my nighty, having a loud music break, or just generally having a presentation that the general public does not need to witness. You have been warned.

Now. While I have surfaced briefly because I needed a brain break ... so I created this.

Fair warning: I am many things. A graphic designer is not one of them.

If my visuals make you twitch, hang in there and read the words instead.
And if the words occasionally make you uncomfortable, then know it comes from a good place.

I lead with my heart, even when I cannot find quite the right words to represent what I mean.

I invite you to stick around anyway as who know what will unfold... especially with 2 assessments due tomorrow for my Masters and my WCW presentation due Monday.

Oh yep, this won't be pretty... but I do have a process ;)

03/04/2026

Well. I am glad I waited until the end of the week to watch this one because I am absolutely balling my eyes out. 😭🩷

Watching Hannah and her Mumsy paint the children at Jyoti Special School... deaf children, children with intellectual disabilities, every age, every face lighting up.

And these incredible kids didn’t just receive. They gave. They helped pack up. They patiently tried to teach sign language.

I so wished I could have kept the original audio so you could hear their voices and the sounds of that room. TikTok said no. But trust me when I say it was magic. 🎨
Virtually following this trip has been the best investment I have made that I have not physically been a part of. Not in a transactional sense. In the this is what it’s all for sense.

So proud doesn’t cover it. But it’s the closest word I’ve got right now. Forever grateful to be part of it in any way we can. ###x

Thank you Hannah and her beautiful Mumma Bear for the joy you are bringing into the world. Both of you. How wonderful it is to see you both share this magical gift 🩷✨🎨
www.jyotispecialschool.org

facepaintingkids

02/04/2026

World Autism Acceptance Day.

Complicated feelings. Unwavering commitment. 💜

30/03/2026

💜 The NDIS have released new guidelines on Social and Recreation Supports.

It confirms what we have always known.
The NDIS doesn't fund the activity.

Anyone can play D&D. Anyone can do art. Anyone can join a gaming group.

What NDIS funds is the support that makes it genuinely possible for you to be there - because of your disability.

At The Nest, every participant receives individual support - their own goals, their own practitioner relationship, their own clinical oversight - delivered by Neuro-affirming Practitioners, trained Therapy Assistants and therapist-training practitioners working under clinical supervision with a neurodivergent-affirming OT and our Clinical Lead.

Sessions run alongside other participants who share the same interests because that Autistic peer environment is itself part of the therapeutic value.

Connection with people who actually get it.
No masking required to belong.

The activity is the vehicle.
The barrier is what we are funded to address.

We didn't build this because a guideline told us to. The guideline just put it in writing.

Don't see your interest listed? Tell us what lights you up. 👇

The guideline may be new.
Our neuro-affirming model isn't. 💜

🔗 https://neurodivergentempowered.com/our-supports

29/03/2026

Big shout out to for putting on today’s Pride festival in Caloundra.

We came away with all the flags, stickers, badges, leaflets, fans and sense of beautiful community.

Was great to speak to the Caloundra Headspace team about what they are doing in this area, and I was totally fan girling meeting the and teams after being followers of them for a while now.

I hope we get to link arms in some future projects in some way. I would to support some amazing causes with free use of the Nest where possible!

Until then, thank you for the beautiful safe space today.

🌈🏳️‍⚧️💖

Send a message to learn more

28/03/2026

Happy Birthday, Christine! 🎉

Distance has a way of making us appreciate people even more - and you are proof of that. Even though we don't get to see your face around here as often as we'd like, your presence is felt in everything you do for this team.

You show up, you deliver, and you do it all from Brisbane with the kind of quiet dedication that doesn't go unnoticed.

This week is all yours. We hope it's filled with people who love you, food that's too good to share, and a moment or two where you just sit back and feel how appreciated you truly are.

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays -from all of us, sending big love your way. 🎂✨

26/03/2026

Apologies if you tried to contact me personally or professionally since I got up at 6am.

I had a "how hard could it be to get this" bone to pick with all of the clinical tools I had been trying to mould to my will... until I had had enough and have been on a hyper-focused mission all day and night teaching myself how to build my own "better" clinical system instead.

The result so far is that I love it so much... and the more I built the more "curious" I got about how far I could push my creativity abilities here.

But for now its 10:30pm and I must sleep. But after building a clinical tool, client portal and website that all talks to each other and a whole heap of other things... I am happy with that.

And nope, not building any more before anyone asks. This was a "FU" rage build, lol, and now that I proved myself right and it is pretty much done I am over it. Its why I am glad for hyper-focus at times because who knows how my drive for this task will be tomorrow... you gotta roll that wave when it comes!

Anyone else have their version of "FU" rage builds?

23/03/2026

So tell me what's missing? What do you need that most websites don't give you?

Drop it in the comments. If I can build it, I will. If it's beyond me right now, it goes straight on the list and I'll work out how to get there. 💜



Image 1:
Screenshot of the Neurodivergent Empowered website approach page with a purple hero banner reading "Feeling safe comes first." An accessibility panel is open on the right showing toggle options including font size, dyslexia-friendly font, high contrast, reduce motion, reading guide, line spacing, highlight links, and dark mode. Text overlay reads: "We're expanding the accessibility of our website AND online forms... and we want your input."

Image 2:
White slide with a rainbow border. Heading reads: "The Neurodivergent Empowered website already has a few features I'm really proud of working out how to build in::" Bullet points list font size controls, dyslexia-friendly font, high contrast mode, and reduce motion with a brief description of each.

Image 3:
White slide with a rainbow border continuing the feature list. Bullet points cover reading guide, line spacing, highlight links, dark mode, and audio prompts throughout the site and forms, each with a short explanation.

Image 4:
White slide with a rainbow border. Text reads: "This is a genuine commitment to our community that is IMPORTANT to me. So tell me — what's missing? What do you need that most websites don't give you? Drop it in the comments. If I can build it, I will. If it's beyond me right now, it goes straight on the list and I'll work out how to get there."

20/03/2026

I am not ashamed to share that I am really proud of this one.

Not just because I taught myself how to use coding, GitHub and Netifly to build a website that has conditional formatting and beautiful things.

But I love that it reflects our passion for neurodivergent-affirming supports including the history of harm to autistics and other things that mean somethings to us.

Being an Autodidact has it advantages but I can assure you it’s not without its frustrations and speed bumps along the way!!!

Now to find the bits that need tweaking 🤍