The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

In which I discuss the media's views on neurodiversity... In the past month or so there have been various articles and think-pieces in the British media about the increase in diagnoses of ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions (that's things like autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia, the latter of which I myself have). Most of these have been pretty unpleasant, describing having ADHD as something which is fashionable. One Sunday Times journalist said "celebrities have convinced us that we all need an 'illness identity'". This is, to put it politely, nonsense.  Diagnosis can be and often is life-changing for many neurodiverse people. Until then, you feel like you don't quite fit in like there's something fundamentally wrong with you. It's difficult enough as an adult but usually, you've had enough life experience to manage the majority of the challenges neurodiversity brings to you. When you are at school and still trying to understand who you are and...

In which I have a breakthrough... The familiar golden arches welcome me through the door. Like thousands of other people every day I'm sitting down to enjoy a treat from McDonald's. My friend Louise and her kids are with me and I'm holding down a table whilst they organise what they are going to order. This particular McDonald's holds many memories. Here I've been drunk, hungover, poor, excited, exuberant and exhausted. But above all these, there is one moment which is particularly clear in my memories... <WISTFUL HARP MUSIC> March, 2014. I'm broken. The most challenging thing I've ever done has come to an end in the worst possible way. For the last eleven weeks I've been on teaching practice, the final one I needed to overcome after three and a half years at university to gain a teaching qualification. For the entire eleven weeks, I'd been repeatedly told how shit I was and had received helpful advice from the people that were supposed to supp...