How Supporting Neurodivergent Young People Changed My Approach to Communication

For more than five years, I’ve been closely involved in supporting neurodivergent young people alongside my professional communications roles.

I’ve proactively educated myself on autism, ADHD and other neurodivergent profiles such as dyspraxia. Some of that learning has been formal but most of it has come from lived experience or the many books I’ve read. But all of it has reshaped how I think about communication.

Clarity Is About Pacing, Not Simplifying

What surprised me most is this: Clarity isn’t about simplifying ideas. It’s about pacing complexity.

When you support someone whose brain processes information differently, you become acutely aware of:

• Cognitive load

• The impact of ambiguity

• The anxiety created by unclear sequencing

• How easily “too much, too fast” shuts processing down.

You learn quickly that sharing a lot of information, even if it is technically correct, is not the same as helping someone understand it.

You also learn that many people are working much harder than you realise just to keep up.

Photo: Thomas Jackson.

Designing for Comprehension

What I have found powerful is that this insight doesn’t stay in one context. Over time, I’ve subtly changed how I design and deliver presentations, how I write crisis holding statements, my structure for stakeholder updates, and my pacing of difficult conversations.

In my day-to-day strategic communications work, I often find myself translating complexity and thinking carefully about sequencing. What needs to be understood first? What can wait? What will trigger unnecessary stress if introduced too early?

The principles are surprisingly consistent across contexts. I now think about how to:

• Reduce ambiguity

• Sequence deliberately

• Respect processing time

• Design for comprehension, not just transmission.

There is always more to learn. Neurodiversity is not a static subject, and no two neurodivergent people experience their condition the same way. But the past five years have sharpened something fundamental in my professional practice: communication is not just about what is said, but how human brains receive it.

It’s an area I’m continuing to explore, both in my communications work and in the coaching and mentoring support I provide.

I’d be interested to hear what you’ve learned about timing and sequencing that has influenced the way you communicate.