(Neuro)Diverse Dialogues
Ever wondered what your colleagues or students who describe as neurodivergent really experience or how they feel about life in academia - but have been a bit fearful of asking?
These chats are an opportunity for people who describe themselves as neurodivergent to talk about their life experiences and how they navigate the neurotypical waters of academia - and for me to ask questions I have always wanted to ask.
I aim to load new chats fortnightly and if you would like to take part, or to suggest someone who might, then please let me know.
The more we talk the more we learn.
NeuroDiverseDialogues@gmail.com
(Neuro)Diverse Dialogues
Why (Neuro)Diverse Dialogues?
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Hello, welcome to my podcast (fireside chats), this is a introduction rather than a trailer, a little bit about me but mostly about why I'm doing what I'm doing. I hope you enjoy what you hear. I hope you learn from what you hear, please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to take part in the podcast going forward, or please let other people know who you think might value being a part of this process.
neurodiversedialogues@gmail.com
Hello, my name is Damien Perry. I'm an academic at a Newcastle University in the UK. And over the summer of 2025, I took part in some podcasts where I talked about my experiences, my journey of being neurodiverse in the higher education sector. I found it really quite therapeutic for myself to be able to talk about it and express myself. And also I found it quite enlightening to be able to tell other people about my experiences. So I thought I'd extend this and give other us the opportunity to talk about their experiences and their journeys. And this is what it is. The podcasts or fireside chats are limited to about 20 minutes. And I ask a series of questions which enable this individual to talk about their journey and then build on those experiences. The idea is to give them the chance to express themselves, but also to help educate for us all to learn how diverse neodiversity is, to see that someone who is defined by a certain label doesn't necessarily have a defined set of characteristics or traits, but it's much bigger than that. We can all learn a lot from each other by being more open and being more willing to have conversations. And I like people to learn that it's okay to ask questions. I'm very frank in my questions, I like to think. I'm very open before I start talking to the individual that I will ask questions for things I don't understand. And if my question is inappropriate, they should just let me know that at the time. And I can learn from that and therefore learn not to do so in the future. It's only by having these conversations and by asking questions that we learn. I guess that's my academic background there. Hope you enjoy them. I hope you learn from them. Please listen to them with respect. These people are talking about their lives and their journeys, and therefore they're using their terminology and their expressions. They may not be the expressions you choose to use, but please respect that this is their life and their journey that they're talking about. And hopefully, we'll all learn something and we'll all gain a better understanding of who each of us are and how we are in life.