A personal, educational and accessible guide to disability, neurodiversity, mental health and lived experience
What I think the book should become
Your book doesn't need to be only a textbook and it doesn't need to be only an autobiography.
It can sit between the two:
Part personal story, part Easy Read educational guide, part research resource, and part advocacy book.
That is actually one of the strongest features of the project because you're able to explain things from lived experience and from research.
🌱 Proposed opening
Preface — Why I Wrote This Book
Thank you for taking the time to read my book.
I have wanted to become a writer since I was 23 years old.
I originally began writing about learning disabilities, mental health and disability because I wanted people to understand what life can be like when you live with conditions that other people may not always see or understand.
My journey began with a website I first wrote in 2007. I later developed this work through my writing, advocacy, training, teaching and personal experiences.
I have learned some things through living with my own disabilities and mental health experiences. Other things I have learned through books, research, education, professional training and listening to other people.
I am still learning too.
That is important to me.
I don't want this book to suggest that I know everything. Instead, I want it to encourage people to keep learning.
Some of the information in this book may already be familiar to you. Other parts may be completely new.
Take what you need and skip what you already know.
Everyone learns differently, and everyone comes to a book like this for different reasons.
💛 Why this book matters
You have a particularly strong paragraph hidden throughout your notes:
Some people do not understand because they have never been through it themselves.
I would make that one of the central ideas of the book.
You could expand it into:
Some people do not understand disability because they have never experienced it themselves.
That does not necessarily mean that they do not care.
Sometimes people simply have not had the opportunity to learn.
This book is one way of helping change that.
I want to help people understand what life can be like for people with learning disabilities, learning difficulties, neurodevelopmental conditions, mental illness and other disabilities.
I also want to talk about the things that are often forgotten — our abilities, talents, interests, relationships, achievements, creativity and resilience.
We are not just our diagnoses.
That last sentence could become one of your recurring themes.
🧠 Part 1 — Understanding Neurodiversity
Chapter 1 — What Is Neurodiversity?
Explain:
- neurodiversity
- neurodivergent
- neurotypical
- neurodevelopmental conditions
- strengths and difficulties
- why people can experience the same diagnosis differently
Then introduce conditions such as:
- Autism
- ADHD
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia/DCD
- Dyscalculia
- Tourette syndrome
- Auditory Processing Disorder
- Other neurodevelopmental conditions
Important correction
I would avoid saying that all of these conditions are simply "part of the natural spectrum of human neurological variation" without qualification.
A better wording is:
Neurodiversity describes the natural variation in how human brains develop, function and process information. The term neurodivergent is commonly used for people whose neurological development or functioning differs from what is considered typical.
That gives you a more academically careful foundation.
📚 Chapter 2 — Learning Difficulty, Learning Disability and Special Needs
This should be one of your major chapters because it directly connects with the title.
Explain the differences between:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Learning difficulty | A broad term often used for difficulties with particular aspects of learning |
| Specific learning difficulty (SpLD) | Difficulties such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia/DCD |
| Intellectual disability/learning disability | A developmental disability involving intellectual functioning and adaptive functioning |
| Special educational needs | Educational needs requiring additional or different support |
| Mental illness | A health condition affecting thoughts, emotions, behaviour or functioning |
And importantly:
The terminology is not identical across countries.
This is especially important for your book because you're writing for readers in both the UK and USA.
🧩 Chapter 3 — How These Conditions Can Affect Everyday Life
This is where much of your existing material fits beautifully.
Thinking
- different ways of processing information
- visual thinking
- literal thinking
- pattern recognition
- intense interests
- attention differences
- executive functioning
Feeling
- emotional intensity
- emotional regulation
- sensory overwhelm
- anxiety
- depression
- empathy
- stress
Learning
- different learning approaches
- visual information
- hands-on learning
- repetition
- quiet environments
- assistive technology
- additional time
Communicating
- direct communication
- literal language
- non-verbal communication
- written communication
- social communication
- misunderstandings between neurodivergent and neurotypical people
Everyday life
- routines
- appointments
- shopping
- employment
- relationships
- travel
- sensory environments
- managing change
🌟 Chapter 4 — Strengths, Talents and Abilities
I think this deserves its own chapter, rather than being a small section.
Your existing list is strong:
- creativity
- innovative thinking
- pattern recognition
- intense concentration
- attention to detail
- specialised knowledge
- problem-solving
- memory
- honesty
- persistence
- resilience
But I would add an important qualification.
Instead of:
"Neurodivergent people have exceptional..."
use:
"Some neurodivergent people may experience strengths such as..."
This avoids accidentally replacing one stereotype with another.
For example, not every autistic person has exceptional pattern recognition, and not every person with ADHD is creative or hyperfocused.
The message becomes:
Neurodivergence does not automatically create special talents. People have individual strengths, interests and abilities, just as everyone else does.
That's actually a more powerful message.
👩🏫 Part 2 — My Journey
This is where your personal story should become central.
Chapter 5 — Growing Up With Disability
Your childhood and education.
Include:
- being born in Wolverhampton
- your experiences growing up
- education
- learning difficulties
- difficulties being understood
- bullying
- finding appropriate support
- your family's fight for support
This is where your lived experience becomes the bridge between the educational material and the reader.
📢 Chapter 6 — Finding My Voice
This could include:
Our Shout
Your involvement with Our Shout, the self-advocacy group in Wolverhampton, is an important part of your story.
Explain how it helped you begin developing:
- advocacy skills
- confidence
- public speaking
- awareness raising
- working with other people with disabilities
Then move into your professional development.
🎭 Chapter 7 — Advocacy, Writing and Training
This could bring together:
- One Voice Advocacy Service
- Success Group
- learning disability and mental health awareness training
- your talks to professionals
- your teaching
- your visiting lecturer work
- writing
- the 2008 play
- screenwriting/scriptwriting studies
- your websites
- Facebook groups
- your continuing advocacy
The overall message:
My disability did not prevent me from contributing. I needed opportunities and appropriate support to develop my abilities.
That's an extremely important advocacy message.
🌎 Part 3 — Understanding Mental Health
This can then move naturally from neurodevelopmental conditions into mental health.
Chapter 8 — What Is Mental Health?
Chapter 9 — Mental Illness
Chapter 10 — Mental Health and Disability
Chapter 11 — Anxiety
Chapter 12 — Depression
Chapter 13 — Bipolar Disorder
Chapter 14 — Personality Disorders
Chapter 15 — Trauma, Bullying and Mental Health
Chapter 16 — Addiction and Mental Health
This gives you space to explain the conditions you've already been studying.
🏫 Part 4 — Education, Employment and Support
Chapter 17 — Education
Chapter 18 — Employment
Chapter 19 — Reasonable Adjustments
Chapter 20 — Advocacy
Chapter 21 — Healthcare and Dentistry
Chapter 22 — Families and Carers
Chapter 23 — Communication
Chapter 24 — Easy Read and Accessible Information
This section would allow you to include many of the practical resources you've already developed.
🩺 Part 5 — Conditions A–Z
Your Common Medical Conditions A–Z can become an appendix or reference section rather than interrupting the main story.
For example:
A — Common Medical Conditions
B — Common Medical Conditions
C — Common Medical Conditions
...
Z — Common Medical Conditions
That way, readers can use it like a reference guide.
🌟 Part 6 — People Who Have Made a Difference
I like your idea of including well-known people, but I'd separate confirmed information from historical speculation.
For example:
Mental health
- Robin Williams
- Stephen Fry
- Carrie Fisher
- Demi Lovato
- Catherine Zeta-Jones
Physical disabilities
- Stephen Hawking
- Helen Keller
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Marlee Matlin
Neurodevelopmental / learning differences
- Temple Grandin
- Michael Phelps
- Simone Biles
- Tom Cruise
- Whoopi Goldberg
Writers and artists
- Virginia Woolf
- Ernest Hemingway
- Frida Kahlo
- Vincent van Gogh
However, some claims in your current list need fact-checking before publication.
For example, statements such as:
"Albert Einstein had dyslexia"
or
"Isaac Newton had bipolar disorder"
should not be presented as established facts.
You could instead say:
"There have been retrospective claims that..."
and explain that historical diagnoses are often uncertain because the person was never assessed using modern diagnostic criteria.
That distinction will make your book much more credible.
📊 Part 7 — Statistics and Research
Your 2025–2026 statistics should be kept in a separate research section.
That's important because statistics change.
Instead of putting:
"20% of people..."
throughout the book, use:
Current evidence
Statistics and prevalence estimates can change as research improves and diagnostic practices change. Figures in this section should therefore be checked against the most recent official sources before publication.
Then cite the relevant:
- NHS England
- CDC
- National Academies
- NAMI
- Mind
- Mental Health Foundation
- academic studies
This will prevent the book from becoming outdated too quickly.
📝 Part 8 — Stories, Poems and Personal Reflections
I really like this section.
You could include:
Stories
Personal experiences.
Poems
Your own poetry.
Reflections
Short pieces such as:
What I wish people had understood when I was younger
What support means to me
What people see — and what they don't see
Why asking for help isn't weakness
What disability has taught me
This gives the book your personality rather than making it feel like a collection of information from websites.
💛 Your "What You Can't See Still Matters" idea
I think this could become a recurring theme.
WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE STILL MATTERS
Some disabilities cannot be seen.
Some difficulties cannot be seen.
Some mental health problems cannot be seen.
Someone may look as though they are coping while using enormous amounts of energy just to get through the day.
Someone may need support even if other people cannot immediately see why.
Not seeing a disability does not mean that it isn't there.
And needing support does not make someone less capable.
That would work beautifully as a poster and as a section within the book.
📖 Your book's central message
After looking through everything you've pasted, I think your book's central message can be distilled to this:
People with disabilities, learning difficulties, neurodevelopmental conditions and mental health problems are more than their diagnoses.
We can face real difficulties and still have strengths.
We can need support and still achieve things.
We can struggle and still contribute.
We can have disabilities and still have ambitions, talents, relationships, creativity and dreams.
Understanding disability means seeing the whole person.
That is much stronger than simply making the book a catalogue of conditions.
And it fits your original purpose extremely well: educate, raise awareness, share lived experience, improve understanding, and empower other people.
One other thing
You have a lot of repeated material in this draft, particularly the sections beginning "I am trying to create a deep, personal understanding...", "thinking/feeling/learning/communicating", "highlighting skills and talents", and "resources for research and writing."
I wouldn't throw any of it away. I'd treat it as your master notes and consolidate the repetitions into one polished version. That will make the eventual book much easier to read while preserving the ideas you've already developed.
