Useful resources

We hope the resources below can help give a greater understanding of neurodiversity and how to adapt to the needs of those living with it.

• Like us all, every person with autism is unique. But in this article by the Autistic Self Advocacy network, they look at six things many people with autism have in common
• The power of first person perspective: this article is full of great book recommendations where people with autism share their firsthand experiences, including Ask an Autistic Kid by Daniel Stefanski and The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida.
• The documentary Neurotypical is an exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves.
• The YouTube channel Neurowonderful by Amythest Schaber contains a series of videos called ‘Ask an autistic’ where Amythest breaks down behaviours some people may not fully understand.
• In the TED Talk Women and Autism, Sarai Pahla describes the barriers she has had to overcome to achieve success in her career and relationships whilst living with Asperger’s.
• Actually Autistic has created a search tool where you can browse blogs written by autistic people. There is also a handy blog list.
• I Am Connor is a book about a boy with Down’s, written by Connor and his dad.
• A Positive Result is written by Joanne Pasquale whose son has Down’s syndrome.

Neurodiversity at work

This comprehensive PDF guide by the UK-based Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development covers all aspects of hiring neurodiverse candidates.

Organisations (Thailand based)

• The Rainbow Room is a special needs awareness centre for parents, families and friends of neurodiverse people in Bangkok
• LEAP Bangkok provides support for parents of neurodiverse children in Bangkok

Organisations (international)

Special Education and Inclusion Association (SENIA) for parents and educators.

A note on language

Language has immense power, and over time it changes. Terms which were once acceptable can become hurtful labels. This can differ across geographical and cultural boundaries. We always try to listen to what our trainees are telling us about language, and change the way we speak accordingly.

It is possible some of the resources we’re sharing here don’t meet those standards. We have decided to share them anyway as they could still be useful.

This doesn’t mean we endorse all of the language they use. But on balance we think it’s better to have conversations about this than pretend these issues don’t exist.

Here’s an article we wrote about labels which unpacks this issue.