10/16/2025
In the neurodivergent community, Dr. Mel Houser (the author of this article) has a well-deserved reputation as someone who "gets it" and, more importantly, has reimagined her practice and healthcare in general to address problems that are almost universal among neurodivergent people but widely dismissed or unaddressed in traditional medicine. To the point where I've heard neurodivergent people half-joke about moving to Vermont, where Dr. Houser practices, just to be able to get the care they need for complicated stuff.
As someone who's gone through this myself, with chronic conditions all my life that leave most medical people scratching their heads (and sometimes relieved when I do show up with a lab result or virus that they can finally treat), I get it. And as a neurodivergent therapist working primarily with neurodivergent people, the issues Dr. Houser writes about in this article come up a lot. I'm grateful that I've found a few other medical people outside Vermont (some even right here in Grants Pass) who "get it" and are willing and able to take ND people seriously.
Not enough. Which is why Dr. Houser's work is still so important, and such a great resource.
I offer a new service as part of my own therapy practice trying to do something similar to Dr. Houser's efforts - make the world a safer and healthier place for ND people - in which I offer consultation and in-person or virtual trainings to medical professionals, other therapists, employers, schools, or pretty much anyone who is interacting with a neurodivergent person or people and wants to be more neurodiversity-affirming.
No, you don't have to get special certifications, or transfer your client/patient to an autism or ADHD specialist like me (we're all full, anyway, and sadly all too rare). You can just get on the phone or Zoom and I can give you a crash course in what to look for, and look out for, in working with ND people. You can keep your client/patient/employee/student AND greatly improve their experience with you. It's really not hard, you just have to know what to look for and understand that there really is science (and a LOT of lived experience) to back up what ND people are saying, that we experience the world differently and are not getting the support we need, whether it's simple stuff like turning down the way-too-bright lighting in your exam rooms and classrooms, just for a minute, or complicated stuff like what Dr. Houser describes here, using a whole-system approach to humans instead of looking at things in isolation.
There's a growing community of us who are working on addressing this need. You can find out more about my services coming at it from a different angle than Dr. Houser's on my website, www.thrivingfamilytherapy.com. And whether you're a ND person desperate to find someone who believes you (much less can help you) or a medical professional trying to gain better awareness of how to improve care and results for ND people, Dr. Houser's resources at her website (link in the article) really are very useful.
Of course, you still have to find a medical person (or therapist, or employer, friend, teacher, even partner) who will take the time to listen and at least try to believe you instead of telling you you're just "oversensitive" or "anxious." It's a challenge, I know, and often it feels scary and unsafe even to admit what we're dealing with. But this is how we change the world - by showing up, just a little bit more authentically a little more often, and daring to ask for what we need. And believing in ourselves enough to keep asking, and that needing something doesn't make us needy.
There's support out there, if you know where to look. You're more than welcome to reach out to me, whether you're a ND person looking for better help, or a neurotypical person who is seeking better understanding and how to be a better ally. That's what my practice - and, increasingly, my life purpose, as an autistic therapist and writer and speaker working primarily with ND people - is all about.
https://researchautism.org/oaracle-newsletter/reimagining-healthcare-for-autistic-adults/
A new patient walks into my office, looking like a lot of my patients do: exhausted, overwhelmed, and unsure whether I’m going to be just another doctor who doesn’t believe them. They’ve already seen a dozen specialists. Some have said “it’s just anxiety.” Others didn’t even say that m...
