The Immigrant Experience and Neurodivergence with Sandhya Menon

The Neurodivergent Woman

This week’s guest is author and educational and developmental psychologist, Sandhya Menon. Sandhya is an autistic ADHDer. She was born in Singapore, is of Indian-Swiss heritage. She moved to Naarm/Melbourne in Australia after high school, where she lives and works today.

Sandhya has written the book The Brain Forest to help children understand neurodiversity and inclusive practice. Her upcoming book, The Rainbow Brain, is the first children's book of its kind to outline both autism and ADHD in one person. Sandhya is a sought-after speaker at autism conferences and has spoken at Reframing Autism, Autism from the Inside Out and Yellow Ladybugs. Understanding intersectionality is an important part of her work, committing herself to the pursuit of anti-racist, neurodiversity-affirming and queer-inclusive education, acknowledging it is a process and journey.

We cover a huge amount of topics in this episode, including Sandhya’s professional work as a psychologist and author, her experiences as a BIPOC woman, an immigrant, and a neurodivergent woman, cultural difference in the experience of neurodivergence, Sandhya’s experience of how autism and ADHD live together within her, ‘ikigai’, and Sandhya’s top tips for others.

More from Sandhya:

• Check out Sandhya’s website, Onwards and Upwards Psychology, here: https://www.onwardsandupwardspsychology.com.au/
• Grab a copy of ‘The Brain Forest’ or pre-order Sandhya’s book ‘The Rainbow Brain’ here.
• Sandhya also recommended the book ‘Living Sensationally’ by Winnie Dunn.

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