Lived Experience Archives

Unmasking ADHD with Shannon Fernandes

What if your biggest struggle wasn’t a lack of effort… but a brain wired differently?

In this powerful conversation, psychologist, researcher, and ADHD advocate Shannon Fernandes ‪@dionysy joins host Ann Thomas to unpack the lived reality of ADHD — beyond the stereotypes, beyond the checklists.

We talk about:

Masking and missing signs — even as a psychology student

Rejection sensitivity and how it sabotages relationships

ADHD and high intelligence: the underdiagnosed “smart kids”

Emotional dysregulation, school struggles, and adult burnout

The truth about meds, motivation, and managing stigma in India

Why our education system is failing neurodivergent minds

How can we rethink parenting, diagnosis, and self-worth

📍 This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a space to feel seen.
🎧 Full episode available soon on Spotify, Amazon Music & Apple Podcasts.

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🎙️ Podcast Page: / justyournormalmissfit
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Neurodivergence, Neuroqueerness & Community in India With Arpita Gaidhane

What if the way you move through the world, slower, differently, non-linearly, wasn’t something to fix, but something to honour?

In this episode of Just Your Normal Missfit, host Ann Thomas is joined by Arpita Gaidhane, an artist, facilitator, and creator of Fireplace, a free and intentionally held community space for people seeking emotional safety and belonging.

This conversation explores neurodivergence, neuroqueerness, and what it means to live creatively in a culture obsessed with hustle, productivity, and “normal” life timelines.

Arpita speaks about concepts like crip time and queer time, the emotional cost of masking, and how both neurodivergent and queer lives often resist linear ideas of success, growth, and adulthood.

Together, Ann and Arpita reflect on:
– Neuroqueerness as a creative and resilient way of living
– The pressure to keep up in a fast, productivity-driven world
– Building emotionally safe and brave spaces through Fireplace
– Unlearning shame around difference, disability, and identity
– How community, slowness, and honesty can become acts of care

This episode is an invitation to slow down, to question the rules we’ve inherited, and to imagine gentler, more authentic ways of being with ourselves and each other.

🔥 Watch the full episode to learn more about Arpita and Fireplace.

The High Performer Trap and the Cost of Excellence with Vishnu Rao

Misfit, Misdiagnosed and Misunderstood Feat. Khushi Sibal

What if the problem was never you but the system you were trying to fit into?

In this episode of Just Your Normal Missfit, Ann Thomas speaks with Khushi Sibal – a psychology student and neurodivergent young adult, about her long, complex journey of trying to understand herself in a world that kept trying to label her.

From anxiety and depression to trauma-related disorders and BPD, Khushi shares what it feels like to be repeatedly placed into boxes that never quite fit, and how exploring neurodivergence helped her reframe her experience.

They discuss self-discovery versus demonized self-diagnosis, lack of support from family and many educators, the gap between understanding concepts and translating them into grades, and how one-on-one teaching helped.

Khushi reframes neurodivergence through a social lens, critiques systems built for the majority, shares how she built financial independence through internships and skills, and urges people, especially parents, teachers, and neurodivergent youth to create their own spaces, ask questions, and prioritize acceptance.

This is not a conversation about neat answers or perfect diagnoses.
It’s about unlearning, questioning, and creating space for yourself when none exists.