Allison Deraney: a conversation on the magic of neurodiversity
The intersection of neurodiversity, parenting, and recovery
Hi friends,
Welcome to the first episode of Quiet the Noise podcast 🥳 Each episode I will be joined by a brilliant woman in the recovery community. Some identify as neurodivergent, and others do not. Each one has wisdom, and hope to share with you, and I’m so delighted for you to get to know these amazing humans.
This first episode is raw, unedited, and very heartfelt. You’ll notice that there are some unpolished bits (hmmms and haws) but I am learning and growing as I go. In time I will get better at editing, but for now I won’t gatekeep the goodness in these conversations. I hope you enjoy my chat with the vibrant force that is
A bit about Allison…
Allison lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two kids, and rescue dog. She is a woman in recovery from alcohol who credits sobriety for waking her back up to her first passion—writing. Allison is a licensed real estate attorney who is looking to pen more creativity into her days. She spends her free time wandering in nature with her dog and cheering her kids on from the sidelines of the basketball court. You can find more of Allison’s writing on her amazing Substack,
In this conversation we will be touching on: parenting a neurodivergent child, explore neurodiversity in sobriety, managing symptoms of ADHD, perfectionism, procrastination, the magnetic pull of nature and creativity in all its glory. Plus SO much more! You are a true blessing in my life Allison, and I am so grateful to you for sharing with such candor.
Allison and I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, comments, anything that comes up for you after listening/watching ♡
Keep the conversation going…. until next time.
xo Kezia 💗
**apologies for the Riverside watermark - I didn’t realize it was there until it was too late!
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Just listened as I walked outside during my lunch hour. Bravo , ladies!
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I just was nodding my head and mmm humming along as though I were sitting and chatting with you both over tea.
So much resonated for me.
The hyperactive brain but not necessarily hyper active body.
The hyper focus, being an excellent student. The perfectionism. Trouble with executive function, and gosh, I’ll add in my feelings of shutdown and overwhelm.
My younger daughter, now 24, has been telling me since she was a teen that she is adhd -that I knew because she presented classically. And like your son, Allison, I’d read to her or teach her a math lesson and she’d be running laps around my dining room table so I would get annoyed thinking she wasn’t paying attention but anytime I’d stop and say, “Lauren, what did I just say?!” She’d spout back verbatim what I’d been saying.
So. I called her my puppy dog child and got her a mini trampoline for the house lol and out her in a soccer league.
But. Back to my point. Ha. Hello, ADHD.
She told me years ago I was adhd and I argued, “no. I can focus. I like to read. I like to sit. “ but then she’d say “yeah, but how many tabs do you have open on your computer, Mom? “
Sigh. God bless hyper focus cuz it’s how I write!
Thank you for the lunch time food for thought. Great job to both of you. Very professionally done!
Such an important intersection!