Meet Alison

Hi, I’m Alison Wombwell — a Neurodiversity Specialist, accredited Coach and Trainer, Support Practitioner and published author.

I’m also a late-diagnosed Autistic and ADHD (Combined Type) woman and a proud mum to two neurodivergent daughters.

For me, neurodiversity is much more than my profession.

It is personal.

My journey into this work began through my own family. Following my daughters’ Autism diagnoses, I began to recognise so many things that had been present throughout my own life but had never had an explanation.

I had spent more than thirty years masking, adapting and trying incredibly hard to fit into environments and expectations that didn’t always work for my brain.

Receiving my own diagnoses of Autism and ADHD later in life gave me something I had been missing for years:

Understanding.

It allowed me to look back at my experiences with a completely different perspective and recognise the impact of sensory processing differences, executive functioning difficulties, masking, emotional regulation, the need for predictability and the enormous amount of energy that can go into simply appearing to cope.

My own neurodivergent profile also includes Dyspraxia, Sensory Processing differences and OCD, while my family’s journey has included navigating Autism, ADHD, Learning Disability, Tic Disorder, Dyspraxia and additional sensory and communication needs.

This means I understand neurodivergence from several perspectives — as a professional, as a neurodivergent woman and as a parent.

More Than Lived Experience

While lived experience is an important part of who I am, my work is also grounded in extensive professional experience, specialist training and continued professional development.

I have worked within mental health, care and neurodiversity-related services for over a decade, supporting children and adults with a wide range of neurodivergent and mental health needs.

I hold a BA (Hons) in Childhood and Youth Studies, alongside specialist qualifications and training in ADHD and Neurodiversity Coaching, Autism Best Practice, SEND, Executive Coaching, sensory processing, wellbeing, safeguarding and neurodiversity training.

I am an ICF-trained Neurodiversity/ADHD Coach, CPD-accredited Trainer and published author, and I continue to develop my practice through further specialist study, including trauma-informed approaches.

My work today brings all of those areas together.

Why My Approach Is Different

I don’t believe we can understand a neurodivergent person by looking at one diagnosis in isolation.

An Autistic child may also be experiencing ADHD, sensory processing differences, anxiety, executive functioning difficulties, masking or tics.

An adult seeking ADHD coaching may actually be struggling with the interaction between Autism and ADHD, years of masking, sensory overload, rejection sensitivity and burnout.

And behaviour that looks challenging from the outside may actually be communicating:

“I’m overwhelmed.”

“I don’t understand.”

“This environment is too much.”

“I can’t access the words to tell you what I need.”

That is why my approach looks at the whole person rather than simply the label.

I want to understand what is happening underneath the presentation.

I’ve Also Been the Parent Sitting on the Other Side of the Table

My professional experience is only one part of what I bring to families.

I’ve also been the parent navigating education and healthcare systems, attending meetings, reading reports, asking questions, advocating for my children and trying to ensure that professionals understand needs that aren’t always immediately visible.

I know how it feels when your child holds everything together in one environment and becomes completely dysregulated when they reach the safety of home.

I understand the frustration when somebody says:

“But they seem fine here.”

I understand masking.

I understand sensory overwhelm.

And I understand how exhausting it can become when you feel as though you constantly have to prove that the needs you see every day are real.

Those experiences have profoundly shaped the practitioner I am today.

What Matters to Me

Whether I’m working with a six-year-old child, a parent fighting for appropriate educational support, an adult exploring a late diagnosis, a neurodivergent employee or a room full of professionals, my starting point remains the same:

What is this person’s experience?

What are we missing?

What is creating the barrier?

And what could we change to make things more manageable?

I don’t want neurodivergent children to grow up believing they are difficult.

I don’t want adults to reach their thirties, forties or beyond believing they have somehow failed because strategies designed for neurotypical brains haven’t worked for them.

And I don’t want families to feel that they have to navigate complicated systems completely alone.

My work is about helping people move from confusion to understanding, from judgement to curiosity and from simply coping towards having the right support in place.

In Plain English…

I’m Alison.

I’m neurodivergent myself. I’m raising neurodivergent children. And I’ve spent my professional career supporting people whose brains, bodies and experiences don’t always fit neatly into the boxes society creates for them.

I bring professional knowledge, specialist training and lived experience into the work I do.

But most importantly, I see the person before I see the diagnosis.

I won’t try to make you or your child less neurodivergent.

I’ll help you understand what the neurodivergence means for you — your strengths, your barriers, your sensory needs, your communication, your emotions, your executive functioning and the things that help you thrive.

Because sometimes the biggest change doesn’t come from changing the person.

It comes from finally understanding them.

Alison Wombwell

Neurodiversity Specialist | Accredited Coach & Trainer | Support Practitioner | Published Author