Exploring neurodiversity

Exploring neurodiversity through fiction

Catriona works with all sorts of teenagers who are neurodiverse, so having characters that explore these sorts of unique personalities is important in her writing. The more we see neurodiverse characters in movies, advertisements, and in novels, the more neuro-atypicals might be more fully accepted by the wider community for who they are, and for the the wonderful perspective they bring into our classrooms and workplaces. Read on to see which characters are neuro-atypical in Catriona's novels.

PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition caused by a traumatic event, but the symptoms don't go away after a time of healing. It really came to light as a legitimate illness after soldiers started experiencing it post-returning from the world wars. I didn't know a lot about PTSD until one of my children was diagnosed with it when they first started experiencing social anxiety with panic attacks. It was around the time I was writing The Boy in the Hoodie, and I realised that my main character, Kat, was a likely candidate for PTSD after she went through a highly stressful and dangerous experience. Likewise, her growing friendship with Adrian (aka the boy in the hoodie) was revealing he, too, likely had PTSD due his own traumatic past.

PTSD looks like:

Nightmares and sweating
Heart palpitations
Panic attacks

Trouble sleeping

Angry outbursts, where the person's reactions seem extreme

Feelings of hopelessness

Feeling unsafe - getting frightened easily

Avoiding things that remind the person of the thing that caused the trauma

Flashbacks

The school Adrian and Kat attend seem to be trying to make allowances for Adrian's traumatic past - something Kat didn't understand, thinking he was just getting special treatment because he was the principal's nephew. I often grapple with knowing how to answer when a student's question about why one student is treated "differently" to another. Why does one get a detention for not handing their work in, and another get to sit up the back of the class and never seem to do any work? In having a student like Adrian in a teen novel, I hope teens who read The Boy in the Hoodie will recognise that sometimes one of their peers might need to be treated a bit "different" in order for them to heal, grow, and learn in their own time.

ASD

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurological condition that impacts the way people interact, communicate, learn, and behave. Sometimes, in some settings, you'd never know. Other times, it can be quite apparent. That why it's called a spectrum - not because some people have it more than others, but because it varies from moment to moment, day to day, as to how well that person is able to cope in a given situation. I love working with autistic students as they so often have a lot of personality and spunk! So when I was writing Memphis Grace, I wanted to write an autistic character into the story that could show the unique perspective on life these students often have. In fact, I had the character of Jack developed in my mind and heart long before I knew anything much about Grace, the main character!

ASD can look like:

Difficulty with social communication and interaction
Restricted interests and repetitive behaviours
Atypical patterns of activities and behaviors
Difficulty transitioning from one activity to another
A (sometimes intense!) focus on details
Unusual reactions to things that spike our sensors, like noises and smells
Different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention
ASD often comes with ADHD, and sometimes, the two can overlap in what they look like.

The school Grace and Jack attend make some allowances for Jack. They try to keep him safe from bullies, like Cooper and his friends. But ultimately, it is Jack's friendship with Grace that will give him all he wants - which is to be accepted and liked by the other students around him. Grace learns to overlook Jack's "quirks" and to see him for who he really is, someone with a great capacity to love and be the type of loyalty in a friend she has been looking for.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is the one neurological condition that I write about in my books, that we haven't experienced in my family! Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder related to either reading, writing, or in severe cases, both. It can be coupled with other learning disorders such as dyscalculia (associated with mathematics), dyspraxia (to do with fine motor skills), or dysgraphia (to do with handwriting, organisational skills, that sort of thing).

What Dyslexia often looks like:

Confusion over words that look similar, such as cat and cot.
Issues with spelling
They can find it difficult to scan or skim over text (making research more time consuming)
Reading and/or writing slowly.
Needing to read and re-read paragraphs to understand them
Finding it hard to listen and maintain focus for an extended period of time
Finding it difficult to concentrate when there are distractions around
Students with dyslexia should be allowed to use speech-to-text and audiobooks in class, and use a computer for written exams (which makes them stand out and look different so they often like to sit separately for exams).

In Good Luck and Other Lies, we learn Cassie's long-time crush, Luke, was diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dyscalculia in Middle School. The diagnosis impacted Luke significantly because his successful-lawyer-father saw it as the end to Luke's academic future. Despite Luke being intelligent and intensely interested in law himself, Luke's father's reaction had a negative impact on Luke's perception of himself. And this causes all sorts of issues in the friendship group. Although in my experience, most parents are tremendously supportive of their child when finding they have Dyslexia, and many go to great lengths to help them overcome their difficulties, there are the occasional few who bury their heads in the sand and don't want to know about it. A parent's reaction to discovering their child has a learning difficulty can make all the difference in how the child responds. A positive attitude and determination goes a long way.

Good Luck and Other Lies is due for release in June 2026. It is available now for pre-order.

OCD

Obsessive Compulsory Disorder runs rampant in my family! So writing a character with the anxiety disorder OCD was important to me. I've learned first-hand, both through my husband, children, and students with OCD at school, what a huge impact it can have on not only a life, but the lives of those people around the sufferer. I say 'sufferer' because to have OCD is just that - when severe, it impacts all areas of life with obtrusive thoughts that can be impossible to ignore. OCD is a mental health disorder that interferes with life and relationships on a daily basis, causing significant distress to the individual. People with OCD are usually aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational and excessive, but they feel unable to control them.

OCD can look different from person to person, but common effects are:

Having the fear of forgetting or misplacing something

Having obtrusive thoughts

Fear of being "contaminated" by germs
Fear of losing control of one's behaviour
Having to do certain rituals, such as:
- Checking things, like doors are locked (often repetitively)
- Ordering and arranging things
- Hoarding things - even rubbish!
- Asking for reassurance
- Excessive handwashing or cleaning

In Ways To Die Right, Joel's OCD comes out as a fear of being unclean (for example, he carries hand sanitiser with him and freaks out when he touches a branch and wipes his hand on his pants which might have made them unclean). He obsesses over his sister's grave, feeling he must maintain it and keep it looking kept, in order for others to know she was loved. Joel's anxiety also comes out at school, when he decides he's going to use his science environmental presentation to explain why cemeteries are an environmental disaster that should be done away with and replaced with green burials. However, his friendship with Jessica, who lives with Alopecia (an auto-immune condition where all hair on the body is lost), helps him see things aren't always the way they seem with people.

Ways to Die Right is a Rhiza Shorts novella, a quick-read for busy teens or reluctant readers. It will be available in May 2025, but can be pre-ordered here.

ADHD

It would be near-impossible for me to not adore people with ADHD, when I have so much of it in my own family! We have a range of ADHD in the McKeown clan, with hyperactive type, inattentive type, and combined type all scattered amongst us. ADHD people think outside the box, are often very creative and talented, and often have an incredible knowledge of topics they've hyperfocused on! ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which has had a bad rap as a name. But I don't mind it. There is definitely an attention deficit in all three strands, and while hyperactivity might seem like it is only for the hyperactive-type, I see it randomly come out even in those who are inattentive! I think there is still so much we have to learn about ADHD and the wonderful strengths and attritubtues that come with the 'disorder'.

What ADHD looks like:

People with ADHD can have difficulty paying attention
They can be impulsive, interrupting conversations or making rash decisions
They can struggle to remain focused when listening or waiting
Those with ADHD can struggle with controlling their emotions
Fidgeting or moving excessively can come with all types of ADHD
Acting without thinking or making hasty decisions can get them into trouble...
They can be disorganised and have trouble starting (and finishing) a task

I wanted to write a story with a variety of characters who aren't necessarily diagnosed ADHD, but who have the same sorts of attributes that teens with ADHD might recognise parts of themselves in. I had a lot of fun writing The E-Scooter Revolution about a group of three girls and three boys in Year 9 who set out to revolutionise the world with their need for independence and to have their voices heard.

The E-Scooter Revolution will be a Rhiza Shorts novella. It doesn't have a release date yet.