The Neurodiverse Sport Speaker Programme brings together lived experience, professional expertise, and authentic storytelling to inspire change across the sporting sector. Featuring our directors, collaborators, and guest speakers—including elite athletes, coaches, practitioners, and advocates—the programme offers keynotes, panels, and workshops tailored to your needs. With demand for neuroinclusive practice higher than ever, our speakers deliver practical strategies, challenge misconceptions, and share powerful personal journeys that highlight the strengths and realities of neurodivergent individuals in sport.

At the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, ParalympicsGB unveiled The Retreat—a neuroinclusive performance space in the heart of the Village. More than a wellbeing room, it was performance infrastructure: a calm, flexible environment where athletes could regulate, recover, and prepare to compete. Learning from Tokyo 2020, where coping often replaced true recovery, The Retreat set a new gold standard with sensory-considerate design, self-regulation tools, and restorative spaces. Athlete feedback was clear: this wasn’t a luxury, but a necessity. By embedding neuroinclusion into elite environments, The Retreat showed how wellbeing and performance can thrive together—setting a benchmark for future Games and high-performance sport.

Sarah Hope is a former GB wheelchair basketball player and para ice hockey athlete. Diagnosed with autism and hereditary peripheral neuropathy, Sarah shares a powerful story of resilience, burnout, and finding belonging. From masking and misunderstanding to self-advocacy and structure, her journey challenges sport to do better—and reminds us of the strength found in lived experience.

In this powerful blog, originally captured as a video interview, Olympic rower Caragh McMurtry sits down with world-renowned surfer Clay Marzo and his mother, Jill. Clay, who is Autistic and often finds words difficult, shares glimpses of his inner world through surfing—the water becoming his language. Jill offers heartfelt reflections on parenting, communication, and how understanding Clay’s needs shaped the decisions they made together. This is a story about movement, emotion, and the environments that allow people to thrive.

We’re honoured to have joined BBC 5 Live’s “All About” podcast for an hour-long conversation on neurodiversity in elite sport. From Olympic rower Caragh McMurtry’s lived experience to Lucy Bronze’s powerful self-discovery, this episode spotlighted the strengths, challenges, and growing visibility of neurodivergent athletes. Here’s why this national moment matters—and how it fuels our mission at Neurodiverse Sport.

Our third Neurodiversity Celebration Week webinar explored how sport can unlock opportunities for neurodivergent people—on and off the field. With insights on coaching, mentoring, cultural change, and transferable life skills, panellists showed how inclusion becomes real when it’s lived, not just written into policy.

Hosted by journalist Nick Ransom, our second Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2025 webinar explored the unique strengths of neurodivergent athletes. From reframing “ability vs disability” to harnessing dedication as an advantage and moving from equality to equity, panellists shared powerful stories of excellence that challenge stereotypes and redefine success in sport.

Our first Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2025 webinar explored the unique challenges and strengths of neurodivergent women in sport. From breaking down gendered stereotypes to building neuro-affirming environments and looking ahead to a more inclusive future, the conversation was raw, insightful, and full of hope.

To close Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2025, Neurodiverse Sport launched Beyond the Label—a powerful portrait series by photographer Jade Sellick. Featuring voices from athletes and advocates, the event challenged stereotypes and celebrated the authentic stories of neurodivergent athletes beyond medals and diagnoses.

Neurodiverse Sport and the RFU have teamed up to launch a new suite of coaching resources, helping rugby coaches better support neurodivergent players. These practical tools are rooted in lived experience and designed to make every team environment more inclusive—from grassroots to elite.

What if neurodivergent traits aren’t malfunctions—but adaptations? In this thought-provoking piece, psychiatry researcher Dr Adam D. Hunt draws from evolutionary biology, anthropology, and sport to reframe ADHD, autism, and dyslexia as ancient variations of human design. When seen through this lens, these traits—often pathologised—become powerful assets in the right environments. From classrooms to training halls, Adam invites us to stop fixing people and start redesigning systems.

In this powerful second blog, Paul Burrows shares how sport has been a lifeline for understanding and regulating his Autistic and Dyslexic mind. From the calming effects of rowing on water to the obsessive challenges that helped him make sense of his mental energy, Paul reflects on how movement, structure, and self-awareness can create stability and meaning in an overwhelming world. His story offers insight into neurodivergent motivation, mental health, and the quiet strength found in purposeful routine.

In this deeply personal blog, Paul Burrows explores the powerful link between neurodivergence, sport, and belonging. From early experiences of exclusion to discovering rowing as his "gang," Paul shares how sport helped him make sense of his Autistic and Dyslexic identity. This honest reflection offers insight into the quiet strength of purpose-driven connection, the value of shared goals over socialising, and the importance of creating spaces where everyone can find their place—on their own terms.

Daley Jones is a MET Detective with ADHD and Dyspraxia, and the founder of the National ADHD Alliance for Police. In this honest and often humorous interview, Daley reflects on his late diagnosis, difficulties with coordination, and how football and running became outlets for self-belief. He shares what it’s like to navigate sport—and life—as a neurodivergent adult, and why self-compassion and support systems matter.

Written by Maddy Nutt

Growing up without a formal diagnosis for autism, I very much learnt how to manage certain social situations and although on the outside I may appear to be thriving in these settings and an extrovert, inside my brain is a very different reality.

“If you create a safe space for people to share their different experience of the world you can be an enabler. You can help people step out of their comfort zone and achieve things beyond their limits.”

What happens when a child who’s been excluded, misunderstood, and on the verge of giving up finds a sport—and a coach—that truly sees them? In this powerful blog, Alex Hannah shares the story of his son Ieuan, a young neurodivergent judoka whose journey through Judo has brought growth, joy, and a sense of belonging. It’s a testament to what’s possible when clubs choose inclusion—and when parents and coaches work as a team.

In this second part of his powerful blog series, Autistic ultrarunner and UESCA-certified coach Ishmael Burdeau shares how embracing his diagnosis transformed not only his understanding of himself but also his entire approach to sport. From ultracycling across Europe to completing gruelling ultramarathons like the Spine Race, Ishmael shows how the traits often misunderstood in autistic people—focus, routine, and perseverance—are, in fact, strengths in the world of endurance. His story is a moving reminder that finding the right fit can turn difference into a defining advantage.

Ishmael Burdeau is an Autistic ultrarunner and certified coach whose early experiences with exclusion and misunderstanding in school sport mirror those of many neurodivergent athletes. In this deeply personal first instalment of a two-part series, Ishmael reflects on how endurance sport became a refuge—and ultimately a revelation. His story is a powerful reminder that success doesn’t always look like early talent or conformity, but can emerge through self-awareness, autonomy, and finding the right fit.

Zoe-Jane Littlewood is a former netball player and sports physiotherapist who proudly embraces her dyslexia. In this honest, funny and thought-provoking interview, she opens up about her experiences in elite sport, the reality of communication struggles, and the creative strengths neurodivergent people bring to the field. “If you support us properly,” she says, “we might just be your biggest asset.”