My name is Jennifer Poyntz. I am thirty-one years old and I live in Ireland. I have ADHD and am autistic. I have a chronic illness that means I don’t produce enough cortisol. I’ve spent the last few years trying very hard to learn what I consider stressful as an AuDHD person, and how to keep myself level and alive. This, like all things, is made easier because of writing. I want to be a writer. A fiction writer. Or, I guess, I am because I do write. But I want to be an author. I also want to be an academic and to continue to build my career, which is in disability advocacy. I’m currently in the early stages of a PhD at Trinity College Dublin. I’m also presently feeling as though I might get lost in the early stages of my PhD because my health slows my progress each year. Still, I love it, and so I do it.

And what’s my research on, I hear the empty audience asking? Narratives. Specifically, the narratives of AuDHD women as they describe their experiences with advocating for themselves. And so, with this academic and entirely personal interest, Neuro Narratives was born. Here I shall lay bare what I do have authority to speak over – my narrative. My story. And who knows, maybe someday, people will listen.

Until next time.

J. Poyntz x