The Different Minds podcast series

Broadcaster  John Offord chats to Ted speaker, Adam Ockelford, a Professor of Music and Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton, London.  Adam wrote the official biography of the musical savant, Derek Paravicini, entitled "In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini". Derek was born three and a half months prematurely, and is blind and has severe autism. But with perfect pitch, innate talent and a lot of practice, he became a concert pianist by the age of 10. Adam is Derek’s long time piano teacher, mentee and friend.

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Chris Packham CBE, an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995 and the BBC’s nature series Springwatch, including Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, since 2009. Extraordinarily creative and prolific, Chris Packham has led a remarkable life. In 2003, at the age of 42, Packham began seeing a therapist after the death of his dog. As his work with the therapist concluded in 2005, Packham was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. He has also stated that he has suffered from severe depression.  For more details about Chris, please see www.chrispackham.co.uk

Broadcaster John Offord chats to his friend, Ashley Kirk who has recently been diagnosed with Autism. Although autism is predominantly diagnosed in childhood, increasing numbers of adults are finding out that they too have autism. This issue, of later life diagnosis, was brought to light recently after nature photographer and TV presenter, Chris Packham, went public with his experiences. About 1% of the adult population has been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum – with more people diagnosed with autism than ever before. And yet, generally, the focus on who has autism is still mostly on infants, children and young adults.

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Simon Baron-Cohen, one of the world’s leading authorities on autism, and Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge about autism theory and his latest book “The Pattern-Seekers: A New Theory of Human Invention” which argues that autistic people have been crucial to our creative and cultural history for the past 70,000 years.

Broadcaster John Offord chats to psychologist, speaker and the author of "The Book of Overthinking: How to Stop the Cycle of Worry", Gwendoline Smith about mental health and her own experiences of Bipolar Disorder. Please see http://www.gwendolinesmith.co.nz more details.

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Neurodiversity advocate, Tumi Sotire, aka "The Black Dyspraxic" about his experiences and thoughts on the intersection of race and disability. Tumi says “Living with the intersectionality of being a black man with dyspraxia presents the challenge of disentangling whether social barriers presented are due to race or neurodivergence. Companies that are inclusive on the grounds of ethnic diversity are not necessarily organizations with neurodivergent staff.”

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Jake Hobson who shares his own personal experiences of Dyspraxia, a Developmental Coordination Disorder, a  common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults. Please see www.michaelbarton.org.uk for more details.

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Michael Barton, an autistic keynote speaker aiming to spread the message of autism to everyone. Michael is an experienced speaker on autism, Asperger's syndrome and Neurodiversity, having given over 100 talks to date and been featured around the media from Channel 4, the BBC and the Week Junior to the New Scientist magazine. Michael has also spoken alongside world-renowned speakers such as Wenn Lawson, Luke Jackson and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. Please see https://www.michaelbarton.org.uk for more details.

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Sarah Scott who had a stroke when she was 18 and now has Aphasia. Sarah appeared on the 2nd series of Undateables. Sarah runs her own YouTube channel and has inspired others to create their own websites and videos to show how language can recover after a brain injury. You can view Sarah’s YouTube channel documenting her recovery here: https://www.youtube.com/user/SymphUK

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Dr Nancy Doyle, CEO and Founder of Genius Within about Neurodiversity and Intersectionality. Nancy has worked with thousands of clients from Access to Work, to blue chip boards and within the prison service.  Nancy won Public Policy impact of the year at the BPS division of Occupational Psychology in 2019 for her working lobbying the DWP and several APPGs to take an evidence based approach to neurodiversity inclusion. See www.geniuswithin.co.uk