Events & Webinars

The events below bring together ongoing work in communication, neurodiversity, and clinical practice in real‑world settings.

They are designed as structured conversation spaces rather than traditional lectures — creating room for curiosity, reflection, and practical thinking.

Across each session, the aim is to explore how everyday workplace interactions shape understanding, collaboration, and culture — and how small shifts in communication can make a meaningful difference to practice.

Panel Chair: Matt Phillips

Panellists: Sarah Meharg, Rosi Sexton, James Dewar-Haggart

📅 25 November 2026 – Therapy Show Day 1

🕥 11:45–12:30 — Theatre Live 

👉 Details added soon to Therapy Show Website

Neurodivergent people are already using MSK, rehabilitation, fitness and movement-based services, whether or not their neurodivergence has been identified, diagnosed or disclosed. Yet everyday aspects of healthcare, from how appointments are structured and information is communicated to the sensory environment and expectations around engagement, can create unintended barriers.

This panel brings together neurodivergent clinicians and practitioners with experience across occupational therapy, osteopathy, fitness and strength coaching. Drawing on professional expertise and lived experience, they will explore what neuroaffirmative practice means in everyday MSK care and why it matters.

The discussion will consider how differences in communication, sensory experience and information processing can influence healthcare interactions, including assessment, treatment planning and engagement. Rather than offering a checklist for all the individual neurotypes, the panel will explore how clinicians can remain curious about individual needs, recognise assumptions within existing ways of working and make practical adjustments without lowering expectations or compromising clinical reasoning.

Through discussion and practical examples, attendees will hear about realistic changes that can be incorporated into everyday practice. The panel will also consider how more flexible and accessible approaches can improve healthcare experiences more widely, including for people who do not have a diagnosis or may not identify as neurodivergent.

In keeping with the focus on accessible participation, attendees will be invited to submit questions in advance, with selected questions displayed on screen and used to shape the panel discussion.

MSK practice is shaped by a set of often unspoken norms — sensory, cognitive, communicative, and relational — that tend to favour neurotypical ways of thinking and interacting. For many neurodivergent clients, these norms create barriers before any assessment even begins.

This session explores how clinicians can rethink clinical environments and interactions using neurodiversity as a lens. Drawing on concepts such as the social model of disability and the double empathy problem, the focus is not on “treating neurodivergent clients”, but on recognising and reducing mismatch in everyday practice.

Through practical examples, the session looks at how small adjustments — in communication, predictability, sensory load, pacing, and consent — can improve safety, engagement, and therapeutic relationships.

The aim is not to provide a checklist, but to offer a shift in perspective toward more accessible, person‑centred clinical care.

Related Writing

The ideas behind this session are explored further in a piece written for Therapy Show, focusing on how large conferences can become more inclusive for neurodivergent clinicians.

The article outlines practical ways conference design, pacing, and environment can support better access, learning, and participation.

👉 Making Large MSK Conferences More Inclusive for Neurodivergent Clinicians