Different is Normal

08/09/2026

What if the problem isn’t effort…
It’s pressure?

When someone feels safe and regulated, they perform better.
When they feel pressure, everything gets harder.

💬 Have you seen pressure help or make things worse?

Watch: https://youtu.be/hKjAP-lZJ_4
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/

08/09/2026

We thought the hard part would be the diagnosis.

It wasn’t.

The hard part was everything that came after.

Leaving early.
Saying no.
Doing things differently.

And watching how people responded to that.

Some relationships didn’t survive it.

But the ones that did?
They got stronger.

🎥 Full episode:
https://youtu.be/BN3uU0H44Zs

07/09/2026

He Named It After Me…

There are moments in this job you never forget.

A student came back to say goodbye… and what happened next completely caught me off guard.

It reminded me why this work matters so much.

Question:
Have you ever realised you’d made a difference when you weren’t expecting it?

Watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/

If this resonates, feel free to follow along for more real stories.

04/09/2026

That gut feeling.
Not wrong. Just different.

Full episode link in bio.

02/09/2026

An autism diagnosis doesn’t only ask your child to learn. It asks the whole family to learn.

When our son was diagnosed, I eventually realised that the answer wasn’t teaching him how to behave more like us.

We had to learn too.

I describe it in this clip like suddenly discovering that someone in your family speaks another language. You could insist that they learn yours, you could try to learn theirs, or you could meet somewhere in the middle and build a language you can all understand.

That’s what autism has been like for us.

We don’t expect our son to become neurotypical. He doesn’t need to.

Our job has been to understand each other better.

If your family received an autism diagnosis, what was something you had to learn or change afterwards?

Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/wfy8AmpxbrU

Different Is Normal:
https://differentisnormal.live

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01/09/2026

We wrote letters to every parent in prep.

We left birthday parties early.

We lost some friends.

In this micro episode, Dave shares what changed socially after the autism diagnosis.

Diagnosis doesn’t just shift parenting.
It shifts relationships.

If this resonates, you’re not alone.

🎥 Watch here:
We Lost Friends After the Autism Diagnosis
https://youtu.be/Kwq7QYuqDIU

—

Full Episodes:

Episode 1 – Navigating Diagnosis Day
https://youtu.be/BN3uU0H44Zs

Episode 2 – Normal Isn’t Real
https://youtu.be/NUAMr90xumY

Episode 3 – When Everyday Things Are Too Much
https://youtu.be/hKjAP-lZJ_4

Episode 4 – Why Stimming Helps Learning
https://youtu.be/MIyn0QlpZ_E

Episode 5 – Every Behaviour Is a Message
https://youtu.be/Ip2Gz62thKA

In this micro episode from Different Is Normal, Dave shares how an ...

01/09/2026

After diagnosis, something shifts that no one prepares you for.

Not the routines.
Not the supports.

The people.

You start making decisions based on what your child actually needs…
not what keeps everyone else comfortable.

And suddenly, that changes everything.

Some people lean in.
Some quietly step away.

But over time, you realise:

The right people don’t need an explanation.

🎥 Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/BN3uU0H44Zs

31/08/2026

The funding was cut. The disability wasn’t.
When Emily’s sister-in-law had her NDIS funding significantly reduced, the need for support didn’t suddenly disappear.
Part of the reasoning pointed towards “informal supports”.
But informal supports are people.
They’re parents, partners, brothers, sisters and other family members who already have jobs, children, responsibilities and sometimes disabilities of their own.
Someone still has to provide that support.
Have you seen “informal supports” used to justify reducing someone’s NDIS funding? What did that actually mean for your family?
Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/dnlsZXlk_tA
Subscribe to Different Is Normal:
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28/08/2026

That’s it.
Support. Not stigma.

26/08/2026

“Why didn’t she just leave?”

We hear that question far too often.

But what if we changed the question?

What prevented her from having a safe, accessible way out?

And what made the person hurting her believe they were entitled to behave that way in the first place?

When we focus on why a woman stayed, we risk putting responsibility for abuse back onto the person experiencing it.

Emily turns that question around beautifully in this clip.

What question do you think we should be asking instead of “Why didn’t she leave?”

Watch the full episode:
https://youtu.be/WqwZXnmIWsA

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