A mum who was told by teachers at school that she “wasn’t very bright” has now become a positive role model online after being diagnosed with autism and ADHD in her forties.
Rachel Winder, 43, has gained a post-graduate diploma and become an “accidental influencer” on TikTok with 40k followers after discovering she has autism - a neurological difference affecting how people communicate and interact with the world – at 40 and a year later, that she had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - which can cause restlessness and concentration problems. The mum-of-two, who lives in Derby with her husband and sons, has now made a virtue of her neurological difference with an online channel devoted to neurodivergence where she shares her knowledge about the conditions.
"I just want people to know there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with us. We just have different ways of working," Rachel, who left her diagnoses very late, said. “I don’t think you need to be diagnosed as such. It’s not an illness.
