Lens Not Label

See things differently.

13 August 2026

Hi, nice to see you again! You're here because sometime in the past year, you signed up for the Lens Not Label newsletter, probably from our former home on Substack or lensnotlabel.com

This is the place for weekly tips to enable you to see things differently, plus excerpts and updated for our two upcoming books: Lens Not Label (for leaders and managers who want to work more effectively with ND people) and Uncontained (for ND coaches who want to have more meaningful conversations, in their own way). Lots more ahead, stick around!

Now onto today's post…

The Things You're Allowed To Do

We’re told all sorts of things we can’t do when leading, coaching, or conversing with others. And even more things that we’re allowed to do, but not told about…

You’re allowed to turn your camera off.
You’re allowed to take a break.
You're allowed to not define a goal.
You're allowed to not know the answer.
You're allowed to have long silences.
You're allowed to disagree.
You're allowed to use AI. Or ban AI. You can also reject bots, agents or companions.
You're allowed to end early.

And countless other things before, during and after your conversations.

You’re also allowed to change your mind about any of this.

In short, you’re allowed to step outside the container that has been defined for you.

This is especially important if you’re neurodivergent. Because we’ve been told our whole lives about the box of acceptability we must fit ourselves into. About the things we should stop doing, “No more tapping, please!” And the things we’re meant to do but may struggle with, “Maintain eye contact so I know you’re listening.”

We can break from conventional expectations in conversation.

Because we should be allowed to move, pace, stim, look away, have “loud hands” or anything else that is natural to being in a neurodivergent body.

We should also be allowed to think wildly, expansively, narrowly or in other ways that are natural to living with a neurodivergent brain. This is part of what it means to have cognitive liberty, and it applies to everyone!

Where the focus needs to shift

When you start exploring neurodiversity, whether that’s to help yourself, to support others, or out of general curiosity, you may find a lot of focus on limitations, weaknesses and what you can’t do. What’s perhaps more helpful than limitations and rules is to focus on the strengths and other features that support people to be more of who they already are. Without elevating those strengths to superpowers…that can be just as harmful!

Claire and I have taken this perspective as we write Uncontained. We want to give unconventional or differently-minded coaches permission to focus on all the things you can do, that you’re allowed to do, and in fact, that you may do naturally or better than others. Same for the thinkers you work with.

We’re with you outside this box, too

As neurodivergent coaches, we have a few ideas about what we want to share in the book, based on our experiences. We need your help to develop things further and make this more inclusive and more broadly applicable.

We have burning questions that only you can answer. Such as:

Which strengths, abilities or strategies do you notice in neurodivergent thinkers (including yourself, if applicable!) in the coaching space?

Or,

As a neurodivergent coach, what things do you find particularly challenging or ill-fitting about coaching (or about the coaching industry)?

Making book wishes come true

Our wish for Uncontained is that it changes your perception about “not doing coaching right.” That you don’t have to bend yourself into weird shapes to be effective. You can do things differently. You-ly. And that might make all the difference.

We’d also love to know:

What is your wish for this book?

Please reply and share your thoughts. Or if you have five minutes, fill out our survey!

And if you’d like to go a bit deeper, at the end of the survey, you can tick the box if you’re interested in sharing your thoughts in a 30-minute private and confidential conversation with me about your experiences as a neurodivergent coach.

Your thoughts will help make our book as wildly inclusive and wisely uncontained as it can possibly be. Thank you!

Now onto the book updates…

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This week’s book updates…

We just returned the proofs for Lens Not Label to the publisher on Monday. It was fascinating, wonderful and scary to see our words in printed page layout. What's written is written.

Re-reading it in this form and after some distance, I had two thoughts humming like a duet in my head:

Wow! We wrote a fantastic book.
Hmm. Too late to change that bit.

Personally, it's been SUCH an important lesson in “good enough is great”. I'm sure there will be more learnings ahead 🤔😁😬

As you can tell from what we've shared at the top of this post, Uncontained is very much on the front-burner. As we write, we're reading your survey responses, having conversations, and really thinking through the shape of this book.

The question on our minds currently has to do with how you structure a book that is about having less structure. So that you as a reader feel both held, e.g. in good hands, but also unrestrained. Free to roam. We welcome your thoughts about this, too.