Jenny Pirks 💙

ND Embroiderer, cat lover, book lover. Hobbies include muting GC/TERFs, feeling angry with Tories and advocating for my ND children. she/her 🌈🌞

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

If you want to see Michelle Mone kicked out of the House of Lords and arrested until she pays the £232,000,000 she owes give this a RT.

If you want Rishi Sunak's involvement in the £14,900,000,000 PPE Fraud he covered up investigated, LIKE.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@BlackDogBlue83 I'm so sorry Adam. I hope you're going to be OK when you can be. I am not spending much time on Twitter, because while I love my book peeps on here, I can't seem to shake off the goose stepping nazi saluting hideousness on here. I am over on Threads and on Blue-sky.

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

Are autism and ADHD neurological conditions – and if they aren’t, what are they?

My time line is full of people saying that their autism or ADHD is down to neurology. It seems to be something which many believe.

Autism and ADHD are not considered to be neurological by doctors or health professionals. If they were, they’d be diagnosed by a neurologist. Neurologists are doctors who specialised in neurological conditions. Things like strokes, or brain injury, or brain tumours. Physical changes to the brain, which cause a wide range of problems for people. Those conditions are diagnosed by brain scans or other biological tests.

Autism and ADHD are diagnosed by psychiatrists and psychologists – specialists in mental health and behaviour. That’s because they are not diagnosed by looking at your brain, and they aren’t defined by a particular issue in the brain. They are defined by a list of behavioural criteria. They are called ‘neurodevelopmental’ but that doesn’t mean the same as neurological. It just means, they are present throughout development. The word 'neurodiversity' also leads people to think that they are neurological, but neurodiversity does not mean the same thing as neurological.

Many people think that autism and ADHD are neurological because there are some studies which have compared groups of autistic people with non-autistic people, which show differences in brain activation or structure. This isn’t the same as a neurological condition. Literally everything that we do is reflected in our brains.

There is a famous set of studies with London taxi drivers who were learning ‘The Knowledge’ – detailed knowledge of London streets. The researchers shows that their brains looked different on scans before and after learning The Knowledge. More than that, they could see structural differences in the brains of those who passed the test of The Knowledge, compared to those who failed. https://t.co/Dpi8080zYQ

This doesn’t mean that learning The Knowledge is neurological. It means that learning and behaviour differences are visible in our brains. The Knowledge is only neurological in the sense that everything we do, think and feel are reflected in our brains.

So what are autism and ADHD then, if they aren’t neurological? They certainly aren’t anyone’s fault. They describe real differences.

They are a description of a cluster of behaviours, not an explanation. They don’t mean that we’ve found out WHY someone is behaving the way that they are. They just give it a name. A very useful name, but a name isn’t an explanation.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@bertsbooks Currently reading The Man in Black by Elly Griffiths and Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers. Both excellent.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@silverpebble People are leaving twitter because of the hideous politics etc. The kind of people who follow you are likely to not like the right wing political stuff, so perhaps set up on Blue-sky or Threads? I am not using Twitter as much now.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@StJosephCMAT But is it true you have removed all your SEND provision and are forcing parents of SEND children to withdraw them from your schools due to no support? Not very Christian is it?

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@KaeleyT Wow. I'm nor even that tall, but am often asked for help by people like this and always do. I mean why would you not? There isn't a reason not to.

[Eleanor Margolis @EleanorMargolis]

don’t come on here anymore, and don’t think this post will be seen thru all the crypto bots and Elmo’s burner accounts. But I’ve lost my engagement ring (which I made) somewhere in S London. Long shot of all long shots: has anyone seen it? RT this to make me believe in something

[researchdoom 💙 @bananaintherama]

@Otto_English She has a business, pays herself the minimum salary not to pay tax, then uses her company for other expenses. Then claims to earn £12,500pa. Like those farmers wearing expensive clothes at the protests who also claimed to live on minimum wages. Schools offer bursaries but…

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@Otto_English Easy. It's a lie and there are undeclared off-shore accounts?

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@BexBookaholic A library with a coffee machine and some nice coffee beans and a copy chair for reading in.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@ellygriffiths Ah. I hadn't heard. He was such a clever, funny writer. I have read so many of his over the years.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@LauraPAuthor I was not but I am now! Thank you

[Emma Mitchell 💙 @silverpebble]

Curious tale of a Liberty design...

Elder daughter's VERY into sewing atm so I've hit eBay for Liberty remnants.
The florals are 💯obvs,but this design👇is...unusual

A meadow with jaunty dancing mice & ducks,birdies, mushrooms, cow parsley, foxgloves...

So far so idyllic...
🧵

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@worldreads The Mars House

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@PeteOlusoga The opposite of a banana could be a banana? The kind we eat mostly now is a mutation that was cloned. The green seeded one is what they were like before.

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

3 things I am looking forward to in 2025... 😍

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

Merry Christmas folks

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

@DzintraSullivan The shattered sausage roll. Obviously a true crime pod

[Jenny Pirks 💙 @JellyJen1]

Recommendation to crime/cozy crime fans. Curtain Call to Murder by Julian Clary. Absolutely brilliant. Brilliantly observed characters and just the right levels of bitchiness to keep you chuckling. I love it. @JulianClary