Quick bio

Mark Kennedy writes about late-diagnosed autism and ADHD, their intersecton with early-childhood trauma; sobriety and spirituality; and what it means to matter, while still figuring it all out.

Why Mark is writing…

Mark spent 30 years teaching adjudicated teens — young people the world had largely written off. He was, in many ways, teaching versions of himself he didn’t yet understand. Now retired, he has turned his considerable curiosity inward, writing a memoir that explores late-identified neurodivergence and the life that comes after. In his other writing projects, Mark probes early childhood trauma, outgrowing the need to please others, and why mattering has more value than belonging.

After retirement, Kennedy was formally diagnosed with autism and ADHD (AuDHD) after decades of wondering. He now educates, writes, and speaks to adults about the experience of living an entire life before knowing who you actually are — and the strange, freeing gift of finding out. His work explores such themes as Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), interoception, masking, Pervasive Demand Avoidance (PDA), alexithymia, Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), hyperfocus, and the courage it takes to unmask in the second half of life.

Although by his own admission Mark hates rejection, he writes to better understand himself, life, and maybe a bit about others.