Jessica Narowlansky

In my work with parents, I see how the wounds of verbal abuse echo in the nervous system long well into adulthood. Parenting through this legacy means becoming the container they never had — breaking cycles once thought unbreakable. Inspired by the parents I work with, this piece explores how the stories we inherit and the determination that they can be rewritten.

As a psychotherapist working with young people, I often hear stories that quietly upend what we think education asks of them. Many are carrying far more than we realise—navigating war, instability, trauma—while being expected to sit standardised exams as if the world around them were neutral. This piece is my attempt to reflect on that contradiction, and to ask, however rhetorically: can our exam systems ever truly be fit for the real world?

The recent appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services represents a grave threat to the dignity and safety of neurodivergent individuals. With a long record of promoting pseudoscience and dehumanising rhetoric about autism, Kennedy now wields power over the very communities he has misrepresented for years. This post highlights the dangers of his influence and calls for urgent action to defend truth, equity, and public trust.