About This Project

The care system was built for round holes. Not everyone is a round peg.

I'm a master's student in dementia studies, and my dissertation is focused on a question that I think is long overdue: what does good care look like for people who are living with dementia and are also neurodivergent?

The vast majority of dementia care interventions (aromatherapy, tactile memory boxes, group music sessions, sensory gardens) are built on assumptions about what people find comforting and connecting. Those assumptions are largely neurotypical ones. They work for many people. But they don't work for everyone.

For people who are autistic, have ADHD, or experience sensory processing differences, these same interventions can be overwhelming, distressing, or simply irrelevant. And yet the evidence base for alternatives is thin. The research hasn't caught up with the reality.

This blog is where I think out loud. It's where I share what I'm finding: the gaps, the emerging evidence, the practice examples that give me hope, as I work through my dissertation. I write for carers, for researchers, for families, and for anyone who has ever felt that the care system wasn't quite designed with them or their loved one in mind.

The title felt right from the start. A square peg in a round home. Because that's what we're talking about: people who have always been square pegs, now living in environments that were designed for round holes. It's time to start making different shapes.