Misunderstood, Undiagnosed, and Unwell: A Neurodivergent Lens on What Is Really Driving Eating Disorders
Tracks
Marquis - In-Person Only
| Monday, September 28, 2026 |
| 10:50 AM - 11:20 AM |
| Marquis Room |
Overview
Natasha Lane, Eating And Feeding
Key Learnings
1. Understand how dominant cultural and clinical narratives that centre weight and thinness shape the way eating disorders are interpreted, and why this narrow framing can prevent exploration of the broader experiences influencing behaviour.
2. Recognise how neurodivergent perspectives challenge traditional explanations of eating disorders by highlighting the role of safety, control, identity, and lived experience rather than appearance alone.
3. Identify practical ways to approach conversations about eating disorders that create space for people to describe the pressures, experiences, and meanings influencing their relationship with food.
Speaker
Ms Natasha Lane
Dietitian
Eating And Feeding
Misunderstood, Undiagnosed, and Unwell: A Neurodivergent Lens on What Is Really Driving Eating Disorders
Presentation Overview
It is widely accepted that eating disorders are rooted in preoccupation with weight and shape. Yet the voices of neurodivergent people tell a different story: puberty driving body changes that feel abrupt and destabilising, the mismatch between gender identity and physical development, trauma that lives in the body and self-harm of a different kind, and growing up without a diagnosis, being chronically misunderstood, and trying to find a tribe in all the wrong places.
Food becomes the arena. The struggle is about safety and control.
Current eating disorder interventions are built on the premise that a desire for thinness is the primary driver to target, with no consideration of deeper factors. This overlooks the role of identity instability, rapid developmental change, trauma, and chronic invalidation. For neurodivergent people, this misinterpretation becomes a barrier to effective eating disorder treatment, contributes to medical mistrust, and reinforces the experience of being fundamentally misunderstood.
This presentation explores eating disorders as functional responses to the developmental, identity, and relational pressures experienced by many neurodivergent people. It offers an alternative lens for understanding eating disorders in neurodivergent lives and practical ways to engage in meaningful conversations that move beyond weight and shape.
Attendees will leave with:
• An understanding of how dominant narratives about weight and shape influence the interpretation of eating disorders
• Recognition of the deeper drivers explained through a neurodivergent lens
• Practical ways to approach conversations so those drivers can be recognised
Food becomes the arena. The struggle is about safety and control.
Current eating disorder interventions are built on the premise that a desire for thinness is the primary driver to target, with no consideration of deeper factors. This overlooks the role of identity instability, rapid developmental change, trauma, and chronic invalidation. For neurodivergent people, this misinterpretation becomes a barrier to effective eating disorder treatment, contributes to medical mistrust, and reinforces the experience of being fundamentally misunderstood.
This presentation explores eating disorders as functional responses to the developmental, identity, and relational pressures experienced by many neurodivergent people. It offers an alternative lens for understanding eating disorders in neurodivergent lives and practical ways to engage in meaningful conversations that move beyond weight and shape.
Attendees will leave with:
• An understanding of how dominant narratives about weight and shape influence the interpretation of eating disorders
• Recognition of the deeper drivers explained through a neurodivergent lens
• Practical ways to approach conversations so those drivers can be recognised
Biography
Natasha is a multi-neurodivergent dietitian and feeding therapist (Autistic and ADHD) whose work is shaped by both professional training and lived experience. She is a passionate advocate for affirming healthcare for neurodivergent people, particularly in the areas of eating, food, and sensory differences. Natasha supports people across the lifespan to navigate food in ways that feel realistic, sustainable, and aligned with their needs rather than neuro-normative expectations. Her adult autism diagnosis was a deeply validating experience that continues to inform her clinical work and advocacy. Natasha is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and an ANZAED-credentialed eating disorder treatment provider.
