Michael Woods (He/Him)
March 3, 2025
Sport is for Every Body Season 1
-
Episode
11

Navigating Neurodivergence in Elite Sport with Caragh McMurtry

In this episode of 'The Sport is for Everybody' podcast, Michael Woods speaks with Caragh McMurtry, a former Olympic rower and founder of Neurodiverse Sport.

Live Transcript

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Show Notes

🎬IN THIS EPISODE🎬

In this episode of 'The Sport is for Everybody' podcast, Michael Woods speaks with Caragh McMurtry, a former Olympic rower and founder of Neurodiverse Sport.

🎙️ About our guest

Caragh is a former Olympic rower. Herjourney through sport has been rocky to say the least. Caragh says sport savedher as a youth and continues to be her greatest self-management tool, but someof her worst experiences have also been born from high performance sport and aculture that is far from inclusive. These experiences has driven her to create changethrough her organisation Neurodiverse sport.

🔎 Highlights

Caragh shares her experiences as an autistic athlete, detailing the challenges of misdiagnosis and the lack of inclusivity in high-performance sports environments. She discusses her journey from youth sport to the Olympics and outlines the essential work her organization is doing to foster inclusivity in sports.

The conversation also touches on her life as a new mother and offers insightful inclusion tips. The episode encapsulates her advocacy for equity, the importance of lived experience in driving change, and the pressing need for adaptable sports environments.

00:00 Welcome

01:35 Introduction

01:56 Kara's Early Sporting Journey

03:58 Discovering Rowing

07:57 Challenges and Triumphs in Rowing

13:27 Misdiagnosis and Medication

16:53 High Performance Environment Issues

20:54 Starting Neurodiverse Sport

26:55 Understanding Neurodiversity

32:41 Examples of Sensory Sensitivities in Sports

35:33 Personal Struggles and Delegation

38:23 Importance of Lived Experience

53:23 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

🔗 Links

Website: https://www.neurodiversesport.com/

Neurodiverse Sport on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neurodiverse-sport/

Caragh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caragh-mcmurtry-oly/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@neurodiversesport

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neurodiversesport/

Social Model of Inclusion Explainer: https://youtu.be/xr4Z4Ox-dLo

Double Empathy Problem: Milton’s ‘double Empathy Problem’: A Summary for Non-academics - Reframing Autism

Gravel cycling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravel_cycling

👍 Follow ISD

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LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/12952451⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠https://youtu.be/Wt_2snMkr30

📃 Resources

Below is a list of resources related to today's episode plus some of the tools we use. If you think these tools can help you too, please check them out. If you make a purchase via the links below ISD earns a small commission or other benefit. This supports ISD to keep helping inclusion happen in sport.

Descript: We use Descript to edit this podcast (and other media content) including generating transcripts, adding captions to ensure accessibility and to generally make it look and sound awesome for you. Check out Descript for yourself here.

UserWay: We use UserWay to ensure our web and digital assets are accessible for everyone. (You can see it in action on the ISD website). Check out UserWay for yourself here.

ConvertKit: We use convertKit to email the ISD community including sending out our weekly inclusion tips. Check out ConvertKit here.

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