Neurodiversity Celebration Week: Your experiences of sport

This week across the UK, charities, organisations and the neurodivergent community are marking Neurodiversity Celebration Week.

The week was designed to champion the one in five people with neurological differences - people who are autistic, dyslexic, dyspraxic or have ADHD or another form of neurodivergence.

As part of that, we asked for your stories of neurodiversity at all levels of sport. We were overwhelmed by the response.

Here are some of the messages we received, with many of you reflecting on how the structure and inclusivity of sport has saved your lives.

Incredible journeys

Beth Jackson: I started off with swimming, I was a fish in water and that was down to my coach playing to my strengths. It was around the time I started to get more involved with netball that I got diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. That was a game changer for me. When I turned 30, a psychiatrist diagnosed me with autism and ADHD.

I always felt like my happy place was on the netball court, being instantly validated every time I got an interception or a turnover. It was drilled into us that "no-one is better than another". I went through all of the levels of netball even playing for England. I'm now working with East Midlands Netball to facilitate workshops on neurodiversity. Sport made me and saved me.

Paul McNeill: I have dyslexia. I found school very hard and left at 15 and went into a shipyard but my dream had always been to work in sport which I thought would never happen. At 22 years old my dad took his own life. I found sport to be a safe zone for me an area that I could find freedom and do something that I was OK at, which of course built my confidence.

I now work as the Head of Football Development for the Scottish FA and can now show that football has the power to change lives and make a difference. It saved my life and I now work so hard to highlight its benefit to people.

Lily Morgan: I was diagnosed with autism and found the label so daunting. I wanted to make a change, starting with my hockey community, a sport in which I love. It has had such a great impact on me.

A month after my diagnosis I created a project with Hockey Wales with aims of educating the hockey community to ensure our space is a comfortable place for all. I was then selected to represent Hockey Wales at the EuroHockey Youth Festival in Germany, later selected to present in front of the EuroHockey General Assembly.

I have since completed many presentations sharing my story and now advocate for all neurodiverse individuals. It's time we stop viewing neurodiversity in a negative way and see it as such a positive. I am so proud to be neurodiverse.

The reality of thinking differently

Mohammed Zafran: I run a sports academy which has helped over 40,000 vulnerable youths to turn away from crime and drugs and get back in education. We have had youths come over the years with parents not realising about mental health, autism, ADHD or neurodivergence.

We noticed there was a stigma attached to these conditions from most communities, who were embarrassed if their family or community found out that their children had any of these conditions.

We did football, cricket and basketball and bought in professional coaches and mentors who could talk about these conditions to educate the parents. Now the same parents volunteer in our academy and call any youngster with any different condition 'a special person.'

Anonymous: I have coached junior teams in cricket, football & hockey. My ADHD has pushed me hard as I've chased dopamine most of my life with some success, but unfortunately this has led me to be very restless and [I have] not made good progression choices with regards to coaching and playing.

Only some members of my family and selected friends/work colleagues know about my diagnosis.

Beth: I have an autistic daughter. She's a swimmer and about to compete at regionals in April. She has a training ethic not seen in many young people and I am beyond proud. It's not easy though. She struggles socially and finds the girl cliques very hard to navigate.

It's such a competitive sport and very lonely at times, not being part of a team. For an autistic girl her swimming is everything, but day-to-day burnout can really affect her performance.

Coaches and other swimmers lack a real understanding of neurodiversity and this needs to change. Sport should be inclusive and welcoming for all. Unfortunately this hasn't been our experience, due to a lack of education.

Anonymous: As an ADHD-er, sport has been a huge part of my life. Hitting an ace or nailing a sweet drop-goal have given me dopamine fixes I haven't found elsewhere. The monotonous routine of practice fed right into my ability to hyper-focus; not just practising but studying too.

I would say changing rooms, particularly rugby club changing rooms, are not neurodiverse places and very much a 'that's what you should expect' which is fine - but the comedown I have from masking lasts just as long as the aches and pains.

Paul Carstairs: I was diagnosed at 46 with ADHD and always excelled in grassroots football. I captained sides and could read the game like no other - had a sense of everything all at once and had vision for a pass. Now I realise that it was always a superpower… of sorts!

The power of community

Danny Ireland: I coached a grassroots squad from under-nine to under-18 that included a number of neurodivergent kids. Football has enabled kids who were not in mainstream schooling to build self awareness and self confidence. One is now at sixth form having achieved good GCSE grades and one now within an apprenticeship job.

Liz: My son has ASD and ADHD. He had never been able to take part in activities until he joined the amazing Fulham Foundation.

He now plays football twice a week, in both the pan-disability and active autism sessions, taking part in monthly tournaments. This has also given him the confidence to play at his special needs school.

Fulham Foundation has changed his life - he is more confident, has made lots of friends, and it has given him a level of independence he didn't have before. You simply cannot underestimate the power of sport for neurodiverse young people. It is life changing.

Ben: Football and sport has, in general, really helped my son come out of his shell socially. He's currently being assessed and has always struggled to make friends at school.

I started coaching a team to get him involved in sport as he really likes being active and it burns off his never-ending energy supply.

It also helps him understand how he can work as a team with others and gets him talking to other kids. His fearless nature, which comes from his neurodiversity, means he throws himself into everything he does.

Read more: 'There are photos of me that make me want to cry'

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.