Tools that work with your brain, not against it.
A calm, curated collection of AI tools and cognitive support designed for neurodivergent people. No scoring. No judgment. No hustle.
Design for the brain on a bad day, not the brain on its best day.
What this is
This platform helps you find tools that reduce cognitive friction. It is not a productivity system. It does not tell you how to be "more efficient." It gathers tools that help when thinking is hard, starting is hard, or the space between knowing what to do and doing it feels impossibly wide.
Some of these tools use AI. Some do not. All of them were chosen because they respect your autonomy, avoid judgment, and reduce the number of decisions you have to make — not add more.
How to use this
There is no correct order. Go where your brain takes you.
No tool on this list is perfect. No AI system is unbiased. This platform is a starting point — a way to discover options you might not have found on your own. You are always the authority on what works for you.
Think With Me
These tools help with the space between "I need to do something" and actually knowing what to do. They break things apart, suggest next steps, and estimate time using ranges — not demands.
Executive function challenges are not about laziness or lack of motivation. The difficulty is often in sequencing, initiating, or estimating — the invisible planning work that happens before any visible work begins. These tools externalize that planning.
Task Breakdown
What it does: Takes a single task and splits it into smaller, concrete steps. You control how detailed the breakdown gets.
Why it helps: Large tasks create paralysis not because they are hard, but because the brain cannot find a starting point. Breaking a task into pieces externalizes the sequencing work that executive function usually handles invisibly.
What cognitive load it removes: Sequencing, prioritization, and the anxiety of "where do I even start."
Try it
Steps will appear here.
Tools that do this well
The original neurodivergent task decomposer. Paste a task, adjust the "spiciness" slider for detail level, get steps. No account needed.
URL: goblin.tools
A gentle self-care app. Set small goals, check in on your energy, grow a virtual pet. Avoids guilt — if you miss a day, nothing bad happens.
Time Estimation (Ranges, Not Pressure)
What it does: Suggests how long a task might take using ranges (e.g., "15–40 minutes") rather than exact numbers. Accounts for interruptions, transitions, and the fact that time feels different depending on the day.
Why it helps: Time blindness is not about not caring about time. It is about genuinely not being able to feel how long something takes. Ranges reduce the shame of "wrong" estimates and leave room for reality.
What cognitive load it removes: The mental effort of guessing durations, the anxiety of being wrong, and the cascading stress when one bad estimate ruins an entire day.
Try it
Estimate will appear here.
Tools that do this well
Estimates task time with ranges. Does not judge if a task takes longer than expected. Designed for people who experience time differently.
A visual daily planner designed by and for neurodivergent people. Uses icons, color, and visual timelines. Does not punish schedule changes.
Energy-Based Choices
What it does: Instead of asking "what should I do?", asks "what can I do right now, with the energy I have?" Offers options matched to low, medium, or high energy states.
Why it helps: Many neurodivergent people experience fluctuating energy and capacity. A tool that matches tasks to current energy levels removes the guilt of "not doing enough" and replaces it with "doing what is possible."
What cognitive load it removes: Decision fatigue, self-judgment, and the paralysis of having too many options.
Tools that support this approach
Lets you check in on your energy and set goals that match. Never punishes missed goals. Gentle and forgiving by design.
An ADHD-friendly task timer. Shows one task at a time. Uses visual countdowns and fun themes. Tasks disappear when done — no lingering to-do lists.
"What Do I Do Next?"
What it does: Takes a vague goal or a stuck feeling and turns it into one concrete, achievable next action. Not a full plan. Just the next thing.
Why it helps: When you are overwhelmed, a list of 20 things to do makes it worse. A single, clear next step cuts through the fog. This is the "reduce to one" approach.
What cognitive load it removes: The weight of the full picture, the paralysis of choice, and the guilt of not knowing what to do.
Try it
Your next step will appear here.
Goal Clarifier
What it does: Translates vague or abstract goals into something concrete and observable. "I want to be healthier" becomes "Drink water before lunch three days this week."
Why it helps: Abstract goals are impossible to start because they have no edges. Making them specific does not add pressure — it creates a place to begin.
What cognitive load it removes: Ambiguity, the sense of never doing enough, and the gap between intention and action.
Try it
Clarified goal will appear here.
The interactive demos on this page use built-in examples to show how these tools work. For full AI-powered task breakdown, visit the linked tools directly. The demos are here to give you a feel for what these tools offer before you leave this page.
Discover Tools
These are not "Top 10" lists. These are tools chosen for specific friction points. Many are small, niche, or low-visibility — the kind of tools you find through word of mouth, not algorithms.
Each tool is listed under the friction it reduces, not the category it markets itself in. A note-taking app that helps with reading comprehension is listed under reading support, not "note-taking."
Executive Function & Task Support
For when the hard part is starting, sequencing, or holding multiple steps in mind.
Solves: Task paralysis, sequencing, time estimation, tone checking.
Best for: ADHD, Autism. Anyone who needs tasks broken into steps or wants to check if their email sounds too blunt or too passive.
Why it's here: Built by a neurodivergent developer. No account required. Each tool does one thing. No distractions, no upsells.
Solves: Time blindness, schedule overwhelm, routine building.
Best for: ADHD, Autism. People who need visual structure for their day but find calendar apps overwhelming.
Why it's here: Designed for neurodivergent users from the start. Visual timeline format. Does not punish schedule changes.
Solves: Task overwhelm, difficulty transitioning between tasks, visual noise from long to-do lists.
Best for: ADHD. Shows only one task at a time with a visual countdown. Done tasks vanish.
Why it's here: Deliberately hides the full list. Reduces visual and cognitive clutter.
Solves: Day planning, visual time allocation, balancing work and breaks.
Best for: ADHD, Autism. People who think in visual blocks rather than text lists.
Why it's here: Timeline-based day planner. Clean interface with minimal visual noise.
Solves: Forgetting tasks after dismissing a reminder once.
Best for: ADHD. Reminders that keep returning until you actually do the thing. Not aggressive — just persistent.
Why it's here: Standard reminders rely on you acting the first time. Due respects that you might not.
Solves: Task initiation through body doubling. Difficulty starting work alone.
Best for: ADHD. Pairs you with another person via video for a focus session. You each work on your own task.
Why it's here: Body doubling is a well-documented ADHD support strategy. Camera-off option available.
Writing Without Grammar Anxiety
For when the fear of "doing it wrong" stops you from writing at all.
Solves: Visual clutter while writing, distraction from formatting, focus fragmentation.
Best for: ADHD, Dyslexia. Minimal interface shows only text. Optional syntax highlighting for sentence structure — not errors.
Why it's here: Does not correct you. Does not underline. Lets you write first and worry about editing later.
Solves: Grammar and spelling support without the shame of red underlines everywhere.
Best for: Dyslexia, Dysgraphia. Open-source, privacy-friendly alternative to Grammarly. Less aggressive correction style.
Why it's here: Does not score your writing. Does not suggest you "sound more professional." Corrects errors without judgment.
Solves: The barrier between thinking and writing. Turns speech into text.
Best for: Dysgraphia, ADHD. Speak your thoughts, get a transcript. Useful when typing is the bottleneck, not thinking.
Why it's here: Removes the physical and cognitive burden of typing as the only way to produce text.
Solves: Speech-to-text without cloud dependency. Runs locally on your machine.
Best for: Dysgraphia, anyone who prefers speaking to typing. Privacy-preserving because it runs offline.
Why it's here: Free, open-source, no account needed. Multiple ways to run it (command line, GUI wrappers available).
Solves: Turning rambling, stream-of-consciousness text into organized writing.
Best for: ADHD, Autism. Paste unstructured thoughts, get them reorganized. Useful when you can write freely but cannot structure it.
Why it's here: Does not judge the quality of input. Respects that thinking and organizing are separate skills.
Solves: Tone uncertainty. "Does this email sound okay?"
Best for: Autism, ADHD. Rewrites text in different tones (formal, casual, assertive, etc.) without changing the meaning.
Why it's here: Does not enforce "correct" tone. Offers options. You choose which version fits.
Reading & Comprehension Support
For when text is physically or cognitively difficult to process.
Solves: Reading speed and focus. Bolds the first few letters of each word to guide the eye.
Best for: ADHD, Dyslexia. Reduces the effort of tracking text across a page. Particularly helpful for dense paragraphs.
Why it's here: A simple visual modification that can make a meaningful difference. Not a cure — a friction reducer.
Solves: Losing your place while reading. Uses color gradients across lines to guide eye movement.
Best for: Dyslexia, ADHD. Helps prevent re-reading the same line or skipping lines.
Why it's here: Research-backed approach to reading assistance. Subtle enough to not feel "special."
Solves: Reading difficulty across multiple dimensions — text size, spacing, syllable splitting, text-to-speech, picture dictionary.
Best for: Dyslexia, ESL, anyone who needs adjustable text. Built into tools you may already have.
Why it's here: Free, already available in many Microsoft products, remarkably full-featured for a free tool.
Solves: Converting text to speech so you can listen instead of read.
Best for: Dyslexia, ADHD. Supports PDFs, web pages, documents. Multiple voice options.
Why it's here: Removes reading as a bottleneck. Lets you absorb information through the channel that works better for you.
Solves: Letter confusion and visual processing difficulty. A typeface designed to increase readability for dyslexic readers.
Best for: Dyslexia. Weighted bottoms on letters reduce perceived letter rotation and swapping.
Why it's here: Free, open-source, installable as a system font or used via browser extension. Simple, no-setup solution.
Visual Thinking & Mind Mapping
For when linear text does not match how your thoughts are shaped.
Solves: Need for visual, spatial thinking. Freeform whiteboard with a hand-drawn aesthetic.
Best for: ADHD, Autism. People who think in diagrams, maps, or spatial arrangements rather than lists.
Why it's here: Open-source, no account needed, deliberately imperfect aesthetic reduces pressure to make things "look right."
Solves: Connecting ideas non-linearly. Linked note-taking with a visual graph view showing relationships between notes.
Best for: Autism, ADHD. People who think in connections and patterns rather than folders and hierarchies.
Why it's here: Local-first (your data stays on your device). Highly customizable. No "correct" way to use it.
Solves: Quick visual sketching and diagramming. Simpler than Excalidraw — faster to just draw something.
Best for: Anyone who needs to quickly sketch an idea visually. Very low friction to start.
Why it's here: Zero setup. Open a browser tab, start drawing. No accounts, no complexity.
Solves: Creating diagrams from text. Write simple text, get a flowchart, sequence diagram, or gantt chart.
Best for: Autism, technical thinkers. If drawing feels imprecise but you still think visually, text-to-diagram bridges that gap.
Why it's here: Removes the artistic skill requirement from visual thinking. Supported in GitHub, Notion, Obsidian, and many other tools.
Coding Support Without Gatekeeping
For when you can think the logic but struggle with syntax, memory, or context switching.
Solves: Remembering syntax, understanding unfamiliar code, writing boilerplate. AI-assisted code editor built on VS Code.
Best for: ADHD, Dyslexia. Ask questions in natural language, get code explanations. Reduces working memory load.
Why it's here: Does not judge your skill level. You can ask "what does this do?" without shame. Familiar VS Code interface.
Solves: Setup friction. Browser-based coding environment — no installation, no configuration, no terminal commands to remember.
Best for: ADHD, anyone who loses momentum during setup. Write code and run it immediately in the browser.
Why it's here: Eliminates the "25 steps before you can write one line of code" problem. AI assistant available.
Solves: Writing repetitive code, remembering API patterns, translating intent to syntax.
Best for: ADHD, Dyslexia. Reduces the working memory load of remembering exact syntax and function names.
Why it's here: Suggestions, not enforcement. You can accept, modify, or ignore every suggestion.
Solves: Understanding command-line instructions. Paste a shell command, see each part explained.
Best for: Anyone who encounters terminal commands and needs them decoded. No assumption of prior knowledge.
Why it's here: Single purpose, no account, no judgment. Treats confusion as a normal starting point.
Time Perception & Focus Support
For when time is invisible, slippery, or moves at a pace your brain did not agree to.
Solves: Making time visible. A visual timer that shows remaining time as a shrinking colored disk.
Best for: ADHD, Autism. Turns the abstract concept of "10 minutes" into something you can see.
Why it's here: Does not beep aggressively. Visual, not auditory. Available as a physical device or app.
Solves: Background noise that supports focus rather than distracting. AI-generated functional music.
Best for: ADHD. Designed to support sustained attention. Not entertainment — functional sound.
Why it's here: Different from regular music or white noise. Specifically designed for focus states.
Solves: Sensory environment control. Customizable sound generators — rain, cafe, nature, colored noise, and hundreds more.
Best for: Autism, ADHD. Full control over every frequency. Create your own soundscape. Block distracting sounds.
Why it's here: Deeply customizable. Free. Created by a sound engineer. No social features, no tracking, no accounts required.
Solves: YouTube rabbit holes. Removes recommendations, comments, and other attention-capturing elements.
Best for: ADHD. Lets you watch the video you came for without being pulled into three hours of suggested content.
Why it's here: Simple toggle-based controls. You choose what to hide. Removes temptation rather than relying on willpower.
Solves: Compulsive site checking. Blocks or limits time on specific websites with flexible rules.
Best for: ADHD. Highly configurable — block by time of day, duration, or number of visits. You set the rules.
Why it's here: User-controlled, not punitive. You can always adjust rules. Treats you as the authority on your own needs.
Communication & Social Navigation
For when the unwritten rules of communication are the hardest part.
Solves: Tone uncertainty. Paste a message and see how its tone might be perceived.
Best for: Autism. When you genuinely cannot tell if a message sounds rude, passive-aggressive, or fine.
Why it's here: Does not tell you your tone is "wrong." Shows how it might be read. You decide what to do with that.
Solves: Code-switching between communication registers. Converts between casual and formal writing.
Best for: Autism, anyone who finds shifting between "email voice" and "regular voice" exhausting.
Why it's here: Treats code-switching as a skill that can be supported, not a deficit to be corrected.
How We Choose Tools
Not every tool that markets itself as "helpful" actually helps. Here is how tools are evaluated for inclusion on this platform.
What We Look For
A tool is included if it meets most of these criteria:
- Reduces ambiguity. Clear about what it does, how to use it, and what to expect. No mystery features or hidden complexity.
- Offers step-by-step output. Breaks things into pieces rather than presenting a wall of information. Respects that sequencing is work.
- Uses neutral, non-shaming language. Does not say "you should" or "you failed to" or "most people would." Calm and factual.
- Allows user overrides and edits. You can modify, adjust, or reject its output. It does not insist on being right.
- Does not enforce "correct" tone or style. Offers options, not prescriptions. Does not imply there is one right way to communicate.
- Respects user autonomy. You control the tool, not the other way around. Notifications are optional. Streaks are optional. Everything is optional.
- Low entry barrier. Minimal setup required. Ideally works without an account, or with a simple free tier.
- Single purpose or clear scope. Does one or a few things well. Does not try to become your entire operating system.
What We Reject
A tool is excluded if it does any of the following:
- Scores productivity. Any tool that rates how productive you were, assigns a focus score, or creates performance dashboards.
- Evaluates personality. Tools that assess temperament, working style, or personality traits — especially ones that imply some styles are better than others.
- Ranks human output. Any tool that compares your work to others, assigns quality scores, or creates leaderboards.
- Mimics hiring or performance assessment. Tools that evaluate you the way an employer would, or that train you to perform for evaluative systems.
- Uses guilt or shame as motivation. Streak counters that make you feel bad. "You missed 3 days!" notifications. Disappointment mechanics.
- Requires social conformity. Tools that only work if you behave in a neurotypical way — tools that assume linear thinking, consistent energy, or predictable schedules.
- Has dark patterns. Difficulty canceling, hidden upsells, misleading "free" tiers, or features designed to create dependency rather than support independence.
Very few tools are perfect on every criterion. Some tools listed on this platform have optional features we would otherwise reject — like optional streak counters or optional productivity reports. When this is the case, we note it. The key question is: can you use the tool effectively while ignoring those features?
The Core Test
Every tool on this platform is evaluated against a single question:
Does this tool help you do what you were already trying to do — or does it create a new thing to perform for?
If a tool makes you worry about maintaining a streak, hitting a score, or performing well within the tool itself, it has become part of the problem.
Tools by Profile
Different brains have different friction points. This section maps tools directly to the specific challenges they help with — not to diagnoses as identities, but to the real-world friction that tools can reduce.
These profiles are not diagnostic. Many people experience friction points across multiple categories. Use whatever is useful to you regardless of labels. If a tool in the ADHD section helps and you do not have an ADHD diagnosis, use it. There are no gatekeepers here.
ADHD — Friction Points & Tools
Task Initiation
The friction: Knowing what to do but not being able to start.
This is not procrastination in the conventional sense. It is a genuine difficulty in activating on a task, even when you want to do it and know how. The barrier is neurological, not motivational.
Tools that help
- Goblin.tools — Magic ToDo: Breaks the task down until you find a step small enough to start.
- Focusmate: Body doubling. Another person's presence (even virtual) can provide the activation energy to begin.
- Llama Life: Shows only the current task. Removes the overwhelm of the full list so you only see the one thing to do now.
- Finch: Tiny goals with gentle accountability. Starting with "drink water" or "open the document" counts.
Time Blindness
The friction: Time feels elastic, invisible, or unreliable.
ADHD time blindness is not about "bad time management." It is a genuine perceptual difference in how time is experienced. Five minutes and two hours can feel identical. Deadlines do not feel real until they are immediate.
Tools that help
- Time Timer: Makes time visible as a shrinking colored shape. Turns abstract time into something you can see.
- Tiimo: Visual daily timeline. See your whole day as colored blocks. Changes feel like rearranging, not failing.
- Structured: Timeline-based planner. Fills time with tasks visually, making gaps and overlaps obvious.
- Due: Persistent reminders that come back until addressed. Does not assume you will act on the first alert.
Overwhelm Reduction
The friction: Too many things, too many choices, too much input.
Overwhelm is not about the objective difficulty of tasks. It is about the subjective experience of too many demands competing for attention simultaneously. Reducing the number of visible things is itself a support strategy.
Tools that help
- Llama Life: Hides everything except the current task. The future is invisible until you get there.
- LeechBlock NG: Reduces input by blocking distracting websites during focus times. You set the rules.
- Unhook: Removes YouTube recommendations, comments, and sidebars. See only what you chose to watch.
- MyNoise: Controls auditory input. Replace chaotic sound with chosen sound.
- iA Writer: Removes visual noise from writing. See only text. Nothing else.
Autistic Adults — Friction Points & Tools
Instruction Clarity
The friction: Ambiguous, implicit, or unstructured instructions.
When instructions rely on unstated assumptions ("just use common sense," "make it look nice"), the cognitive work of figuring out what is actually being asked is exhausting. This is not a comprehension problem — it is an ambiguity problem.
Tools that help
- Goblin.tools — Magic ToDo: Converts vague instructions into explicit steps. Reduces ambiguity by making implicit steps visible.
- Goblin.tools — Compiler: Turns unstructured input (meeting notes, rambling emails) into organized, clear text.
- Mermaid: Converts processes into visual flowcharts. When instructions are confusing, diagramming them can clarify structure.
- Obsidian: Build your own knowledge base of procedures, templates, and decoded instructions for reuse.
Social Ambiguity Translation
The friction: Communication that means something other than what it literally says.
"Can you look at this when you get a chance?" often means "please do this now." "That's an interesting approach" sometimes means "I disagree." Decoding this layer of communication is constant, invisible work.
Tools that help
- Goblin.tools — Judge: Analyzes the tone of a message. Helps decode whether a message is friendly, neutral, or might indicate a problem.
- Goblin.tools — Formalizer: Translates between communication registers. If you write naturally and need to shift tone, this does the translation.
Sensory-Friendly Interaction
The friction: Tools that are visually noisy, sonically intrusive, or demand constant attention.
Many tools are designed for neurotypical sensory tolerance. Notifications, animations, bright colors, and complex layouts are not neutral design choices — they are sensory demands.
Tools that help
- MyNoise: Customizable sound generators. Create an auditory environment that works for you, not against you. Control every frequency band.
- iA Writer: Minimal visual interface. No toolbar clutter, no sidebar, no notifications. Just text.
- Excalidraw: Clean, simple whiteboard. No busy UI elements. Hand-drawn style reduces visual rigidity.
- Unhook / DF YouTube: Remove visual noise from YouTube. Configurable — hide exactly the elements that bother you.
- LeechBlock NG: Prevent sensory-overloading sites from being accessible during times you choose.
Dyslexia / Dysgraphia — Friction Points & Tools
Reading Simplification
The friction: Dense text that is physically and cognitively difficult to process.
Reading difficulty is not about intelligence. It is about the way the brain processes visual symbols. Tools that modify how text appears or convert it to audio remove the bottleneck without dumbing anything down.
Tools that help
- Bionic Reading: Bolds the first letters of words to guide the eye. Reduces the effort of tracking across a page.
- BeeLine Reader: Color gradients across text lines. Prevents losing your place between lines.
- Microsoft Immersive Reader: Adjustable text size, spacing, syllable splitting, and built-in text-to-speech. Free in Edge and Office.
- OpenDyslexic: A free font with weighted bottoms that reduces letter confusion. Installable system-wide or via browser extension.
- Natural Reader: Converts text to speech. Listen to documents, web pages, and PDFs instead of reading them.
Writing Without Spelling or Grammar Judgment
The friction: Correction tools that make you feel broken rather than helped.
Most grammar checkers are designed for people who make occasional mistakes, not for people who consistently process language differently. The constant red underlines are not helpful — they are a visual reminder that your brain works differently from what the tool expects.
Tools that help
- LanguageTool: Open-source grammar checker. Less visually aggressive than alternatives. Corrects without scoring.
- Otter.ai: Speak instead of type. Removes the typing bottleneck entirely for first drafts.
- Whisper (OpenAI): Open-source speech-to-text that runs locally. Speak your thoughts, edit the transcript after.
- Goblin.tools — Compiler: Paste messy, unstructured text and get it organized. Does not judge the input quality.
Visual & Audio-First Alternatives
The friction: When text is not the right medium for your brain.
Not everyone thinks in text. When a tool offers only text-based input and output, it excludes people who think in images, diagrams, spatial arrangements, or sound. Good tools offer multiple channels.
Tools that help
- Excalidraw: Think in diagrams instead of text. Draw relationships, flows, and ideas spatially.
- Mermaid: Write minimal text, get a proper diagram. Bridges text and visual without requiring drawing skill.
- Natural Reader / Otter.ai: Input and output through audio rather than text.
- tldraw: Quick visual sketching. When words fail, draw it.
- Obsidian: Graph view shows connections between ideas visually. Notes can include images, audio, and embedded content.
Tools by Field
The same cognitive challenges show up differently depending on what kind of work you are doing. This section maps tools to fields, and shows how one tool can support multiple cognitive styles.
Technical Work
Coding, automation, data analysis, system administration.
Common friction points in technical work
- Setup complexity: Environments, dependencies, configurations — every step before "writing code" is a barrier.
- Context switching: Moving between files, languages, or mental models breaks flow.
- Syntax memory: Remembering exact function names, argument orders, and API patterns across multiple languages.
- Debug fatigue: Long troubleshooting loops that drain focus and working memory.
Tools mapped to these friction points
Ask questions about your codebase in natural language. Get explanations and suggestions without searching documentation. Reduces context-switching and syntax memory load.
Skip all setup. Write code in the browser. Run it immediately. No local environment to configure. Removes the gap between "decide to code" and "write code."
Decode command-line instructions part by part. Reduces ambiguity in terminal commands. Useful when you encounter commands in documentation and need them explained.
Diagram systems, flows, and architectures from text. When you need to understand a system structure, turning it into a visual diagram can clarify relationships that text obscures.
Creative Work
Writing, design, storytelling, music, art.
Common friction points in creative work
- Blank page paralysis: The empty document is intimidating because starting requires choosing from infinite options.
- Inner critic: Every sentence you write gets evaluated before the thought is even finished.
- Structure after flow: You can write freely but organizing what you wrote into something coherent is a different skill.
- Tone and audience: Shifting between "thinking voice" and "public voice" requires constant code-switching.
Tools mapped to these friction points
Removes everything except the text. No formatting toolbar, no word count staring at you, no spell check underlines until you choose to see them. Lets you write first, edit later.
Dump your stream of consciousness. Get it organized. Separates the "thinking" and "structuring" phases so you do not have to do both at once.
Speak your ideas. Edit the transcript. Removes typing as a bottleneck for creative thought. Useful for first drafts, brainstorming, or capturing ideas in motion.
Visual brainstorming. When words are not coming, draw the idea instead. Map story structures, design layouts, or sketch concepts without precision pressure.
Research & Learning
Academic work, self-study, information synthesis, knowledge building.
Common friction points in research
- Reading volume: Research requires processing large amounts of text, which is exhausting for anyone and especially for people with reading-related friction.
- Information capture: Taking notes while reading splits attention. Information slips away if not captured immediately.
- Connecting ideas: Seeing how different sources relate to each other requires holding multiple threads in working memory.
- Writing up findings: Translating understanding into written form is a separate cognitive task from understanding itself.
Tools mapped to these friction points
Link notes to each other. Build a web of connected ideas over time. Graph view shows relationships visually. Local-first, your data stays yours.
Listen to research papers and articles instead of reading them. Supports PDFs. Frees your eyes and reduces reading fatigue during long research sessions.
Modify text appearance to reduce reading effort. Apply to web pages or documents. Particularly useful for long-form academic reading.
Map relationships between concepts visually. When you are trying to understand how ideas connect across sources, a diagram can make patterns visible that text hides.
Many tools appear across multiple fields and profiles. Excalidraw helps ADHD users in creative work and autistic users in research. Goblin.tools serves task initiation for ADHD and instruction clarity for autism. This overlap is intentional — good tools are flexible, and brains do not fit neatly into categories.
Important Disclaimer: Where AI Supports — and Where It Can Harm
AI is a tool, not an authority. This section exists because honesty about limitations is not optional — it is part of respecting the people who use these tools.
If you use any AI tool — including the tools listed on this platform — understanding where they fail and who they can harm is as important as knowing what they can do.
AI Reflects Biases in Training Data
AI systems learn from human-generated data. That data contains every bias, assumption, and cultural norm embedded in the societies that produced it. This means:
- AI may assume "professional" means "neurotypical communication style."
- AI may default to cultural norms that do not reflect your experience.
- AI suggestions about tone, formality, or social interaction carry cultural assumptions about what is "normal."
- AI may perform differently across languages, dialects, and communication styles that were underrepresented in training data.
What AI Should Not Be Used For
Not for Diagnosis
AI cannot diagnose ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or any other condition. It does not know you. It cannot assess your history, context, or lived experience. Diagnosis requires qualified human professionals who understand neurodivergence.
Not for Hiring or Evaluation
AI should not be used to evaluate job candidates, assess employee performance, or determine someone's competence. These systems consistently disadvantage neurodivergent people, non-native speakers, and anyone who communicates differently from the training data.
Not for Judging Intelligence or Worth
No AI system can measure intelligence, potential, or human worth. Writing style, communication patterns, and task completion speed are not proxies for capability. AI that evaluates these things is measuring conformity, not competence.
Not for Replacing Accommodations
AI tools are supplements, not substitutes for workplace accommodations, educational support, or accessibility infrastructure. "Just use AI" is not an acceptable replacement for systemic accessibility.
Productivity Metrics Can Harm Neurodivergent Users
Tools that measure output, track focus time, score "productivity," or compare you to benchmarks are designed around neurotypical norms. Using these tools can create a harmful cycle:
- The tool sets a standard based on average (neurotypical) performance.
- You fall short of that standard — not because you are less capable, but because the standard does not account for how your brain works.
- The tool shows you data that says you are "below average."
- This reinforces shame, anxiety, and the belief that something is wrong with you.
- The shame makes it harder to work, which makes the numbers worse.
This is not a failure of willpower. It is a failure of tool design. That is why this platform explicitly rejects productivity-scoring tools.
Users Must Retain Agency and Control
Good AI tools share a common design principle: the human decides. Specifically:
- You can always override, edit, or reject AI output.
- AI suggestions are presented as options, not instructions.
- Your data belongs to you. You should be able to export, delete, or move it.
- The tool works for you. If it stops helping, you can leave without penalty.
- No tool should create dependency by design — lock-in, irreplaceable data formats, or features that only work inside that tool's ecosystem.
Core Principles
AI is a cognitive assistant, not an authority.
Every AI tool on this platform — and every AI tool you encounter elsewhere — is generating output based on patterns in data. It does not understand you. It does not know your context. It can be useful without being right, and helpful without being trustworthy.
Human accommodations and accessibility remain essential. AI can fill gaps, reduce friction, and provide support — but it cannot replace the structural changes that make workplaces, schools, and systems genuinely accessible. If someone tells you "just use AI instead of asking for accommodations," that is not a solution. That is a refusal dressed up as technology.
This platform does not promise transformation. It does not glorify AI. It is a curated collection of tools that might reduce some friction on some days for some people. That is a modest claim, and it is an honest one.