# Care Under Load

**Designing for neurodivergent women when capacity shifts: late diagnosis, masking, and perimenopause.**

By Luana Micheau · July 2026 · https://www.luana.systems/writing/care-under-load

## Summary

Cognitive accessibility is usually taught as a checklist. For women who masked for decades, then hit perimenopause while still carrying care load, the real design problem is fluctuating executive function inside systems that assume a steady brain.

This essay responds to Stéphanie Walter’s resource roundup ([Neurodiversity and UX](https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/neurodiversity-and-ux-essential-resources-for-cognitive-accessibility/)) without replacing it. It repositions the brief around late diagnosis, masking, estrogen–dopamine load in peri, and care-conscious design.

In the thesis hierarchy, Care Under Load is the living cognition field chapter under Care-Conscious Design (not a peer framework competing with MomOps).

## Low-capacity path

1. Assume capacity fluctuates: design re-entry, plain next steps, and a shorter path.
2. Recruit beyond the stereotype: include late-diagnosed women, carers, and people in peri.
3. Open the Field Archive’s Low-capacity shelf on the essay page.

## Design principles

1. Answer before atmosphere
2. Design for re-entry, not streaks
3. Offer a low-capacity path
4. Externalise state
5. Test with masked and midlife brains
6. Plain language is accessibility

## Related work by the author

- [ADHD Answers](https://github.com/tropicgirlie/adhd-answers)
- [ADHD Perimenopause](https://github.com/tropicgirlie/adhd-perimenopause)
- [Count Me In](https://www.countmein.luana.systems)
- [Care-Conscious Design thesis](https://www.luana.systems/thesis)

## Note

Design research and practice, not medical advice.