Neurodivergence

Teaching (and assessing) neurodivergence has become an important part of my life. I've been in the field as a professional for about 30 years and then had an autistic son (after training). Earlier this year, I realized that I, too, was neurodivergent (empath with sensory processing differences)! 

As I've become immersed in the neurodiversity affirming movement, I've realized several things, the most important being to listen and give crediblity to neurodivergent voices (yes, over the "professionals"!). I'm not autistic and I can say with 100% certainty that an autistic person with one day of lived experience knows more about autism than I will ever know with all my training!

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An additional important piece of this paradigm is the realization that there is nothing broken that needs fixing. These are not disorders, but simply neurotype variations. The issues are that those with non-normative neurotypes are not in their optimal environment which is created for neurotypical or neuro-normative beings. And the solution is not to make ND individuals conform to the neurotypical standard, but accept with kindness and compassion that the environment should be made more accessible. Ideally, acceptance of neurotypes should be taught in school instead of expecting ND children to conform to neurotypical standards which are traumatizing and cause emotional harm (e.g. ABA or "social skills" training which teaches ND children to mask).

The programs and app mentioned below were created from my heart to yours, to help address this imbalance in our society. 🤍

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I've also created a non-profit foundation, Hug the World, to help provide resources to neurodivergent individuals for assessment, therapy, or other resources. Please click below to find out more (the site will be live in August 2024).