Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Barriers, Bias, and Belonging (Pt. 2 of 3)

50th Annual Joseph Trachtman Lecture

• Understanding Neurodiversity: Rethinking What’s ‘Normal (Pt. 1 of 3) 
• Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Barriers, Bias, and Belonging (Pt. 2 of 3) — this podcast
• How to Build Inclusive Workplaces: Practical Strategies for Neurodiversity and Culture Change (Pt. 3 of 3) — May 5

“Neurodiversity in the Workplace: Barriers, Bias, and Belonging,” that is the subject of today’s ACTEC Trust and Estate Talk.

I’m ACTEC Fellow Peter Gordon of Wilmington, Delaware. I’m a Past President of the College and had the privilege of selecting the 2026 Annual Joseph Trachtman lecturer.

Building on the foundation of part one, our speaker, Haley Moss, now turns to the workplace, where neurodiversity is increasingly part of the conversation, but not always fully understood. Haley explores the gap between intention and impact, highlighting the barriers, biases, and missed opportunities that shape the experiences of neurodivergent professionals.

Welcome Haley.

Neurodivergence in the Workplace: Why This Conversation Matters

Haley Moss:  I do want to shift gears for a moment to talk about employment because we are talking a lot about adults. We talk about the people we know, the people we love, and the people we work with, if not even ourselves, is that neurodivergence for adults and in the workforce is something that people get very excited about talking about now. For the last decade or so, it has been forefront in my life and even in the circles that I’ve been in.

It turns out that a lot of the major tech companies have very much jumped on board with hiring autistic and neurodivergent people. They realized there was an untapped talent pool that had a lot to offer. And what they were learning when they were hiring us is that they were having people who were loyal, that they were productive. That is a double-edged sword because we do not want to burn out, ladies and gentlemen,e do not want to burn people out. We are not robots, we are still human beings. And also what was happening is they were innovating, creating fixes, saving lots of money, and doing all sorts of really cool stuff.

It also turns out that when disability inclusion is a part of that conversation, we are making more money. The shareholders are turning higher profits, the companies are generating more revenue –verybody is happy. A lot of the time we think of disability and neurodiversity inclusion as this feel-good-in-your-heart thing that happens, that it’s a value thing, it’s a moral thing. We just have that warm, fuzzy feeling. I, too, get that warm, fuzzy feeling now and then.

So I am a native Floridian; I don’t know how many of you are also Floridians or Southerners, but I do know, I believe about two blocks away from here, we have a Publix grocery store. As a Floridian, I love Publix. And I promise I’m going somewhere with this. What happens at Publix is Publix is awesome at disability inclusion. They have always been the ones that are hiring the cashiers with Down syndrome, the people who you can tell have some form of intellectual or developmental disability. This is a known fact in my community, and at my local Publix, my favorite cashier has Down syndrome. I see him every single week when I am home, and I get handshakes and hugs and fist bumps no matter what. He is super excited to see me, I’m excited to see him, and I feel good about this decision of going there as opposed to the other grocery store down the road, right? I don’t have any quantifiable data to tell you why I feel good about this, but I do know that I feel awesome knowing that this person is being supported in my local community. They’re receiving a fair wage for the job that they’re doing. They have that sense of purpose and independence. That all is wonderful; that is that warm, fuzzy feeling, that favorable opinion we have that we’re thinking about too.

And also, at least for us in our profession, something that has happened is people don’t necessarily trust us as lawyers, especially the lawyers; people think we’re the villains, unfortunately. But when we are able to make those inroads in our community and really show up and support other members of our communities — people trust us, people like us. Everybody wins here. We are giving people a sense of purpose and independence while also bolstering our own reputation. Everybody has a win-win in the business case, the moral case, when it comes to inclusion.

The Business Case for Neurodiversity and Inclusion

But it’s not all sunshine and roses when we think about disability and neurodivergence in the workplace. A lot of us are unemployed or underemployed. And this is especially true for autistic people who do make it through college and post-secondary education, that these rates are the highest I’ve seen quoted, but they can be anywhere lower, they can be higher. We don’t really know exactly. But what happens with a lot of us isn’t necessarily unemployment the way that we think of. It’s often this underemployment situation that happens where your skill sets and qualifications are not matching the jobs that you are being offered, receiving, and taking.

Typically, when I talk about underemployment, we think of something very egregious. We think of, perhaps, someone who has a PhD in physics. I pick physics because I am envious of the science autistic people. There is a huge stereotype that we’re very good at science, that we’re all going to be savants in the sciences and STEM fields, and I, unfortunately, am not. So, we’re going to take our PhD in physics guy over here, and we’re going to place him in a clothing store folding shirts. Obviously, he should be teaching at a university. He should be solving these great scientific problems of tomorrow, as a physicist probably does. However, he’s facing so many barriers to even get in the door into becoming that brilliant physicist that he is qualified to be, that he is folding shirts at a store at the mall.

Underemployment and Barriers for Neurodivergent Professionals

That is usually what people think of in underemployment. But underemployment can also look a lot more subtle than that. It might be one of us, and I think of a colleague of mine who is also an attorney. She has been at a big firm since graduation, and she’s a staff attorney. She wanted to be on the partner track, like so many of our classmates are, because a lot of my classmates are at that point in our careers where they are making partner, and she never even got to the associate level. She was a top performer. She was very active in pro bono work. She was doing all sorts of really great things. And I remember talking to her at one point, going, “what’s going on?” Because she was very frustrated that she wasn’t getting those opportunities for advancement, despite being interested, but she was neurodivergent. And there was some kind of disconnect there.

Then I asked her, have you thought about applying somewhere else? Because obviously you have this degree, you have an LLM, you’re very qualified, you’re billing, you’re doing everything you’re supposed to be doing. And she goes, no. And I say, why wouldn’t you want to have that opportunity for advancement? And she goes, because these are the people who accepted me. Because I had disclosed at every point in my job search, and these are the people that accepted me for who I was and made me feel comfortable.

And I thought that was a really powerful thing to think about when she said that. Because what it kind of put in my brain was it maybe isn’t always about the accolades, it isn’t about that career advancement, but really it is about feeling safe and welcomed. But also, that puts the onus on these organizations to go beyond that fuzzy feeling and really investing and creating opportunities that all of us deserve if we’re qualified and able to take them on.

When we think about who is employed and paid for the work that they’re doing, usually we think of that people aren’t able to get jobs getting past the interview stage and this whole song and dance of performing these socially acceptable functions and giving the correct answers like a bad first date. We’re thinking that we are at that point, but that’s really not why a bunch of us are unemployed or underemployed. It can be a combination of different factors. We could be here all day long talking about the different policy considerations that go into employment and getting to be a part of our society, whether it’s dealing with Social Security Benefits, possibly losing benefits or healthcare coverage. We can be here all day long, whether there’s accessible transportation and public transit. There are so many things that go into whether or not someone is employed and also things like job coaching and vocational rehab services, if that’s something that someone is taking advantage of or needs.

I know, for instance, job coaching is something that comes up a lot in intellectual and developmental disability circles and I know if I wanted to be at a big firm, I don’t think a job coach exactly is prepared to do the duties of an associate attorney or a partner-level attorney. I think that’s a pretty safe assumption to make. But a lot of what we see is actually more like this. A lot of our different stigmas, ideas, microaggressions and what we think about neurodivergent people is really what holds us back.

Psychological Safety vs Career Advancement in the Workplace

So up here I have three thought bubbles of things that people say that are pretty well meaning, but don’t land the way that you hope, that intent does not equal impact. I have heard every single one of these things’ multiple times over. I would like to be collecting a disability tax on every single time I hear the equivalent of we’re all on the spectrum or I never would have known if you didn’t tell me. That is my number one on the bingo card. And there’s another fan favorite here that if we’re playing bingo, is the free space. If you are someone who has a learning disability, ADHD or is neurodivergent, you will probably be very familiar with this of “just try harder, apply yourself.” That is the free space on neurodivergent bingo of things that people say to you. But if I collected my tax for every time I’ve heard one of these or “just try harder” or “just apply yourself,” I would be retired. Unfortunately, I do not get to collect my nickel every single time that happens, so I am not retired at 31.

But I do want to unpack some of this for just a moment, because when we do think about these different stigmas and microaggressions and well-meaning comments that don’t land the way that you’re hoping they do, it’s not always that they necessarily hurt, it just shows we have a lot of work to do.

The first one I think is the most interesting of the everybody’s a little autistic, we’re all on the spectrum. Usually, I get this when I describe something that’s very difficult for me, because it is something that feels awfully familiar or relatable. Case in point, I am not an organized person. Thankfully, you all do not have to come upstairs to visit my hotel room because it always looks like a tornado ripped through it, as does my apartment. And I wish I was an organized person, and I am someone who gets very overwhelmed when it comes to cleaning my space, that there are so many steps involved in cleaning, and I live in a one-bedroom apartment, that it’s not that I don’t want to keep it clean, because my brain does not function well in chaos, I struggle to keep it clean, because there are a lot of steps involved in keeping it clean. I get overwhelmed pulling out all the different supplies, figuring out what room to start in, and then I’m just like, “this is too much for me, oh my God”. But then people will interpret that as I don’t want to clean my house. And then whenever I say cleaning is hard or I don’t want to clean, someone will just be like, “same girl, same, we’re all on the spectrum.” Well, maybe that’s not how it works, it’s why this is hard for me. That is what differentiates and rises to that level of disability and my disability impacting this, more so than we’re just all putting off something we don’t find very enjoyable.

But there is a little bit of truth to this to a sense, and I don’t think a lot of people who say we’re all on the spectrum are quite there yet. I have this kind of nagging belief, because we have already talked about how normal probably doesn’t exist and what is normal. I do think in a way that does kind of beg the question of what does it really mean to be neurotypical, what does it really mean to be neurodivergent? Are we all somehow failing in some way, shape, or form at meeting this arbitrary social standard of what we should be doing, how we should be communicating, and how we should be existing? If that is true, then perhaps maybe we all are somewhere on this particular spectrum.

Microaggressions and Misconceptions About Neurodivergence

My other favorite thing that people like to say is why don’t you get that, it’s so easy. This comes back to the idea that we all have different strengths and we all have weaknesses. And I say that in particular because the things that are hard for me are probably very easy for other people. I am going to ask a very simple question, and I’m assuming most of you probably drive. You probably have a driver’s license; you have a car. I feel that’s a safe assumption. Yes? Oh wow, you guys are very active. I like that you all verbally say that, thank you.

Anyway, I have a driver’s license, contrary to popular belief, but driving gives me more anxiety than it possibly should. That I got my driver’s license at 17, I was brave, I took the test, I wanted that independence, and I realized, oh my God, I am in over my head. This is too much of a responsibility, and my poor little pea brain cannot quite figure out the perfect time to turn the wheel to park the car inside of the lines. It just never clicked for me. It clicked just well enough when I took the driver’s test, which I equate to having the performance of a lifetime at the Olympics, and that’s when you win the gold medal.

So, I won the gold medal at driving when I took the test, and that’s about it. I have fallen down in every other practice, but I got it when it counted, which is truly a miracle. I still don’t know how that happened. I put passing the driver’s test almost as high as passing the bar exam in terms of how difficult it was for me. And I thankfully got both of those down on the first attempt but oh my God, the driver’s test, I still am like, how did they let me? How did I hit on the day that it counted?

But I say this and people go, it’s not that hard. Have you been to a parking lot? Have you seen how many people are probably even parked somewhere in this — there’s probably, I think there’s a parking garage here. I think that’s a safe guess. And whatever’s in that parking garage, I’m sure there are plenty of people parked in there right now, and there are not five billion accidents in the parking garage of this hotel. I would assume that is probably the case. And I would be like, yeah, but it just doesn’t quite click for me. And usually people are like, but it’s so easy. Look how many people do it. Every time you go anywhere, there’s not five accidents in the parking lot. Fair.

Instead of kind of making me feel guilty and bad and self-conscious about this, really recognizing that it’s hard because of that spatial perception thing, and maybe the way that I was taught did not click with me, was more important. I actually was at a conference a year and a half ago in D.C. and I was telling this exact same story about driving and my driving woes, because it’s something that’s very real for me. And one of the committee members comes up to me after my talk and goes, when is your flight home? And I go, not for another couple hours. He’s like, do you have 45 minutes? And I’m like, okay. He’s like, we’re going to the parking garage and you’re going to learn how to park today. And I just sit there and I go, dude, you barely know me. What if I crash your car? And he’s like, don’t worry about it. You’re going to be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen. Cars are replaceable. I have insurance. You’re good. And I’m just like, this is a bad idea. This is a bad idea.

I was wrong, I was wrong. I learned more in that 45 minutes with this guy, this stranger to me essentially, than I had learned in 15 years. And I asked him, how come that made sense when you taught me? He goes, well, you know, I taught plenty of neurodivergent teens how to drive because I worked in vocational rehab and job coaching and all this stuff for many, many years and recognized it’s making it make sense and breaking it down to a different level. So, you’re going to understand it and gain that confidence. And once you figure out what feels right, then you can practice and then it just takes time.

Unfortunately, I have not had time to practice since then. So, my skills are yet again, not exactly great. But thinking about the fact that this person realized it’s not that you don’t understand it or it’s so easy was a lot more validating than when I, once upon a time when I got to interview Temple Grandin and asked her about driving. And she said, go practice in a wide-open field, which I thought was great advice, except I live in South Florida and the closest thing to a wide-open field we have is called the Everglades. I thanked Dr. Grandin profusely, don’t worry. I still know when to mind my manners and when to turn on the neurotypical social skills just enough. I wasn’t ready to burst your bubble on the Everglades yet.

Different Brains, Different Strengths: Rethinking “Easy”

But that really brings me to this other very interesting thing that happens with neurodivergence because I am very open about my story. I disclose a lot. And then there’s this thing people say, and it feels, or at least should feel like a compliment when people go, “I never would have known if you didn’t tell me.” And this one I think is very particularly interesting is that we have this assumption of what neurodivergence looks and sounds and feels like. And usually this comes with a lot of stereotyping. We think of children; we usually think of boys who are diagnosed more often than girls. We think of somebody who’s very loud, very much moving all over the place, hands flapping, things going on. We have this very particular view. Usually, we think of them obsessed with something in the sciences, or we think of something like being obsessed with trains. Trains is the big autism stereotype, and I too appreciate a good train. Thank you for laughing as I attempt to introduce you all to our version of our autistic culture.

And unfortunately, I am not someone who meets all these stereotypes, right? I’m female, I’m an adult, I went to law school, I did creative stuff, I am reasonably sociable. I would say that I am an introvert who is able to be a good performer because once upon a time I was in theater, so I know how to talk and act and do things on stage. And I also just get drained really fast and socialize, and I’m just, nope, I’m done. But I also am very much, in my interests, feel very quote-unquote normal to some people, depending on what part of the range of interests they catch me with; that I could be interested in the fashion and the shopping and all the fun stuff like that, or I could be talking to you about my Pokémon card collection, right?

And when people say I never would have known if you didn’t tell me, they don’t realize how much work I’m putting in to appear socially competent, that I have had to learn when to attempt to be looking at you or staring at your nose, which at least will fool you that I’m making eye contact with you. That is the best thing I’ve ever learned. I can’t really look people in the eyes, it really just means I can’t listen to what you’re saying because I’m so focused on it, and then I’m scared I’m staring into your soul, and then you’re going to think that I’m really creepy, and that’s not the intention whatsoever. So, if you have ever made too much of a direct eye contact or someone has ever made too much of a direct eye contact with you, you probably know exactly what that feels like, and I am very scared to do that. I am so socially conscious because I know what it is like to be different and feel like I am inherently an awkward human being.

But what happens when people say I never would have known, they also don’t realize how much work is going on there, and also this idea in the neurodivergent world known as masking or camouflaging, that essentially you take on a persona that feels neurotypical in order to avoid adverse social consequences, or you might be camouflaging and suppressing certain behavior to appear more neurotypical. This is a survival skill more than anything that a lot of us learn it to avoid bullying in school, harassment, discrimination, potential adverse things such as our personal safety being at risk in some cases because neurodivergent women are at higher rates of abuse, assault, all sorts of things that are probably not the subject for today, but just things that kind of come to mind.

Challenging Stereotypes About Neurodivergence

And all of this has roots in this idea of ableism. When we think about ableism, we’re really thinking about our different prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination against people with disabilities, and neurodivergence in particular, this idea that you need to be fixed to be normal or more neurotypical, when that, again, is the biggest lie we’ve been sold; that we are failed versions of normal, that we are broken people essentially, that we’re not broken, we’re just different.

I like to describe being neurodivergent a lot like being a cat. And when you think about cats and dogs, you know they have very different personalities and traits than one another. That I am a dog person, but I am a self-described cat. And when I think about my dog, because I’ve had dogs my whole life, my dogs have always been very bouncy, very much in need of attention, very playful, very snuggly. They want to be around you, they want you to love them, they want to be your best friend.

Dogs are a lot of fun. They have a lot more energy, as opposed to your cat. Your cat will let you know when they want to hang out with you. They will walk away when they’re done. They are over you; they let you know if they want food. They probably will not snuggle up with you at night the way your dog might. And it doesn’t mean that your cat is terrible at being a dog. It means that your cat is simply a cat. And there are people who love cats, and there are people who love dogs. There are also people who love all of them, which is also super cool and amazing. It doesn’t mean that they fail, or necessarily even just simplifying it, they’re all mammals, or they all have four legs. It’s just a different experience. It’s not a wrong experience, it’s just different.

Understanding Ableism and Its Impact

And when we think about ableism, just a little bit too, I did want to give a more formal definition for those who are newer to these concepts, as well as that we’re really thinking about this from a rights-based perspective, and not just necessarily that we need to fix people, but really, in our culture, it’s very much baked in. Sometimes it can be in the language that we’re using, the beliefs that we have about disability. So, when we think about the beliefs, usually what happens is people tend to treat me like a little kid, that my competence is not always presumed on the basis of disability, that people love to say things to me like, oh my gosh, you’re so brave. And I’m sitting there, I am not brave. I am, again, a native Floridian, and I am scared of everything that moves. I am scared. I saw the smallest bug the other day, and I was, nope, I am done. I am a scaredy-cat, please hold me, please get me away from this, I am done. But then I was like, you know what, I going to put on my big girl pants, and I going to get a shoe and kill it. And that was the bravest I think I’ve ever been. That’s growth, y’all. I mean, it took a long time for me to get to the point of I can get rid of the bugs, but I have made it. That is bravery, not necessarily being up here and sharing a story, at least to me, and just existing when I don’t know any other way.

And also, people can somehow question that competence. They like to ask questions like, how many times did you take the bar? Did you get accommodations? Did you somehow have some easier road that we just gave you extra privileges because disability perks? The only place that having a disability can be helpful is going to Disney World, because if you are eligible for accessibility services, it does make life an awful lot easier to navigate the parks, but that is an accommodation. And in the old days, it was very fun, because it meant all my friends wanted to go with me, because it applied to your entire party. But we don’t really get perks for existing, and people think that we do every once in a while, when people treat us differently.

That we also have how people learn to treat us, which can be that infantilization and treating us like little kids. But a big thing that happens is we’re often not at that decision-making table. That there’s an old saying in the disability rights community of “nothing about us without us.” And that is also the slogan of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network today, and one of their big catchphrases. But when we think about this nothing about us without us principle, is there are so many times that decisions are made on behalf of people with disabilities, and neurodivergent people without consulting us in what we want.

So, I know something that I got to hear a couple rumblings about was this idea of guardianship and conservatorship and also supported decision-making as kind of that less formal, less restrictive alternative. I have served on committees trying to get SDM laws in the books. I love all this type of stuff too.

But I’ve also served on nonprofit boards that work with autistic people and their families. And one of these boards that I served on, the organization is as old as I am. And I spent six years on the board, I’m very grateful for it. But I was also the first person in those nearly 30-something years that made it to be an officer of that board. And it was serving autistic people and their families. That it was a big deal having autistic people on that board in the first place. That makes me have bigger questions as to have we been excluded? Have there not been enough opportunities? Did you need someone who had this extra privilege and background of having gone to law school, having had a career in something to even open that door for me or someone like me?

And I remember when I turned off, I was like please just get more autistic people in this room because I do not want to be a lone voice. And there’s two other people there right now, and I’m like please just get more than two. One was a great start, two was great, but you need a room full, you need more.

And I think that’s a great way that we think about representation matters. And I know that’s something we talk about with literature, with pop culture, and so much more. But it does also boil down to the work that we do is figuring out what someone needs, what someone wants, and how to have those conversations. To have those conversations, we have to make it safe to be authentic too. That telling your story, sharing you have a disability, sharing your neurodivergence is so inherently personal. That I know when we were at committee yesterday, there are people who don’t talk about it because of stigma, they’re embarrassed, it’s a family secret, it’s something the family might be in denial about, not want to deal with, all sorts of different things. But then there are people who are like, hi, I know I have to share this information, I know this specific thing about me. And I am one of those people who volunteers this information but not everybody does volunteer.

When I think of people who choose to disclose because they feel like they should or have to, they are people who need accommodations under the ADA, whether it is at work, whether it is at a community event, or they want to participate in something. For those who have younger children involved in the public school system, this can also be a huge part of getting an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 Plan, getting an assessment, that can all be part of that conversation as well and making sure that your needs are being met.

Also, there are people who are trying to self-accommodate. This is usually what happens to me, that I am someone who will try to adapt and self-accommodate the best I can in many different situations, where I don’t want to say more than I have to. And it’s just not working. I’m burned out, I’m overwhelmed, I am in over my head. And then I have to say that I am overloaded, I am overwhelmed via autism, and this is why, please help me.

This also is something that happens a lot with work. It happens when communication breaks down. It happens when someone needs support that they’re not receiving. And also, when there are changes in life circumstances, because again, disability and neurodivergence are dynamic. This can change at any point in somebody’s life. And also, we just have different needs.

Sometimes you have someone who has a light bulb moment of self-discovery, and they’re like, my whole life makes sense now. This usually happens when I meet adults who are late-diagnosed or in the process of getting a diagnosis in some way, is maybe their children, their grandchildren, another family member was diagnosed, or they heard something and they’re like, oh my God, everything makes sense now. And I love seeing that moment of clarity for folks. And then they kind of essentially adapt it into their personality and want to tell everybody, “so this is why I couldn’t stay organized. This is why I couldn’t prioritize my tasks. This is why I am easily distracted. Oh my gosh, my life makes sense.” And then they want everybody to know about it. It becomes very exciting when that happens, and also very funny to me all at the same time.

And then you have folks like me who do volunteer this information. We want to bring our full selves to work or other situations. We take pride in our identities. I am a huge geek when it comes to disability history, because it’s something that often isn’t taught to us as a matter of culture. I only learned about disability history for the first time when I was in college, because I did a disabilities minor to learn about disability studies and felt like it would be a good thing to have and get to understand more about myself. And I learned all about where we stood in history. I learned about institutionalization and deinstitutionalization and the signing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the 504 sit-ins and protests, that there’s so much history, it’s hard not to be proud.

Even the steps it took to get to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the different acts of protest and different advocacy that got us there. How can you not be proud when you know how many people have fought for your rights and the resilience and what has happened in the courts? It’s just a really cool thing when you think about it. And also, I am proactive because I do want to limit those misunderstandings. I am honest to a fault. It gets me in trouble all the time. I have to actually just do a quick scan of the room to make sure I’m not going to offend anybody with said examples before I get there.

I always like to tell people; I am not the friend you want to take shopping. Or maybe I am the friend you want to take shopping because you’re going to get the opinion you want. Once upon a time, I had a friend who took me with her, and she comes out and she tries on an orange shirt. I have to double check that nobody’s wearing orange here. If you’re wearing orange here, then please know that I love you and respect you. And my friend asks me flat out what I think of this orange shirt. And I look at her for a minute and I go, you kind of look like a carrot. It goes without saying, my friend is visibly upset. But I was really just trying to be honest. That’s what she, she asked me what I was thinking and I didn’t think it was her best look. And unfortunately, at that age and stage of life, I did not realize there was a nicer and better way to probably phrase that. Of saying, maybe it’s not your style. Have you thought about something else? Or maybe it’s not complimenting your hair color. I could have said literally anything else to try and make her not get that orange shirt. It really was bad. She really did look like a carrot.

But once we kind of worked through it, she’s like, “I know you weren’t trying to be mean to me. I know you weren’t trying to bully me or anything. I knew you were just sharing how you felt about it. Maybe you could have stung a little bit less though.” And that’s also when, but when she understood that’s also how I operate and part of the autism, she was also a little bit more understanding and not jumping to: oh my God, Haley is just a rude, terrible friend and I’m never hanging out with her again. That’s also why I like to disclose is I do get that extra grace now and then because we understand why things happen.

And then of course you have this other view or strategy perhaps that neurodivergence is a strength. And we did talk about those strengths together a little bit too. But this is a strategic choice, especially for my professional folks and people who are entering the workforce, in the workforce, what have you. Because people have an idea based on a diagnosis of who you are and what you stand for. And sometimes it is easier to dispel those myths or get to the punch rather than have someone make those ideas and have those ideas carry through. I know people have ideas of who I am and what I stand for before I even meet them. That is kind of a daunting task to have to stand up to now and then. But I realize if I play up some of those strengths rather than perceived weaknesses and deficits, I’m ahead of the game. I can somehow use that to my advantage of making you believe I have some sort of superpower or that those superpowers will outweigh anything that is possibly difficult for me or could be a potential liability or burden for you.

I personally do not think I have superpowers. I do know people who will say something of the like of ADHD is my superpower, for instance, that is not me. I consider myself very much disability neutral. I do not know what it is like to be neurotypical. I never will know what it is like to be neurotypical. Honestly, I do not wish to know what it means to be neurotypical. I do not care at this point in my life. I don’t think I would be the same person, I don’t want to find out. I also look at it as this is the hand in life I’ve been dealt, and I am going to make the most of it.

So, I like to look at myself as very neutral, but I also know there is a strategic choice to make it into this superpowers narrative or if you genuinely believe that about yourself or someone else believes that about themselves, you do you. I am excited you feel that way. It just does not quite apply to me.

Peter Gordon: As we close part two, we’ve seen how barriers and bias can shape the workplace experience for neurodivergent individuals.

Next week, we’ll share part three, where Haley shifts the focus to action, what it means to do better, and how we can create a more inclusive and supportive culture in our workplace and beyond.

 

 

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