The public perception of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is that it is a disability.  However, when seen through the lens of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, the situation is more complex with both strengths and challenges serving as a truer picture of autism.  People identified with ASD usually have difficulty with...Read More

Most people are familiar with the 1988 movie Rainman starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.  This movie, based on a true story, dealt with a male adult who had remarkable mathematical/computational abilities, yet had major deficiencies in other areas of his life such as socialization and language.  Experts describe this phenomena as ”savant syndrome” –...Read More

Neurodiversity originally emerged in the 1990’s out of the efforts of autism rights advocates (see for example, Jim Sinclair’s 1993 speech ”Don’t Mourn for Us’‘  which many view as the initial impetus for the neurodiversity movement). In this video (part 7 of a 10 part series on An Introduction to Neurodiversity), I look at the...Read More

This video is part 3 of a 10 video series based on a course I taught called Introduction to Neurodiversity, at Bridges Graduate School for Cognitive Diversity in Education.  It discusses the roots of the neurodiversity movement showing how it essentially emerged in the 1990’s out of the autistic rights movement, which itself emerged from...Read More

I recently did an interview on my book The Power of Neurodiversity, with Dr. Nelly Nguyen, founder of Applied Life, ”a network of coaches, scientists, educators, business consultants, and above all diverse human beings who think outside the box and embrace curiosity, diversity, and inclusiveness.”  During the interview, we touched on many different topics related...Read More