Astra Zeneca's neurodiversity employee resource group (ERG) held their first seminar and I am honored to have participated. They used a very interesting format which was a little different. They had 3 employees representing ADHD/ADD, Autism, and Dyslexia speak about their experiences in general and at Astra Zeneca. After an employee gave their story an expert on the condition provided context, additional detail, and helpful approaches.

This short video is my commentary on autism. Watching it afterwards I don't know why I said I am a "person with autism" as I prefer identity first and normally refer to myself as autistic or an autistic person. The only excuse I can come up with is this month is Disability Awareness. In the disability community person first language is most common. Guess I have heard enough presentations this month using person first language that my brain went to that instead of my normal identity first position. The joy of being live and unscripted!

Thank you to...

What a busy month April has been with more events and presentations than I have ever done in a single month. I am excited by the interest in neurodiversity and autism as well as the great reception and adoption my term Neurodistinct is receiving. When explaining neurodiversity through my Neuro Cloud™ graphic concept combine with the term Neurodistinct people seem to become comfortable with the idea and language much more quickly than using non-graphic explanations and academic words no one but experts and some rigid thinking aspies understand.

Below are some of the companies or groups I spoke with during autism awareness month 2021. Formats varied but most had a Q&A section, which is something I always enjoy. Many interesting questions from so many perspective. It was an intellectual feast. No matter the format I made an extra effort to dispel the myth that neurodiversity is autism and instead taught neurodiversity is everyone and there are...

I had the pleasure of meeting Christiane when we connected on LinkedIn. She had listened to me on a presentation I did for General Assembly and though my concepts, ideas, and methods would be helpful for her audience.

Christiane brings a brilliant mind and challenging questions to her podcast. While her audience is primarily German speaking fortunately for me she does do some of the episodes in English. Don't be put off when you initial hear German if it is a language you don't know. Once she finishes the introduction in German Christiane explains what she said in English. With her excellent English we conducted the interview in the one language I know and had a great time chatting and being challenged by Christiane.

Enjoy listening to this interesting episode in the embedded player below.

You can learn more about Christiane and the work she does on her business and personal websites:

 https://christianewirtz.de   https://christianewirtz.com 

For Autism Awareness Month 2021 Google featured neurodistsinct autistic Googler Tim Goldstein and his neurotypical manager Patricia Li in an interview of their journey together.

https://blog.google/inside-google/life-at-google/autistic-googler-and-his-manager-thrive-through-communication/

Thanks to the media team for such a well done article. Even more thanks to the HR groups for recognizing the value of this story even though it came out of an unofficial event organized by Google's autistic and broader neurodistinct community.

The back story is a few of us autistic Googlers (what us Google employees call ourselves) put on an event titled "Tech on the Spectrum for Managers." We already knew many Googlers are autistic or fall into another neurodistinct category. Unfortunately the only official program to address this innovative and creative segment of their workforce is a data Autism at Work 1.0 program to create a small pilot program to recruit 10 new autistic...

Disability:IN is the leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide. Our network of over 250 corporations expands opportunities for people with disabilities across enterprises. Our central office and 25 Affiliates serve as the collective voice to effect change for people with disabilities in business.

In January DisabilityIn hosted a 2 day virtual conference. I was honored to be invited to join the panel on Neurodiversity in Technology. A 3rd panelist couldn't make it so the panel was me and Brend Amundson VP Regional HR Dell Computers. This audio is my pre-panel presentation. With only us two panelist we go to talk for a while. I think you will find it interesting and hopefully helpful.

Apologies for the sound quality of the presentation. It is the audio track off the Zoom recording. Amazing how much it flattens by voice compared to the intro and outro sections. All the more reason people need to learn to control the sound of their voice so...

I was honored to be asked to participate with a couple amazing panelists. I enjoy panels as they dispense with the pressure of a solo presentation and I get to learn great ideas from amazing people. Thanks you so much Tricia for trusting me to be a high quality panelist and giving me the opportunity to participate.

The Denver Disabilities Network is a quarterly event featuring speakers, workshops, and the sharing of best practices for disability inclusion. The goal is to bring together interested stakeholders from around the country. By highlighting the skills and talents of people with disabilities, an open discussion of the best practices and desired outcomes between all parties can take place. 

Neurodiversity—What it means and how employers can embrace it in the workplace 

Tuesday, December 8th 2020 DDN Meeting—Zoom Online Platform

This session was designed for attendees who:

• you desire input in making your workplace, products, or services more...

Will at more to this post as I can. A little later this October I will again have the privilege of guest lecturing a class at Cornell University's ILR College. The topic is items that can cause problems for an autistic/neurodiverse person in an interview.

While I have done this for 2 years, it has always been by Zoom video conference. This year I am heading to upstate NY to lecture in person. Will post picture after the trip and plan to post the lecture as an episode on my podcast, Tim Goldstein "Life in the Neurotypical Universe" aka: Life in the Neuro Cloud™ on iTunes , Google Podcasts , Spotify , Listen Notes and other podcast outlets. Also on my site at podcast.TimGoldstein.com

Plans are to also meet with the recruiters from the Engineering collage to discuss better ways to work with and view the neurodiverse candidate.

Unfortunately due to events beyond anyone's control this even had to be postponed.

Karen, the organizer, is working on finding a suitable date in the beginning of 2020. We will update this post as new details emerge. If you would like to hear about the topics I work with and speak on visit my podcast Tim Goldstein "Life in the Neurotypical Universe", aka: Life in the Neuro Cloud™ on iTunes , Google Podcasts , Spotify , Listen Notes and other podcast outlets. Also on my site at podcast.TimGoldstein.com

Join us at the Westin Calgary Airport on October 11, 2019 for the first annual Keys to the Treasure Chest Autism & Disabilities Employment & Enterprise Conference featuring Dr. Temple Grandin. 

The goal of our conference is to educate employers, teachers, leaders and influencers on the importance of diversity and inclusion within our workforce and economy. It is our mission to empower individuals living with...

The New Normal - Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Global CVM the solution you need to make your video efforts successful.

Super fun project working with Tevi at Global CVM. An equally crazy story about how Global CVM and I came to collaborate on this great project.