Miss Missouri 2023 Hayley Leach and self-advocate Matthew Leach discuss being siblings working together to advocate for the autism community.

Hayley Leach is a 25 year-old law student at Washington University in St. Louis and was recently crowned Miss Missouri 2023. During her year of service, Hayley will travel the state of Missouri and promote a community service initiative (CSI) of her choice. Hayley's CSI is autism awareness and acceptance which was inspired by her brother, Matthew, who was diagnosed with autism in 2002. Upon graduation from law school, Hayley plans on practicing Labor and Employment law with a specialty in disability issues and advocacy. Since competing in the Miss America Organization, Hayley has accumulated over $31,000 in scholarships which have been used to further her education. She will go on to represent Missouri at the Miss America Competition later this year.

Matthew Leach currently resides in Lexington, Kentucky where he is a senior at the University of Kentucky. He majors in Biology and plans to further his education by going to graduate school and getting a master's degree in Forensic Science. His favorite things to do are reading, going to the movies, and spending time with his French Bulldog, Chloe.

Together they have co-authored two books: "Frankie and Finn" and "See the Able, Not the Label." They also host the podcast called "Puzzle in Progress”, available on Apple and Spotify Podcasts.

For more about their work: https://linktr.ee/hayleyleach

Follow Different Brains on social media:

https://twitter.com/diffbrains

https://www.facebook.com/different.brains/

https://www.instagram.com/diffbrains/

Check out more episodes of Exploring Different Brains!

http://differentbrains.org/category/edb/