Autism In Real Life

Russell Lehmann: Speaker, Poet, Advocate

Russell Lehmann is an award-winning and internationally recognized motivational speaker and poet contextualizing autism, mental illness, and cannabis use. His words have been featured in the USA Today, LA Times, NPR, Yahoo! News, Success Magazine and archived in the Library of Congress.

A graduate of MIT’s “Leadership in the Digital Age” course, Russell sits on the national Board of Directors for The Arc and is a council member for the Autism Society of America. Russell has also been the Youth Ambassador for the mayor of Reno, Nevada, and a member of the Nevada Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities as well as the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Russell showed signs of autism as a newborn, however, he was not formally diagnosed until the age of 12 after suffering through 5 weeks in a lockdown psychiatric facility.

His new book, “On the Outside Looking In” recently hit bookstores nationwide.

In 2018, Russell was named as Reno-Tahoe’s “Most Outstanding Young Professional Under 40”.

In 2019 & 2020, Russell lectured for the prestigious King’s College of London and the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Special Education in Abu Dhabi, respectively. 

Russell currently travels the world spreading hope, awareness, and compassion in a raw and dynamic fashion, while also setting his sights on erasing the stigma and stereotypes that come with having a disability. Russell’s passion is to be a voice for the unheard, for he knows how difficult and frustrating it is to go unnoticed.

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In this episode Tas and I discuss the intricacies of complex trauma and it's impact day-to-day specifically in the workplace.  Please listen in for this informative discussion. 

Tas is autistic and part of the disability community with developmental, mental health, and physical disabilities. They are the trifecta or triad of disabilities. They are a person of color and nonbinary. They are proud to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a neurodiverse DID system! Since they have a unique combination of diversity, they advocate for inclusion. Equal access to education, healthcare, and innate human rights motivate them to move past challenges in the effort to make the world accessible, inclusive, and fair for the next generation. 

For more information: https://linktr.ee/tasthoughts

Tas Kronby(they/them/we/our)
Autistic Mental Health Advocate
Mindful Life Coach Practitioner
www.tasthoughts.com

In this episode I have a great conversation with Eileen Lamb, A Blogger and Creator of The Autism Cafe.  We talked about her experience being an autistic parent of a child with autism as well as autism  advocacy.

Eileen Lamb, author of "All Across The Spectrum" and “Be The One,” is the founder of The Autism Cafe. She’s also a writer, photographer, and podcast host. Born in France, Eileen now lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and two sons, Charlie (8) and Jude (6). On her blog, she shares the ups and downs of raising a severely autistic child while being on the autism spectrum herself. In her free time, Eileen enjoys daydreaming and road trips.

https://theautismcafe.com/
@theautismcafe

In this episode Marcelle and I have a very exciting and inspiring conversation about inclusion, diversity and universal design in the workplace.

Marcelle Ciampi M.Ed. (aka Samantha Craft), a respected Autistic author and international ambassador, has been featured at over 100 events around the world. Ciampi is best known for her writings found in the well-received book Everyday Aspergers, endorsed by best-selling author Steve Silberman. She is the Senior Manager of DEI at Ultranauts Inc., an engineering firm with an autism hiring initiative (featured in the New York Times), where Ciampi is credited for largely-architecting an innovative universal design approach to workplace inclusion. Some of her works, especially the Autistic Traits List, have been translated into multiple languages and widely-shared in counseling offices, globally. A former school teacher, Ciampi has corresponded directly with over 10,000 individuals on the autism spectrum and been featured in various literature, including citations in articles, books, and research papers. A selection of her writings can be found in ND GiFTS, ICare4 Autism, Exceptional Needs Today, Autism Parenting Magazine, ERE, and Different Brains. Considered an expert in the field of neurodiversity in the workplace, by key thought leaders such as Judy Singer, her knowledge is shared through consultancy work at quality enterprises like Uptimize. She serves as the founder of Spectrum Suite LLC, the Co-founder of the Spectrum Lights Inclusion Summit, Co-executive of LifeGuides for Autistics, and a contributor, advisor, and board member to autism organizations and conferences, including the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit. Her upcoming book, Autism in a Briefcase: Straight talk about belonging in a neurodiverse world, is based on 3000 hours of study. Ciampi also contributed to the book Spectrum Women: Walking to the Beat of Autism and was recently accepted as a doctoral student in the field of organizational leadership and social justice. Recent appearances include AstraZeneca, Deloitte, Accenture, and Bank of New York Mellon. Marcelle is Autistic (Aspergers) with gifted-intellect, and dyslexic, dyspraxic, and hyperlexic, what she calls a ‘blended-neurodivergent.’ Two of her adult sons are also neurodivergent, as is her life partner.
You can find out more about Marcelle and her work at http://www.myspectrumsuite.com/ and https://ultranauts.co/