My name is Dr. Rachelle Fawcett, and like so many others, I am a lifelong weirdo and late-diagnosed AuDHD (Autism/ADHD) queer woman. For me, the quote above is about the choice to unmask. It isn’t an easy choice, because a mask can mean safety and some semblance of normalcy that was the ever-elusive goal. But like many neurodiverse, late-diagnosed women, the choice wasn’t between masking or unmasking, but between dying for the mask or living for what could be beyond it.

After a lifetime of misdiagnosis, stigma, and shame, the opportunity to truly explore my own expression of neurodiversity has been an adventure unlike any other. I learned that the work of neuroaffirming oneself, of gaining an understanding of neurodiverse traits and accommodations, needs and perception, and the courage and confidence to live fully and authentically in our truth, makes slaying dragons look like a walk in the park. 

As a scholar of spirituality and ethics, I often describe my approach to neurodiversity as a spiritual one. Not from the perspective of a religion or new age philosophy, but one that begins and ends with our inherent worth and dignity as human beings, and that sees our differences as important, valuable, and meaningful. And that we are worthy of being loved as we are.

Through this practice, I share skills and resources that have been helpful to me and others on this journey, leading each individual through a guided and supported self-exploration that gently invites them to know and love themselves beyond their masks. Using a variety of tools, from cooking meals to guided nature-based experiences, art and music, years of experience working in hospice and with grief and crisis situations, and decades of education that help situate this work in the greater context of justice and knowledge, I work with each individual to support a personalized exploration and celebration of their neurodiverse needs.

With self-understanding comes the ability to create and maintain healthy boundaries, invest in supportive community, and continually lift each other up beyond the suffering that so often centers the neurodivergent experience. This is my calling, and these are my people.