This is the last of my summer ‘starts’ – unpublished posts.

I can remember it was July, and can visualize exactly where I was (outside at a Starbucks in Venice FL – I kept moving with the shade but still got odd looks as to why I was loitering outdoors…🥵), it was maybe a week before I left Florida to return to Denver by way of Savannah GA, Knoxville TN, Bloomington IN, Barrington IL, Lawrence KS. And yes, that is the chronological order.

For anyone who is familiar with my interest in roadtrips, summer 2025 did include several (to SW FL and back). I shared only one book and captured one stay at a Graduate Hotel in Bloomington, IN. I did record it and here’s to hoping I’ll turn it into a reel for today’s blog commercial 😉.

For anyone who is familiar with my interest in Graduate Hotels (now owned by Hilton, whom also own Spark hotels which are much more road trip budget friendly), the fun Bloomington bartender shared a podcast link with me between Guy Raz (how I built this) and Ben Weprin. Here it is on Apple podcasts.

As it relates to the title and the July post below, just a few days ago I had the opportunity to attend a full day conference lead by Emily Kircher-Morris LPC who hosts her own Neurodiversity podcast and has authored several books. Those of us in attendance (which included most of my coworkers) on Friday received a copy of Emily’s latest book: Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted and Supported.

On the way to the workshop, I listened to The Telepathy Tapes. Specifically, I listened to a recording of a live interview held at South by Southwest in April 2025. Ky interviewed Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, artist and author Jezz Chung, and parent advocate Libby Ingram. The title of the roundtable is: exploring how love, dating, and connection unfold in a neurodiverse world. I ugly cried in my car in response to Bumble founder’s concept to create an inclusive dating app and focus on ‘friends first’, and to include a focus on one’s relationship with oneself.

I feel as if Emily’s workshop was specific to left brain hemisphere input; and Telepathy Tapes is specific to right brain hemisphere. (I am heavily influenced by Martha Beck’s book Beyond Anxiety which is influencing my comment on hemispheres…).

Is Humanity’s new emerging inclusive paradigm one of the whole brain?

Love.

Jean-Paul style.

(or john paul…I thought I saw it on tshirt with his quote somewhere within the realm of @thetelepathytapes as jean-paul)

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In her 2024 book, The Neurodiversity Edge, Maureen Dunne defines Neurodiversity as an ‘umbrella’ term that represents all the unique ways each brain processes information and…cognitive typologies that fall under neurodivergence are just as valuable as neurotypical.

**at Friday’s workshop, Emily used the term ‘neuro normative’ to replace neurotypical (for obvious reasons – yes?)**

Pause.

Read it again and just allow it to settle.

Doesn’t it just make sense?

What if there were no labels, and differences are commonly accepted as the organic normalcy of a human experience?

If that were so, one can listen to the telepathy tapes in a way that validates what they already knew (ie felt) had to be true.

Dr Dunne defines Neuroinclusion as the authentic inclusion of all cognitive typologies, including neurodivergent people, where people find a sense of genuine belonging without being forced to be like someone else.

You can get a summary of the book by listening to this episode of Armchair Expert as Dax and Monica interview Maureen Dunne. I listen on spotify.

Here are some quotes I pulled from the book to capture a new inclusive paradigm: Double Empathy. **it was a term used in Friday’s workshop as well**

In short, neurotypicals can empathize with other neurotypicals. Autistic individuals can empathize with other autistic individuals. But neither group is great at empathizing with the other. What was once thought to be a fundamental deficiency peculiar to autism can be recast as something akin to the hurdle experienced by people from different cultures tryping to find common group.

Maureen Dunne, The Neurodiversity Edge p249 introducing the ‘Double Empathy Problem’

…this perspective (the double empathy problem)…explains two-way empathy barriers between neurotypicals and autistic individuals by invoking their lack of shared mental experiences, it may be fair to speculate that other neurodivergent groups (such as ADHDers and dyslexics) likely also have an easier time syncing up with others in their respective cognitive tribes.

The double empathy problem centers on the premise that people with widely diverging life experiences will struggle to empathize with each other when interacting. This is likely to be exacerbated by differences in language use and comprehension as well as by what contextual elements are perceived with greatest priority in the flow of experience. also on page 249

The double-empathy problem asserts that these issues…are due to a breakdown in reciprocity and mutual understanding that can happen between any two people with very different ways of experiencing the world. p 254

Empathy…is contingent on the realization…that we are all very much alike in terms of needs, motivations, and the desire to be heard, understood, and accepted for who we are as unique individuals. p 259

Authentic self expression. Humanizing. Shared Humanity. Normalizing.

The emerging new paradigm…