Beyond 6 Seconds: Neurodiversity Stories
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beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Beyond 6 Seconds: Neurodiversity Stories
@beyond6seconds.bsky.social
440 followers 370 following 200 posts
Extraordinary stories from neurodivergent people: entrepreneurs, creators, advocates & more! Hosted by Carolyn. #ActuallyAutistic
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beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Tiffany Hammond describes her motivation to write her book, A Day with No Words. Hear more from Tiffany on my latest podcast episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/247
A quote from Tiffany on the latest episode of Beyond 6 Seconds. “Let me tell stories about my children. Let me give a face to the stories that I'm telling so that you can see that they're human. They like a lot of the same things that you like, they joke about the same things that you joke about, they like the same types of music, they like the same types of food. [Let me] show their humanity and remind people of their humanity.”
November 20, 2025 at 1:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Tiffany Hammond describes A Day with No Words, her book about how her autistic son Aidan communicates and expresses himself without speaking.
Tiffany Hammond describes her book, A Day with No Words. Aidan doesn't speak with words. "I wanted to highlight the fact that he can hear all the voices, everybody talking, everybody around him..." But the people around him don't hear him. They don't see him. I wanted to highlight how isolating that could be sometimes. I wanted to show a lot of the sensory things that he has, like spinning barefoot, flapping. He hugs trees, and he still does that to this day. "I wanted to show the things that he loves." A Day with No Words by Tiffany Hammond. Available Now! ADayWithNoWords.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
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Tiffany Hammond describes how she represents her nonspeaking autistic son in her book, A Day with No Words.
November 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Tiffany Hammond describes her nonspeaking autistic son Aidan’s experience in her new book, A Day with No Words, on my latest episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/247
A quote from Tiffany: “I wanted to highlight the fact that he can hear all the voices, everybody talking, everybody around him. But the people around him don't hear him. They don't see him. I wanted to highlight how isolating that could be sometimes.” - Tiffany Hammond, describing her nonspeaking autistic son Aidan’s experience in “A Day with No Words”
November 13, 2025 at 1:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Tiffany Hammond of Fidgets and Fries describes how she represents the experience and perspective of her nonspeaking autistic son Aidan in her book, A Day with No Words. Hear more from Tiffany on my latest episode: www.beyond6seconds.net/247
November 10, 2025 at 7:43 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Sabrina Fandell, a VP at the International Dyslexia Association, shares advice for parents of dyslexic children, on my latest episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/246 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth
A quote from Sabrina: “What we say to our [dyslexic] children has a huge impact. It builds their self-talk. It helps them build their personality and who they'll be in the future. Stay as positive as you can, because they know they're struggling.”
November 6, 2025 at 1:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Sabrina Fandell describes the stress of reading out loud when you have dyslexia. Hear more from Sabrina on my latest episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/246
November 3, 2025 at 1:32 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Sabrina Fandell talks about being a dyslexic student in my latest episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/246 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth
A quote from Sabrina: “Looking at dyslexic students, we see higher rates of depression and anxiety. And I get that. I mean, I was there. I remember the anxiety of going to school and not having the homework assignment perfectly done, or the writing assignment wasn't where I wanted it to be… because there's a little bit of perfectionism for me too.”
October 30, 2025 at 12:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Sabrina Fandell describes the embarrassment of learning to read in the book closet at school, as a dyslexic child. Hear more from Sabrina on my latest episode.
We got pulled out and put in the book closet. It was the storage closet, really. That's where we would do our reading. And I just remember being embarrassed to go. We were reading easier books than the other students, who had to read chapter books and cool plots… And we were reading like, "the dog and the cat like to play fetch." So, a little bit of a different story for us.
October 28, 2025 at 12:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
As a dyslexic child, Sabrina Fandell was forced to sit in her school's book closet for her reading lessons. Now she sits on the Board of Directors of the International Dyslexia Association - Dallas Branch. Sabrina shares her journey at https://www.beyond6seconds.net/246 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth
October 27, 2025 at 12:31 PM
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“We can ask big questions. We can figure them out.” #STEM entrepreneur and toy designer Ava N. Simmons describes her new PBS Kids Channel show, Mini Fab Science Lab: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/245
A quote from the latest episode of Beyond 6 Seconds.
October 23, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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Young neurodivergent entrepreneur Ava N. Simmons describes her PBS Kids Channel show, Mini Fab Science Lab. #GirlsInSTEM
October 20, 2025 at 12:31 PM
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Ava N. Simmons, STEM entrepreneur and PBS Kids show host, shares her advice for kids who struggle in school: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/245 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth
A quote from Ava N. Simmons, STEM Ambassador and creator of Team Genius Squad: “Never let your challenges define your success or future. Always chase your dreams and believe in yourself, and never stop pushing.”
October 16, 2025 at 12:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
In my latest episode, I talk with Ava N. Simmons, a young entrepreneur and PBS Kids show host with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Ava describes how her educational toy brand Team Genius Squad gets kids excited about STEM and STEAM: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/245 #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth
October 13, 2025 at 12:31 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
October is #AACAwarenessMonth. AAC refers to the ways that people communicate besides speech, ranging from high-tech tools like speech-generating devices and apps, to low-tech methods like letterboards and picture boards.
Presume competence and listen to nonspeakers. AAC Awareness Month.
October 13, 2025 at 2:10 AM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
I talked with @caromincks.bsky.social, creator of the award-winning audio drama @seenandnotheard.bsky.social, about writing the main characters based on their lived experience of deafness and OCD. Listen to my interview with Caroline at https://www.beyond6seconds.net/244 .
Text in image is a quote from Caroline: “Writing about these experiences [of deafness and OCD] that are already so misunderstood and often come with a lot of stigma, and to have it received well, felt really good.”
October 9, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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My latest guest @caromincks.bsky.social describes the premise of their award-winning audio drama, @seenandnotheard.bsky.social.
October 6, 2025 at 12:31 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
In my latest episode, @caromincks.bsky.social talks about disability representation in their award-winning audio drama @seenandnotheard.bsky.social. Listen at https://www.beyond6seconds.net/244.
Text in image is a quote from Caroline: “[Deafness and OCD] are such different experiences, but at the same time, they're not. They both come with a lot of misunderstanding. They come with a lot of very life-altering things that happen as a result.”
October 2, 2025 at 12:30 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
October is a busy month for #neurodiversity awareness! It’s the awareness month for AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), ADHD, Down Syndrome, Dyslexia, and Learning Disability. It’s also National Disability Employment Awareness Month (not specific to neurodiversity, but still relevant).
An autumn themed design with the rainbow infinity symbol. A list of neurodiversity themed awareness months in October: AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) Awareness Month ADHD Awareness Month Down Syndrome Awareness Month Dyslexia Awareness Month Learning Disability Awareness Month National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
October 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Caroline Mincks' @caromincks.bsky.social award-winning audio drama @seenandnotheard.bsky.social is about navigating hearing loss as an adult... but almost anyone can relate to the experiences in the show. Caroline and I talk about it on my latest podcast episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/244
September 29, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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Sally Littlefield, a mental health advocate with schizoaffective disorder, shares how hard it was for her to accept that she has a #schizophrenia spectrum illness. Listen to Sally's story at https://www.beyond6seconds.net/243 .
Image text is a quote from Sally: “So many people were frustrated with me: ‘Why can't you just snap out of it? Why can't you just accept the help? Why don't you listen to the doctor?’ Unless you go through it yourself, it's really easy to underestimate the grieving process involved in accepting that you have schizophrenia.”
September 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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Sally Littlefield describes her experience of being in psychosis. Hear more from Sally on my latest podcast episode: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/243
September 22, 2025 at 12:31 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
Sally Littlefield, a mental health advocate with schizoaffective disorder, promotes empathy, dignity, and understanding for people with schizophrenia spectrum illnesses. Hear more from my interview with Sally: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/243
A quote from Sally: “When I was in psychosis for 10 months, I felt like a ghost in my own house. People would talk about me in front of me, like I wasn't there. But people in psychosis are still people. They can still hear everything you say. They still have feelings, they still have thoughts, they can still remember things.”
September 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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On my latest episode, Sally Littlefield talks about experiencing a 10-month long psychotic episode, where she believed her life was a hyperreality psychological experiment. Hear my interview with Sally at https://www.beyond6seconds.net/243 #schizophrenia
September 15, 2025 at 12:31 PM
beyond6seconds.bsky.social
“Horror is an exaggeration of trauma. With horror, there's nothing that I can create that would be worse than what I experienced, but what I experienced is always in my art.” Hear more from my conversation with Tas The Artist: https://www.beyond6seconds.net/242
A collage of 5 surreal horror and abstract artworks. A monochromatic scene with a glowing white oval at the top and a stream of bright energy descending into a circular basin. A red anatomical heart with a blue highlight, surrounded by a glowing aura. A bold red and pink inhuman horned person with tears streaming down from their closed eyes. A black-and-white landscape with circular, spore-like shapes on thin stems, resembling dandelions or fungi. Text "Tas the ARTIST" is on a black background.
September 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM