Working With and CelebratingAutistic Colleagues
Course overview › Module 1 · Why this course, this language, this lens
Module 1 · 40 min · 7 pages

Why this course, this language, this lens

~40 min total · Earn: Language & Framing

Before we change practice, we change vocabulary. This module gets the team on the same page about how we talk about autism, what we mean by an anti-deficit lens, and why a progressive nonprofit context matters. It closes with a short self-assessment so you know your own default working shape before the rest of the course.

Identity-firstlanguage as a working conditionDouble Empathymutual culture clash, not deficitAnti-deficitchange defaults, not just peopleThree lenses that shape the rest of the course
Module 1 overview diagram. Three lenses that shape the rest of the course.
■Squarestructure, follow-through▲Triangleclarity, momentum●Circletrust, retention∿Squigglevision, reframingFour working shapes you'll trace through the course (in 1.5)
The four shapes. A tendency map of how people lead, decide, and contribute on a team. Read each shape for both its gift and its blind spot on a neurodiverse team.

Pages in this module

  1. 1.1 Identity-first or person-first? The debate, and our default
  2. 1.2 The Double Empathy Problem: a mutual adaptation frame
  3. 1.3 What 'progressive nonprofit context' means in this course
  4. 1.4 Strengths and the anti-deficit lens
  5. 1.5 Know your shape: a self-assessment
  6. 1.6 Shapes in motion: pairings and the decision flow
  7. 1.7 Module 1 checkpoint