I’m AuDHD and work with kids of the same population. It turns out to be a perfect job for me. From understanding what kids who can’t speak are trying to communicate, to using my own experiences to inform me of what my students are going through, to teaching skills and techniques that I had to learn the hard way, it’s been extremely rewarding.

It’s not uncommon for new hires to go through training and come out seeking diagnoses for themselves. I swear we self-select for others like ourselves, even if we don’t fully know why. The amount of people that see their younger selves in our kids is interesting. A new coworker just told me the other day that, after training, everything about her now makes sense, and that was enough for me to decide, “I like this person, I look forward to getting to know her more.”