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Neurodivergent Mates presents: "Stronger Together: The Power and Purpose of Building a Community" 🌟

In this episode, we explore how building meaningful connections can transform your personal and professional life—especially as a neurodivergent individual. 💡 From fostering resilience to creating inclusive spaces, community is the key to growth and success.

🔥 Here’s what we’ll cover:
1️⃣ The role of community in personal & professional growth
2️⃣ Fostering resilience through support networks
3️⃣ Creating inclusive spaces for neurodivergent individuals
4️⃣ Overcoming barriers to building meaningful connections
5️⃣ Practical steps to start building your community today

Whether you're looking for support, opportunities, or a space where you truly belong, this episode is for YOU. 🙌

🎧 Tune in now!
#NeurodivergentMates #Neurodiversity #CommunityBuilding #Inclusion #Resilience #Networking #SupportSystems #StrongerTogether

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to NeuroDivergent Mates.
Hello and welcome to anotherepisode of Neurodivergent Mates.

(00:26):
I'm your host, will Wheeler,and today it's actually been
quite an interesting day.
We're meant to have our fullpodcast today, but unfortunately
our guest who is coming ontoday messaged me last minute
and we weren't able to get heron.
But don't stress, we will begetting her on shortly.

(00:48):
But I thought, well, rather thanjust leave today what's the
word I'm looking for withoutanything, let's do a little bit
of a 15-minute chat.
You know I love getting on anddoing all this type of stuff, so
I thought let's get on.
At least we're being productive, we've got something going on.
I might be able to share alittle bit about some of the

(01:12):
things that we're going to be upto this year, but more than
anything, I did want to sort ofgo over the topic of the power
and purpose of building acommunity, but before I do get
stuck into that, I might just doa little bit of housekeeping,
as normal.
So if you haven't already doneso, please subscribe, like and

(01:32):
follow to all of our socialmedia pages.
We're available on TikTok,facebook, instagram X, twitch,
youtube, linkedin and, if youhaven't already done so,
wherever you listen to yourpodcast, please.
We're on every podcastingservice you can think about.
Please subscribe to our, to ourpodcast, and maybe rate some of

(01:57):
those.
The more you can rate, the moreyou can interact with them, the
better it is for our algorithm.
So so, please, any support isfantastic.
Also, too, please check out thework we're doing with
Neurodiversity Academy byvisiting
neurodiversityacademycom.
Some really cool stuff comingout of there today.

(02:20):
Now and I always do this just abit of a warning some
discussions may be triggering.
If you need help, please reachout to a loved one or call
emergency services.
We are not doctors.
This is a space for sharingexperiences and strategies.
Also, too, while while I'mspeaking and I'm on the live

(02:41):
version.
I'm only on for 15 minutestoday, so if you catch me, great
.
If not, please just put yourquestions into the comments
there, and I should be able toanswer them if I'm live online,
which I am right now, but cool,so let's get stuck into this.

(03:02):
Some really interesting stuff.
Happy New Year everyone, and,like I said that in the last
podcast, this is my first sortof 15-minute chat with everyone,
so I thought, all right, let'sget on, especially with the work
that we're doing withNeurodiversity Academy.
We've got some really big planshappening there.
Also, too, for everyone whojoined my webinar uh that I held

(03:28):
, gee, only about roughly abouttwo hours ago now, or less than
an hour or bit over an hour agonow, I think it was so I did a
um, uh, a webinar today on umsupporting neurodivergent people
in the vocational educationsector and where to begin.
So that was a really cool thingto really get to see and see

(03:53):
lots of cool people interactingwith what we were doing and all
of that.
So it went really well.
So thank you very much foreveryone who came along to that.
It was really cool.
But, with that being said, wewant to do more of them.
We want to be this.
This is the year.
This is the year okay.
So what we really want to tryto do this year is and and this

(04:16):
is sort of ties in beautifullyto to what we're talking about
by building a community and allof that so, um, this year we're
really working hard in gettinginto a lot of the schools here
in Australia and more trying todo some short events to work
with or to help parents andneurodivergent students in

(04:41):
regards to their careerdevelopment.
Okay, I think the biggest thingthat I sort of take away from
when I'm doing a lot ofpresentations at conferences,
all of that I get a lot ofparents coming up to me after my
talk and talking to me abouttheir child.
Sometimes it could be howworried they are about what

(05:07):
their child's future is going tolook like and all of that.
So you know, what we reallywant to try to start doing with
Neurodiversity Academy is startcreating some, you know,
after-school events, like in theevening, all of those types of
things where we can startspeaking with parents and all of
that to, you know, help them tobe able to help their children,

(05:31):
and all of that to starthelping with that career
direction.
I think the biggest thing fromwhen I was in school it was like
, look, if you don't achievethis, you won't be able to do
that, but really you can.
If you don't achieve something,you can achieve something else.
Okay.
So we want to really try tohelp people to find what that

(05:55):
pathway looks like.
So you know, we want to becreating some events with, like
I said, the schools.
We want to be working with alot of the tertiary education
providers to really help them toget ready for a lot of
neurodivergent students who we,we really want to help uh,
connect with the rightorganizations.
And then also, what do thosejobs look like?

(06:16):
What do those workplaces looklike that um will have, um that
are going to be perfect for alot of these neurodivergent
candidates, and so forth.
Okay, so a lot of stuff thatwe're working on this year with
Neurodiversity Academy, butlet's get stuck into this and
have a little bit of a chat.
So the purpose of building acommunity so what I want to

(06:40):
start with is the role ofcommunity in personal and
professional growth.
Okay, so I've got a few noteshere and I always write a few
things and I'll sort of justsort of build off from that type
of thing.
So how building connections canlead to new opportunities,
mentorship and personaldevelopment.
So I think this is really,really important, especially at

(07:03):
a young age, or even any age.
Okay, I think for myself, whenI left school and I've shared
this a million times I didn'thave that direction, I didn't
know what to do.
I felt very lonely, okay, andthat can be a lot of people.
So this is where I think being apart of a community and I think

(07:25):
even right now, especially with, say, my professional career
and all of that I woulddefinitely have to say that the
most valuable thing, to say, theknowledge that I have with a
lot of the work we're doing atNeurodiversity Academy comes

(07:45):
from connecting with others inthat community and it's not and
you know, some of them might bedoing similar things to myself
and that's great, but I don'tsee them as competition.
I see that as people I canlearn from or people who can
learn from me.
So you know, I think this iswhere you know, as part of a

(08:07):
community and being in acommunity or part of helping
build that community, it canopen a lot of opportunities.
If I look at it for myself andthis was actually interesting so
I actually got asked to speakat a oh gee, what was it?
An event at a school at the endof last year and I didn't get

(08:28):
to share it.
But one of the coolest things Ithink that, especially once I've
sort of like been very openabout neurodivergent and all of
that, is how many neurodivergentpeople have really come out of
the woodwork and connected withme, for example.
Now, some of these have beenvery, very successful people.
You know people at one point inmy life, I would never have

(08:51):
thought in a million years thatI'd be able to connect with
those types of people.
So and I think the biggestthing about being able to
connect with those people havebeen because we've got that
similarity of beingneurodivergent there.
So this is where and the coolthing with a lot of people is
that they want to help.
You know, if I was to become abillionaire tomorrow, I would

(09:13):
still be doing what I'm doing.
I wouldn't turn around and gono, see you later.
I've achieved what I'veachieved.
See you later.
No, that's not how it works,and you'll find with a lot of
these other people that the samething happens.
Okay.
So that's where you know, beinga part of a community can
really help build that.
Now let's have a look at thisone fostering resilience through

(09:33):
support networks.
So the importance of having acommunity to lean on during
challenges and how it helpsbuild with confidence.
So I think that's a big one aswell.
I think that when, especiallywhen, especially, you know, at
one point, even in business formyself and I was talking to my

(09:54):
business partner about this theother day you know, business can
be very lonely at times, evenwhen you have business partners
and all of that, because youknow you feel like there's a lot
of pressure on you all the time.
So this is where being able toreach out to the community and
this is the other thing.
So we've got advisors that helpus with the advising on a lot

(10:17):
of things within NeurodiversityAcademy to really hone in on
certain areas, things like that,and that has really helped me
in certain situations where I'veand this is the thing, when
you're sort of in business forexample, it could be your career
or whatever it feels like thisyou have those up and down
periods.
What's going to help you get on, that uprise again type of

(10:40):
thing.
And this is where the communityhas been very beneficial for
myself and I can see how it nowplays such a role for not only
myself but for everyone involvednow creating inclusive spaces
for neurodivergent individuals,so how communities can promote
understanding, acceptance andneurodiversity inclusion, all

(11:04):
right.
So I think you know when we canbring people together, it's like
we've got like a similarity,all right.
And it's hard to see that whenyou're on your own, but when
you're around, others who havemaybe lived a similar life to
yourself have sort of sameopinions as yourself, or maybe

(11:26):
some of the struggles you have.
You've got that in common andyou're able to really grow and
develop around.
That.
I'm not saying that we shoulddon't get me wrong.
I think there's still reallyimportant to have positivity,
not just coming in and raggingon everything.
I sometimes see that.
So I think this is where youknow, especially with the

(11:46):
parents that I'm talking with.
A lot of the time you can seethat they just want to.
They're asking for help.
You know, and I don't blamethem, because I think the
journey, especially with theirchild's journey in regards to a
career, it can be very difficultand when you're not dealing
with people who don't reallyunderstand what your son or

(12:09):
daughter has been going through,it makes it even more
challenging.
So, once again, this is wherecommunity plays such a huge role
in that.
Hence why we really are goingto start developing a lot of
stuff, and I think the bigreason I want to share that with
people is not to promote it, itis to promote it a little bit.

(12:32):
That's not why.
But for others to go look, man,how do I get amongst this?
How can I be a part of this?
You know, we're open with,we're ready with open arms if
that makes sense.
So you know it's.
I can do a lot, but without thehelp of others it's just not,

(12:52):
it's not never going to happen.
So this is where I'm really bigon that now overcoming barriers
to building meaningfulconnections.
So you know it can be hard whenyou're first meeting people.
So what can we do to reallyhelp people feel more
comfortable in being certainsituations?
Do Do we create events wherepeople you know you don't have

(13:17):
to come in person, or there'ssensory accommodations in place
or things like that?
So this is where I think thisis really important, especially
when we're building a communitybeing understanding of each
other.
Why do we need to do this?
Okay, understanding that, okay.

(13:39):
It was actually interesting.
I had a webinar today and wewere talking about
neuroinclusion in the vocationaleducation space and someone's
like why can't we just likemaybe put all the neurodivergent
people in their own classroomand it's like it's a bit like
not inclusive?
So I think that's a really goodpoint in regards to even if

(14:01):
you're not neurodivergent andyou want to be a part of the
community as an ally orsomething like that.
That's gold as well.
And, to wrap, you knowpractical steps to start
building your community.
So you know, things that wecould probably look at is, you
know, connecting with our socialmedia, for example.

(14:22):
Okay, and yes, I'm talking itup because I'm trying to look
for followers and stuff likethat but what I'm sort of
getting at is that when peoplestart connecting with your
social media, you startconnecting with others who are
connecting with that socialmedia, you start connecting with
others who are connecting withthat social media, and so forth,
and then what you're able to dois you might see who's at

(14:42):
events and stuff like that, andyou've already got that
connection involved.
So a big thing that I do a lotof the time, especially if I'm
going to an event, I will seewho's going and I'll connect
with them on, say, social media,for example.
All right, and I'll alreadyknow people before I get there,

(15:04):
okay.
So this is where social mediacan play such a huge role in the
development and growth offeeling more comfortable around
people.
Building your building yourwhat's the word?
What they call it like yourcrew building a crew or
something like that, I don'tknow.
Um, but no, it can be sohelpful, uh, but look, that's 15

(15:25):
minutes right there, look.
Thank you so much for listeningto me.
Just a short one.
Like I, I said the podcast thatwe were meant to have on today.
The person just had to postponeit due to a few things
happening.
But we will have that on maybenext week or the week after.
But, like I said, I wanted todo something just to share

(15:45):
something with everyone, just tokeep you up to date and
everything like that.
So, look, if you haven'talready done so, please
subscribe, like and follow toall of our social media
platforms.
Reach out if you want to asksome questions and that in the
future, or come on the podcastif that's something you're
interested in as well, and we'llgo from there.
But look, thank you so much.
My name's Will Wheeler and thisis NeuroDivergent Mates.

(16:07):
Till next time time.