NeuroDiversion Year Two: A Mentalist, a Hula Hoop Teacher, and 500 Special People
A weekend gathering with neurodivergent humans and the people who support them.
In life, if you’re lucky, you get the chance at some point to work on something that feels deeply meaningful. You probably do a lot of random work as well, and that’s just part of the human experience—but hopefully some of the effort ends up shining through as “things to be proud of.”
Last weekend I hosted NeuroDiversion 26, the sequel to our inaugural gathering last year in celebration of all types of neurodivergence. This time, more than 500 people traveled in from all across the U.S. and Canada, as well as 11 additional countries.
The first year was solid, but this year was a real leap forward. I’m very proud of our team! We leveled up all-around, with 40+ speakers, the debut of an expo format for dozens of vendors, and a lot more attention to detail.
In this post I’ll share a few highlights and stories. I realize if you weren’t there, it’s hard to fully experience the moment—and you also might not be interested. (Feel free to skip this post if so.) But for those who like live events, or neurodivergence, or just a rundown of an intense weekend, keep reading.
A Tale of 8 Photos
Rather than take you through everything that happened sequentially, I’ll share the experience through these eight photos. (There are more than 1,000 additional images on my Flickr, if you’d like to keep scrolling.)
Gary Ware All Tied Up
My co-facilitator Gary Ware and I like to mix things up when we open the show. This year’s bit involved Gary getting a little too inspired by the cowboy “trick roper” who performed at the opening party the night before. One thing led to another, and Gary ended up stuck overnight in the green room.
We had security cam footage and everything—him trying to lasso his way out, pacing around, the whole ordeal—before another speaker finally came to the rescue and delivered Gary to the stage. It was completely ridiculous, which is how we like to start things.
The Amazing Dr. Scott (Barry Kaufman)
Scott Barry Kaufman is a psychologist and author, but apparently he’s also a mentalist? His talk turned into a full interactive experience—onstage magic, a live FaceTime call with a random stranger somewhere in the United States, and a card trick that somehow involved each person in the audience.
I still don’t fully understand how any of it worked, which I think is the point.
The Vibe With Ky (Westcott)
It was really great to have Kyrus Keenan Westcott with us this year. I didn’t know Ky very well before the conference, and connecting with him turned out to be one of the highlights for me personally. He brought this energy that just landed with the whole room. Before the talk, he told me he was going to “bring the spunk”—and clearly he did!
Jessica McCabe Back in the House
Our community champion Jessica McCabe was with us again this year after an amazing keynote in 2025. This time she talked about ADHD and creativity, which—if you know Jessica’s work—is right in her wheelhouse. Having her back, along with another longtime friend Cas Aarssen, felt like welcoming family.
Creative Writing Session on the Lawn
We had more than 40 breakout sessions over the weekend, featuring a bunch of topics you wouldn’t expect at a typical conference. One of my favorites was this creative writing session on the lawn, where attendees worked on short writing projects together in the sunshine.
Other outdoor activities included a hula hoop workshop, yoga, and sound healing. It was exactly the kind of thing that happens when you give neurodivergent people space and permission to do things a little differently.
ND Expo
This year we debuted something new: the ND Expo, a marketplace featuring dozens of small businesses and brands from the neurodivergent community. We opened it to the public, and more than a thousand people came through over the course of the day.
Among other things, the expo included a Meet-the-Author session with eleven authors from the community, a harpist providing the kind of ambient soundtrack every event should have, and a lot of conversations between people who’d never crossed paths before.
Attendee Stories on the Main Stage
In addition to our keynotes and other main-stage content, this year we featured fourteen two-minute stories from community members on all sorts of topics. These weren’t polished keynotes—just real people sharing a story, lifehack, or memory that mattered to them. It ended up being one of our most popular formats of the entire weekend.
This Isn’t the End
On the last day, I got to share some news: we’re coming back. ND27 will return to Austin next March, and we’re not just doing the event again—we’re building out a continuing education program, a business directory for the community, and more. This thing is growing, and we want to grow it with the people who were in the room this year and the ones who’ll join us next time.
Want to See Everything? Get the Media Package
Whew! And as I said, those are just a few highlights. We have over 1,000 photos and are slowly starting to go through hundreds of videos as well. If you’d like to access more of this content—including recordings of many of the breakout sessions, along with transcripts and slides—you can pick up a media package our team put together.
I don’t wish to suggest that the media kit provides the same experience as being there, however. NeuroDiversion is very much an in-person event!
As noted, we’ll be doing it again next year—once again, bigger-and-better—and you can join the waitlist on the ND homepage to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.
The past few months have been nearly full-time for me on NeuroDiversion. I’m looking forward to getting back to my other work that’s been back-burnered for a while, but I’m also feeling very grateful for this time.
Wherever you are and whatever you’re up to, I hope you’re taking care of yourself. 💚