Dr. Jane Thierfeld Brown is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale Child Study for Yale Medical School and has worked in the field of disability services at the collegiate level for 43 years. Dr. Brown is the parent of an autistic adult and has been working with students with autism since 1998. She, along with three other women, run College Autism Spectrum, an independent consulting organization that assists students with autism and their families, both in college and employment. Dr. Brown urges people to be more accepting of neurodiversity, and pushes college campuses to be more inclusive of those students by implementing amenities like calming rooms, which are often called sensory rooms. Civility and inclusivity, according to Dr. Brown, is about meeting autistic people in the middle to make them feel more included in the community. 

Autism is a massive umbrella under which lies an abundance of different symptoms, experiences, strengths and weaknesses, and interests, notes Dr. Brown. There is no single best way to support autistic individuals, but understanding and accepting them as they are is a start. 

“I think a lot of people really believe that if you are working correctly, with an autistic person, that you will make them more neurotypical. And I very strongly believe that’s wrong. I think a neurodiverse brain is very different than a neurotypical brain,” said Dr. Brown. “And we're trying, in that respect, to fit a round peg in a square hole. And that’s not fair to the person.” 

Dr. Fung suggests that society needs modification in the way it embraces neurodiversity. Creating a more positive atmosphere that celebrates neurodiversity will allow neurodiverse students to feel safer and more willing to ask for support.

“It’s really about how society can change culture so that neurodiverse individuals will have opportunity, and for the neurodiverse individual, it is important for them to follow their passion,” Dr. Fung said. “Once they find their passion and put their time into it, they can do amazing things.”

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