I found Spectrum Affirming the way a lot of people find the things that change them — at the right moment, in the right place, when I was ready to hear it.
Spectra had posted a call for collaborators. Someone who could be a public face for the project while Spectra focused on content and tools. Someone with their own story, their own stake in this community, and the practical skills to help build something real.
I responded. And here we are.
I'm a neurodivergent adult — late-diagnosed, navigating the same systems, the same workplace dynamics, the same gap between how the world works and how my brain works. Professionally, I'm a researcher who codes and a developer who investigates — I've spent time in tech, research, and administration, including supporting a UCSF epidemiology team during COVID-19, where I contributed to public health data tracking, code transcription, and scientific writing. I was nominated alongside my colleagues for a COVID-19 Data Hero Award in 2021.
As an independent contractor, I've provided technical support, account management, coding support, and research for clients ranging from solopreneurs to UC San Francisco and Google/Freebase, along with experience at Amazon across Seller Support and Customer Support. In parallel, I've done community and care work — youth counseling, peer support, mutual aid, and volunteer advocacy for LGBTQ+ and marginalized communities, including The Trevor Project and Mental Health First Aid leadership.
More recently I've been building hands-on with AI — pair coding with Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT, and Gemini to create working tools, automations, and documented workflows, including direct API integration with Claude's Vision API. I built myReadOut, a phone-powered universal screen reader — point your camera at any screen and hear it read aloud, no install required on the target device. And DashPirational, a calm, single-file personal dashboard with no frameworks and no backend, built for clarity and full ownership of your own data.
I know how to build things. I know how to navigate systems. And I know what it feels like to do all of that while exhausted from masking, from bullying, from the particular invisibility of being different in ways nobody named for you until much later than they should have.
Spectrum Affirming is the resource I needed and couldn't find. Spectra built the foundation. I'm here to make it visible, make it useful, and make sure it reaches the people who need it.
My articles tend to be more outward-facing than Spectra's — resources, navigation guides, practical tools, and the kind of honest systemic analysis that comes from having worked inside a lot of broken systems. I write in my own name because I made a choice to be visible, and because visibility has its own kind of power when it's safe enough to use.
Spectra says the harder things. I try to make them actionable.
I'm self-taught, self-directed, and building in public. If you want to see the code behind the tools I mention, my work lives on GitHub — link in the footer below, or reach out through the site's contact page.
The story of finding Spectrum Affirming, what it meant, and why I said yes. (Draft — not yet published)
A practical breakdown of the disclosure decision points during a job search.
Practical interview prep — structured answers, accommodation requests, and what to do about eye contact.
Green flags, red flags, and where to actually look.
The ADA covers the interview process too. Exactly how to ask.
Low-energy, asynchronous networking strategies that actually work.
What actually requires formal documentation, and what accepts self-identification.
A silent, common blocker for disabled adults — recognizing it, documenting it, knowing your options.
Spectrum Affirming offers peer support and resource navigation — not therapy. If you are in crisis please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) or Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741). Full disclaimer →