Our Mission

clinical Team

Our team consists of Occupational Therapists who have decades of experience empowering autistic, ADHDer, dyspraxic, dyslexic, and dysgraphic individuals, to name a few. OT’s also use evidence-based approach to assess and then codify individual or company needs and then design systems or solutions to address them.

We also rely on expertise from our Clinical Senior Advisors with expertise in Implementation Science, Speech-Language Pathology (SLP), Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Neuropsychology, and/or Psychology.

“Nothing about us without us”

Guidance from our neurodistinct senior advisors who tout real-time experience "thinking differently" in the corporate world makes Link the preferred partner for optimizing and celebrating your workforce potential.

Customized support

Combining our unique blend of therapist consultants and neurodistinct senior advisors, we provide 1:1 customized support to employees, as well as manager and team training specifically tailored to your company’s needs. To do this, we rely on piloting, taking metrics, and then scaling, as appropriate.

Evidence-based practice

Our approach merges evidence-based research, DEI best practice, and clinical expertise to meet the needs of your neurodistinct workforce population and the surrounding team. We lean on our expert faculty advisors from Vanderbilt University for assistance with designing programming that is scalable and sustainable.

Foundation in psychology

Link focuses on psychological safety, positive psychology, and interpersonal dynamics within the company culture to bridge the gap between employers and their neurodistinct workforce population. We lean on our expert advisors in Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology and Neuropsychology to bring us evidence-based, impactful outcomes.

Universal Design

With emphasis on universal design and inclusion, our clients will observe improved outcomes of every stage of employment, from recruitment and hiring to integration and retention. We rely on Design for Neurodiversity (DfN) best practices created by Ultranauts, Inc. to help us install neuroinclusion best practices across the employee life cycle.

Still not sure if neurodiversity programming is right for you? There is a reason why Ultranauts boasts:

90% retention rate
Loneliness score ratings (of 15%) are less than half of the average score for the general US population (40%)
50% annual growth
100% net promoter score (Ultranauts, Inc., 2020)!

What is neurodiversity

Neurodiversity relates to the natural variations in the way that people think and act. Brain differences are also viewed as normal, rather than deficits. The neurodiversity term was originally coined by sociologist Judy Singer in the 1990’s. Today, she has updated her definition as follows:
“Neurodiversity is:
- a state of nature to be respected,
- an analytical term for examining social issues,
- an argument for the facilitation and conservation of human diversity.”

Terms to Know

Neurodivergent or Neurodistinct

Since we are all different from each other, we are therefore all neurodiverse. The terms “neurodivergent” or “neurodistinct” relate to individuals whose differences vary from societal norms, who fall on the “edges of the bell curve” of human thinking.
Neurotypical: This term describes individuals who think/process/interact in the “middle of the bell curve”, as in having brain functioning that falls within the dominant societal standards of “normal”.

Neurodivergence / Neurodistinction

This is a broad term that refers to several different conditions that fit in the “neurodiversity umbrella”. Conditions include but are not limited to, autism, ADHD, anxiety, dyslexia, dyspraxia and more. There is no diagnostic “qualifier” for a person to be considered neurodivergent / neurodistinct, as it is up to the person to identify where they “fit” in comparison to societal standards.

Masking

Also called “camouflaging” or “compensating”, this term is a social strategy used by the neurodistinct community to “blend in” with societal norms. A neurodistinct person may feel the need to hide differences or change the way they naturally act. This behavior change often occurs when the person’s environment does not fully embrace neurodistinct thinking. While masking neurodistinct traits may have certain immediate benefits, it’s important to note that there are high costs. For example, in a 2019 study, researchers found that individuals who engage in masking behaviors reported more stress, anxiety, and depression when compared to those who did not (Cage et al.).

Person-First vs Identity-First Language

Person-first language identifies a person as SEPARATE from their condition. For example, “I am a person with autism.”
Identity-first language emphasizes that a person’s condition is part of their identity, that does not require separation. For example, “I am autistic”.
The Neurodiversity Movement embraces identity-first language, positioning various conditions as part of a person’s identity. This term is called “identity-first” because the identifying word comes first in the sentence and highlights the individual’s embrace of identity. For example, “I am autistic”, just as “I am right-handed”, or “I am tall”.

What is the neurodiversity movement?

The Neurodiversity Movement is a social justice movement that emphasizes equality, respect, inclusion, and civil rights for people with brain differences. Focus is on embracing neurodistinct individuals as welcome and equal members of society. This requires provision of necessary and needed supports for neurodistinct individuals to participate as equal community members.

neuro-Inclusion

Neuroinclusion is a set of systems and structures that support and amplify differences in thinking within the workplace. Key features of neuroinclusive design include company commitment to creation of workplace environments that foster:

Continuous learning
Mental health
Flexible workplace norms
Transparency with decision making
Collaborative team environments