DEI+Ntalks

What are DEI+N talks: A bi-monthly virtual series that aims to affirm, discuss and understand how neurodiversity can be recognized, supported and advanced. 


2023 Season RSVP

Next talk: 

Saturday, June 24th @ 11am EST (4th Saturday)

"Nuthin' But a Number"

June 24th

 Nuthin' but a Number

(Ageism/Historical Context "unique"/Age Wage Gap)


Aching knees and the necessary pair of readers aren't the only effects of age that most of us over 35 have concerned ourselves with. Educating on the value of deep knowledge, keeping the pace of perpetual learning, awareness of diversity acronyms, securing jobs in a digital only, or gen z focused workplace and combating the mental fog known as cognitive aging, literally keeps us up night. What is cognitive stimulation therapy? Should we ask for age accommodations in learning environments? What affordances are there for aged individuals? Should we assume cognitive aging in individuals of a certain age and is that discrimination? What roles/jobs are a good match for quinquagenarians or better? Is America, or the world, growing more or less tolerant of the aging mind.

Lily Liu

Ryan Backer

Kyrie S. Carpenter

Rebecca Wellner

Aug 26th

Born to Wander

 (Immigrants/ Second Generation/ Gentrification  and Transplants)


America is built off principles of diversity and cultural texture. You may know first or second generation immigrants who code switch for safety or for expediency. If it weren’t for the nationalism that pervades many aspects of our social norms, more of us would openly celebrate the rich culture texture we have, due in large part to those immigrants. With a Department of Education that classifies language barriers as special needs and in many cases does not recognize cultural differences and the resulting neurodivergence, one might feel perpetually misunderstood. If it is human nature to migrate, how can we better support the immigrant and transplant? How is Familiarity Branding building an “in-crowd” culture? How is gentrification creating unwitting and unwilling transplants. 

Oct 28th

For the Culture

(Culturalization/  Race + Gender)


“Over the past half-century, America’s per-pupil spending on K–12 education has nearly tripled” and though there is variation in that spending it “is not correlated with academic achievement,” [or LLC thereof]. Remove from your mind, the thought that people in poverty would by default be receiving a lower quality of education. Remove the image that public schools are bare bones and as a result so are the lesson plans and teacher resources.  Break the assumption that families in poverty don’t value education as a monolith. And shatter any automatic link between income and educational potential. That doesn’t mean there aren’t correlatives. It simply means that the biggest impact on those correlatives are our own habits and patterns of being. 

Dec 16th

Broke ain't Dumb

 (Socio-Economics/ Wealth Gap / Poverty)


A statistical search that rests at race or gender correlatives is short sighted, half hearted and does more damage than no pursuit at all. If there are enough minorities that have finished high school, women that have learned to read and non-binary that have achieved top honors, than there is some other impact other than race and gender that is causing the drop out, illiteracy and low performance rates. We generally lack measures for advancements provided by gender or cultural neurodivergence. And at the same rate that we come to understand the strengths that comes with being a woman and a BIPOC, the culture moves to singularity, non-binary and homogenized globalism. When we have a drastically lower number of black governors, an anemic number of women high school principals and a low college entry rate among BIPOCs, aren’t we counting how we as a society have failed to be democratic throughout the complete fabric of our constitution? How has keeping inequities unspoken fed them, even facilitated them? How will the non-binary and bi-racial boom affect gendered and racialized statistics? Can we awaken at a rate faster than propagandized missions can simplify the consumer to sleep?

Past Talks

Feb 25th | The Defintion of Trauma

 (PTSD/School to Prison Pipeline)

We’re going to talk about how to recognize trauma without stigmatizing it, and how to create trauma informed environments whether it be in a learning environment, at home or in a workplace. We’ll discuss frameworks for trauma such as Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Scores and trauma responses such as fight or flight, freeze, or fawn. The discussion will cover Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and some unexpected places you might find it, like in a child or in a returning citizen.

Lori Stokes

Founder + Advocate

Angel King Wilson

Documentarian +Teacher

Kari Miller

Parent + Professor

Steven Fabius

Therapist + Advocate

April 22nd | "He's Got Lead"

 (Lead/Climate Change/Water)

Many of our modern cities have a common problem. Inhaled, ingested or eaten (Pica) lurks lead poisoning, a pervasive problem that causes developmental delays, learning difficulties, irritability and fatigue. As well, incidents like the Flint Water Crisis, the Ohio train derailment, and recent Delaware River chemical spill have unknown impacts to water and food quality. We’re asking what are the effects of environmental factors on our brain and mental health? Further, how does COVID brain, pregnancy brain and Chemo brain show up as neurodivergence? How does that extend to what we consume, apply to our skin, breathe in and even take as medicine and what to do about exposure. Join us for an informative discussion.

Agnes Agyepong

Kellyann Few

Al Hawkins

Who are the past DEIN talks Speakers + Guests:

In Case you missed it...

What are the DEIN Talks:

There is a concept that we are all neurodiverse. Whether or not you agree, you might have encountered enough products, formats and instructions created and influenced by the neurodiverse, that you understand the importance of embracing and adopting a bilingual approach to their sensitivities and our shared world. This series of talks is crafted to service the selves, teachers, parents, coworkers, friends and fellow humans of the neurodiverse. Maybe society is making us neurodiverse, highlighting our differences, persisting our neurovariations and commoditizing our quirks. Products that calm us, organize us and "satisfy" our cravings aim to support and at times benefit from our identification of our neurodiversities. How can we have a conversation about our lives in a safe, shared space that supports how we are different, and alike, all at once.