Neurodiversity and inclusion in tech – with Jennifer Opal
Beyond 6 Seconds: Neurodiversity stories from neurodivergent people
06/27/22
•36m
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Jennifer Opal is a DevOps Engineer with the HelloSign Team at Dropbox, a multi-award winning neurodiversity & inclusion advocate, blogger & keynote speaker. She also has dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. Jennifer has worked with clients such as Bloomberg, Google and HackAJob, providing insight on being a neurodivergent queer Black woman engineer in tech, in the hopes of educating & inspiring others.
During this episode, you will hear Jennifer talk about:
- How she got diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD as a university student
- What inspired her to get into coding and tech as a career
- The challenges she's faced as a neurodivergent employee, and as the only Black person at one of her first tech jobs
- The importance of inclusive work environments
- How she shares her story and tech career journey to educate and inspire others
To find out more about Jennifer and her work, you can follow her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok. You can also find her on JenniferOpal.com.
This episode features a promo for All About Change hosted by Jay Ruderman. All About Change is a podcast about people who have leveraged the hardship they faced to better the lives of others. For your dose of hope and inspiration, check out All About Change on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch the video of this interview on YouTube!
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Click here for the episode transcript.
*Disclaimer: The views, guidance, opinions, and thoughts expressed in Beyond 6 Seconds episodes are solely mine and/or those of my guests, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or other organizations.*
Previous Episode
My Autism Diagnosis Story
June 18, 2022
•13m
On this special solo episode for Autistic Pride Day, I talk about how I got my autism diagnosis as an adult.
Please note that this is not meant to be medical or professional advice of any kind. It's just my own personal experience! Your experience may vary.
Resources I mention during this episode:
My 12/20/22 episode where I describe what led me to pursue an assessment.
Autism assessment provider directory (crowdsourced map on Autastic.com).
Subscribe to the FREE Beyond 6 Seconds newsletter for early access to new episodes!
Click here for the episode transcript.
*Disclaimer: The views, guidance, opinions, and thoughts expressed in Beyond 6 Seconds episodes are solely mine and/or those of my guests, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or other organizations.*
Next Episode
Writing autistic and ADHD characters -- with Brianne Leeson
July 11, 2022
•39m
Brianne Leeson is a writer, artist, and voice actor from Dallas, Texas. She is the creator of the queer supernatural comedy audio drama, "Today's Lucky Winner." Brianne was diagnosed as autistic and with ADHD at age 30, and she has since become a passionate advocate for autism acceptance and representation in media.
During this episode, Brianne talks about:
- How she got her autism and ADHD diagnosis during the pandemic, when her world was turned upside down
- How her diagnosis helped her reassess and reframe her past struggles with mental health
- Why an experience with hot sauce removed any doubt in her mind about her autism diagnosis
- How she realized she had written her own neurodivergence into the two main characters of Today's Lucky Winner
- Why she decided to explicitly mention during the show that these characters are neurodivergent – and the positive impact this has had on the show's fans
- How writing helped her process her diagnosis
For more information about "Today's Lucky Winner", check out the links below:
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A message at the top of this episode:
The US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade on June 24th, 2022, which stripped away the right to have a safe and legal abortion. To learn more about what you can do, go to podvoices.help.
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Watch the video of this interview on YouTube!
Subscribe to the FREE Beyond 6 Seconds newsletter for early access to new episodes!
Click here for the episode transcript.
*Disclaimer: The views, guidance, opinions, and thoughts expressed in Beyond 6 Seconds episodes are solely mine and/or those of my guests, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or other organizations.*
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