Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging, and societal transformation. Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world where everyone not only belongs but thrives? You're not alone. Join me as we uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo, and share stories that resonate the within. Ready to dive in. Whether you're sipping your morning coffee or winding down after a long day, let's connect, reflect and inspire action together. Don't forget, you can be part of the conversation, too. Reach out to

jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your insights or to join me on the show. So adjust your earbuds and settle in. It's time to ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites. And today is episode 152 with the title, embracing every mind. And I have the absolute honor and privilege to welcome Charlie Hart. Charlie, also known as ausome Charlie, and you'll find out in a minute why, is a neurodivergent keynote speaker championing neurodiversity and LGBTQIA plus inclusion in the workplace. And when I asked Charlie to describe their superpower, they said, it's just their unwavering dedication to creating a better world for neurodivergent and queer youth inspired by their own children and the Gen-Z community. Hi, Charlie.

Welcome to the show.

Hi, Jo. Thanks so much for having me.

Yeah. We've talked about this for a couple of months, and it's I'm really honored you've come on today.

I'm really excited to be here because I've been following your work on LinkedIn for quite a long time now. And then we met through the professional speaking association, and I'm really keen to get on this fabulous podcast, which I quite often listen to when I'm on a long walk.

Oh, thank you. And this you have the honor of being the first video version of this podcast. I mean, yes, it'll be published in audio only as well on Spotify, iTunes, and the user places, but it's gonna be the first one we actually recorded the video as well. So, yeah, I'm excited by that as well. So it's gonna be brilliant.

Me too. Yeah. So, Charlie,

we talked about in the opening there about your work championing neurodiversity through your own experience and also out of your children and the Gen Z community at large. What took you from where you were to deciding this was your your passion, your calling?

So it's quite a long story as you can imagine, but my background is HR, and I fell into that quite by chance. Analytical and project management side of HR and supporting the HR system, but I've tried to progress, and I ran into difficulties with meeting behaviors. I was frequently overwhelmed, quite often getting burnout that looked like depression, and I just wasn't getting promoted through the ranks like my peers that started at the same time were. Eventually, I eventually, I realized that my child, Iggy, my first born, was autistic, and that so was I. Everything that he learned about his neurotype and the reasons that he struggled with anxiety and getting overwhelmed and having what was actually autistic meltdowns, but he he thought were anxiety attacks. Everything that he realized, I realized was true about me as well. So in 2018, I went through the autism diagnosis, and I discovered the neurodiversity community online. So that to me, it really sparked my interest.

After 15 years of feeling like I was somehow broken, there was something wrong with me. There were I realized that there was a concrete reason why I struggled with things that my peers took for granted, and there were concrete reasons that I was losing my call and even tipping into burnout. And it explains so much about me. And then I discovered that actually neurodiversity is a thing. There are differences between each and every human brain and mind. We all process the world and its inputs. We all think, feel, and respond to things uniquely. And that doesn't mean that some people are broken and that some are good.