Aspiritech has spent 17 years proving that an inclusive workforce isn’t just possible—it’s essential. But we can’t do it alone. Your donation today will fund employment, training, and community programs that empower autistic professionals to thrive.
Most people move through the world assuming their minds work like those of everyone else. They clearly picture their loved ones. They review conversations in mental snapshots. They look at memories as if they can hold them in their hands.
But what if someone told you their inner world looked nothing like yours?
This is where Aspiritech CEO Tara May began her recent TEDxWilmette talk on October 4. She invited a room of strangers to close their eyes, picture the most beautiful person they know, and hang on to that image.
Then Tara revealed that when she tries this exercise, she sees nothing at all. This is due to aphantasia, a neurological condition she wasn’t diagnosed with until the age of 40.
That revelation is not a confession or a limitation, but an introduction to the wide and varied world of neurodiversity. Every brain maps reality in its own vivid formation. None of those maps are wrong.
Most people never hear the word neurodiversity until something pushes it into their lives. For Tara, it was her son’s autism diagnosis. For many of our team members at Aspiritech, it was years of feeling out of sync in systems created without them in mind. For society at large, it’s still a concept that’s misunderstood, avoided, and often dismissed.
And yet, one in five people is neurodivergent and experiences the world through a differently wired mind. Our neurological and experiential differences influence everything: how we learn, communicate, connect, work, fall in love, and dream.
These natural variations are not problems in themselves. Rather, the problem is how slow systems are to accept and include all neurotypes.
Tara described years of professionals listing what her son supposedly could not do, with forecasts on his life shaped by limitation instead of possibility.
Her response was simple yet fierce: “Screw that.”
Humans thrive when they are supported, understood, and trusted. When their differences are recognized as strengths rather than obstacles, those limitations can actually become limitless potential.
Today, Tara’s son is thriving. From his experience, she learned to look at every person—her children, her colleagues, even herself—through a lens shaped by possibility rather than deficit.
When Tara describes Aspiritech, she starts with the people who make it extraordinary.
Ninety percent of our team is autistic, with neurodivergence represented at every level of our organization. Autistic experiences inform our business strategy, company culture, and approach to innovation. Every individual brings completely unique perspectives that enhance the very essence of our work.
When autistic and otherwise neurodivergent adults are given environments that accept them as they are, excellence follows. Studies have shown that autistic professionals can be more productive and faster at problem-solving when paired with work that matches their strengths.
At Aspiritech, that’s just our everyday reality.
You might think the key to success for autistic employment is specialized equipment or complex programs. But when we survey our team, one need rises above all others: kindness.
Nothing that needs to be custom-ordered or comes at a sizable cost. Just a culture where you can ask, “What do you need to be your best self?” with no strings attached. A place where difference is anticipated, embraced, and supported.
It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they don’t have to spend their days hiding their discomfort or masking their true selves.
Tara’s TEDx talk invites audiences to see potential where others perceive only limitations.
This vision is at the heart of Aspiritech’s mission. We’ve built a workplace where neurodivergent adults can succeed not in spite of who they are, but because of who they are. We’re helping to create more environments where strengths are celebrated and allowed to grow.
But that growth needs tending.
It takes resources, training, advocacy, and steady work within shifting systems. It requires community partners who believe that potential is not rare or fragile so much as it is everywhere, waiting for the right conditions to flourish.
As we enter our year-end season, we invite you to help us cultivate potential for the autistic adults who power our operations every day.
Support our work, invest in brilliance, and make room for every kind of mind to flourish. Donate to our nonprofit today.
“We hired them for the mission. We’ve kept them because they are excellent.”
Aspiritech, NFP
