Panelists Share Experiences with Neurodiversity and Autism
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 1, 2025)
Ferndale, MI – Neurodiversity, which includes autism, can be a different for each person that experiences it. And it can be challenging for neurotypical people to understand. That’s why Ferndale Schools, Ferndale Youth Assistance, Fair Ferndale, and SE Oakland Coalition hosted A Night with Neurodivergent Folks: An Evening of Insights and Connection on Nov. 12.
The discussion included three neurodivergent individuals as well as a presentation about autism and neurodivergence.
Jennifer Carpus has been a school social worker with experience in serving students with autism for over seven years. She explained that neurodiverse brains have different pathways, which may be caused by the way the body responds to certain proteins as the brain is developed. Researchers are exploring the theory that people with a resistance to a specific protein may develop more receptors and sensors in their brain, meaning their brains are hyper-connected.
“The brain is still working, it’s just taking a different pathway,” Carpus said. “There is a difference, not a deficit.” She shared that a study found that autistic youth process an average of 42% more information than neurotypical youth, which may explain why over-stimulation is a more common problem for those with more complicated brain pathways.
Because those pathways develop differently on an individual basis, not everyone with autism has the same characteristics. “There are some neurodivergent people who talk a lot, and there are some who are non-verbal,” Carpus said. “There are some who move around a lot, and some who are very still and calm.”
“There’s a lot of different ways to be autistic,” she said.
Three individuals who know this first hand were also there to share their stories.
Kevin Roach is a Board Member of Fair Ferndale. He was diagnosed with autism at age 3, and is now 34. “These experiences are going to be a mix of some of the good things and some of the bad things,” Roach said. “I don’t want this to be ‘oh look how moving this is.’ I want the takeaway to be ‘oh, this is life.'”
Roach grew up in a supportive environment where he received speech therapy, general therapy, and was able to do independent study in school. But college brought some challenges. “I felt insecure,” he said. “At the time it was me saying I am not capable of this. Not a really great view of disability back then… I’m actually amazed I made it through with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.”
Two experiences with workplace programs impacted Roach after college, one was negative and one was positive. The first was a program that didn’t make time to get to know participants, and the only jobs they had were pushing shopping carts. “I hated myself,” Roach said. “If you’re like the Hollywood type of autistic – if you’re really good at math or you count cards or something, or you have very smart insights, when you’re useful in some way, it’s favorable. If you’re not seen as useful or as favorable, like maybe you laugh along with very bad jokes that aren’t funny, you’re no longer useful. You’re no longer good.”
After leaving the first agency, Roach found Autism Alliance of Michigan, which helped him find the job he’s had for the last eight years, working in the IT field. “They did something,” he said. “They treated me as an actual person.” Through the Autism Alliance he was able to meet other people with the same challenges. “Learning more about different people, it helped me think, wow, I am not the only one.”
Noah Stein is 20 years old. Though he was diagnosed with autism about a year ago, there were signs of it in childhood. “Eye contact was something I had to constantly force myself to do,” Stein said. “There was something invisible there that I didn’t understand that made it hard to socialize with my peers, and that was one of the big struggles with autism, feeling different than the people around me.”
By age 11 he was unable to sit through school. “I was in a setting where I was expected to excel and be attentive,” he said. “It was an overwhelming environment… I started having meltdowns.”
Stein said his parents were wonderful and supportive, and they rearranged their lives to home school him. He was able to explore his own interests at his own pace, and by age 14 he started taking college classes at Oakland Community College.
Stein said that his mom “was really positive and that was the biggest gift,” and added that the ways autistic people think and act “aren’t problems. They’re things that make them unique.”
Being diagnosed and learning about autism has been helpful for Stein, saying it helped him in “recognizing that I was not a broken person.”
Sasha Cheyfitz also spoke on the panel. “My disability is not apparent so some people assume I’m normal,” he said. But when he was a child “the doctors said I wouldn’t read or write or talk, but I proved the doctors wrong.”
Cheyfitz misunderstands words easily. “One way I process words is to play conversations over and over in my head to make sense of them,” he said. “I’m a visual learner so pictures mean more to me than words.”
“Idioms really confuse me,” he said. “If you say you’re dying to see me, I think you are dying.”
Though words are challenging, his memory is excellent. He loves airports and airplanes and remembers the date, flight number, and seat of every flight he’s ever taken. He’s been to 37 airports and hopes to visit 50 by the time he is 50.
Cheyfitz explained some of the ways some autistic people experiences sensory input. “Another part of my disability is I get distracted. You can filter out distractions by I can’t. I don’t have filters like you.
“I don’t have sensors like you. The only time I can feel my body in a space in in the water,” he said. “Water is very comforting to me. I like jacuzzis. I like bathtubs. And swimming pools.”
He also loves strong smells. “I love the smell of garlic and onions so cooking makes me happy,” he said. The smell of jet fuel is also part of the allure of visiting so many airports.
Thanks to a supportive family and professional support, Cheyfitz is able to live on his own, though he doesn’t drive. And he works in the food service industry.
The event gave an audience full of parents, teachers, administrators, and members of the community an chance to learn more about autism and neurodiversity from those who experienced it personally. But there are many ways that lives of neurodiverse people may differ. Carpus recommended that those who want to learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder and how it relates to education visit the Oakland University Cares Program website at https://www.oakland.edu/oucares/
