All Brains Belong VT - Community Storytelling 9/8/2026

Welcome everybody. Um I'm Mel Hower, you their pronouns, executive director of All Brains Belong. Um welcome to our community storytelling. Um so uh for some of you, you've been part of this work for five years. Some of you you're meeting us for the first time and some of you in between. Um, but we're a nonprofit here to support the health and belonging of people with all types of brains. And we do that in lots of different ways. Um, coming together to reimagine health care and community. We're also really Hey, Susan. Um, we're also really excited that, um, we are launching not only our fifth anniversary celebration, um, but the launch of our new book, A Failure of Imagination: How the Health Care System Fails Neurodyiverent People and What We're Doing Instead. Um and so um to build a new type of health care um you know it's been all of you coming together to really think about what we want this to look like and really think intentionally what could healthcare be and I think what we've found is we've found a community and we found a community um that that that that's where health has come from as we reimagine what we can demand and expect from our comm from our surrounding environments um and how we can have our access needs met in healthcare, in workplaces, in schools, in surrounding community. And so, we're here tonight to hear from our community members um talking about what that process has been like for them. We're going to hear from folks um both here in person and um virtual folks um because there's no right way to participate. Um and so whether um you'll hear from folks who get their medical care here as patients, community program participants, neurodiversity training participants, volunteers, supporters, all different kinds of roles. Um and I'm excited to hear from you all. Um but first I want to tell you a story. I want to tell you a story of Sorry, I'm like sorry Zoom people. I'm like leaning on you with my clipboard. Um anyway, um so I'm a family doctor and when I worked in traditional primary care, I spent most of my time in the exam room problem solving life outside the exam room and it felt very ineffective the ways in which the health care system separates medical care from the rest of life and seeing the ways in which our patients were armed in all these other realms of their lives. um it felt really important um to do it differently, but five years ago, I didn't know exactly what that would look like. So, what we've learned here is that by asking people what they need and what they wish were possible, like we've really cocreated this whole experience. Um nothing that we've ended up doing was part of the original plan. Um and so it's really the idea that solutions come from those closest to the problem and that um you know flattening the hierarchy um between doctors and patients and really just coming together as human beings. That's what this work has been about. Um and so uh with that um let's let's let's hear from some of our community members. Um Liz, would you like to go first? >> Great. Thanks. Thank you, Mel. My name is Liz. Um, I wear a couple of hats in the community. I'm a community member. Um, I'm a volunteer. I'm a parent. I'm a patient. Um, I am very grateful for this community and for what this has become. And I can't believe I get to sit next to you and say that. that means so much to me. Um um I could I could spend a lot of time talking about what the community means to me, but what I want to say and demonstrate is at at every step of participation that I've been in, there have there have been choices, feedback has been solicited. Um, when we were trying to as a as a brain club moderator, we met prior to this and we were trying to think what are the questions that we want to ask and we couldn't even come up with just one question. We had to come up with several questions because we need to include everyone's story and how they want to express it. Um, and I love that about this community because there isn't just one way to do things or say things or think things or feel things and you get to answer the question that the questions that you want to answer here. If the answer to your question is community, if the answer to your question is knowledge, if the answer to your question is empathy, you can find that here. Thank you. Thank you so much, Liz. So, next we're going to hear from Sarah on Zoom. So, you you'll see Sarah up on the screen and hear them that way from the speaker. in here. Just almost got it. All right. Uh, hang on. Sorry. It went fast. Uh, let's see. Um, so why we need a book launch. There's a lot of us feeling lower than dust. Subject of disgust. What do I say? Doesn't have to be this way. It's not okay. There's a better way. Could have changed it yesterday. Should have changed it yesterday. No way. Yes way. We got a way and we can start today. No way. Yes way. We Yes way. Yesterday perhaps we didn't know the way, but today we got a way. We still got today. So with our will and our way, we can start today. Yay for today. Access needs. Everybody has them. Having only one way to do a thing creates a giant chasm. It's a great loss. Who can get across? It's not okay. Universal design. Isn't it time all of us can play in our own way with no one left behind? Your way. My way. We're both right. Being different isn't wrong. That's the point. All brains belong. All our ways belong. No way. Yes way. We got a way. There's no right way to be a person. Mama, tell them there's no right way to be a person. Mama, tell them there's no right way to be a person. Kids connection. Upon inspection, how to make a friend. No big question. Just let the kids do what they love. Let the kids do what they love. Let the kids do what they love. No way. Yes way. Here's the way. The secret ingredient. So expedient. No behavior plan. No assessments to attach. Just a simple match. Find other kids that love the same thing, too. It's what they do. So they love the same thing, too. And then there's two. Kids connection. And it's a kids invention. No way. Yes way. We found a way. Accessibility. Here's the key. Just have a little chat. Ask the people what they need. Then do that. It's that simple. Ask the people what they need, then do that. Just do that. Make it your mission first to listen. If you can listen, and who can't listen? What you learn just might change your school, your work, your home, your family, your town, your state, your life, the world. No way. Yes way. We found a way. I'mma please tell them. I want you to tell them. I'mma help them. Listen, there's no right way to be a person. There's no right way to be a person. There's no right way to be a person because everybody is a person. Access needs. Everybody has them. Universal design. Isn't it time we bridge the chasm? Isn't it better? Isn't Isn't it great? We can we can all participate. It's the way every one of us can play because I'm quite certain there's no right way to be a person. Universal design in our time. Your way, my way. We're both right. It is It isn't wrong. Being different isn't wrong. That's the point. All brains belong. All our different brains belong. Everybody counts. Everybody matters. Everybody gets to give. Everybody gets to get. Everybody gets to teach. Everybody gets to learn. Everybody gets to pass. Everybody gets to turn. It's how we do right by humankind. It's how we move our kind ahead. It's how we learn to relate. It's how we stop the fear and hate. Enough said. No way. Yes way. We got away. No way. Yes way. We got away. No way. Yes way. We got away. When you believe all brains belong, there is a way. And >> I have to close my mouth. My jaw dropped like Sarah. I have no words. That was so incredible. Thank you. >> Glad I went. >> Yeah. >> I don't think I can speak anymore. Um >> that was incredible. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> All right. Let's do that. >> Hello. Well, I have the unfortunate uh opportunity to be following up Sarah Canudson. Uh I'm Paul Mleier. I'm also a patient at ABB. And um when I moved from the greater Boston area to area to Vermont, central Vermont about eight years ago, I wasn't expecting to find life-changing health care that I wouldn't get elsewhere. That's what I thought Boston was for. But life-changing health care that I can't get elsewhere is exactly what I found at ABB. My introduction to ABB came through a brain club like it is for so many others. Uh for me it was in the fall of 2023. And at that time I just felt I had to finally start dealing with some of the broken stuff that was inside my head. And at that brain club, I was able to hear comforting messages that really spoke to me and made me want to become part of the ABB community, which I didn't know was a community at the time, but it is. And I became a patient in 2024. And at ABB, the medical care that I've received has, one might expect, helped me learn more about my neurode divergent brain and how it works. Beyond that though, it's made me aware of the physiological just uh aspects of my health that are related to the or interconnected with the neurode divergence. And that was not something I really expected to find out. But bottom line, ABB is trying to treat the person as a whole and not deal with specific ailments in a vacuum. And that is a beautiful thing. Um, I guess the other big part too is that ABB really is a community. It's both the staff and the patients. And I care deeply for this community. And I really wish that more people could feel that way about their health care. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Paul. Beautiful. >> Hi. Uh, I'm Steve Owens. Um, I'm a patient volunteer with ABB. Uh, I'm also an educator. I was a princ I was a principal. I was a teacher for a long time. I'll tell you something as a principle I can say is that um if you're a neur neurode divergent kiddo uh it's perfectly possible that you'll be spending some um quality time with me um and in the course of uh and it is very different being a principal because you do spend that quality time with with kids who are struggling for whatever reason. And as I was going through that, I um I really began to identify with these kids and I started to go through a process of uh initially, you know, self-discovery about my um about my neurotype and uh was seeking affirmation which I found here at ABB. Um and um I I just I want to talk for a second about the um impact that ABB had on me personally because we talk about community but that doesn't necessarily mean uh you know this community for me it's impacted my other communities and I and the thing I'll mention is uh uh you know my relationship with my wife for example a very small community but um it really improved things when suddenly we had an explanation for the way that I am. And uh you know, I wasn't um I wasn't a jerk. I wasn't mentally ill. I was a reasonably healthy autistic person who um uh just uh didn't align with uh with expectations. And I'll tell you uh uh thanks to the the community of ABB, the experiences I've had, the affirmation, the neuroaffirmation I've had of my situation, uh my marriage is considerably better. And so, you know, that is uh a uh an unexpected thing when we talk about community. And then uh my understanding of myself also has had a beneficial impact on all of the communities that I travel in and has and I'm wouldn't say it's become a lot easier but it's definitely become easier because when I understand that what it comes down to there's a lot of things that a neurotypical person care cares about uh like long conversations about their 14-second cousins that I just don't give a damn Uh and uh and so something that's like never happens is after listening to 45 minutes of that somebody saying uh oh would you like to talk a little bit about 12 tone music theory or the rabbit's digestive system does not happen but um I think um I think ultimately neuro inclusion is going to be a two-way street when we realize that not everybody's brain values the things that the majority value. Um I had a parent up in where I was principal in the kingdom come in one day. Her son was well we were kind of dancing around it but all of us were autistic sitting in the room and uh she says to me, "Well, can't the school just meet him halfway?" And I'm thinking to myself, "Good Lord, a 2080 split would be a minor miracle." But what that looks like, I think, is realizing that um that there are things that my brain doesn't do, your brain does, and vice versa. And just because I'm in the minority, it doesn't flow from that. That um that there's something wrong with me. Neuroincclusion, I think, is uh ultimately going to consist of a widespread uh understanding of that fact. And um I do think that uh things like the new book and the understanding and the educational work of ABB is going to go a long way towards uh towards establishing that 50/50 split that that parent was asking me for. It's uh it's it's a dream and we're closer to it thanks to ABB. >> Thank you. That was that was amazing. Thank you. Okay, we're gonna hear from some Zoom folks. Um, Lizzie, do you w to play the first Oh, there's a comment in the chat. We would love to hear about two-tone music theory or the rabbit suggestive system in the chat. Yeah. >> All right. So, we hear some Zoom. Ready? don't think it's necessarily that people don't want to be inclusive or are trying to leave people out or make people feel bad. I think people just don't understand and don't know. You know, all brains belong is a message that I feel like I needed and need to hear. As the mom of a daughter who's neurode divergent, you know, I have learned that the world's not necessarily set up for someone who thinks um and experiences things differently. I think it's easy to feel as a parent that you're being judged or you're doing something wrong. It's not you're not trying hard enough. It's not that you didn't teach well enough. It's that she needs something different. So when I learned about All Brains Belong through my job, I just felt this like deep body sense of relief that people were allowing people to be themselves and opening up my eyes to the possibilities of doing things differently. It feels really exciting to me to be part of this movement. Gives me a sense of like hope and that we as a community, whether that's in workplaces or in schools or in community spaces, we as a community can welcome and make space for people of all sorts, all different brains. >> I just got to a point where I was like, you know, I don't think this is working for me anymore. Like, I can't seem to keep up. much of my life I assumed things I struggled with were my own personal shortcomings being with ADD has like shift you know shifted the conversation I have like what's what's wrong with me to like how can I how can I work with the brain that I have not fitting into somebody else's idea of what it means for me to be productive I think the most important thing is it helps people replace um that feeling of shame pain with understanding. Um so doesn't matter if like you're newly diagnosed or self questioning or that you even know that you're been neurody divergent for years. Uh it's powerful to find community. You're not you're not broken. You're you just work differently. >> A lot of other doctor practices treat you like you're hypochondric if you have all these different ailments. Most doctors are like, "You can't possibly have all this stuff wrong with you." And you guys know 100% that yes, you can. And you do, and let's fix it the best we can. And it's the greatest gift I've ever received. All these other patients that I'm with in different groups, my my healthc care family, it helps you connect and and be at ease with these people. you you guys have just really royally changed my life. When I get sick, sometimes I'm really flaring. I get really sick and I can't do anything. You know, it affects you mentally and then you get depressed and you you start to lose hope. But then then I go, "Oh, wait a minute. I can call you guys up." Even if the ailment itself can't be erased out of my body, everything is better knowing that I have that I'm going on that solid that I have to go to when I need help. And it's the greatest gift. >> What I've learned from kind of working in public health is and as an EMT is the health system really defaults to serving whoever fits this very specific mold and everyone else gets left to figure it out on their own. So neurode divergent people are told to constantly adapt um to this system that just was not built with them in mind. And I think ABB really flips that and that has just an absurd amount of value. Exactly why I wanted to get into public health in the first place and AB is doing that right in my backyard. So I knew I wanted to get involved. It's proving that healthc care and community or belonging shouldn't be thought of or solved for separately. I think ABB treats medical care, health care, social connection, wraparound support, and education all as one integrated uh thing and approach. And that's because for the people that ABB serves, that's how it works in real life. Um, and so it's it's creating and then acting on that really important model. It's it's that holistic wraparound support approach. I love all brains a lot. I can show up as my true self >> cuz really all brains belong and I honor that. So this is my picture. Um, I like my friend and I saw her stuffies and my kittens and yeah, and I like playing with her and she showed me how to make a paper airplane and I sold her my Hello Kitty bean bag. >> Before finding ABB, it's really really struggling with a lot of executive functioning skills and Frozen. I'm going to But the mic's coming from here. I'm going to stop this share. Okay. I think we may need to resume the rest of that video shortly. Okay. All right. Um, yeah, we'll start at Heidi's, please. Okay, Lizzie, let me know. Do you think that Do you want to try that again from Heidi? >> Sorry about that. My Zoom crashed. Let me start back with Heidi. >> Awesome. Kitty bean bag >> before finding ABB was really really struggling with a lot of executive functioning skills and of regulation and workplace demands all and and parenthood demands like all crashing down on me. So it was it was pretty chaotic. It's like it's drastically it's wildly different. It's wildly different in just like every layer of my life. Like it's not just, you know, that I, you know, received a diagnosis and I'm I'm now receiving healthcare related to my diagnosis like which is true, but um and hard enough these days, but I I'm living a better life. Like I'm living a better life. I'm happier. I'm healthier. I'm more connected to my community. I'm more connected to myself. Um, it's funny like I have to say this uh every time I get off a ABB group uh meeting I say something to the effect it's not always this but something to the effect of like oh man like that's the way life could be. people are valued for just like being people and you know you what we're bringing to the table has nothing to do with like how productive we were that day or blah blah blah you know having one environment where like I am continually reminded that you know I'm not broken there's nothing wrong with me at all um I am existing in a world that was not created you know for a brain like mine um and being asked to do ridiculous things like you exists in an impossible world and that it doesn't have to be that way. And there are places where it's not that way. And there are places, you know, even in my day-to-day where I can change things to make it more that way, both for myself like and everybody because everybody freaking benefits like >> Yes, that is so true. And um like I think that's what's really standing out to me so far, what we've heard from so many of us is just like everyone benefits. It's not just neurody divergent people. It's everyone benefits from having multiple paths to participation. I think that's what we've that's what we see here. I'm going to pass the mic to my colleague Sierra Miller. >> Hey everybody. Um I'm Sierra. I am a family nurse practitioner who works at All Brains Belong. Um, I feel ridiculously lucky to have this community, not only as my community, um, but also be able to work here. Um, I think it's really there's a lot of things that are really special about it. But seeing how seeing how little things can really make a big difference to change and how easy some of these things are to do. Um, I remember when I we first started asking, would you prefer open-ended questions or not open-ended questions and like how gamechanging it was to have that information before starting a conversation and starting to try to build a relationship with somebody and how easy those little things or having three different lighting sources in an exam room or starting every community event with a community agreement so everybody kind of gets settled in and knows the ground rules and has a little bit of a routine at the beginning. These things are don't don't take that much and can really be done in a lot of places. Um, and it's it's amazing what what a difference it can make. Um, I think the the other thing that I've been thinking a lot about is how special it is to really kind of embody patient centered care, for lack of a better word, I guess. um in the sense of trusting people as the experts in themselves not only in their health care but also in an organization. Okay, we're doing we're an organization that is working for people in this community. We have to trust people in the community to know what we need. Um, and building from that and again seeing how that kind of builds out from healthcare and community organizations and educational programs and how when everything really is based on that we you can make you can make differences because people are people are bought in, people are interested, people are people are getting what they need. >> Yeah, that's it. >> Thank you, Sierra. him. Do you want to go next? >> Yeah, please. Or we could bring the mic to you. What do you prefer? Okay. >> Should I just sit down? >> Hi, I'm Kim. Um, I first got involved with All Brains Belong through attending brain club sometimes, but it was several months after that that I had the really negative medical experience that was the impetus for me joining here as a patient. I had seen a new nurse practitioner at my old medical practice right after having received my uh neurode divergent diagnoses and having those added to my medical records. and the nurse practitioner gaslighted me saying that the medication side effects I was experiencing were impossible to have. So I was in shock by how I was treated and I knew I needed a change. When I started as a patient at ABB, I was shocked in a different way by how my medical team listened to me, believed me, and validated me. At an appointment where I mentioned those same medication side effects that I had uh had with my old medical practice, I was immediately met with a response that of course my experience was real and also that side effect was not uncommon with many neurode divergent patients like me. When I described struggling with fatigue for a long time, I was told that that too was real, understandable, and common. And actually there were lots of things to try to improve that fatigue. I didn't have to work to convince anyone that my symptoms or my experience were real. I was surrounded by people who experienced the same thing. Now, it would be a tidy story if I said that coming to ABB fixed all my health problems, but that's not the case. About 6 months after I became a patient, I got CO for the first time and I've been disabled by long CO ever since. And I have to say that being an ABB patient now that I'm quite sick is where this practice in the community has made the most difference in my life. Long CO is awful for sure, but a big source of the suffering for most patients is the lack of medical care, the lack of doctors who believe them and isolation. But for me, even though I'm chronically ill, being connected to ABB has helped this period of my life become one of enormous healing. I have a medical team and community that are supporting me in learning to rest to accommodate myself, to listen to my body, to set boundaries, to prioritize my health, and to have hope. For most people who have energy limiting illnesses like long co, it is so easy to disappear from the lives in the world we used to have to become invisible. But I have hope from all brains belong. Yes, because I have appointments at least once a month and a growing list of prescriptions and supplements. But mostly, I have hope because I am seen by the people here. Because I know that my experience is real and valid and it matters. And because I'm not alone. Thank you, Kim. Thank you for sharing that. Aaron, do you want to go next? We can bring you Mike. I'm Aaron. Uh, okay. Uh, Aaron, they them pronouns. Um, I'm so excited to see this book get out into the world. um really because too many people and communities don't have access to organizations like All Brains Belong directly. I find myself talking to people in other states and being like there's this really cool organization that you can't be part of very easily except maybe on Brain Club online. Um and because I don't see this happening in other places and none of my friends or family do either. And um I feel like a lot of the things you do are very easily replicable if people just you know listen and explore some of the Yeah. or replicable in different ways too. But I feel like it's a really great starting point uh that can be used in a lot of places and that's one of the things that excites me. I think when I first came to All Brains Belong, I had a lot of work to do in that All Brains Belong helped me with, you know, I think in just understanding my own internalized abbleism and how I think to overcome that. Um because uh I think understanding essentially identifying what is my own responsibility and what is really a societal responsibility that doctors and lots of practitioners keep placing on us as individuals. Um is was really helpful. Uh and uh I think it changed a lot how I interact with public health systems in general not just with all brains belong. um to see sort of a dis different system modeled. Um and uh one thing I really love about All Brains Belong is um I think you the organization's vision to see all to see so many roadblocks and not just to focus on okay here's your medicine go home. uh but really there are so many roadblocks and I think you know as soon as you get involved you can't really it's you can't not see them and uh but also it would feel really disingenuous to just address try addressing one of them and then assume that the problem will go away. So it's really unfortunate that we have so many but we really do have to address Yeah. We really do have to address shame. We really do have to talk about employment. We really do have to talk about community and create community and we also have to deal with so many structural barriers and those things aren't can't really they just can't be we just can't talk about them or address them alone and that's one thing I really love about thinking about a medical model that incorporates all of those things. >> That's it. >> So well said. Thank you. Um, Lizzie, do you want to play the next batch of virtual stories that way? And when I couldn't, after a while, I'm just like, I'm I'm alone. Your role in the community is making it possible for us to get healthcare. Like now that I'm sick, I've never been sick. It is so freaking hard to get healthcare. I mean, it it it's not just I mean, it's punishing. It's spent my whole life in therapy like freaking And it isn't neurotic. I thought me like losing my temper and being difficult and all these things that were different than anybody else in the world. I thought it was because I was um there was something uniquely wrong with me. I thought there was some I thought there was something uniquely wrong with me. And I don't know why I learned that, but it's it blows my mind that I'm not medicine is a modern thing. Making teaching me about myself is by far more important than medicine. All brains belong gave me another explanation for it. I've met a lot of other autistic people. When I say bad things about myself, when I'm like, "Oh, I always do that. It's because I'm lazy or because I'm They correct me. I'm learning that humans aren't dangerous. We understand each other. >> Like when we connected with all brains belong, Mel and Sierra helped talk us through the things that were happening in our family. We don't have the hours and hours long marathons that we used to have because we we understand and can talk about some of the the root causes um of of what goes on when someone's not getting their needs met. This deep dark weight of of a mainstream culture that does not understand was removed. You specifically create opportunities for all brains belong patients to connect with one another. So that unlike the normal conventional medical system where everybody's put in a in a box looking at their phones in the waiting room having five or 10 or maybe 15 minutes inside that quick medical appointment. They're alone and then it's back to them and maybe Google or something. And whereas we feel like we're part of a community of people that all have a different facet of an understanding and we can reach out. That's that's been amazing. >> I felt like I was floundering just out there by myself and trying to figure out how to navigate all these different conditions and neurody divergence and how to make sense of all of it. And then Albrin showed up and it was like a one-stop shop for everything that I felt alone in. I am so thankful that a community exists where I feel like I don't have to explain myself. I don't have to put in filler details. Um I don't have to explain why something hurts the way it hurts today. Um, I can just show up and be who I am and all with all the experiences that I live with every single day and somebody gets it. And and I it just and it's not just like one person. I will see people nodding their heads in agreement and it it feels so good to feel like I matter, like I I'm seen. And um so many of these things that we live with are it's so lonely to navigate them every day and advocating for our families and for our needs and you know it's such an exhausting process and finding all brains was like gh it's just like a little sanctuary like I could just when I show up here I can just there's so much space to breathe. It gives us a voice and we get to share our experiences. Um, the nitty-gritty, the hard, the the joyful things, the happy stmming. Um, all of it gets to have a voice in this community and it matters. And it's not just like a wimpy little voice. It's like unapologetic. We get to have an unapologetic voice. ideas and energy and drive comes from the people up rather than um you know this top down where it's being dictated to you what you should be doing or not doing or how you should be doing it. Um part of why I'm really enjoying being a part of all this this journey is because the the kernel of what you're doing feels so common sense, right? It's just so easy and is if you're able to pass on the word as much as possible, you know, I can picture like, you know, 10 years from now, at least four or five other practices like yours would be amazing, right? Um all over the, you know, all over the country or wherever. Like I think that would be really really great. Really great. Yeah. And for people to even know that it exists, they're like, "Oh, I can I can actually seek out practices like that. I don't have to stay with this thing that I don't feel good about." I I didn't feel like I could talk about myself in any kind of deep way until I got involved with ABB really. I mean, it just like it spoke to me immediately as something that like, you know what, Winnie, you're going to be 50some at some point. you're going to need to be authentic with people. Why not start right now? >> How do we make progress if we don't try things? What really matters to me about ABB personally, just the overwhelming evidence that the standard procedure in healthcare um doesn't meet the needs of all people, certainly neurode divergent individuals, and that creates this negative feedback loop that is a lose-lose for everybody. It's a lose for the patient, but it's a lose for the system. You know, they're not having positive outcomes, which impacts their staff. It's not just unfortunate, it's hard to watch. It's painful. A really important role in ABB is not but as a demonstration project which the world needs. Needs a model to work from needs somebody to take that chance. It's prideful to be part of something that is developing that is doing cool and interesting stuff and trying to fix problems even if not everything sticks. It it makes me hopeful. people's excitement and action. Um, advisory board members, community members, and people's engagement across all of the different groups. Um, both like formal committees, but also like service offerings and also just like informally and donors. being part of something bigger than yourself. Arguably a core innate evolutionary, you know, mind construct, being part of a community that that get it. >> Thank you everyone. Um Olivia, do you want to say anything? >> Hi everybody. Hello. Hi, I'm Olivia. Um, I'm the patient care coordinator at ABB and also a patient. Um, and I was trying to think about what I could say that hasn't already been said. And um, it seems like everyone is really doing a good job um, of getting the the message across, but um, uh, it really is um, about all about community and making everybody feel a part of and safe um, to be their authentic self. And I'm learning that every single day. Um to be more and more myself. Um and you know the that saying you know the no one's safe until we're all safe. Um and I really you know believe that at ABB we are trying to do that and we're always improving and wanting to do better. Um, and that's pretty amazing. And the community, all of us showing up for each other like every single day, like kind of I mean, I know we do, so it doesn't surprise me, but um it's impacts me really deeply when, you know, we show up and buy supplements for each other and and supplies and take care of each other. And, you know, if you if you're not able to get to a vehicle or appointment, everybody wants to help you get there. And um and like number one is we don't want anyone to feel alone. Um and yeah, and our vaccine clinics, I mean that's pretty cool, too. We get to have these like outdoor or indoor vaccine clinics um where you get your needs met in what a way that feels good to you and you get your your vaccines. Um, and even if it is minus 30°, we we're still doing it, right? Yeah. So, anyway, I think that's all I going to say. But grateful. Really grateful. >> Thank you, Olivia. Thank you. >> Connie, did you want to say anything? >> Amazing. Great. just go from the heart. >> I will. >> Hi, my name is Connie Beiel and I'm on the board for All Brains Belong. But I uh speaking of vaccine clinics, that's how I came to know ABB and I saw my daughter's needs um not you know it started with my daughter and then with with me and we've both uncovered an awful lot about ourselves together through ABB. Um and I think I think it's just it is a gem. We are so lucky in Vermont to have have community like this that is both healthc care and belonging and purpose and I've felt like this was the first experience of belonging that I I had and my family had. Um even listening to the stories tonight and I can sit here and twirl my hair because that's what I do when I'm thinking. So, I I just appreciate being held by this community and hope that that you'll always feel that way, too. Um, and I I think there's so much that this book brings that we can't even begin to know yet. It's just a sort of this new journey I I think that the organization is on and it's just exciting to imagine where it will take us and like the the larger us. Um so thank you. That was amazing. Thank you. Um is there anyone else either in person or on Zoom who had um who had wanted to share? Um I see a comment in the chat. Um, oh, thank you. Uh, um, Katherine says, "The rest of us, um, are lucky to be welcomed into this community from afar." Yeah. So glad you're all here. Um, was there anyone else who wanted to share any reflections of what it's been like to be part? Are you putting on socks because you want to come up here? No, you're just putting on socks. Okay, great. Hi Ann, go for it. Oh. Um, you might still be muted. Can you And are you typing or Oh, there you go. >> No. >> Yeah, we can hear you. >> Okay. Great. I just want to say I wish I could be there in person because I want you to know that you're all like my famous people. I don't know how else to say it. Like it's I want to it's like I want to meet you in person. I can't even describe it. So all I can just really say is thank you. I just this community I might have started about a year ago and I've just learned and grown so much and have just such a different understanding and appreciation of my child which is the reason I connected with this organization or this group and I just feel like I'm so indebted to all of you and the work that you do and I honestly would love to meet all of you in person someday just because I don't think I can express how thankful I am. And for lack of anything else to say, I'll probably stop there because I could become a babbling fool. So, thank you. >> Oh, Ann, that was beautiful. Thank you so much, Emily. You unmuted and remuted. Try one more time. There you go. >> Okay, there we go. I thought I had it. Um, I just wanted to share that as someone who does not personally identify as neurode divergent. It's such an honor and a gift to be able to be involved with All Brains Belong and to bear witness to what you've created and for me to have the opportunity to learn what so many of my fellow human beings on this earth are going through in their everyday lives that I was never aware of before. I had no idea about all those barriers and roadblocks and interconnected health challenges and just so many things that um as someone with a more neurotypical brain, I I just didn't know about that. And my life is so much better now having learned and and ongoing learning in the future um from All Brains Belong about the diversity of human experience. And I really believe that everyone's um everyone's brain is valuable and important and that to be a resilient species, we have to have diversity and to hear all voices. And that's a view that I readily understood about the natural world, but not as much about the human world until I got a new paradigm from All Brains Belong. And it's also allowed me to parent in a different way that's uh much more compassionate and effective. So kudos and thank you. And I'm thrilled that this book will carry some of those messages out to other places because we don't all get to have Mel and Sierra and Olivia and Lizzy. But the lessons are applicable to so many other places and I'm really excited that more people will have access hopefully to this kind of healthcare. >> Beautiful. Thank you, Emily. Um, back and K. >> Hi. Um, Beck's here with me and our dog, of course. Um, I was meant to come today to take pictures actually, but um, I'm sick and wasn't feeling well enough to like be in person, but emailing Mel today, I already like I knew that you would understand. It wasn't like bailing last minute cuz I was nervous or anything. It's like my health takes priority and a lot of people don't necessarily understand that or like what pacing looks like. And before All Brains Belong, I was in college stuck in a cycle of going to college and then having health issues and then going on medical leave. And I did that twice. And then I was like, this is not working for me. and Mel and Sierra helped me realize that that's college doesn't have to be for me and it doesn't have to be my life doesn't have to look like what I pictured it before I got sick or that I don't know that my life might look different than other people's but that's not a negative thing and I've been able to I've only I haven't even been at All Brains Belong for a full year yet and I've been able to get involved behind the scenes help Mel promote their book, which I'm very excited about. Um, it's been really nice to find a community that implicitly understands what it's like. I feel like I had friends in like high school and they didn't really understand what was going on with my health issues. I'm like, I don't know how to like not bombard you with my full medical history. Um, like it's complicated, but um, and I don't know. I don't want to put that on you like to here's my like whole story, but people who get it and understand that it's complicated. It's not linear. Like it's it's nice to have people who already understand and are able to support and um I don't know, it's been really helpful and I'm glad that I found All Brains Belong. Thank you, Kay. I'm glad you did, too. Thank you. Um, I'm gonna read um a reflection from Alvar in the chat. I meant to write a poem, but I didn't end up having the proverbial spoons. Normally, I wouldn't submit anything if I wasn't able to write exactly what I wanted. Writing poetry brings me pleasure, but I must admit my obsession with finding and then using exactly the right word is not simply a part of my creative process, but assuredly partly a trauma response. Navigating healthcare has always been difficult and I have quite a lot of medical trauma because of it. While I'm not able to be an ABB patient since I live on the opposite side of the US, ABB's All the Things and Weekly Brain Club have made a significant impact on how I navigate healthcare and accordingly on my life. While I still stress about finding and using just the right words when preparing ahead of time for a medical appointment, there's a bit less pressure on me because me and my providers have some shared language, including diagnosis now, thanks to AB. And when I'm at brain club, saying exactly what I mean is still my goal and preference because clear and direct communication is how I want to communicate and be communicated with. I feel comfortable enough to participate even if I don't have the energy to perfectly articulate myself. And for that I am perhaps equally grateful. I look forward to many more years of EDB and I must admit that I very much hope the soonto-bereleased book will inspire a similar nonprofit to be developed where I live so I can also access healthcare in such a safe and understanding community. Oh, that was beautiful. Alvar, thank you so much. Um, Anna Rose, I saw your hand up before. I don't know if you were if you're still here and if you wanted to share it's okay if not that's okay. Okay. Um well um thank you all of you. Thank you um for for being part of this, for believing in this work um and making all of this possible. Um so um >> hey Mel, Anna Rose, I had just put a message in the chat that maybe just if you >> Oh, great. Thank you. Okay. Um Anna Rose says, "I have so much gratitude for the ABB community." We have gratitude for you too, Anna Rose. Thank you so much for being here. Um, so with that, thank you all so much for being here and being part of this. Um, if you're new to ABB and you want to learn more, we have some flyers and resources, free resources over on the table. Um, you can leave your email address, we can send you more stuff to take home with you. Um, and thank you all so much for being here. Thank you for your ambassadorship and carrying this work forth into all the circles that you travel in. Um because now we know what's possible. Thank you everyone. I hope you have a good night.