I’m writing this as a parent first. Our daughter Phoebe is 23 and autistic, ADHD, and epileptic. We’ve done the rounds you never want to do: diagnoses, therapies, ER visits, and two craniotomies. When your kid’s brain is the battleground, you get very serious, very fast, about what helps attention, what steals it, and what quietly drains a person’s ability to cope. We have all felt it. That heavy, foggy feeling after hours of video calls. The inability to concentrate after sc

My wife of 31 years (Suzy Girard at https://tenderwildfires.substack.com/ ) and my daughter have taught me something no whitepaper ever could: the line between “helpful” and “harmful” is often invisible until you’ve lived it. Our daughter, Phoebe, is 23 and lives with autism, ADHD, and epilepsy. We’ve done the ER visits, the long nights, the waiting rooms, the two craniotomies. So when I look at mental health wearables, I don’t just see sensors and dashboards. I see a promise

I’m writing this as a parent first. Our daughter Phoebe is 23. She’s autistic, ADHD, and has epilepsy. We’ve done the full tour: diagnoses, therapies, ER visits, and two craniotomies. So when I say “distraction” isn’t just annoying, I mean it can be dangerous. Let’s be honest: most of the technology we use every day wasn’t designed to help us focus. It was designed to capture our attention and keep it hostage. From infinite scroll feeds to notification bombardment, modern AI

As a parent, “sensory” isn’t an abstract research term in our house. It’s the sound that spirals into panic, the light that becomes pain, the hallway that feels like a tunnel with no exits. Our daughter is 23, autistic, ADHD, and epileptic, and we’ve lived the hard version of this story: diagnoses that took years to untangle, therapies that helped (and some that didn’t), ER visits that blurred together, and two craniotomies that changed how my wife of 31 years (Suzy Girard at

I’m writing this as a parent first. Our daughter is 23. She’s autistic, ADHD, and epileptic. We’ve done the diagnosis maze, the therapies, the long ER visits that blur into morning, and two craniotomies that changed how I think about “support” forever. When you’ve lived that reality, the workplace question stops being abstract. It becomes simple: will this environment help someone thrive, or quietly grind them down? We’ve spent this series talking about sensory sensitivity, a

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about AI governance: most organizations are getting it wrong. They’re getting it wrong in ways that cost money. They’re getting it wrong in ways that create legal exposure. And they’re getting it wrong in ways that undermine the very innovation they’re trying to achieve. The numbers don’t lie. Despite massive investments in artificial intelligence, only 5% of companies successfully scale their AI projects (Fountaine et al., 2019). That’s a stagg

Here’s a question that keeps executives up at night: Why do most AI projects fail?   It’s not because the technology doesn’t work. It’s because the people don’t use it.   But here’s my ‘why’ behind human-centered AI: it’s not just a business decision. For me, it’s a personal mission. I am a parent first.   Our daughter Phoebe is 23. She’s autistic, has ADHD, and lives with epilepsy. She’s also brilliant. And the difference between ‘traditional’ and ‘human-centered’ tech isn’t

As a parent first, this stuff doesn't feel abstract to me. Our daughter, Phoebe, is 23. She's autistic, has ADHD, and lives with epilepsy. We've done the diagnoses, the therapies, the ER visits, the long nights, the two craniotomies. So when I say “AI policy,” I’m not thinking about headlines. I’m thinking about real systems that make real decisions about real lives (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 2023). Let me be blunt with you. If you're still asking whethe

I’m a doctor and a scientist, but I’m a parent first. If you’re reading this because your kid can’t filter a noisy room, can’t tolerate a clothing tag, or can’t hold onto a teacher’s words when the world gets loud, I want you to know something up front: I’ve been on this road too, not as a researcher looking in, but as a dad living it. My wife of 31 years (Suzy Girard at https://tenderwildfires.substack.com/ ) and our daughter, Phoebe, have shaped everything I know about this

A Parent-Scientist’s Journey into Sensory Processing I can still smell it if I try: antiseptic, warmed plastic, that oddly sweet hospital air that clings to your clothes after midnight. The waiting room is always the same: fluorescent lights, vending-machine hum, the little beep-beep-beep that makes your chest tighten even when it’s not your kid on the monitor. If you’re reading this as a parent, here’s the honest version: I didn’t learn “sensory processing” from a textbook

I’m writing this first as a parent. Our daughter, Phoebe (23), lives with autism, ADHD, and epilepsy—and our family’s “wellness journey” has included diagnoses, ER visits, and two craniotomies. So when a workplace pitches “wellness” through a wrist-worn device, I don’t hear a product demo. I hear a promise: Will this actually help real people live and work better—or will it simply measure them more efficiently? Wearable technology is everywhere. From Fitbits counting steps to

Let me be honest: watching organizations deploy AI systems without proper risk management is like watching someone hand car keys to a teenager without teaching them to drive. It is terrifying, preventable, and almost guaranteed to end badly. As someone who has spent decades working at the intersection of neuroscience, technology, and ethical AI deployment, I have seen brilliant organizations make the same seven mistakes repeatedly. The good news? Every single one is fixable.

Your office is burning people out: and you might not even know it. The fluorescent lights hum at 60 Hz. The air conditioning blasts cold air while the sun heats the window seats to 80 degrees. Open-plan acoustics mean every keyboard click, phone call, and coffee machine grind competes for attention. And everyone's expected to perform at their peak in this sensory chaos. One-size-fits-all office design doesn't fit anyone. It's time to stop treating your team like interchangeab

When we first discovered the power of co-regulation, it wasn’t in a clinic—it was in our kitchen, with a loud blender and a frazzled morning. A steady hand on the back. Matching breaths. Lowering the lights. No lectures, no “use your words”—just nervous system to nervous system, bringing Phoebe back from the edge (Ruttenberg, 2025).

When Phoebe was 18 months old, our family left a series of appointments armed with new labels—autism, ADHD, intractable epilepsy—but few answers (Ruttenberg, 2025). While people spoke kindly, the subtext felt like a polite apology for a future that hadn’t started yet. My wife Suzy and I sat with two kinds of fear, but looking at Phoebe’s intense gaze and sense of humor, we promised to parent the child we had, not a brochure version of who she was supposed to be.

Parenting a child who doesn't fit the mold can feel like standing at the edge of a cliff—equal parts fear and excitement, with a spectacular view if only the fog lifts. When our daughter Phoebe received her diagnoses of autism, ADHD, and intractable epilepsy at 18 months, a chorus of specialists lined up to deliver a symphony of warnings, caveats, and low expectations. But they missed something vital: this wasn't the start of a tragedy—it was the beginning of our family's rev

Read a portion of the prologue and learn more about the upcoming book here

As AI systems increasingly impact healthcare, hiring, and public safety, hidden risks and biases continue to arise. This article reveals why autistic and neurodivergent professionals bring unmatched skills in pattern recognition, data validation, and ethical oversight that are essential for responsible AI.

For years, “sensitivity” in the workplace was seen as a weakness. But emerging science and real-world career stories reveal that being a highly sensitive person (HSP)—what researchers call “Sensory Processing Sensitivity”—is a cognitive asset that can provide distinct career advantages in the right environment (Aron, 2020; Malinakova et al., 2021).

For years, “sensitivity” in the workplace was seen as a weakness. But emerging science and real-world career stories reveal that being a highly sensitive person (HSP)—what researchers call “Sensory Processing Sensitivity”—is a cognitive asset that can provide distinct career advantages in the right environment (Aron, 2020; Malinakova et al., 2021).