Have you ever been told that you're the problem, not because of anything you actually did, but because of who you are?

Have you ever been labelled "too much"? Too blunt. Too direct. Too honest. Too intense. Too awkward. Too different. And no matter how good your work is, no matter how kind your intentions, that label follows you everywhere, shaping how people see you, how they treat you, and whether they decide you belong.

In this episode of Auntea-ology: The Antidote Dialogues, hosts Sobia Ali-Faisal and Mueni Mutinda spill the tea on neurodivergence in the workplace and what it costs to exist in spaces that were never built for your brain.

Sobia shares a deeply personal story from her time in a supervisory role, where she supported a staff member who is autistic. What she witnessed, and what happened when she tried to protect them, changed how she sees everything.

We explore:

• Why "professionalism" is often just neurotypical norms dressed up as neutrality
• What it means to be labelled "too much" for simply existing as yourself
• The exhaustion of masking, and the message that your natural way of being is a problem to be fixed
• How marginalized people get pitted against each other while institutions do nothing
• The difference between accommodation ("how do we help you fit in?") and liberation ("how do we change the environment so you don't have to?")
• Why progressive spaces so often fail neurodivergent people, and why the people causing harm rarely see themselves as harmful

Reflection Questions for You:

• Have you ever been labelled "too much"? What did that label cost you?
• Where have you seen neurotypical norms disguised as "professionalism" or "team fit"?
• What's the difference between being included and being required to perform someone else's version of normal?
• If you're not neurodivergent, when was the last time you examined how your comfort depends on someone else shrinking?
• What would it look like to move from accommodation to liberation in your workplace, your community, your own mind?

What You'll Walk Away With:
The reminder that the problem was never you. The problem was a workplace that refused to see your humanity. The problem was a culture that demanded you perform neurotypicality, then called you difficult when you couldn't. And the people who caused harm? They thought they were the good ones. That's the most terrifying part.

So if you're listening to this and you think, "I would never do that" - sit with that. Because we all think that. And if we're not careful, we become the people we think we're not.

Join the conversation deeper: www.seedroom.ca

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Come feeling "too much." Leave knowing you were never the problem.

Music credits:

Intro Music from #Uppbeat:
'Win' by Jeff Kaale at https://uppbeat.io/t/jeff-kaale/win
License code: YHCOEFOGGBJ5NJQC

Break Music from #Uppbeat:
'Velvet Cashmere' by Jeff Kaale at https://uppbeat.io/c/jeff-kaale/velvet-cashmere
License code: TAZF4H0U881S0EXQ

Outro Music from #Uppbeat
'Dharma ft Soul Food Horns' by Cloudchord at https://uppbeat.io/t/cloudchord/dharma-feat-soul-food-horns
License code: JLAYJCLEG7O9ZRPB