9 Years
The Journey
2017 to Now
After nearly a decade of work across education, advocacy, research, community, and culture, the Neurodiversity Foundation has reached a point of organisational maturity.
2024 - 2025
By 2024, the Neurodiversity Foundation was no longer approaching global relevance - it was operating at global scale, even when its project budgets were humble.
Years of cultural, educational, and community-based work had resulted in international recognition, trust, and demand. At the same time, neurodiversity as a concept had entered mainstream discourse, often without the ethical grounding that had shaped the Foundation’s work from the beginning.
Neurodiversity Pride
Neurodiversity Pride as a global tradition In 2024, Neurodiversity Pride was celebrated in approximately 15 countries, reaching an estimated 1.5 million people, and to cover the many activities, we now also organized a full “ND Pride Week”. In 2025, ND Pride expanded further to approximately 58 countries, with around 97 locally organised events worldwide. More than 180 ND Pride flags were distributed internationally, symbolising continuity, shared values, and local ownership.
ND Pride now functions as a decentralised global tradition rather than a centrally managed campaign, stewarded by organisers across cultures and contexts.
Autvinder Awards & ND Hacks
Autvinder Awards and ND Hacks: reframing innovation The Autvinder Awards were launched to recognise autistic inventors and innovators. In the first edition, 20 autistic finalists presented their inventions, shifting public narratives from deficit to contribution.
In parallel, ND Hacks was launched as a platform for neurodivergent-led ideas, tools, and solutions. Together, these initiatives repositioned neurodivergent creativity as a source of innovation rather than accommodation.
Research Fellows Programme
The Foundation formally launched the Research Fellows Programme, supporting neurodivergent researchers through coaching, visibility, and peer connection.
By 2025, approximately 24 Research Fellows were active, and nine research bids had been submitted. This programme strengthened ethical legitimacy in research by centring neurodivergent leadership.
Policy impact and civic engagement
Advocacy efforts resulted in tangible policy outcomes. Discriminatory practices affecting driver’s licence assessments were removed in the Netherlands. Motion 370 was passed, limiting public funding for intensive Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), aligning policy with dignity-centred principles.
Neuro-Inclusive Politician Award
The Neuro-Inclusive Politician Award expanded internationally, with recognitions in both the Netherlands and India, reinforcing the Foundation’s strategy of naming and rewarding political courage.
Education and tools at scale
Educational work continued to expand through the Neurodiversity Education Academy. The Neuroprofiler was launched as a strengths-based reflective tool for individuals and teams, translating years of educational philosophy into practical application. Publications, courses, and resources reached tens of thousands globally.
2023
By 2023, the Neurodiversity Foundation had passed a threshold. The question was no longer whether its work resonated - that had been demonstrated repeatedly. We’d created a big following, of many new initiatives about neurodiversity and professionals working the field.
Development of professional and business networks
Responding to sustained interest from organisations and professionals, the Foundation launched and expanded networking initiatives aimed at deeper engagement.
These networks provided space for reflection, learning, and shared responsibility, rather than certification or performative inclusion.
Neurodiversity Education Academy (NEA)
Maturation of the Neurodiversity Education Academy (NEA) In 2023, the Neurodiversity Education Academy evolved from a growing set of activities into a more structured learning ecosystem. Courses, workshops, publications, and community sessions became more clearly connected, enabling participants to build knowledge over time rather than through isolated encounters.
NEA increasingly functioned as a community of practice, where participants returned, contributed, and helped shape future content. This marked an important shift from delivery to dialogue.
The Big Move of ND Pride
Neurodiversity Pride Day grew so large throughout the years, that we discovered that we would grow ‘over’ a colleague, Autistic Pride Day, as we’d been celebrating on the same day since 2018.
In an act of deliberate compassion and solidarity, we decided in 2023, as the ‘younger’ movement, to be respectful and move our official day to the 16th, thereby not ‘taking the shine’ away from our colleagues at APD. In 2023, we already got 85% of our activities and events, on the new date.
European collaboration and knowledge exchange
The Foundation participated in multiple European collaboration projects, expanding its research and learning networks. These collaborations positioned the organisation within broader international conversations on inclusion, education, and innovation, while maintaining its distinctive neurodiversity-affirming perspective.
Pride Universe of the neurodiverse
Several technology-enabled initiatives progressed significantly in 2023:
- Together continued development as a platform for safe, interest-based social connection.
- Signs entered public testing, enabling feedback from diverse users and contexts.
- Supporting platforms such as ND Hacks and community spaces matured further.
These tools exemplified the Foundation’s approach to innovation: iterative, user-centred, and grounded in lived experience rather than technical novelty.
2021-2022
2021 and 2022 were years of cautious reopening and uneven recovery. While pandemic restrictions gradually eased, the social and psychological effects remained profound - particularly for neurodivergent people.
For some, remote work and online participation had created new accessibility; for others, isolation and disruption had deepened existing barriers. As societies attempted to “return to normal,” many neurodivergent people experienced renewed pressure to adapt once again.
ND Pride international expansion
In 2021, Neurodiversity Pride activities took place in six countries, marking the Foundation’s first sustained international presence.
In 2022, this expansion accelerated, with Pride-related activities reaching an estimated 1.6 million people through a combination of events, media, and online engagement.
Rather than standardising ND Pride globally, the Foundation supported local organisers to adapt ND Pride to cultural, linguistic, and social contexts. This approach preserved authenticity while allowing scale.
Growth of education and learning initiatives
The Neurodiversity Education Academy expanded significantly during this period.
Online courses, talks, publications, and workshops reached international audiences, supporting educators, professionals, and neurodivergent individuals with practical, strengths-based knowledge.
Education during this phase emphasised continuity and accessibility, recognising that learning often happens incrementally rather than through one-off interventions.
Pride Universe of the neurodiverse
During this phase, the Foundation launched ND Pride Universe, a large-scale virtual reality environment designed for ND Pride-related gatherings and creative expression. Hundreds of participants engaged with this space, which included multiple rooms, stages, and interactive areas.
The “Pride Universe” functioned as a laboratory for inclusion: exploring how digital environments could offer presence, safety, and community for people who experience physical spaces as inaccessible or overwhelming. It also was a ‘quarantine safe way’ to join.
Develop tools
Development of tools for connection and wellbeing Several tools aimed at supporting connection and everyday wellbeing progressed during this phase:
● Brainy App continued development and use as a strengths-based reflection tool.
● Stride Sports supported non-competitive, inclusive physical activity.
● Together advanced as a platform for interest-based social connection.
These initiatives reflected a broader understanding of inclusion as something that happens not only cognitively, but socially and physically.
2019-2020
By 2019, the Neurodiversity Foundation was no longer operating at the margins. Visibility had increased, and with it came a growing number of requests from educators, parents, professionals, policymakers, and neurodivergent people themselves.
The organisation began to experience what it meant to be needed in multiple places at once. We got much more requests, and offers of support, that we could handle, and therefore we grew larger, with more people in our office and network.
In early 2020, this growth collided with an unprecedented external disruption. The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly closed physical spaces, interrupted planned activities, and reshaped social life. For many neurodivergent people, the crisis intensified isolation, anxiety, and barriers to support - while simultaneously exposing how fragile existing systems were.
For the Foundation, this period marked a transition from enthusiasm-driven growth to responsibility under pressure. We had to find a new way to operate, beyond ‘being together in a room’.
Neurodiversity Pride as an annual programme
Neurodiversity Pride was consolidated as a recurring, recognisable programme rather than a one-off event. Activities expanded in scope and format, reinforcing Pride as an annual moment of visibility, reflection, and belonging.
Education and public engagement
Throughout 2019 and into 2020, the Foundation delivered webinars, public lectures, and educational pilots addressing neurodiversity in schools, workplaces, and public discourse. These activities helped establish the Foundation as a trusted source of strengths-based, dignity-centred knowledge.
Neuro-Inclusive Politician Award
Launch of the Neuro-Inclusive Politician Award (NIP Award) The NIP Award was introduced to recognise political leaders who demonstrated courage and commitment to neurodivergent inclusion.
This initiative positioned advocacy not as confrontation alone, but as recognition of principled leadership - a framing that would later enable deeper policy engagement.
Research and innovation groundwork
Early research collaborations and innovation trajectories were initiated, including groundwork for assistive communication projects that would later evolve into tools such as Signs.
These efforts connected lived experience with research and technological development.
Organisational resilience during COVID-19
When physical spaces closed in 2020, the Foundation pivoted rapidly to online formats. Events, education, and community engagement moved fully digital.
Publications and tools expanded to ensure that neurodivergent people could continue to access resources during isolation.
2016–2018
Between 2016 and 2017, the concept of neurodiversity was still largely absent from mainstream public discourse in the Netherlands and many other countries.
Where it did appear, it was often framed narrowly, through medical or deficit-based lenses. Neurodivergent people had limited access to language that affirmed dignity, identity, and contribution, and few public platforms existed where neurodivergence could be claimed openly and positively.
The mindset of society was very negative towards neurodivergent people, and we made the decision to change that.
Concept development and early recognition
During this phase, the conceptual groundwork for the Neurodiversity Foundation was laid. Early recognition in the form of awards and external validation provided the means to fund preparatory work, enabling the transition from individual initiative to organisational vision.
Launch of Neurodiversity Pride Day
The first Neurodiversity Pride Day was launched in the same year. From the outset, Pride was framed not as a celebration of diagnosis, but as a declaration of dignity, pride, and belonging. It claimed public space for neurodivergent identity without apology and set an annual rhythm that would later scale internationally.
Network formation across domains
Relationships were built with educators, neurodivergent advocates, researchers, technologists, and policy-adjacent professionals.
These early networks later became collaborators, contributors, and organisers within Foundation projects.
Founding of the Neurodiversity Foundation (2018)
In 2018, the Neurodiversity Foundation was formally established as a non-profit organisation. This marked a shift from informal exploration to public responsibility.