Inside the Neurodivergent Disney Retreat: What Unmasking Unlocked

Meet the ND OutLoud team of neurodivergent coaches

Danielle: Hello there. I’m Danielle Ralston. I am the founder and head coach here at ND OutLoud. What is ND OutLoud? ND OutLoud is a team of neurodivergent coaches. We are neurodivergent, every single one of us. TBI, PTSD, ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, all of the things. We also have a passion for supporting others like us, so you don’t have to struggle like we did in our past. We have all taken trainings and certifications so that we can support you in living a better life and upgrading the things that are frustrating about your life. What is this session going to give you? Actionable tips. Yes, we’re going to talk about our programs, but I want you to walk away with something actionable for whatever is overwhelming, frustrating, or just plain annoying you right now, or, if you’re a parent or a spouse of someone with neurodivergence, something to help them as well. I want you to walk away with something today.

Two weeks after the Disney retreat, still feeling the dopamine vacuum

Danielle: Hello everyone. This is all of the ND things, and we are here today to talk about our Disney trip, which was now two weeks ago. I can’t believe it was two weeks ago. We are all feeling the Disney dopamine vacuum. We are all feeling sad because we aren’t together anymore. Except for the amount of conversations going on in our chats. We have a group chat that’s just the four of us, and we are active all the time. My husband’s like, “Are you ever going to stop talking to those people?” No. That’s all there is to it. End of story, go away, you are interrupting me.

We had a fantastic time, and I wanted to bring on some of the people who attended. Tim and Shay are part of the ND OutLoud team, and Tara was one of the therapists who came to learn from us and now has no choice. She is never being separated from the team ever again. We want to talk about what happened, the transformations, what we learned, and why this is so important to the neurodivergent community.

There are lots of conferences out there for ADHDers, autism, therapists, coaches. But what we put together is something very different. The training was fantastic, and you could go to some of those other conferences and get some of that. One of the things I trained on, I’ve done at other conferences before. But the way we were able to connect and truly build a community that gets us is something you don’t get at your average conference. All of us have gone to many conferences, as vendors, attendees, and speakers. This was not that. Definitely not that, in the best way possible.

Let’s introduce each other first, in case the audience doesn’t know who you are. I am Danielle. I am the founder and CEO of all of it, and the crazy one around here. I will fully take that title without a problem. Shay, you go next.

Shay: I am Shay Woodward. I partnered with Danielle back in January, and it’s been a fun and exciting ride. I work with her on coaching, helping people find the fun in dealing with it and working day to day. I’m sure there are many other things, but I don’t remember them.

Tim: So I met Danielle about 45 years ago, and we’ve been inseparable since, sort of. I’m a workforce development expert, and I’m also Deaf, so we try to focus on the Deaf part of it and ADHD. That’s me.

Tara: I’m Tara Neighbors. Looking at the screen right now, I realize I need to change my Zoom name, but that’s for a later date. I’m a licensed clinical social worker. I attended the Disney trip. I met Danielle at an ADHD conference, and I had known her online before then. I was a fan of hers, and I’ve recently learned that she went back very excited that she had a fan. Then I officially met the entire team two weeks ago at Disney. I own my own therapy practice, and now I’m along for the ride with ND OutLoud also.

What everyone learned about themselves at Disney World

Danielle: So let’s start with: what did you learn at Disney World? We had t-shirts, and they say something on the back that I’ll read you in a little bit. The t-shirts and the hats caught everyone’s attention in Disney World in the best possible way. But what did you learn while we were there? Shay, I’ll start with you.

Shay: I learned a lot about myself, and at the same time about other people. One aspect of learning about myself was that I felt like, wow, I’m a little further along than I thought I was. Because when you’re not around people who are similar, you always feel like you’re behind. You’re still trying to catch up with everyone else, and you don’t fit in, and you’ve got to find ways to fit in. You’ve got to put that mask on. You’ve got to pretend and mirror and do all of that.

But the thing I found fascinating was how we all connected in different ways. It wasn’t like we all connected the same way. Each one of us is so different. There’s that stigma out there that if you have ADHD or autism, you’re all the same, you have to handle things the same. And I realized even more how diverse we can be within the same diagnosis. But to be able to go and have fun. Do you know how hard it is to have fun day to day? It makes me emotional even thinking about it. Just being able to let that side of us out and not have those expectations. You can just be. I think that was probably the biggest part of what I learned.

Danielle: Tara, what did you learn?

Tara: Oh, that is a very loaded question. I went into it expecting to learn a lot I could take home to my clients and my professional work. What I didn’t expect was how much I would learn about myself. Similar to what Shay said, I learned that I also was further along than I thought I was. Being around a bunch of other neurodivergent individuals and being able to be myself. I’ve always thought, oh, I’m my authentic self a lot. But this was different. When I was there, it was like I was given a key that unlocked a portion of myself that I didn’t even know wasn’t unlocked. It helped me learn that I put too much pressure on myself, and when I’m able to let that go, I felt like I could breathe. I learned that I could breathe, somatically, but also metaphorically too. I could just be me, unapologetically. I didn’t need to apologize for interrupting people, because we all know why we interrupt each other, or go on tangents that are just not tangents. It’s important stuff. I really learned a lot more about myself than I expected to, and I think that’s the most beautiful takeaway from this entire trip.

Danielle: I love that. Tim, what did you learn?

Tim: Well, I have to admit that when Danielle brought up the possibility of the Disney trip and of me joining, I thought, okay, cool, Disney World, it’ll be fun, haven’t done that in a while. But correlating the Disney aspect of the trip with professional development was something I didn’t quite fully get until I actually started seeing it in action. And Danielle, this is exactly what you envisioned, in terms of allowing for learning about ourselves and other people in that bubble of Disney. It was incredibly profound for me. The other thing I didn’t expect is the friendships that we have developed that are lifelong. I did not expect that at all, to really connect at a very personal level, especially with the four of us here on the screen, my sister being one of them. We spent the most time together that we have in 30 years or so. I think everyone else witnessed that on the trip as well. It was incredible. I would never take it for granted.

Danielle: So what did I learn, as somebody who spent a freaking year putting this together? I spent the last six months doing it in a way I wasn’t expecting, because the person who dreamed this up with me in the first place backed out about six or eight months ago, and I had to re-decide how to do everything and put this all together again. I’ve been dreaming of something like this for years, coming together with neurodivergent people. I’ve done small trips with three or four women on a really small scale, but I wanted something more, something that allowed us to let go more, and you have to have outside influence for that. Doing it at the beach, which I’ve done multiple times, is fantastic, but it tends to be more low-key, and people don’t fully unmask and let go. I wanted that so bad.

And the first night, after a good portion of us spent all day together, one of the most amazing things happened at the Fantasmic fireworks. I watched this core group of people connect in such a profound and deep way. I started the conversation, and then I just got to sit, because I’m in a wheelchair, for those who don’t know. I sat at the top while everybody else was sitting below me, and I just got to watch them connect in a way I didn’t think I would get out of people on the first day, because usually it takes more time. And then they were very rarely separated for the rest of the three days, and they’re still together on texts, talking constantly, joining in for body doubling, all of the things.

I learned that it is possible even in the chaos of Disney World. I had this theory and this plan that this would be true, but to see it all come together was huge. Did I learn anything to take back to my practice? No, I’m very honest, I didn’t. But I learned so much about how the neurodivergent brain works in ways I hadn’t planned on learning. We had some high-anxiety people, mega high-anxiety people. We had some people mega hyperfocused on one specific thing the entire time. We had people who didn’t want to talk and hid in their little bubble and were very quiet. We had people who wanted to ride all the rides, and people who didn’t, and people who just wanted to absorb everything they possibly could. Watching all of those dynamics was huge, and it’s going to be so good for my paper when I write my dissertation too. Just watching everything connect like that was huge.

Why the retreat mattered for work and for home life

Danielle: Next question. Why was this type of trip, this type of retreat, with the learning and the connections, so important for your job, taking it back into your coaching practice or therapy practice, and for your personal life? Job first, then personal. Tim, let’s start with you.

Tim: Yeah. So I’m new in this particular field, and I’m kind of new in my own personal journey of recognizing my own ADHD and the challenges I’ve always had that I’m just now starting to acknowledge. So being around people like me, I learned a lot about myself, and I’m repeating myself in saying that. In terms of personal applications, I’m working on that. What I love from this is that now that we have created connections that are much more long-term than just a week, that learning process is happening as an ongoing thing, especially with the four of us. That’s where I’m at now, and I’m looking forward to next year and meeting other people who also have ADHD or anything on the neurodivergence spectrum, because I’m going to learn from them as well.

Shay: From a job perspective, it’s been super helpful to see the many different ways: this person who’s high anxiety, this person who’s not necessarily high anxiety but doesn’t really want to go out, this person who wants to be behind that mask and stay there. It helped to watch each of us working with each other, handling those specific aspects in the chaos in the middle of Disney. And let’s not forget how freakishly hot it was, with a heat index over 100. So we had not only the mental, we also had the physical aspects, dealing with the heat, trying to stay hydrated, and the nutritional side of things.

As for the personal side, for me it was the connections. Where I live, it’s not that we don’t know we have ADHD, but we still put a mask on. We still pretend it’s not there, or we try to fit in, so we hide part of us. And honestly, I’m almost 54 in a couple of months, and I’m tired of hiding. I think that’s what really hit: I’m just tired of not being me. It’s okay if I walk outside and start dancing in the street because I’m listening to music while I’m putting flowers in my flower bed. I think that’s probably the biggest personal side.

Danielle: That’s awesome. Tara?

Tara: It was important for my job to be able to come back to my clients with knowledge and wisdom. I’ve shared a lot of the handouts I got at the training, and it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I’ve given out the nutrition list so many times, and it’s opened up dialogue with clients I’ve had before, but on a deeper level. And being able to say, hey, I went and did this with a lot of people I didn’t know, and these are the bonds we have now. It’s modeling: if I did this, you can too. Just watching my clients light up as I talk about it shows me they’re understanding.

In my personal life, I came back a different person. Genuinely. I came back a different mom, a different wife, a different friend, a different version of me that I didn’t even know existed, because I was able to unlock that part of myself and truly unmask. I’ve always thought, oh yeah, I unmask all the time in different places, but not to this scale. To not have any fear of, “if I say this one thing, they’re not going to like me, they’re going to stop talking to me,” that never crossed my mind once. It opened my eyes to the importance of having people who genuinely understand you for you, without you having to explain. Because so much of what we do living in a neurotypical society is explaining and apologizing, and apologizing again, and “sorry I interrupted.” To not have to do that was so freeing, and I’ve stopped apologizing as much because of it.

And Danielle, when you brought up Fantasmic, I knew you would bring that up on this call. How could you not? I never would have pictured, when I signed up, that I’d be the one sitting on the bleachers bawling my eyes out reading a poem in the middle of Fantasmic. But it was such a beautiful moment. When they talk about core memories, I can hardly talk about it without tearing up, because it was so powerful and so profound. I was sharing something deeply personal to me. So were other people. That connection formed the basis for the rest of the trip, and it’s why our relationships today are the way they are.

Danielle: Absolutely. And what did I get? So much to add to my dissertation. I filled a notebook, and of course it’s a Mickey notebook, with all of my thoughts and everything that happened there. And it’s a core memory. This is why I do what I do. It reminded me. I’ve been doing this longer than anybody else here, almost 30 years. My husband reminded me the other day. I say 25 years, my husband says no, 30.

It’s why this is so important to do again. Something I see in the neurodivergent world is so much disconnection. We’re disconnected from the world, from each other, from our spouses and our children, because they don’t get us, and we feel afraid to share those pieces of ourselves, and we feel the need to apologize for everything. We started calling “sorry” the sword. It was not accepted. We stopped each other. We didn’t want to hear “I’m sorry that I interrupted.” I encouraged people to interrupt me while I was training. I just asked for somebody to raise a hand so that Tim, who is hearing impaired, could direct his attention to the person who was going to be talking. That was it. That was the only rule. I think that allowed better connection and better transformation of thought and how we operate in our daily lives.

Why everyone is going back next year

Danielle: So why do you want to do this again next year? Shay?

Shay: I was hoping you wouldn’t call on me first, because I was trying to keep the emotion down. Every one of these people here has broadened my family. Each person who was there contributed to changes. Danielle is like a sister to me. Tara is like another sister to me. And Tim was like a brother to me. I enjoyed all the time I had with each person one-on-one. The roommates I had were terrified to be my roommate because they didn’t know me, and we took a very awkward moment, and we joke about it now. They were the sweetest people ever. It was so fun to get to know new people.

Why would I do it again next year? Because I would like to have a bigger family. I would like to get to know more people. The most joyful part of this whole thing is being able to see the light bulbs go off for people, or answering questions in the training and giving them an answer they had been searching for. I have enjoyed getting to know Tim and learning more about the Deaf community, and it’s brought a new passion in me to want to learn ASL, because my son was taking it for the last two years in high school. It’s brought back joy, a joy that we kind of lost trying to fit in.

And it’s been so fun to come home. When people ask, “Where have you been?” and I tell them, “Oh, we went to Disney World with 11 neurodivergent people,” their faces are like, “Oh my gosh, how did you handle that?” Well, we had a great time. We dealt with meltdowns. We dealt with overstimulation. We dealt with all of it, but we dealt with it in a way of no condemnation or judgment. It was more of, come on over here, let’s do this together, here’s some pixie dust. We had our little handouts we could give people to make them smile. Seeing little kids so tired standing in line, and I’m like, “Hey, do you like stickers?” and their face lights up over something very small and simple. But that’s the same for all of us. Our faces light up. If I went to Tara and said, “Hey Tara, want some stickers? I’ll mail them to you,” she’d say yes. Those things we were able to share with others gave them a moment of joy that we got to see and have again. Literally yesterday I was working on flower beds with my Disney music in my ear, singing out loud and dancing around, and I didn’t care, because it brings me a little bit of joy. Why do I want to go back next year? Because I have to. I need that to fill back up. And if we could do it more often, that would be great, but we’re working on that part.

Danielle: So Tim, why do you want to do this again?

Tim: I can perfectly piggyback off of what Shay just said. I think everyone here can agree that those who really put their authentic selves forth in this week are the ones who got the most out of it. Based on that, we now have a family, as Shay said, that is bigger than the family we had before this trip. And now I want to give back to other people as well. We can build off of this, where next year we can really emphasize: hey, just be yourself, be your authentic self, let’s support each other in this and grow that family. Because the four people here are the end result of really doing that, truly doing that. We know each other pretty well as a result, and we got through some challenges together as well. I want more of that. I want a bigger family, like Shay said. I want more people to feel what we felt.

Danielle: Absolutely. Tara?

Tara: Echoing both Shay and Tim, everything they said, yes, yes, and yes. For me, why do I want to do it again? Because I also have to. This is now a part of me. Like I said the other day, for the rest of eternity, a week in May is going to be dedicated to this, because it is so important. Not only was it a reset to come home with all of these pieces of myself unlocked, it was a reset to my entire mentality. And every year it’s going to continue to be that. Our family is just going to get bigger and bigger. The connections are why I want to do it again. How can I pass up seeing the three of you in person again? I can’t. And it was so healing in so many ways. To get hurt on the trip and have people come to my aid and help me, without me even having to ask, shows the type of people the three of you are. We need more of the four of us in the world. We need more people like us.

Danielle: Watching people connect and build amazing friendships, and watching the follow-up, is so huge for me. We had a core group, but the people who were on the fringes of that group are now putting themselves into it, because they missed some of it, because they were struggling or whatever, and they’re connecting and wanting to be part of everything and wanting to do it again next year. People were sending me Venmo payments before I even had a sales page set up for next year. I had to do seven refunds on Venmo for people who want to go next year. I’m like, no, we have to do this the correct way, this is a business thing, I’ll have it up next week, give me a couple of days, people. But that type of excitement, because the connection was so deep and so amazing. This is way more than even I thought could possibly happen.

I’ve done deep trainings. I’ve gone to trainings that are three weeks long, where you’re with a core set of people for three weeks, and those friendships last forever. It’s been 16-plus years since my husband and I did that three-week training, and I’m still friends with some of those people. I want that for us. And I want us to build a stronger, more accepting neurodivergent community, because the neurodivergent community eats itself sometimes. Politics did not even come into it. Three days of zero politics. We all have different views. Some of us are Christians, some of us are not, some of us are atheists. Not one of those things was part of a conversation even once the whole trip. In a world that is so volatile right now, that’s so important.

Can you imagine, 16 years from now, still going to Disney for a week in May? How much joy does even thinking about that bring? And Disney is generally the neurodivergent community’s happy place anyway. We can let go. We can have fun. We can act like a kid. There is so much to be said for being able to play together. It forms much deeper friendships and transformations in your own personality when you can play together. We are working out ways to have even more fun next year, and to do more things so people don’t feel excluded, even if they have high anxiety or are introverts. We want to create more of that for next year.

What went wrong: injuries, Deaf access, and ableism

Danielle: Now, this wasn’t all rainbows and roses and pixie dust. We had some issues. Poor Tara tore something in her knee and ended up in a wheelchair the last day, which meant an after-hours visit and all kinds of stuff. We had people who just had a hard time connecting, because it was difficult for them. But we found a way through. And Tara and I told a whole huge group of people it was totally fine to leave the two women in wheelchairs all by themselves, and we had this wonderful thought that we could still explore Epcot by ourselves. I am so glad nobody was recording that. I wish it was recorded.

We had other issues, especially accessibility issues, Tim and I obviously being the two who experience the most. For those who don’t know, I have MS and get exhausted really easily, with a lot of muscle fatigue, so I’m in a wheelchair 90 percent of the time. It was that 10 percent of the time that got me in trouble. And Tim, being hearing impaired, had some issues. Tim, I want you to talk about some of those, because I want people to know that we were watching for these things, and we were there to make sure everybody attending was supported in every single way possible. Please explain some of the issues you had, and some of the solutions we are presenting to Disney now to try to keep anybody else from having them.

Tim: First of all, I have to give a special shout-out to Tara for helping me through this, just naturally and organically. So, being Deaf, sometimes on rides or attractions that have animatronics, the robots, I obviously can’t read their lips to see what they’re saying in the dialogue back and forth. And some of the rides, you know Disney does a really good job of entertaining people while you’re waiting in line in the lead-up to the ride itself, but some of that involved dialogue with characters. Like in Guardians of the Galaxy, you have characters going back and forth talking about the ride and the fact that we’re going into this portal in space. I didn’t understand any of that. I know Shay mentioned she also struggled with it as a hearing person, so it’s not just me.

So I came up with an app, one I was actually familiar with but hadn’t used in many years, and it’s improved since then, that helped with some of that. It wasn’t perfect, but it definitely helped. That’s one thing we hope to really get Disney’s attention on. There are technology platforms out there that can address this, very inexpensive, very accessible. Disney does provide accessibility, but it’s a little difficult to get to it, and there are things out there that could really help. We’ve emphasized in our conversations that we don’t want to complain without presenting solutions. We had them. But there were definitely some things they could have done better, and we hope to have some conversations with them about that.

Danielle: Now, for me, being in a wheelchair, a lot of what I ran into was ableism. We had a bus driver our first morning, as a large group, who got semi-mouthy with me, and that set off a whole entire thing. Something to know about the neurodivergent crowd: the sense of justice for neurodivergent people is huge. The 11 other people with me were fuming more than I was. I was upset, but they were fuming about how I got treated.

And there were a few other things in a wheelchair that just weren’t as accessible. I keep saying, hey Disney, outside of Pop Century, I was in the 50s building, please get rid of that cobblestone. Anybody who walked next to me watched me about lose everything in my bag, and my lunch, because of how bad it jiggles. I joke about that a little, but things like that are important to those of us in wheelchairs. Was it inaccessible? No. Was it comfortable and easy for me? Absolutely not.

About the bus driver who gave me issues: I think almost everybody who could figure out how to report this poor woman reported her. And I will give it to Disney, Disney messaged me back. Disney’s chat feature inside their app for problems like that was fantastic. If you ever have problems at Disney, please use the chat in the Disney Experience app. They were amazing about letting us know. It’s not that I wanted this woman fired. I just wanted her better trained. Because I will tell you, if that had happened to me on my last trip, when I was just learning to adjust to being in a wheelchair, it would have ruined my whole trip. I would have been in tears for hours, because she attacked me. We want to prevent things like that. We want to change those messages.

The acceptance the group found at Disney

Danielle: And as a neurodivergent crowd, we noticed any time there was ableism or attitude. But you want to know how little attitude we got while we were in Disney World? You want to know how much acceptance? As somebody who has worn this t-shirt out in public here at home, I’ve gotten eye rolls, I’ve gotten stares, all of those reactions. You want to know what I got in Disney? I got hugs. I got parents coming up and saying thank you. I think it was Rebecca and Amy who had a woman just cry: “That’s me. Thank you for doing this.” We had a little boy, and when I say little, he was like seven, hitting on a few of us in the pool, so cute, and we ended up talking to his mom for like two hours, because she just loved that we were doing this.

The back of these t-shirts says: “Unleashing my ADHD and autism superpowers. ND OutLoud and Disney taught me how.” And these are bright pink shirts. We were easily spotted everywhere in the park. I will be buying this color for everybody next year, for every single day, because then I don’t lose all of the neurodivergent people with no sense of direction in the park. I had one person text me wanting to know how to get to where we were, and she couldn’t explain where she was, because she was so overwhelmed that her executive function didn’t work. I could have posted in one of the Disney groups, “If you see the woman in the bright pink shirt, please send her to the France pavilion at Epcot,” and I guarantee she would have gotten where she needed to go.

And there was so much acceptance in Disney. We had an experience, Shay and Tara and I think Parker were with us, at the Edna Mode experience. The Disney cast member working with the photographer had so much fun with us. We ended up recording videos and getting so many extra pictures beyond what you normally get with a character. And then she came outside and followed us out to talk to us for ten minutes. She was amazing. That is why we do it at Disney World.

Wheelchairs, crowds, and what awareness actually looks like

Danielle: Anything else you want everybody to know about Disney World next year, before we close out today?

Tara: Touching on the accessibility piece: as was mentioned earlier, I tore something in my knee while I was there and was in a wheelchair on the last day. I’ve seen these challenges at Disney before. When I’ve gone with my mom, she’s been in a scooter. I have two special needs siblings, and they all had different mobility devices. But to actually experience it myself was a very different perspective. To be sitting in a wheelchair, with the frustration of knowing somebody is pushing you in the heat, but also knowing they had a choice, and if they didn’t want to, they wouldn’t have. I was super appreciative of that, which is also growth on my part.

But the frustration of people not moving out of the way. You see a wheelchair coming, you see a scooter coming, and people just weave in and out. Everybody’s on their phones, or they’re talking, or congregating in the middle of the street. It’s frustrating to be the one pushing the wheelchair, I know, because I heard it, but also to be the one sitting in the wheelchair, with the rage of, just move. Then to be in lines where they say “fill in all the available space,” but the lighting on a lot of these rides is dim to begin with, so you run into people’s ankles without even meaning to, because nobody’s looking where they’re going.

Danielle: I actually got hit in the face on that last ride we went on, because people were so worried about getting to the same exact spot I was headed to. People were hitting me and shoving, almost shoving me out of my wheelchair, to get to some spot, when you could have just waited half a second. I was moving. Part of that is people being entitled, I think. And I was so afraid of running into somebody. I was in a power chair, so my brakes aren’t as good as a manual chair. Tara had somebody pushing who could stop her dead. I can’t do that in a power chair. I was so afraid of hitting people. Poor Tim got hit a couple of times, because I chose to hit him instead of other people, since I was really trying not to hurt somebody else. Sorry. I know we said the sword, but I do feel bad for actually hitting you. That’s something worth apologizing for. But it’s about people being aware. There needs to be more awareness.

Shay: A big part of it, especially in Disney, is everybody’s excited, everybody wants to get everywhere, so the unawareness is really huge. If there were a way to create some type of lane, like we have bike lanes on the road, could Disney create something, not to inhibit people walking, but to allow people on wheels, whether motorized, scooters, or being manually pushed, to get through? There were many times we were ducking and weaving, not because we wanted to be rude, but because we had a lot of taller people around, and I’m only 5’2″, so a lot of times people didn’t even see me. And Tara was in front of me in the wheelchair, sitting lower, so nobody saw her. I accidentally ran over somebody’s foot, not on purpose, in the middle of moving through that dim place. Thankfully his friend said, “He has another one, it’s okay.” He literally said that. But I still felt bad. Is there a way to create safety, more than anything? Because there were times, like you said, Danielle, you had to slam on your brakes because a little kid ran in front of you, or somebody just wasn’t paying attention to what was behind them or around them. That was probably the one thing I worried about, pushing her around in the wheelchair: I don’t want to dump her because I had to stop quick.

Danielle: And you want to know the funny thing? On that ride, there is an ideal spot to be, and that is in cart 9, which I did not know until afterwards. You want to know where everybody else ended up? Not in cart 9. Where did I end up? Cart 9. Running me over and hitting me in the face got you nowhere, and I got the ideal spot. I’ve since learned from my son, who said, “Oh my gosh, you got the best one.” Hurrying is not doing anybody any good. Just be aware of your surroundings. I think Disney needs to do a better job of reminding people of that. Don’t hurry. Enjoy your time. But also, as adults, remind ourselves that there are other people around you. Pay attention to your surroundings.

Come join us: living out loud is the whole point

Danielle: The biggest thing I want people to take away from today’s conversation, and any other conversations you see us having about Disney: if you’re neurodivergent, or live with a neurodivergent person, or have a neurodivergent child. And first, if you have a neurodivergent child, there’s a 99 percent chance you are neurodivergent too, even if you haven’t figured it out yet. Second, come join us. Come learn. Come see how to let go and just be. Living out loud is why we do this, because it is so important for us to connect on every level and to find joy in everything we do. That’s what Disney did. It brought joy. Even talking about next year is already bringing people joy, the souvenirs they’re going to buy, where we’re going to eat. The conversations about next year go deep, and we’re sending each other videos about next year constantly.

So come join us. You can join this community now. We have a daily option for daily coaching and daily community that you can start developing now. Just reach out to us. Ask us those questions. We are available every day of the week for you to get the connections you need today. If you have any questions, or want to learn more about Disney, we’ll have links below. And if you see any of these t-shirts out in the wild, we’ll take a hug anytime. Have a good one, everybody.