Hello again, I hope your week is getting off to a good start. On this episode of The Accessibility Advantage, I sat down with Ron Sosa, a neuroinclusive leadership coach, author, speaker, and Executive Director of the Uncharted Veterinary Conference. Ron and I talked about invisible disability, masking, and what it actually takes to build workplaces that don't burn people out for being wired differently and we ended up in a genuinely open, back-and-forth conversation rather than a straight interview. On With The Show Watch On Youtube Listen On Podcast Players Turning a Layoff Into an Opportunity Ron opened up about being recently laid off, and how that unexpected transition actually accelerated a plan he'd already had to move into his leadership coaching work full-time. He credited a conversation with a psychotherapist about "post-traumatic growth" the idea that adversity can either become something you wallow in, or fuel that pushes you forward. Ron's clearly chosen the latter, and it colored the whole conversation with a grounded, forward-looking energy. Recognizing the Signs Early and Having Them Dismissed Ron traced his own neurodivergence back to early childhood: sensory overwhelm from sock seams, an intense need for food certainty, and a year spent nonverbal around age four. A court-mandated family therapist actually diagnosed him as autistic when he was three years old but his father rejected the diagnosis and sought another opinion instead. Ron didn't learn about that early diagnosis until adulthood, after he'd already been independently diagnosed again and had to "come out" to his father a second time, only to be told, "Oh yeah, you got that when you were three." Growing up, he was the kid who couldn't sit still, made noise, and got moved to the front of the classroom to keep him from talking to his neighbors the kinds of behaviors he said get caught much more readily today, but back then were just written off. The Cost of Masking and Over-Adapting Ron walked through a four-part framework he's developed around what he calls the "internal world" of a neurodivergent person: chronic self-monitoring, over-adaptation, self-criticism, and physical tension carried in the body. He pointed out that even high-achieving, high-performing employees can be carrying all four and that businesses tend to only intervene when someone is underperforming, never when someone is over-functioning to the point of eventual burnout. That pattern, he said, shows up constantly with neurodivergent professionals: rising quickly into leadership, then quietly stepping back down or leaving altogether once the role becomes unsustainable only to repeat the exact same cycle somewhere else, because the underlying support never changed. Why "Reasonable Accommodation" Isn't Always Safe to Ask For One of the more sobering parts of our conversation was Ron's honesty about disclosure. He generally doesn't disclose a diagnosis in interviews or at work instead, he advocates for specific needs directly ("I don't always have the best memory for names, so a quick reminder helps me") without naming the disability behind them. He was clear that this isn't about hiding; it's about not knowing in advance whether disclosure will be safe, or whether an employer will actually treat it as a reasonable accommodation instead of a liability. We also got our first-ever live comment during a recording, from a viewer named Jared, who asked Ron directly about when to disclose a disability in a job interview. Ron's answer advocate for the need, not necessarily the diagnosis was one of the clearest, most practical pieces of advice in the whole conversation. Where Hiring Breaks Down We spent real time on how inaccessible the hiring process itself often is inaccessible applications, inaccessible onboarding documents, and a mountain of unwritten workplace rules nobody actually teaches new hires. Ron shared a simple practice from when he co-owned a veterinary business: telling candidates exactly what to wear to the interview, because leaving that unstated and then judging someone for "getting it wrong" isn't fair to anyone, neurodivergent or not. He also pushed back hard on requirements like mandatory eye contact in interviews, asking the real question underneath it: what does success actually look like for this role, and can that be achieved without eye contact? In most cases, the honest answer is yes which means the requirement was never really about the job to begin with. Invisible vs. Visible Disability Ron and I talked candidly about how differently the world reacts to visible versus invisible disability. As a blind man with a white cane, I don't get shunned for my disability the way people with invisible neurodivergent conditions sometimes are when they disclose. We also swapped stories about the strange assumptions people make like when I look directly at someone's voice out of habit and they insist I must be faking blindness, or when Ron pauses mid-sentence because he's actually listening to an audiobook through his Bluetooth-connected hearing aids and people think he's talking to himself. Rewriting the Rules for the Workplace Ron's book, Rewriting the Rules: A Leadership Model for a Neuroinclusive Human-Centered Workplace, published this past March, lays out how organizations can rethink policies, procedures, workflows, and even physical building design around a more current understanding of the human experience. His core message: now that we know better, we can do better and that's true whether you're neurodivergent or not. About Ron Ron Sosa is a neuroinclusive leadership coach, international speaker, author, and Executive Director of the Uncharted Veterinary Conference. Through his practice, Syn-APT Neuroinclusive Leadership, Ron helps neurodivergent leaders reduce the invisible burdens of overthinking, overadapting, masking, and burnout so they can lead with more clarity, confidence, and self-trust. Ron's perspective is shaped by both lived experience and leadership experience. He is ADHD, Autistic, and hard of hearing, and built his career in veterinary medicine from client service representative to veterinary assistant, practice manager, minority partner, and executive director before becoming a coach, speaker, and author. That path gave him a rare view of how people experience work at every level of an organization and why so many talented people burn out in systems that reward adaptation over sustainability. His coaching and speaking blend emotional depth with practical leadership strategy, giving audiences language for experiences they may never have been able to name before around neurodiversity, burnout, identity, belonging, and human-centered workplace design. Ron is also the host of his own podcast, Left Unattended, where he explores what happens when high-performing, emotionally intelligent people are left to navigate systems that weren't built for their minds, through personal stories, guest interviews, and deep reflections on masking, executive dysfunction, and leadership burnout. Connect with Ron Syn-APT Neuroinclusive Leadership website YouTube Instagram LinkedIn TikTok Substack Left Unattended on Apple Podcasts Curiosity Over Shame Ron closed with a thought that stuck with me: none of this is about creating shame, for individuals or for the businesses still catching up. It's about awareness, curiosity, and asking better questions. In reply to his comment about curiosity, I referenced a line from Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic that he holds onto that curiosity will carry you through when passion abandons you. My own closing thought echoed something a friend, Mariela Palino, has told me for years: when we improve inclusion for one group of people, we improve inclusion for everyone. Ron's invisible, neurodivergent experience of the world and my visible, physical experience of blindness are different in a lot of ways but the underlying lesson is the same one either of us could have delivered alone. Keep the Conversation Going This conversation was a reminder that inclusion isn't just about visible accommodations — it's about creating the safety for people to name what they actually need, even when they can't or won't name the diagnosis behind it. So here's what I'd ask of you: Watch or listen to the full episode and hear Ron's story and insights in his own words. Visit syn-apt.me to learn more about Ron's coaching, or pick up his book, Rewriting the Rules, if you're a business owner or leader wondering where to start. Follow Ron on LinkedIn and share this post with a leader, HR professional, or business owner who's still building their hiring and onboarding process around assumptions instead of clarity. Tell us what you learned. Drop a comment, reach out to Ron directly, or email me at maxwell@theaccessibilityadvantage.com. Ron and I got our first-ever live comment during this recording — I'd love for that to become a regular thing. And if you're a business owner wondering whether your hiring process, onboarding, or workplace policies are quietly excluding neurodivergent talent, that's exactly what I help with at The Accessibility Advantage. Reach out and let's figure it out together. What's your excuse?
