Hi There. My name is Becca Lory Hector. I am an autism and neurodiversity consultant, a national speaker, a published author, a sought after mentor, and an active advocate. I also happen to be an autistic adult.
Unlike many autistics, my diagnosis came after living on this planet for over three decades. That’s right. After 36 miserable years as a failed neurotypical, I was finally granted the ticket to my own happiness in the form of an autism diagnosis.
Some 8 years later, I am a successful entrepreneur, running my own consulting business, after serving the autism community for four years via nonprofit organizations.
While these days I have the pleasure of consulting with universities, nonprofits, state agencies, and various corporations, speaking to large groups, and enjoying my role as Director of Individual Empowerment & Employee Wellness at Planning Across the Spectrum, my true passion lies in creating opportunities for quality of life for my fellow autistic adults, because as a community, we are suffering from the weight of a desolate abyss where our adult services and supports should be.
As a wiser, and nicer, 44 year old me, I have decided that now is already too late to start thinking about supports for our autistic adults alive today, so I decided to start creating my own. I started by adopted and training my own Emotional Support Animal, Sir Walter Underfoot, with much success for both of us. I then began knocking down my old, ill-fitting life, and rebuilding myself a life I don’t need a vacation from.
Having recorded my journey meticulously, and benefited from its success, I decided it was time to share my experience and expertise with my fellow autistic adults. I am proud to share that I now run a successful, virtual personal development course for autistic adults. The course is called ‘Self Defined Living: A Path to a Quality Autistic Life and I have taken all that I learned by creating my life, into three information-packed units that are budget friendly, inclusive, accessible, and designed by an autistic brain for other autistic brains. The goal of the course is to start folks off on a journey to become their authentic selves and live their best lives, by their own standards.
As I watch my peers and colleagues walk through my course, I know I am living my purpose. I am watching new lives bloom as each student embraces their autisticness and begins to build their own life they don’t need a vacation from.
For most of our lives, autistic adults are told, not so subtly, that our way of being is “wrong”. I am here to say that our way of being is right for us, equally valid, and deserves to be equally valued.
