Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ?
Meet Dr. Theresa Haskins: The Mom Who Rewrote the Rulebook on Autism
02 Apr 2025
Send us a text Dr. Theresa Haskins shares her journey from a mother seeking answers for her autistic son to becoming an educator and researcher dedicated to creating more inclusive systems for neurodivergent individuals. Her experiences navigating medical dismissals, educational barriers, and workplace challenges illuminate how society needs to fundamentally shift its approach to neurodiversity. • Mother of a "thrice exceptional" son (autistic, ADHD, and gifted) who could count to 100 at age two but wasn't speaking conversationally • Left special education program after realizing conventional teaching approaches didn't align with her son's needs • Pursued educational psychology and doctorate degrees to understand how to change systems, not just help individuals adapt • Advocates for autonomous learning and choice-making rather than taking away agency from neurodivergent individuals • Challenges organizations to focus on meeting people's needs without requiring them to "prove" their disability • Questions arbitrary job requirements that create barriers for neurodivergent talent • Emphasizes that different developmental paths aren't lesser ones – just different • Works with universities, government agencies, and organizations to implement neurodiversity-affirming practices • Promotes universal design principles that benefit everyone, not just those with disabilities • Believes we need to value diverse skills and stop measuring everyone against neurotypical milestones You and your family matter. You exist, you deserve to thrive, you deserve education, you deserve gainful employment, you deserve respect, and that's what we work towards. https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Full Episode
Welcome to Why Not Me? The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. Real-life people who will inspire... and show that you are not alone in this world.
Hopefully, you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Meet the World. Joining us today is Teresa Haskins, an educator, researcher, and notably, a mother with an autistic child. Her journey began seeking answers. which led to providing those answers by immersing herself in learning.
This led to her teaching others how to help themselves find success and achieve their full potential in a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable world. It's a pleasure to have her on to share her expertise with us. Thanks for joining us.
Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
If you would, let's just tell people what you do and how you got there.
so currently there's a lot of things going on i have a multitude of rules i'm a professor at the university of southern california i teach graduate studies in human resource management and i work there to really push a neurodiversity lens to help future leaders really try to get a better sense of how to be more accommodating
And as part of the university, then I started to see some of the issues in higher education where I work with faculty so that they're more inclusive and how they're designing their learning and working with students. But all of this actually came about almost, well, it's 18 years ago. Today, I do consulting.
And up until recently, I was working with a lot of government agencies on how to build more neuro-inclusive teams and programs. We were really making a lot of headway in that space. And I believe that traction will stick regardless of current sentiment. But it all started with my son. When you have your first child or any children, you have visions of what life will be. My son was a surprise.
So, you know, his first year of development seemed fairly typical until we started to get into the social components that you would start to anticipate your child to engage in.
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