INTERVIEW PETER VERMEULEN
“SOMETIMES WE FORGET, SOFT SKILLS CAN BE THE HARDEST SKILLS OF THEM ALL” High-tech development relies heavily on diverse teams of multidisciplined experts, each with a specific role. But in today’s cutting edge, it’s not just the expertise that’s diverse. According to High Tech Institute trainer and autism expert Peter Vermeulen, neurodivergent brains are also playing an essential role, and if utilized correctly, can lead to great benefits. Collin Arocho
“I
was a stay-at-home father with my one-year-old son when my former master’s thesis mentor called me about a new position with the National Autistic Society in Belgium,” recalls Peter Vermeulen. He was a trained clinical educationalist with an emphasis on education and child-rearing, with a particular focus on people with disabilities. “I think that in all of my education, I could refer to maybe one page on the topic of autism. But I went to the interview anyway – this was in the 80s and there weren’t a whole lot of job prospects in my field,” he explains. “I sat there answering a long list of questions, all about autism, and all of my responses were completely wrong. But somehow, they still offered me the job,” Vermeulen remembers. “It turns out, giving the wrong answers was a good thing. It showed them that I didn’t have to unlearn the many stereotypes and misunderstandings surrounding autism.” Instead, he could immediately get to work with the foundation, which was looking for a specialist that could aid and train parents of autistic children. “Now, nearly 40 years later, I still say that I never chose autism. Rather, autism really chose me.”
60
3
Credit: Peter Vermeulen
Neuroharmony
After some 4 decades in the field, not only has Vermeulen learned better answers to those interview questions, but he has literally written the book on autism. Actually, he’s written 15 of them and now he spends his
time speaking passionately about autism and neurodiversity in an effort to expel the myths and spread understanding about neurodivergent brains within society and the workplace. His goal is to reshape conventional thinking and replace the focus on the negative connotations of autism by highlighting the positive aspects of different minds working together. This is what he refers to as neuroharmony, a topic that lies at the heart of his numerous lectures and training sessions, including High Tech Institute’s “Neurodiversity @ work: coping with autistic characteristics in the technical.” “For decades already, people have created a false narrative that somehow puts all autistic people into a box, labeled as intellectually disabled, unable to hold meaningful jobs, get married or function in society – among many other stereotypes. But that’s simply not the case,” describes Vermeulen. “The reality is, no two brains are the same and some are just a little more different than others. In fact, many of the behaviors regarded as autistic are expressed similarly in ADHD, dyslexia and super intelligent giftedness.” According to Vermeulen, while neurodiversity can certainly present
