Skier Alex Hackel and 'Survivor' star Eva Erickson help tell richer stories of neurodiversity

Audio By Carbonatix

Celebrity ambassadors are helping the nonprofit The Neurodiversity Alliance tell more robust narratives about people with differing brains. They are part of a growing peer-to-peer movement that is building its own more inclusive spaces and encouraging its members to speak for themselves.

Alex Hackel, a 29-year-old X Games medalist from the greater Boston area, credits his dyslexia with helping him think outside the box to develop his own street skiing video style. After a partially torn ACL sidelined his competitive skiing career, he realized he could combine his passion for the sport with his interest in filmmaking.

“The more that you're able to connect with people, and the more you're able to see the different strengths that you're able to have from being neurodivergent and thinking a little bit differently, the better," he says. “When you grow up with dyslexia, you realize that the book doesn't necessarily apply to you and that you're living in a school system that's optimized for other people. And you have to develop a relationship with failure, and you have to be willing to try and try and try again.”

Eva Erickson, a 25-year-old PhD candidate in engineering and fluid and thermal science at Brown University, recalls getting looks in high school when overstimulation would spiral into what she calls “episodes.” They weren’t unlike the moment on the most recent “Survivor” season when she couldn’t stop crying after a difficult challenge. But this time, she had confided in another contestant that hand squeezes were calming when her autism made it difficult to manage such emotional distress.

“It is really important to bring awareness to these kinds of situations — that people go through this stuff and it’s not something wrong with them,” she says. “It’s just a challenge that’s a little different, but that you can get through it and it doesn’t mean that you’re lesser because you face those challenges.”