Dr. Bill Wong - Being a TEDx Speaker and Fighting On as an Autistic Adult

10/13/20 • 61 min

In this episode of the Sensory Friendly Solutions Podcast, Host Matt George speaks to Dr. Bill Wong, TEDx Speaker, Occupational Therapist, OTA/OT Program Adjunct Faculty Member and autistic adult.
TEDx describes Dr. Wong:
"Born in Hong Kong but raised in the United States, Bill Wong, OTD, OTR/L didn't speak until he was nearly three. Although he demonstrated restricted and repetitive behavior, his pediatrician refused to diagnose him with autism because of his high IQ. It wasn't until after obtaining an undergraduate degree in statistics and finding limited job prospects that Bill was finally diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and discovered his passion in occupational therapy.
Since 2010, Bill has completed a Master's degree in Occupational Therapy and received his clinical doctorate. Now an established clinician with a specialty in autism, he is also a well-known presence on social media - an avenue he uses to share his successes and challenges as an individual with autism. Moving forward, Bill plans to use his passion to engage students in Chinese speaking countries with education in their native language, while continuing to establish himself as a leader in OT and autism communities."
EPISODE GUIDE
6:46 Bill on why this year has been so strange in California
7:42 How Bill pivoted during COVID
11:01 Bill on Zoom Fatigue
14:04 Bill on his incredible professional journey
17:58 When Bill found Occupational Therapy
22:27 Alarm bells go off
22:40 Bill's amazing epiphany
23:55 Bill's autism diagnosis
25:09 How his parents reacted
28:20 Bill on finding his mentor
30:27 His commitment to others in his situation
34:32 Bill gets nominated for a TEDx Talk
38:51 Listener response to the TEDx Talk
40:10 Bill on camouflaging
46:08 Christel's reflections
56:35 Innovation segment
Thanks for listening - Christel Seeberger and the Sensory Friendly Solutions Team.
Full blog posts and transcripts for each episode can be found on our website.
Podcast leadership is provided by Sensory Friendly Solutions Founder and CEO Christel Seeberger.
This podcast was produced by Matt George and was engineered by Zachary Pelletier.
Thank you to our sponsor TakingITGlobal, ensuring that youth around the world are actively engaged. Head to risingyouth.ca to learn more and to become the next RisingYouth grant recipient.
The podcast is also supported by New Brunswick Community College as part of the Community Resource Awareness During and After COVID-19 applied research project, funded by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. Learn more about NBCC's efforts to

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Previous Episode

Renee Warren - Working From Home In a Pandemic

In this episode of the Sensory Friendly Solutions Podcast our Host Matt George is chatting with Renee Warren, the Founder of We Wild Women and the Host of the Into the Wild Podcast.
Renee wants to help women around the world start their dream business with the incredibly ambitious goal of support 1 Million women in her lifetime.

"I have one gigantic mission: To help a million female entrepreneurs launch and grow a wildly successful company!"

If you're engaging with Renee's work, she says, "you're in the right place!"

"You are here because you either want to:

Take that first step to uncovering your passion,
Get a little wild and finally start your damn business!

You don’t have to do it alone, that’s where this community and me come in. I’m here for you every step of the way. From dirty back-of-the-napkin idea to launch right through to scaling your marvellous business."
EPISODE GUIDE:
2:00 Renee's entrepreneurial journey
4:07 What will COVID change?
7:40 Renee on creating boundaries
8:23 Professional overwhelm
10:11 How Renee adapted to working from home
11:05 Renee's ideal customer
17:53 Renee's morning routine
20:45 How to deal with what Renee calls 'Down Cycles'
28:21 Renee calls 'BS'
31:59 Our deepest fears
32:37 Renee's son Max and his experience with hyper-sensitivity
37:17 Renee's strategy for reducing the noise of the current era
39:42 Renee's reflection
41:37 Christel's personal examples
44:46 Christel on boundaries
47:46 Christel's reflection on being curious

Thanks for listening - Christel Seeberger and the Sensory Friendly Solutions Team.
Full blog posts and transcripts for each episode can be found on our website.
Podcast leadership is provided by Sensory Friendly Solutions Founder & CEO Christel Seeberger.
This podcast was produced by Matt George and was engineered by Zachary Pelletier.
Thank you to our sponsor TakingITGlobal, ensuring that youth around the world are actively engaged. Head to risingyouth.ca to learn more and to become the next Rising Youth grant recipient.
The podcast is also supported by New Brunswick Community College as part of the Community Resource Awareness During and After COVID-19 applied research project, funded by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. Learn more about NBCC's efforts to transform lives and communities.

Next Episode

Carol Stock Kranowitz - The Out of Sync Child and Sensory Processing Disorder

In this episode of the Sensory Friendly Solutions Podcast our Host Matt George is chatting with the great Carol Stock Kranowitz, best-selling author of "The Out-of-Sync Child."
As a music, movement and drama teacher for 25 years (1976-2001), Carol observed many out-of-sync preschoolers. To help them become more competent in their work and play, she began to study sensory processing and sensory integration (“SI”) theory. She learned to help identify her young students’ needs and to steer them into early intervention. In writings and workshops, she explains to parents, educators, and other early childhood professionals how sensory issues play out – and provides fun and functional techniques for addressing them at home and school. She is best-known for her book, The Out-of-Sync Child, which has sold about 1 million copies.
EPISODE GUIDE
2:11 Carol's early experience as a teacher
5:00 Carol on Pattern Recognition in neuro-diverse youth
11:04 The stress of our current time
12:16 Why Carol thinks we are the guinea-pigs
14:29 Carol's career arc and how she found writing
21:34 Carol's revealing statistic about sensory issues
25:03 How Sensory Processing Disorder manifests itself in the working world.
28:52 How Carol's book helped parents deal with blame and shame
39:34 Carol's In-Sync Child Program and Webinars
41:06 Where you can get the books
43:32 Carol's strategy for dealing with the noise of the current era
46:21 How Christel discovered Carol's work in 1994
49:17 Christel reflects on The Out-of-Sync child
51:57 How we can learn to become detectives
54:00 The importance of play
56:38 The Innovation Segment

Thanks for listening - Christel Seeberger and the Sensory Friendly Solutions Team.
Full blog posts and transcripts for each episode can be found on our website.
Podcast leadership is provided by Sensory Friendly Solutions Founder and CEO Christel Seeberger.
This podcast was produced by Matt George and was engineered by Zachary Pelletier.
Thank you to our sponsor TakingITGlobal, ensuring that youth around the world are actively engaged. Head to risingyouth.ca to learn more and to become the next RisingYouth grant recipient.
The podcast is also supported by New Brunswick Community College as part of the Community Resource Awareness During and After COVID-19 applied research project, funded by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. Learn more about NBCC's efforts to transform lives and communities.

Sensory Friendly Solutions - Dr. Bill Wong - Being a TEDx Speaker and Fighting On as an Autistic Adult

Transcript

Matt George (00:00):

Today's episode of the Sensory Friendly Solutions podcast on the Unsettled Media podcast network is brought to you by Sensory Friendly Solutions. Discover sensory friendly solutions for daily life. To learn more, head to sensoryfriendly.net.

Matt George