Danielle RalstonFounder, How Capacity Works · Founder of ND Hive | Building the productivity hub where work actually gets done | Execution spaces, body doubling & community accountability

The Personal and Professional Benefits of #Neurodivergent Retreats #unmasking #disneyretreat

6 Jun 2025 · 1 min

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In this excerpt from a YouTube discussion about a neurodivergent retreat held at Disney, two speakers reflect on the multifaceted benefits and challenges of the experience. Speaker A notes the shared burden of neurodivergent traits across the spectrum, emphasizing personal empathy. Speaker B expands on professional insights, describing how the retreat revealed varied anxiety levels and masking behaviors among participants, from high‑anxiety individuals to those who prefer to stay behind a mask. They also recount the extreme environmental conditions—heat index over 100 °F, dehydration, and nutrition concerns—that added physical strain to the mental load. Ultimately, the conversation highlights the personal value of forming authentic connections with others who understand neurodivergent experiences, especially in regions where masking remains common despite awareness of conditions like ADHD.

Chapters

And anything on that spectrum, we know the burdens because I'm burdened from them as well. Yeah, so that's my takeaway.
Shay? As a job perspective, I think it's been super helpful in being able to see the many different ways. This person who has high anxiety, this person who's not necessarily high anxiety but doesn't really want to go out, this person who wants to kind of be behind that mask and stay there. So it helped in a lot of those perspectives. And watching each of us working with each other in how to handle those certain specific aspects at the time In the chaos, in the middle of Disney. And let's not forget how freakishly hot it was with a heat index over 100. And so we had not only the— The environmental. The mental, we had also on top of it the physical aspects we were dealing with, with the heat, with trying to stay hydrated, and all the nutritional side of things. But as for a personal side of it, for me, I think it was more of the connections and being able to connect with other people. Where I live, it's not necessarily— it's not that we don't know that we have ADHD, but it's kind of, we still put a mask on.