EP.11 - How Learning I’m Autistic Changed My Career with Wanda Deschamps

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Click here to read the transcript.

Wanda Deschamps’ career was successful from the outside, but her mid-life autism diagnosis was the missing piece that helped her make sense of her work and life. In this conversation, we discuss the years leading up to her diagnosis, and how Wanda has become an advocate for the inclusion of disabled peoples in her speaking, writing and consulting work.

I’m your host, Karen Styles, Career + Life Coach and owner of Flow + Fire Coaching. Ready to create your Intentional Career? Schedule a call with me.

My guest is Wanda Deschamps. She is the founder and principal of Liberty Co – a consultancy focused on increasing the participation level of the neurodiverse population in the workforce with a special emphasis on autism due to Wanda’s own diagnosis at midlife.

A champion for inclusion, she enjoys writing and speaking under the banner of the #InclusionRevolution, a worldwide movement launched in 2018 to spearhead broader thinking about disability – especially disability employment. Wanda is also the catalyst behind the #Women4Women collective focused on gender equality through supporting other women. Combining these two goals provides an avenue for Wanda to be an advocate for women with autism, including as a participant in research into autistic women’s experiences in the workplace.

Interview Highlights:

[01:30] Wanda’s life and career before her autism diagnosis.

[05:00] Fall 2016, Wanda’s mental health hits a crisis point and it becomes a pivotal moment.

[09:16] Wanda realizes not many autistic women in Canada are sharing their stories, and decides to share hers.

[12:10]  Wanda’s diagnosis leads to clarity, wholeness and self knowledge. 

[15:24] What is different for Wanda now.

[18:34] How Wanda is managing all the changes that have happened in the last few years.

[23:55] What Wanda would tell the past version of herself.

[28:32]  How the Covid-19 pandemic put a spotlight on ableism in the workplace, and why Wanda still has a positive outlook about the future.

[35:00] Wanda’s company is called Liberty Co because confronting the facts brings freedom.

[37:54] Wanda shares her career crushes.


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Karen Styles