The head of a London-based Neurodiversity in Business charity is to deliver a UN speech, in a “pinch me” moment.
Dan Harris, who has been a director at a Big Four firm for the last 22 years, announced he would be delivering the speech in a LinkedIn post, in a bid to raise autism awareness in a campaign called ‘TheJoshieMan’.
Harris, who is the founder and chairperson of the Neurodiversity in Business (NIB) charity, said: “I recently announced how excited I was to even have been invited as a delegate to the Inclusive Education summit hosted by UNESCO at their global headquarters in Paris.”
“Now to be asked to actually give a speech is such a massive honour….. I simply can’t waste this unique opportunity so I’m going BIG and BOLD!”
The award-winning activist has been campaigning on the issue of autism awareness, using NIB to “share industry good practice on ND recruitment, retention and empowerment” for firms.
Dan and his son
The charity supports businesses as well as staff, dealing with issues of neurodiversity to help their employment.
The campaign, ‘The Joshie Man’, is inspired by his young son who is non-speaking autistic, saying he will “change the world” in his LinkedIn post when it comes to perceptions about neurodiversity.
“I’ll do things a bit differently, and try to create a memorable way of communicating that truly amplifies the voices of those non-speaking autistic people who simply want to participate in society.”
He said his son has “inspired me every step of this crazy journey we have been on” as he asked his followers to “let me know how you would like our education system to be more inclusive. How are our kids currently failed across society?”