About Us

Fish in a Tree: Center for Neurodiversity Education, Advocacy, and Activism is a neurodivergent-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit and one of the most recognized neurodiversity justice organizations in the world. Founded in New Orleans in 2022 and now working nationally and globally, Fish in a Tree builds the infrastructure needed to move neurodiversity from awareness to justice, through consulting, training, thought leadership, research, and coalition-building rooted in the Neurodiversity Justice Framework.

Fish in a Tree began as a local neurodiversity community center and has grown into an internationally recognized organization advancing systemic change at every level. Our work includes providing consulting and training to universities, corporations, nonprofits, cultural institutions, and technology innovators; developing new academic and professional pathways; hosting global programming; and coordinating collective advocacy through the Neurodiversity Coalition of America. We lead major initiatives including the Graduate Program in Neurodiversity Studies, the Board Certified Neurodiversity Consultant (BCNC) professional credential, the Neurodiversity Justice Bookshelf, NeuroStage, the first Neurodiversity Pride Day Parade in the United States, and the NeuroJustice Summit 2026.

Our work is grounded in the Neurodiversity Justice Framework, originated and architected by our Founding Director, Bridgette Hamstead. The Neurodiversity Justice Framework moves beyond the neurodiversity paradigm to center justice, equity, and systemic accountability. It holds that neurodivergent people are not simply different, but that the systems built to exclude, pathologize, and suppress neurodivergent people must be named, challenged, and dismantled. This framework guides everything we do, from the programs we build to the coalitions we lead to the language we use. [Learn more about the Neurodiversity Justice Framework.]

Our ethos is rooted in lived experience, the social model of disability, and disability justice. We believe neurodivergent people are not just participants in this movement, but its leaders, architects, and innovators. Their expertise shapes more equitable systems for everyone. Our work turns survival into structure and lived truth into strategy, creating spaces where neurodivergent leadership is not only visible and valued, but centered and authoritative.

Bridgette Hamstead, MS, is the Founding Director of Fish in a Tree and the leading neurodiversity justice leader in the United States and globally. An AuDHD woman (autistic and ADHD, late diagnosed), Bridgette is the originator and architect of the Neurodiversity Justice Framework and the author of the forthcoming books The Trouble with Being Good: How Late-Diagnosed AuDHD Women Break the Rules to Save Themselves and Neurodiversity Justice: The Definitive Guide to the Framework and the Movement. She is also Chairperson of the Board of the Neurodiversity Coalition of America and a global keynote speaker. Bridgette was named Activist of the Year in 2023, served as a United Nations panelist for World Autism Acceptance Day in 2024, and delivered the Global Neurodiversity Pride Day keynote in 2025. She writes daily on Substack at NeuroJustice (bridgettehamstead.substack.com), where she develops and shares the evolving ideas at the heart of the neurodiversity justice movement. Visit her author website at bridgettehamstead.com.

Together, Fish in a Tree and its partners are designing the next chapter of the neurodiversity movement: one built by us, for us, and with justice at its center.

Board of Directors

  • Bridgette Hamstead, MS

    FOUNDING DIRECTOR & BOARD CHAIR

    Bridgette Hamstead, MS, is the Founding Director of Fish in a Tree: Center for Neurodiversity Education, Advocacy, and Activism and the leading neurodiversity justice leader in the United States and globally. An AuDHD woman (autistic and ADHD, late diagnosed), Bridgette is the originator and architect of the Neurodiversity Justice Framework, the intellectual and strategic foundation of the neurodiversity justice movement. Her work reframes neurodivergence not as a deficit to be managed, but as a site of knowledge, resistance, and systemic transformation.

    Bridgette is also Chairperson of the Board of the Neurodiversity Coalition of America, which sets the annual U.S. Neurodiversity Justice Agenda and builds national infrastructure for neurodiversity justice advocacy. She is a global keynote speaker whose work has taken her to stages and institutions around the world. She was named Activist of the Year in 2023, served as a United Nations panelist for World Autism Acceptance Day in 2024, and delivered the Global Neurodiversity Pride Day keynote in 2025.

    Bridgette is the author of two forthcoming books: The Trouble with Being Good: How Late-Diagnosed AuDHD Women Break the Rules to Save Themselves, which blends memoir, research, and collective insight to tell the story of survival, reclamation, and systemic change, and Neurodiversity Justice: The Definitive Guide to the Framework and the Movement, the defining text of the neurodiversity justice paradigm. She writes daily on Substack at NeuroJustice (bridgettehamstead.substack.com) and her author website is bridgettehamstead.com.

  • Seth Hamstead, MBA

    CO-FOUNDER & BOARD TREASURER

    Seth Hamstead is a New Orleans–based entrepreneur and community leader who currently serves as Director of Special Projects at Canal Barge, where he leads strategic initiatives and partnerships that advance regional economic and environmental goals. He is also the co-founder of Fish in a Tree. Previously, Seth co-founded Cleaver & Co., a pioneering whole-animal butcher shop that helped shape New Orleans’ farm-to-table movement before its closure, and later served as Director of Operations at Camellia Beans, one of the city’s most iconic food brands. His career reflects a deep commitment to sustainability, cultural preservation, and community-rooted ventures, grounded in lasting relationships with New Orleans’ chefs, farmers, artists, and activists, while also championing equity and resilience through his family’s leadership in neurodiversity justice.

  • John Woodruff, MS

    BOARD MEMBER

    John Woodruff is the Senior Director of Accessibility Services and ADA Coordinator at Rowan University, where he also co-leads the Center for Neurodiversity. With more than 35 years of experience in education, administration, and disability services, he is recognized for his leadership in fostering inclusive environments and supporting the success of disabled and neurodivergent students in higher education. Woodruff’s work includes overseeing campus accessibility, developing faculty training on neurodiversity, and advancing institutional change through mentoring, advocacy, and research. He is co-author of College Success for Students on the Autism Spectrum: A Neurodiversity Perspective and Creating Inclusive Library Environments.

Contact Us

Inquiries regarding Fish in a Tree’s work

Fish in a Tree is a neurodivergent-led education and advocacy organization working at the systems and institutional level. Organizations engage Fish in a Tree for consulting, speaking, education, and project-based work as outlined on our Services page.

Before submitting an inquiry, we strongly encourage you to review our FAQs, which address common questions about our scope of work and what we do and do not offer.

Fish in a Tree does not provide individual-level services, assessments, therapy, coaching, referrals, or unpaid labor. We are not a service provider, help agency, or hiring pipeline.

This form is for specific, clearly defined inquiries or proposals only. Please include concrete details about the purpose of your message, the service or initiative it relates to, and the nature of your request.

Due to volume, only inquiries that align with our stated scope and include clear parameters will receive a response.

If you are looking to follow Bridgette Hamstead’s writing and analysis, her work is published on Substack:
https://bridgettehamstead.substack.com