DENVER (AP) — Engineering student Tory Ridgeway buried his head.

Just finished with his Lockheed Martin internship and weeks away from his final year at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the 22-year-old from Maryland found himself overwhelmed by the solidarity he felt at a neurodivergent leadership conference.

Having autism and ADHD, Ridgeway already knew there were plenty of others like him. But he hadn’t realized they shared the same negative self-talk. He said he locked into focus when he heard The Neurodiversity Alliance President Jesse Sanchez describe overcoming feelings of being a “defective toy.”

“They talking to me,” Ridgeway said. “I felt seen. I felt heard. And I’m gonna try to recreate this feeling wherever I go now.”

A peer-to-peer movement of high school and college s

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