The Birth of the Radiant Empathy Universe: An Origin Story

 

When people hear the word NeuroDivergence, they often think of a diagnosis.

I think of a family.

I think of my mother.

I think of my father.

I think of my daughters.

I think of my grandson.

And I think of the thousands of people who have shared their stories with me over the last twenty years.

My journey into NeuroDivergent Relationships did not begin in graduate school. It began as a little girl trying to understand the people she loved.

As a child, I sensed there was something different about my mother. Long before autism was part of our vocabulary, I watched her struggle with overwhelm, confusion, and emotional pain. At the same time, my father became my guide. During long drives and quiet conversations, he taught me that life is a journey and that curiosity is often more important than certainty.

Years later I found myself married to a man who would eventually be recognized as autistic. I became the mother of an autistic daughter. Suddenly the questions of my childhood returned in a new form.

Why do people who love each other sometimes struggle to connect?

Why do some people experience empathy differently?

How can families bridge these differences without losing themselves?

Those questions eventually became books, support groups, podcasts, webinars, and an international community of people seeking understanding.

My first book, Going Over the Edge?, began as an attempt to make sense of my own experience. What happened next surprised me. Letters arrived. Emails poured in. Readers from around the world told me they had lived similar stories.

What I thought was one family’s story turned out to be thousands.

Over time my work expanded beyond diagnosis and dysfunction. I became increasingly interested in possibility.

What happens when people learn to understand one another?

What happens when NeuroTypical and NeuroDiverse people stop viewing each other as opponents and begin seeing one another as fellow travelers?

What happens when empathy becomes a skill that can be practiced?

Those questions led to the development of Radiant Empathy, a framework that helps people navigate differences while remaining connected to themselves and others.

Eventually the ideas became larger than psychology.

They became stories.

They became Captain KIM.

They became JJ’s Adventures in the Spheres.

They became the Radiant Empathy Universe.

JJ represents the next generation—a child growing up with emotional awareness, curiosity, and courage. Through story, imagination, and adventure, children and adults alike can explore empathy, resilience, and human connection.

At its heart, the origin story of Radiant Empathy is not simply about autism or NeuroDivergence.

It is about being human.

It is about learning to navigate life’s storms without losing our compass.

It is about finding our way home to ourselves and to one another.

The map is not the territory.

Love is the journey.

And every one of us is still learning how to travel.