Jonathan Mooney | Author. Public Speaker. Different.

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Jonathan Mooney frequently travels around the country to speak to administrators, counselors, parents and teachers of labeled, gifted, at-risk and “normal” students—and students themselves.

In each of his 90-minute keynote presentations, he illustrates his ideas with his personal and professional experiences as a dyslexic and ADD student, and as founder and president of Project Eye-To-Eye.

Jonathan weaves his experiences and forward-thinking philosophies with his broad academic knowledge of education, psychology, sociology and history of learning and disability.

Jonathan tailors each presentation to his audience and accommodates clients’ unique requests, including break-out sessions and half or full-day workshops.

For descriptions of Jonathan’s presentations, read on.

Re-Drawing The Lines
Neurodiversity: A Compass to a Changing World

“Neuro-diversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general.”
—Harvey Blume, The New York Times

Welcome to a new world, where the good kid doesn't sit still. A world where some of the smartest kids in the class don't read well or don't read at all. A world where the popular kids don't make eye contact, don't shake hands, and definitely don't back slap.

In this world, these kids enjoy academic success and personal fulfillment at places like the MIT Media Lab and MET High School in Providence, Rhode Island, one of the top charter schools in the country. Then, they go on to run companies in Silicon Valley, New York and Tokyo.

Unlike ever before, this century proves their cognitive differences are more than "quirks"—they are the groundwork for innovative ideas and skills to solve problems most of us wouldn't anticipate. Think Google. Jet Blue. Apple.

By embracing the beautiful, bizarre realities of neuro-diversity—the idea that we are all special snowflakes—as essential components of a healthy vibrant culture, we can propel students not only to better participate in, but seize the changing world where the digital brain rivals the text-oriented and a design oriented economy replaces a manufacturing base.

Renowned writer, neuro-diversity activist and author Jonathan Mooney vividly, humorously and passionately brings to life this wonderful world of neuro-diversity: the research behind it, the people who live in it, and the lessons it has for all of us who care about the future of education.

Explaining the latest theories, Jonathan helps teachers and parents redefine what it is for students in the 21st century to think and to learn and to be successful. He provides concrete examples of how to prepare students and implement frameworks that best support their academic and professional pursuits.

In this lecture, Jonathan takes the audience to life in high schools organized around the principles of video gaming and visual culture. He transports the audience to snow-bound strip malls in Sweden where a software design company has decided to only hire people with Asperger's syndrome-not as charity, but because this company believes programmers with Asperger's make superior employees.

As with Jonathan's other lectures, the audience will leave this talk fundamentally changed and empowered. "Re-drawing the lines" blends research and human interest stories with concrete tips that parents, students, teachers, and administrators can follow to transform learning environments and create a world that truly celebrates cognitive diversity.

The Gift: LD/ADHD Reframed

Often students with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) struggle in traditional school settings. Yet emerging brain research suggests that many students labeled LD/ADHD have gifts for creative and visual thinking that go unrecognized in academic environments. As a result, many bright and gifted labeled students spiral in a devastating pattern of academic failure, learned helplessness, and low self-esteem.

In this presentation, Jonathan tackles this paradox head-on by outlining research that validates LD/ADHD as a set of cognitive gifts. He speaks honestly about the systemic and cultural barriers to normalizing these unique learning styles. Most importantly, Jonathan empowers parents with applicable strategies to build a positive self-understanding in their labeled student.

We’re Not Broken: Empowering Labeled Students

“We’re Not Broken” is a powerful presentation that supports parents in celebrating the strengths, gifts and talents of their exceptional child.

Research shows that self-esteem is essential to students’ success. However our culture, schools, and medical community conceptualize people with disabilities as inherently broken and medically defective. To empower students with disabilities, parents can understand disability as a social construct, not a medical condition.

In this presentation, Jonathan tells parents what’s right about their children and instills ideas to change social perceptions. He coaches parents to help teachers and school administrators realize their labeled students’ assets.

Jonathan outlines a four-step strategy that all parents can implement to radically change their child’s educational experience. He helps parents build students’ resiliency, meta-cognition, leadership skills, and self-advocacy. He also explains how asset-based approaches fit into IEP settings, school-to-work transitions, and in building partnerships with schools and other institutions.

The Short Bus Stories

In the summer of 2002, Jonathan bought an old short school bus—the kind that transports students in many school districts to special education classes—and converted it into an RV. For four months, he drove 35,000 miles through 45 states to explore disability culture in America. What surprised him was that this journey led him straight to the myth of normalcy.

Jonathan, like many labeled abnormal, spent his life chasing that myth before his trip. But on the Short Bus, he learned that people with disabilities make up a nation-wide movement that actively resists the constraint of normalcy for all of us.

In Jonathan’s presentation entitled “The Short Bus,” he brings to life some of the individuals with disabilities that he encountered on his trip and profiled for his upcoming book The Short Bus.

Jonathan shows how schools, institutions, and public policy enforce normalcy. During “The Short Bus” presentation, Jonathan empowers his audience with ideas of resistance and encourages listeners to create an authentic and deeply human definition of themselves and their exceptional children.

Freaks, Spazzes, and Gimps: Disability Rights, Pride, Community, and Culture

Central to the disability rights movements is the idea that disability is not a medical issue, but first and foremost a civil rights issue. Implicit in this civil rights perspective is also the powerful idea that people with disabilities are a minority group, with different experiences, but united by a shared history of marginalization and discrimination. In fact, people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the country.

In this presentation Jonathan outlines minority rights and explores the consequences of this paradigm for parents and advocates of exceptional children. Jonathan explores his own personal experiences with rejecting a disability identity and trying to “pass” as normal, a phenomenon common to many students with invisible disabilities.

From here, Jonathan explores the legality, history, and theory of conceptualizing disability as a civil rights issue and empowers parents with new tools to advocate for their children. Jonathan explores the emerging disability culture and community. He draws on examples of disability groups, such as Deaf Pride, that demand to be valued as they are. Lastly, he gives parents tools to build disability pride within their exceptional child.