Matthew Lawrence, the #ActuallyAutistic Coach

I’m Matthew and I’m an autistic human living in Paris and have lived and worked in the US, UK, Greece, Israel, and France in my 3+ decades on Earth.

I’m passionate about history (specifically culinary history), Tottenham Hotspur, Marx, and Orcas. I was diagnosed as autistic in the late 1980’s and went thru “the system” that many autistic people of my generation did – being flipped from gifted classes to special education, bullying, behavioral “therapy” and all sorts of “fun stuff” that left scars that I am still healing from. In university I began to learn more about what being autistic really meant and exploring the concepts of the Neurodiversity Paradigm. Later in life I was made aware of being ADHD and C-PTSD as well.

Formerly a tech executive, startup founder, property surveyor, rabbinical student, and stand-up comedian, I now coach my fellow autistic comrades. I have been mentoring my fellow autistic entrepreneurs, students, and political activists around the world in my free time since my university days over 15 years ago.

After a burnout in 2019, I switched paths to coaching my fellow autistic humans because I understood how important being in autistic spaces was for not only me, but for all of us. By affirming our experiences and talking about them, we better understand our autistic selves and as such, can achieve our goals.

As an autistic educator and life coach for autistic people, I know what your life looks and feels like.

I spend my days building international neuro-affirming autistic communities thru empowering my fellow autistic humans with advocacy methods & self-care tools for navigating an NT world based on productivism.

In addition to 1-on-1 coaching, I offer a number of online workshops, in particular for AuDHD people, Newly ID’d autistics, and Late ID’d autistics.

I lead a number of free discussion groups every month on a variety of topics which can be found on my site.

I also offer coaching to parents and partners of autistic people and give corporate trainings in Neurodiversity and Autism specifically.

Lastly, I consult independent bookshops and cafes on making their spaces more neuro-affirming via training, product selection, and sensory environment guidance.