ABOUT

Diane is a Canadian-American and Afro-Caribbean author, filmmaker, and disability justice advocate. After discovering she’s autistic with ADHD, she founded Autastic.com, a resource and community hub for thousands of autistic adults, including spaces specifically for autistic people of color.

An award-winning author and screenwriter, Diane has contributed to two New York Times bestsellers, Sundance and Tribeca selections, and groundbreaking documentaries. She has published in national literary, consumer, and trade magazines. Her independent publishing collaborative, Seedpod Publishing, used its platform to highlight emerging authors and multimedia artists during the rise of digital publishing.

Her innovations in the digital space contributed to the widespread adoption of SMS, patient-centered medical records, location-based mobile check ins, and natural language search. She’s tended bar (terribly), sold shoes (terribly), produced music videos (quite well), represented directors, and ghostwritten in film and TV. 

In 2023, Diane was named the first Ford School Hawkins Family Disability Policy Fellow at the Center for Racial Justice, University of Michigan. She has lectured at Antioch University and served as Adjunct Professor of English at the University of La Verne. Today, she creates transformative educational experiences within the autistic community.

Diane J. Wright

ABOUT

Diane J. Wright

Diane is a Canadian-American author, media consultant, screenwriter, and disability advocate of Afro-Caribbean descent. Multiply certified in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) training and content review, she partners with studios, filmmakers, and publishers to champion entertainment by and for the neurodivergent, disabled, Black, and other historically excluded groups.

Her work as a screenwriter and story editor has taken top honors at premiere international film festivals and has been released theatrically and broadcast domestically and internationally.

After learning she’s autistic with ADHD, Diane founded Autastic.com, home to communities of thousands of late-identified autistic adults and some of the only spaces dedicated to autistic people of color.

ABOUT

Diane J. Wright

Diane is a Canadian-American author, media consultant, screenwriter, and disability advocate of Afro-Caribbean descent. Multiply certified in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) training and content review, she partners with studios, filmmakers, and publishers to champion entertainment by and for the neurodivergent, disabled, Black, and other historically excluded groups.

Her work as a screenwriter and story editor has taken top honors at premiere international film festivals and has been released theatrically and broadcast domestically and internationally.

After learning she’s autistic with ADHD, Diane founded Autastic.com, home to communities of thousands of late-identified autistic adults and some of the only spaces dedicated to autistic people of color.

I attended school in multiple countries, skipped early grades, voluntarily signed up for summer school, and graduated my four-year honours university degree before I was legally an adult. I was that kid.

My rough draft of a feature about a celebrity wellness guru hitching a ride with touring drag queens — a draft I created in 3 hyperfocused weeks — placed in the top 15% of the Nicholl competition and made the semi-finals of WeScreenplay’s Diverse Voices competition.

I’m the friend to call to assemble your IKEA furniture. I’ve always loved exploded diagrams, architectural drawings, and well-crafted tools. I. once trained to become a drafter.

I’ve worked as an assistant to famous faces including actors, producers, a screenwriting coach, and a world-renowned architect. The perks (and gossip) were amazing.

I was part of bringing SMS to North America, of bringing tablets to doctors’ exam rooms, and for Disney’s Michael Eisner, of evolving search from boolean to the natural language format we use today. Then Biz and Evan invited my team to help launch a little thing called Twitter.

I held the title of Miss Windsor and was a swimsuit finalist in the Miss Canada pageant. As an antidote and penance, I trained as Fresh Meat and earned a place with LA’s Angel City Derby Girls.

I’ve contributed to two New York Times’ Bestselling titles, one in business ethics and one in…baseball. Yes, baseball.

I adore interior design and have been fortunate enough to have projects I contributed to featured in the NYT and in Dwell.

Way back in the day, I was interviewed by Fast Company and the original Cybergrrl and social media pioneer Aliza Sherman as a groundbreaking woman in tech. There weren’t enough of us at the time. There still aren’t.

I love to learn so much that I collected a business degree, a technical writing certificate, a trauma-informed practice certificate, DEIA content certification, a fine arts degree, and courses in visual arts and applied psychology.

I love to teach so much that I briefly taught freshman English and critical thinking at a California university. It cost more to commute in my Prius than I was earning so that was that.

Grown adults saw it fit to put me in charge of a $50 million dollar brand when I was 22. Granted, it was cat food but still… Told you there’d be cats.

I’ve counted over 80 jobs in my lifetime (hello autistic autodidactic polymath!) including bookstore clerk, feminist sex shop Girl Friday, music video producer, magazine writer & contributing editor, web studio production director, copywriter, corporate trainer, information architect & blue sky strategist, contest judge, art department and props PA, feature film production coordinator, bookkeeper, journalist, professor, story editor, auto show mannequin, celebrity personal assistant, celebrity wrangler, brand manager, ghostwriter, muse, and happily now disability advocate.