Disclaimer: This story discusses sexual assault.

When Carmela arrived in Utah from a village in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1998, she was a newlywed following her husband for his job and was four months pregnant with her first child. She had never seen an OB-GYN and was hoping to find one who spoke Spanish.

In March 1976, American Leonard Mack was convicted of sexual assault and holding two female victims at gunpoint. In September 2023, Mack’s wrongful conviction was finally overturned by a New York judge on his 72nd birthday with the help of the Innocence Project, an organization that uses DNA evidence to prove factual innocence.

Like many topics covered in this column, neurodiversity can be uncomfortable to talk about. Terminology is ever evolving, and preferred terminology varies greatly between individuals. Historical stigma for people who are neurodivergent makes the decision even to disclose this part of their identities a challenge. But that is part of what this column is about, having difficult conversations and understanding we are all individuals, defying easy generalizations based on our intersecting identities.