Charlotte Valeur's Autism Diagnosis: Claiming a Neurodiverse Identity in a Neurotypical World

In 2017, Charlotte Valeur, a respected global leader and champion of boardroom diversity, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In 2020, Valeur became the first highprofile businessperson in the UK to disclose her autism publicly. Valeur’s decision to disclose her autism aligned her with the growing neurodiversity movement and provided her with the opportunity to use her influence to challenge prevailing misconceptions about neurodiversity. Although Valeur was confident that revealing her autism was the right thing to do, she worried about potential misunderstandings, stigmatization, bias, and discrimination, especially as an autistic woman. She feared that her decision to claim her neurodiverse identity in a neurotypical world would jeopardize both her family and her hard-earned personal and professional reputations.