David Herring is the Program Development and Evaluation Director of the Neurodiversity Network of WNY. Before working for a nonprofit, David researched the neuroscience of emotion as a professor of psychology. David also enjoyed teaching various psychology courses and hopes to return to teaching on a more limited basis soon.
As someone who identifies as both disAbled and neuroDivergent and has a five-year-old son who is neuroDivergent, advocacy for issues related to disAbility rights and justice is paramount to David. Activists such as the late Judy Heumann, Jim LeBrecht, and Temple Grandin are David's heroes.
Recently, as part of the Neurodiversity Network of WNY, David has been developing a higher educational initiative, The Fellowship for WNY BRAINS (aka F4WB), to advocate for disAbled students in higher educational institutions in the WNY region. The vision of the F4WB is to extend the existing support services for disAbled students at postsecondary institutions by helping bulldoze as many hurdles as possible, thereby making student success outcomes between non-disabled and disAbled students indistinguishable.
When not working, David loves spending time with his wife (Stacey), children (Max & Izzy), and pets (Lexi & Precious). An Agatha Christie novel, football, peanut butter, and using his Olivetti typewriter also put some pep in David's step.