Neuroqueer Education + Expressive Arts
Training, education, and community projects centering neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and gender-expansive people — and the systems that support them.
Who We Are
Different On Purpose brings together neuroqueer education, expressive arts practice, and community-based work.
We provide training, continuing education, talks, and workshops. We also create participatory art and collaborative projects that center neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and gender-expansive communities.
Our work lives at the intersection of creativity, identity, relationship, ethics, and belonging.
Our Philosophy
No one chooses to be neurodivergent. No one chooses to be queer. No one chooses their gender. We are who we are.
Different On Purpose is not about choosing difference. It is about choosing authenticity in a world that often asks us to be someone else.
To say "different on purpose" does not imply that someone chooses their neurodivergence, queerness, or identity. It is about the conscious choice to understand ourselves more deeply, to live with greater honesty, and to express who we are with intention.
We value curiosity more than conformity and expression more than performance.
At Different On Purpose, we believe that when purpose is stronger than fear, people can live openly, creatively, and honestly.
In other words, when purpose matters more than fear, difference becomes intentional.
What We Offer
Training, Speaking, & Education
Thought-provoking conversations and experiential learning for organizations, schools, clinicians, and communities ready to question inherited assumptions and imagine more inclusive ways of being together.
Customized trainings, workshops, consultation, and featured talks for schools, workplaces, healthcare, and community organizations.
Continuing Education
Ethically grounded, creatively engaging education for counselors and other helping professionals who want to work more responsively with neurodivergent, queer, and gender-expansive people.
NBCC-approved continuing education opportunities for mental health professionals including counselors, therapists, and social workers who want to increase their competence in working with neurodivergent and gender-expansive populations.
Coming up in fall 2026
October 3, 2026
November 7, 2026
Expressive Arts Workshops
Participatory expressive arts workshops for families, caregivers, and community groups exploring neurodiversity, gender, belonging, relationships, creativity, and connection.
About Mandy
Mandy Parida (she/they) is the founder of Different On Purpose and Different On Purpose Arts. She is an educator, interdisciplinary artist, writer, expressive arts practitioner, and licensed therapist who has worked alongside neuroqueer humans for over 25 years. Their work explores neurodiversity, gender diversity, ethics, belonging, and the systems that shape how people understand themselves and one another.
Mandy develops and facilitates professional trainings, continuing education, featured talks, workshops, and community-based learning experiences for clinicians, educators, organizations, and neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and gender-expansive communities.
Their approach combines expressive arts, lived experience, relational practice, and critical inquiry to make complex ideas more accessible, participatory, and useful in real life.
Different on Purpose FAQs
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Different On Purpose provides neuroqueer-informed training, continuing education, talks, and workshops for clinicians, educators, organizations, and communities.
Our work centers neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and gender-expansive people, with a focus on ethics, identity, belonging, relational practice, and the systems that shape people’s lives.
We use expressive arts, critical inquiry, lived experience, and conversation to make complex ideas more accessible, participatory, and useful in practice.
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Different On Purpose offers training, continuing education, talks, workshops, and community-based projects rooted in neuroqueer education and expressive arts. Our work centers neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and gender-expansive communities and explores topics including ethics, identity, belonging, relational practice, and systems change.
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Different On Purpose is for clinicians, educators, organizations, families, and communities who want to better understand and support neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, and gender-expansive people.
Our trainings and community projects are designed for people who value curiosity, relational practice, creativity, and more affirming ways of thinking about identity, difference, and belonging.
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