{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Focus and Chill - productivity tactics for AuDHDers and other neurodivergent folks","title":"Episode 30: Gerard Atkinson","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2810,"description":"Welcome to episode #30 We’re thrilled to be joined by Gerard Atkinson today. \n\nGerard is a director at ARTD Consultants. He is well-versed in program and policy evaluation, business analytics, and data visualization. His expertise extends to market and social research, financial modeling, and non-profit, government, and business strategy. A dedicated advocate for neurodiversity, Gerard serves as a board member for various Australian not-for-profits and advises on diversity, equity, and inclusion committees within the research and evaluation community. Outside of his professional endeavors, Gerard is a keen trail runner and was trained as an opera singer.\nWelcome to the show Gerard!\n\n\nQuestions\nJN: Can you tell us about your experience with neurodiversity? When did you realize that you weren’t neurotypical? What challenges did you face? What is it like now?Diagnosed as autistic in 2019But always felt outside the neurotypical norm.Always felt different from othersIn terms of processing information.\nExperiencing the world.\nWas able to mask and was highly intelligentPlaced in the gifted bucket.\nDiagnosis gave a new framework to experience the world\nMotivated by seeing other friends go through the diagnosis.\nThere is a lot more awareness around autism, the challenge is around the way society is structured, not necessarily people with autism.Still a lot of opportunities not taken\nJC: What \"work\" projects are you concentrating on?Evaluation consultantGovernments will design a program, roll it out and spend a lot of money\nAnswers questions: “How effective was it?”, “Was it worth it?”\nCurrently manages 10-12 evaluations at one time\nEvaluation frameworkProgram logic:What activities are we doing?\nWhat outputs will that create?\nWhat outcomes will that generate for the target group?Short term\nMid term\nLong term\nSometimes measuring outcomes indirectly by measuring other thingsIf we can’t measure this directly, what can we measure as a proxy?\nBeing data and method agnostic.\nJN:...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/QZFZQrtBSDhon7MItX8a5mQvkXQ5KKmI2fe6dyhM72o/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzMzNDE3LzE2NjEw/NjYyOTYtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}