Let's start with your favourite book.

So my favourite book, I was trying to blend two things in that I think when I'm reading, particularly if I'm on holidays or something like that, I love to have something that brings in my main interests.

So I love history, but I won't bore people with the sort of history books I like to read about the Plantagenets and the Crusaders and so on.

So I suppose what I love to read is history books that are books rather that bring in a bit of historical fiction and are a bit of a kind of easy reader thriller as well.

And I have to say, I think the master of that at times is Geoffrey Archer.

And I loved his Clifton Chronicles.

And this was a story that released over five years.

And the last book that you've read, Adam?

Is this an easier period for you to try to schedule acts for Mountain Stage or not?

I would say, I mean, there's still plenty of cool festivals going on around.

In fact, I think S.G. Goodman might be doing a middle-sized festival on her way to do Mountain Stage.

It depends on the acts.

These days, the big festival bands are not going to be doing Mountain Stage because those festivals pay so well.

But some of the lower-tier artists are going to be able to route this way and are still looking for the publicity and the promotion.

I don't really think of any one time as being more challenging than the other.

actually yeah all right so you got the regatta

And the biggest of which is the WWE SmackDown is coming to Charleston on Friday, October 30th for a live show.

Huge news, yeah.

The Friday Night Live broadcast every week on USA is coming to Charleston, West Virginia, and I've been looking.

I have a hard time thinking of anything else today, Dave.

My phone started blowing up this morning, and I was like, what? Just because, and it's hard to explain why this is such a big deal without getting into the minutia that wrestling is so well known for, but the WWE.

Formerly the WWF has never done a television or pay-per-view broadcast from the city of Charleston.

They've done Huntington.

But regarding SmackDown coming to Charleston, when will we know or when will we have any idea about will Cody Rhodes be part of that show? I mean, this is the biggest of the big, right? Good

What does this moment feel like for you both professionally and personally?

It's really difficult.

And to be honest, it's a little bit scary as well.

So When I meet people and they say you must be so excited, of course, part of me is really excited.

But then also actually a huge part of me, you know, just feels really conflicted and really feels the pain of this transition as well.

And, you know, as I am, has always been the safe place that I've worked and the incredible community that I've got to know so well.

And it's scary, frankly, stepping away from that into something new.

Tell me about your family growing up and what role did your parents play in helping you become the person you are today?

event.

Free pro wrestling.

All right.

So how many bounce you got? Seven matches, including we have an RPW title, Regatta Pro Wrestling.

We have our RPW champion, Troy Parker, is going to be there.

Our main event is going to be a special Regatta three-way street fight between Chance Prophet, who's the current Boone County champion, and a legend in the business.

He's been in the wrestling industry over 25 years.

to Mountain Stage in a sec, but you've got one other local wrestling thing that's happening tonight.

Okay.

A- and I guess growing up, at times it felt a little bit like being a member of a secret society, I think I've said before.

Because on the one hand, you know lots of people in your community who are autistic, you go to the same groups, and therapies, and supports, but at the same time, there's, was a reluctance to talk about it.

Uh, there was still a pervasive stigma around autism.

And I think as well, there was a reality at times that the discussion of autism was still very much framed around deficit as opposed to around difference.

So when I was in secondary school, I set up a blog, and I began to write about my experiences.

And, uh, when I was only a teenager, so it would've been the Christmas that I was in fifth year, um, I called a public meeting.

Yeah.

What about you? What about you from the visionary perspective?

I think you just summed it up there, is that it's...

As a visionary, it's very easy to see all those great things, but it's almost like it's a very quick knee-jerk reaction.

And...

I feel that there's times when that is appropriate, but most of the time, actually just having that pause, just having that sounding board, just having that challenge, you know, first and foremost, you know, in the same page meeting with the integrator, you know, second, potentially, you know, discussing with the leadership team, you know, at an L10 or at the quarterly is a really important, you know, it's almost like a qualification piece, right? which is going, yeah, actually, maybe that's not the right thing.

Or it's a really good thing, but not now.

Like, you know, relevancy is a real key part because we need to keep the wheels turning.

But why do you think that is? Why do they struggle to finish what they start?

Was it as intense back then, do you think? Honestly,

it's the best thing I've ever done.

As a 16, 17-year-old kid going through the system, they were fantastic.

They treated us like kings.

We had the great Michael Turner.

He was the manager.

Brian Cordy was our coach, but they made us feel so welcome.

How did that one

Yeah.

Um, and then kind of the, the third thing was it was the consistency, uh, the cadence of meetings, the accountability, et cetera.

So I was like, "Look, if you want me to help you facilitate, uh, I'm more than happy to do so." So I was learning on the fly.

Absolutely love it.

It helped me, uh, develop as a coach and as a facilitator.

Um, so that kind of then, uh, started a journey of just, you know, as often as I do, um, I, I kind of got a big, I've always had a big tool bag, and I'd be sitting with clients go, "Look, not sure if you're interested, but I've just done EOS." "What's EOS?" And then you go down the story.

And then so in all, in total over the years I, I've helped implement about 25 different companies.

Mm.

They might be wrong.

So I think the important thing to say is diagnosis is critically important, I think, in terms of identifying the supports that a person may most need.

But I think it's important to say that within the right that employees have to reasonable accommodations in the workplace, there's not an obligation for necessarily to have a diagnosis.

But there is an obligation in this to meet the definition of disability under Irish law and to be able to evidence, I suppose, the barriers that you are experiencing.

So whether a person has a diagnosis or not, employers are obliged to engage with any employee who comes forward and ask for accommodations within the workplace.

And that might sound like, hi, I'm Adam and I'm autistic, or it might sound like, you know, I'm really struggling with where I'm sitting in the workplace.

Hot desking doesn't work for me.

They might be wrong.

Was that the smell of the crisps, the sound? The smell of the crisps,

the sound, the appearance, but it would have started from the smell was really what made me very uncomfortable.

And that's still a sensory trigger that I would really struggle with.

And I suppose as well as that, from my point of view as a child, I would have really only eaten a small number of kind of beige, quite plain foods.

And even beyond just to kind of get a sense of the specificity, not just in terms of I like sausages, I like Denny's sausages and I like Denny's sausages when the skin is removed.

Mm.

So very, very specific foods.

it's very unhelpful when we