Mari is a Mesoamerican Indigenous woman, wife, mom, and board-certified behavior analyst with over 13 years experience working with Neurodivergent individuals and their families. A former special education teacher, behavior specialist, and inclusion coordinator, Mari has a deep passion for advocacy work with both schools and clinics to develop trauma-responsive, neurodiversity affirming practices. Her work focuses on shifting language use in program development and practice to reframe and move away from unintentional ableist frameworks that are often rooted in traditional therapy and educational settings. Much of this work pulls from IRM (Indigenous Research Methods) which deconstructs traditional Western approaches.