Lara McLachlan

Lara McLachlan is a late-diagnosed AuDHDer whose career spans community development, patient advocacy, health promotion, and learning health systems.

She founded the Neurodiversity Change Foundation (NCF) to bring together human resource specialists, healthcare professionals, and lived-experience leaders to advance neurodiversity inclusion in workplaces and healthcare settings. Her vision is to help create a learning health system that enables continuous improvement for and with neurodivergent adults.

Lara holds a Master of Education in Comparative Education and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, and is currently pursuing studies in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of British Columbia.

As a child, Lara was often suspended from school for “acting like herself,” finding belonging only in alternative education programs that recognized her unique ways of learning and thinking. As an adult, she encountered similar barriers in work environments that were not designed for neurodivergent minds. These experiences fostered her deep understanding of how neurodivergence is treated and supported across systems—and how meaningful improvements occur when those with lived experience lead the change.

Drawing on her twice-exceptional (2e) strengths, Lara built NCF as an interdisciplinary initiative to address systemic inequities facing neurodivergent adults, including limited neurodivergent leadership and disparities in employment and health outcomes.

Lara’s career in Canada’s healthcare sector began after she was diagnosed with cancer as a young adult in 2012. Building on more than a decade of international experience in health promotion, participatory education, and evaluation, she developed what she describes as “lived-experience expertise”—the evolution from patient to professional, merging personal insight with systemic knowledge.

Over the past decade, Lara has led and facilitated initiatives with regional health authorities, community health centres, family health teams, hospitals, and non-profit organizations. Her work has focused on improving patient experience, fostering intersectoral collaboration, and strengthening population health outcomes.

Through NCF, Lara continues to advance this vision—bringing together lived experience, research, and system design to drive transformative change for neurodivergent adults.

Cycling is a major part of Lara’s life and she spends a great deal of time adventuring by bike. She is in her sixth year of riding 10,000km and 100,000m of elevation- although now NCF is taking over!