Sara Sanders Gardner is the designer and director of Bellevue College’s nationally recognized Neurodiversity Navigators program (NdN), which began in 2010. Sara is also lead curriculum designer and adjunct faculty for the program’s seven-course career preparation cohort series. Sara teaches the Orientation class and the first class in the series, “Skills for Navigating College and Career.”
For six years, Sara served a dual role at Bellevue College, and was an Access Specialist for neurodivergent students while directing the then Autism Spectrum Navigators program.
Sara began working in the disability field in 2001, when a family member received an autism diagnosis. Sara’s intense study led to receiving an autism diagnosis, and new career as an advocate, trainer, and president of a 700-member support group in Orange County, CA. Sara holds professional certification as a Collaborative Problem Solving Trainer from Think:Kids, a program in the Department of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Other education includes certification at California State University at Fullerton Autism Evidence Based Institute, coursework in Early Childhood Education at Coastline Community College, and post-secondary in English at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Sara’s pronouns are they/them.
