Since 1998, TC has been an International Coach Federation (ICF) coach and leadership trainer working predominantly in government, healthcare, and education. She completed her doctoral degree in 2020 through the University of Calgary studying leadership, policy, & governance and received her master’s degree in leadership and training in 2005 through Royal Roads University.
As a result of her late autism diagnosis at 48-years-old, TC’s career evolved to include research and work that centres around autism. She focused her doctoral research on how higher education leaders, faculty members, and professional staff can enhance services and outcomes for Autistic students in higher education. Along with Dr. Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, TC co-led a cross-institutional collaborative study on autism & Universal Design (UD) for faculty around the world. She also developed a series of online asynchronous micro-trainings including one on autism and UD for leaders, faculty, and staff of higher education institutions.
TC is a keynote speaker, commencement speech-maker, leadership coach, and subject-matter-expert who also consults on policies and practices that affect minroritized, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities to determine where changes can be made to remove barriers and improve outcomes for these communities and the organization she works with. Dr. Waisman utilizes her lived-experiences to assists universities, all levels of government, and organizations to use evidence-based best practice to improve equity, diversity, and inclusivity within their culture.
Since her diagnosis in 2017, TC has co-founded the Autistic Researchers Committee (ARC) at the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR); spoken on autism related topics worldwide; published academic literature on autism; been appointed an editorial board of the scientific journal Autism in Adulthood; become a member of the Autistic Researcher Review Board of the Autism Intervention Research network for physical health (AIR-P) tasked with allocating funding to relevant autism research, and she was on the advisory board at the Sinneave Family Foundation where she and the advisory team designed the online Autism College Prep Program for Autistic individuals transitioning from high school to post-secondary education. TC was also a part of an expert roundtable discussions on structural racism in autism research & practice and the effects of COVID-19 on Autistic communities in aggregate settings.
TC is an Indigenous Pasifika, South/Asian woman born in Fiji and living in Canada.
Adapt Coaching & Training 
Hi Teresia,
Very interested in your thesis in Calgary. I believe I am on the ASD Spectrum. I am an occupational therapist, have a bioengineering background and certified in assistive technology. Please contact me.
Hi Mary, great to hear from you. Congratulations on getting to the place where you feel ready to self-identify as autistic. How do you feel about seeing yourself in this light? Will you go for a formal diagnosis at some point? What’s the next step for you in terms of understanding yourself? We have a great online community so please let me know if you need some direction to Facebook community sites that support individuals through their journey. If there’s anything else I can do or questions I can answer, please feel free to email me at tc@adaptcoach.com or tc@autismtraining.academy. Thank you and welcome to the community.