Haley Moss was 3 years old and couldn’t say “mom” or “dad”.
She had no friends. She spent hours putting together enormous jigsaw puzzles, and doctors gave her parents, Rick and Sherry, a prognosis no parent wants to hear: she probably wouldn’t finish high school, get her driver’s license, or ever have “a normal life”.
Instead of giving up, her parents enrolled her in early intervention programs, including speech and occupational therapy. At 4 years old, she started talking and joined regular classes. At home, they repeated an idea that she carried with her throughout her life: autism made her different, but no less than anyone else.
The girl who couldn’t speak went on to deliver the graduation address at the University of Miami School of Law. Six months later, in the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, Judge Lisa Walsh swore her in, and Haley Moss became a member of The Florida Bar.
Today she works at the law firm Zumpano Patricios, where she had previously interned, and advocates for neurodiversity. The firm presents her as the state’s first openly autistic lawyer.