Affirming spaces with Devyn Stone and Vegas Toolbox

Creating spaces that feel genuinely affirming takes more than good intentions—it requires awareness, skill, and practice. This class explores how bias shows up in subtle and overt ways, and how to recognize and shift it in real time. Whether you’re shaping spaces as an educator, organizer, or community leader—or navigating them as an individual—this session bridges both sides of the work. We’ll look at how inclusion shows up in dungeon spaces, conferences, and community environments, as well as in one-on-one dynamics, negotiation, and everyday interactions. With a focus on trauma-informed practice and neuro-inclusivity, participants will explore how to interrupt bias, build more accessible and affirming environments, and show up with greater clarity and confidence. Guided reflection and optional partnered practice offer space to apply these skills in real time. Content notes will be provided, and participation is always optional.

This class is open only to students of Vegas Toolbox who have attended orientation.

How can I attend this class?
  • You must have attended an Vegas Toolbox orientation (online or in person).
  • If you’ve never been to a Vegas Toolbox orientation, you will need to register (attend an orientation) for classes.
Been to a Vegas Toolbox Class?
  • You will get the class login information the Wednesday before class as long as you have filled out the registration form.
  • Please remember, only students who have been to an orientation can attend class.

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About Our Presenter: –

Devyn Stone, ECIP-E (he/him) is a queer, neurodivergent, and disabled author and Equity-Centered Inclusive Practices Educator whose work centers on trauma-informed, neuroinclusive, and decolonizing approaches to leadership and authority transfer education. A Leatherman, dominant, and community organizer, he has practiced authority transfer dynamics since 2004 and has been teaching and mentoring in the field since 2014. He lives in Detroit with his property, Guan-Xuan.

Devyn is the author of The Affirming Handbook, Why I Don’t Own Them…Yet…, and Recalculating: Navigating the BDSM Community, with a writing style grounded in clarity, accessibility, and practical application for neurodivergent learners and leaders. He is the founder of Pragmatically Kinking, a virtual education platform offering practical, community-centered classes on kink and relationship dynamics. He serves as the Executive Producer of THRIVE, a virtual conference dedicated to the intersection of neurodivergence, mental health, and BDSM. He is also the co-founder of EDGE (Educator Development & Growth Experience), an intensive mentorship and professional development program for kink educators.

In his teaching and consulting, Devyn guides individuals and organizations in building equitable, accessible, and culturally responsive environments. Across more than three hundred classes taught worldwide, his work engages communities in integrating trauma-informed consent, inclusive leadership, neurodiversity-affirming practices, and sustainable authority transfer.

His work is guided by values of clarity, consent, respect, and accessibility, focusing on helping communities build equitable and sustainable practices in kink, leadership, and education. Devyn believes in diversity, not division—a principle that guides his lifelong commitment to creating affirming, equitable, and inclusive spaces.

Learn more about our presenter or classes by visiting our Vegas Toolbox Fetlife Page.