Autism Stories

"There is so much more to being a PDAer than just demand avoidance. There's this incredible, insistent, inherent drive for equity, equality, social justice. There's this beautiful sensitivity, and, again, this incredible, persistent drive for autonomy and freedom. The one thing I will say though is I really respect the way the research is conducted around PDA. There is an active involvement with t...

"I think in the autistic world especially, there's sort of a stereotype that an adult autistic person is either going to be unemployed or in IT. Those are kind of our only options. But that's not true at all! We're such an incredibly diverse group of people with so many different skill sets that if you can throw a dart at any field, you're gonna find some autistics there," says Luka Brave. Lu...

"As a kid, I faced many struggles due to being different, including the fact that I didn't learn to read as a kid until I was nine years old, and I had trouble making friends and had to deal with feeling isolated. When people try to discourage me from going into physics, saying it was hard and it would involve a lot of struggles, actually only helped push me further in the direction of physics. St...

Rachel Dorsey joins this episode of Autism Stories to discuss her goal writing course for autistic students, how masking affects this process, and what strengths based learning truly means. To learn more about Rachel visit https://dorseyslp.com. Br updated on the latest Autism Stories episode by subscribing on your favorite podcast listening platform. If you could give us a positive rating and rev...

Kelly Londenberg joins this episode of Autism Stories to discuss why accepting her autistic identity was so important in her life, being a certified occupational therapy assistant and the benefits of occupational therapy, and how volunteering greatly helped her on her employment path.

“Non-speakers with apraxia need people to believe in their intelligence and give them opportunities to show it. They need to be taught in a more engaging way. I like the back and forth teaching style of Soma. She gives a few sentences of instruction and then asks about it. It isn’t just a series of commands,” says Phillip Reyes. Phillip joins this episode of Autism Stories to discuss what you shou...

“It’s This shared special interest with my daughter. It’s so parallel play, because she does her own thing, I do my own thing, we’re not bothering each other, but we’re together. It’s the best,” says Ryan Steiner. Ryan Chinese this episode of Autism Stories To discuss her running has grown the relationship with him and his daughter in my life only got better as he entered his 30s. To learn more ab...

“When I started to wrestle more regularly, I always wanted to make a point of being openly autistic because you hear a lot of autistic people in other fields, and predominantly in sciences and maybe mathematics. That seems to be quite a common misconception as well with autistic people are all mathematical savants, and that kind of thing. I always wanted to make a point of being openly autistic be...

""I did some time at university, and everything was really structured and regimented- you have to write it this way, you need to have an outline, you need to have a thesis, you need to have your three main points, and it all needs to flow together...and I'm like, "What? I'm really, really struggling." But I think with poetry, it didn't call for any of those things. It called for me to get out of m...

"When we're overwhelmed, people try to talk, and have us walking and looking and lots of other things that we're trying to attend to, and that's too overwhelming, too much. It closes us down, cause they're not working with our learning style. They're not working with the way our brains are actually attuned. Monotropism is a theory unlike any other because it totally explains autism in every facet,...

"Modeling is significant because I'm that representation I didn't really get growing up. I'm autistic, I'm queer, I'm curvy, and there weren't a lot of people like me that I got to see modeling.....being able to model and being able to express myself and just feel pretty and feel like I'm making an impact means the world to me," says Kaye Baugher. Kaye joins this episode of Autism Stories to discu...

"Prior to Covid, a lot of what I've seen was schools tightening their belts, being less inclined to pay for out of district placements, even if those would be more appropriate for the student, because of money. Covid has been a real game-changer because so many kids are on remote instruction, and we still don't know what the effects of that are gonna fully be," says Michael Gilberg. Michael joins...

"Some autistic people do not need certain life skills. We need to be careful with that, we need to base it on the unique needs of the person. I call it interdependent living skills versus independent living skills, because we live in community," says David Hall. David  joins this episode of Autism Stories as we discuss the coaching he provides to the autistic community. To learn more about Da...

"Goths were doing mad pride for a very long time, before it became seen as a political movement, because goths talk about depression. Our music's often about depression. Our music's about not fitting the social norms, and what is more about not fitting social norms than being autistic?," says Kayley Whalen. Kayley joins this episode of Autism Stories to discuss to talk about the neurodivergent exp...

"If someone were to have high anxiety at school and need to be able to go for a walk, get a drink, and relax to actually listen. Rather than forcing the person to mask their anxiety which later on will effect their mental state in deteriorating over time. It's the fact that when you empower voices you have be prepared to listen and take into consideration of what their saying," says Summer Farrell...

"Because I was diagnosed late, and stayed busy with work through school, I never really had the opportunity to connect with the disability community and create that positive neurodivergent identity. This was also one of my first exposures to a group of individuals with disabilities. That's really what pulled me in eventually. I found my people," says Greg Boheler. Greg joins this episode to discus...

"I saw some more experienced people in the neurodiversity movement say that we need a better archival of what's come before us. There are a lot of people who don't know the history of the neurodiversity movement in the autistic community," says Ira Eidle. Ira  joins this episode of Autism Stories to talk about the history of the neurodiversity movement in the autistic community, Autistic...

"I learned some things about myself, and just about people in general, and how the mind and emotions work. I think peer support is a great thing for anyone to get and of course NAMI is very understandable and accessible," says James Shirley. James joins this episode of Autism Stories to James Shirley joins this episode to discuss with us peer support, being a truck driver, and the connection...

"I have had a variety of jobs. I was a lighting and sound technician at a theater, I was a real estate agent, I worked in retail, I was a phone operator for a wholesale crafting company, I was a veterinary assistant working with animals. I mean, pretty much everything you can think of. I was trying to figure out what worked for me," says Carly Jalowiec. Carly joins us to discuss her path to findin...

"Everything should be in plain language when it comes to the law. I don't think you should need a law degree to understand what the supreme court does. For clients that have intellectual disabilities, differences in processing, I think its super helpful. It's not making it age appropriate per se. I think there's this thing that happens in plain language where we think that it basically means that...

"I posted a question about being out about my diagnosis professionally because at the time I wasn't and how clients might perceive that. Some of the people I was talking to said you definitely need to do this we need more people that are. Someone recommended that if I made a directory of (neurodivergent therapists) this would be accessible for other people all across the country," says Amelia Slam...

"Appreciating that if you are neurodivergent thats what makes you different. Recognize the strengths and positives that come with that because it gives a unique perspective that the other neurotypical therapists don't have. I'm not a loud and cheery therapist, but I have the relationship with my clients that I'm able to understand where they are coming from," says Rachel Hawkins. Rachel joins us t...

"I just have spent more time thinking about this problem than other businesses. I think again that is a strength that we all share in the autistic community is an ability to think about things to a truly intense level as long as we care deeply about those things. When you can do that and apply it to a business I think the possiblities are endless," says Cody McLain. Cody joins us to talk about ent...

"It was an unintended consequence of the pandemic for me. I came into this confidence about rejecting handshakes and hugs. It just made me comfortable saying I don't want to shake your hand because now I can lean more on other excuses other than my hyperhydrosis," says Joshua Schwartz. Joshua joins us to talk about hyperhydrosis and what people can do to help manage this invisible disability. Chec...

"It's a thought clarifier. It clarifies things in the past that I had struggled with when I wasn't podcasting. It has helped with my communication skills, my marketability, truly speaking peoples thoughts and when you do that they are really appreciative," says Antonio Myers. Antonio joins us to discuss being a high school valedictorian and the benefits of podcasting in his life.  To be updat...