Autism Stories

"It would be an essential part of any decent person-centered care to find out what co-occuring conditions are there. Any good midwife would know those. But I think the rates of how much more likely autistic people are to experience those issues, I think having a care plan without taking those things into consideration would be quite risky, at best", says Haley Morgan. Haley joins this ep...

"  The hiring process is so, so old today and it's not always inclusive. So please do take care of the hiring processes. That's the first thing that a business should do. And accommodations, there are so many different kinds of accommodations, but I don't see that happening everywhere, at least in my personal experience. And so to just evaluate, assess and like innovate with your aaccommodations w...

"I do think everyone needs a financial plan and I would say those that have precarious income or inconsistent income need a plan even more so. This has been one of the huge challenges in the industry. The way I say it is, the people that need advice the most are the ones that can't really afford to traditionally get it. One of the things I'm doing to give back as well, in addition to...

"Their nervous system's been dysregulated for such a long time, everything gets thrown off, including the circadian rhythm. So, it makes sense that someone might need to be eating at times they didn't before, and that includes overnight, in order to keep their blood sugar at a decent level so that way they can sleep", says Laura Hellfeld. Laura joins this episode to discuss sleep...

"I'll be honest, I've had a really great journey so far.  ASD Band has its ups and downs. And on top of that, being autistic has a unique dimension to our creative process. For example, we're bouncing ideas for our original songs left and right with, you know, effective communication and we want to overcome the stigma of autism", says Rawan Tuffaha. Rawan joins this episode t...

"So I was in the corporate world at this time about a year ago, working about 13 to 16 hours a day and just really not enjoying something that I thought I would. I got into research. I thought I would love it. I still do, luckily. But I was just so burnt out. And I was looking for something that could really bring me back to what it felt like I was. And so I stumbled across birds again. [...]...

"To me, the key is the manager, honestly. When you think about somebody's experience with a company, their direct supervisor provides about 80% of that experience with the company. So, if the company's fantastic, but you have a manager who isn't understanding, helpful, or inclusive, then it doesn't matter what the values are of that company. Because the person who is directly...

"Gender-affirming care saves lives. It allows people to align with their gender identity if they are born opposite of that. Providing that care prevents people from going on to have higher rates of anxiety, depression, suicidality, and successful suicide acts. We are saving lives when we treat people the way they are asking to be treated, and when we believe people", says Dr. Julius John...

"Being an attorney, a good attorney at least, is consistent with a lot of autistic traits that I have. Like being straight-forward about things, being clear cut and logical about things, and I'm also excellent when it comes to building arguments". Dr. Kofi joins this episode to discuss being an attorney and what black autistics want you to know. To learn more about Dr. Kofi visit If...

"I think one of the biggest things is understanding what stress is and how it works, and understanding what that is important to understand how to let it go. Stress works on a spectrum, too. It's a defense mechanism. It's telling you to pay attention. Sometimes it's a whisper and sometimes it's screaming at you to fight for your life or run like hell, kind of like a dimmer swi...

"I have always felt and still feel that everything designed in the world, built environments, systems, bureaucracies, schools, institutions, everything…the first thing you have to plan for is joy. To make it functional, even", says Heather Myers. Heather joins this episode to discuss modern utopias,  translating autistic experiences and demystifying them for neurotypical audiences, and h...

"Do second guess your tendency to take people's words at face value. I know for me, I will sometimes have an instinct that somebody is lying to me. But if I ask them about it, and they just tell me that they're not lying, I'll just believe them! Because I tell the truth, and so, my automatic assumption is that other people are telling the truth", says Layla Messner. Layla joi...

"After college discovered that there actually was an autistic rights movement...I finally found a group of people who could embrace me and accept me for how I was and who understand where I was coming from and basically loved me", says Sebastian Joseph. Sebastian joins this episode to discuss their work as a direct support professional, sheltered workshops, and love of rats. To learn mor...

"Snakes are so instinctual. I mean, all animals are, but snakes...they're elegant and magnificent. They know when to take time for themselves. They're not pack animals. I think as autistic people, we can probably identify with them too. We're very instinctive and a lot of us feel the environment around us acutely", says Rebecca Lavender. Rebecca joins this episode  to discuss...

"I just feel like a very normal person sharing my life. Sometimes that can be boring. I'm a college student, I'm a gym rat, I'm a gamer, and I stay inside most of the time. But what I can provide in my content is connection and community, especially within the communities that I have", says Aura Joy. Aura joins this episode to discuss being a content creator and studying radi...

"Each person has to decide what might help them through it, and not be afraid to have the courage to do it their own way. This for me defines grief as a spectrum. Each person has their own style", says MeiMei Liu. MeiMei joins this episode to discuss grief as well as her poetry. To learn more about the Autism & Grief Project visit https://www.autismandgrief.org . To learn about MeiMe...

"We need autistic people working together to build our own understanding of how we should operate the world based on our own needs and desires. To understand ourselves rather than trying to understand ourselves through the prism of another person, through non-autistic people", says Ash Sorrels. Ash  joins this episode to discuss the Autism Campus Inclusion Conference, being a  doctoral s...

"Noise cancelling headphones? There's no noise in my house! I am all by myself- it's just me, the cats, and the dog! I put them on and I had this visceral, really strong reaction. I felt like I was going to cry. Because I realized I heard the lights, the neighbor mowing their lawn 3 houses down, the refrigerator...I heard everything", says Dr. Shannan Palma. Dr. Palma  joins us f...

"If their only images of what autism looks like are white, it can make them feel even more alienated. Even something as simple as when you're having autism awareness month in school, make sure not only highlighting Albert Einstein, but people like Stephen Wiltshire,  or Questlove. Just show people who look like your student body, so they don't sort of attribute those strengths to whit...

"The people who make assumptions about social norms and generalizability, are also the people who create generalizable standards, right? I say this as a curriculum developer in my day job. The way that I work to design curriculum tends to be the opposite of how I see a lot of other curricula; other forms of teaching. Because we are centering neurodivergent learning styles", says Dr. Shan...

"I decided to create this scale because I think it's important to know that autistic people are very diverse. What one autistic person experiences, doesn't mean another autistic person also experiences the same thing. That's why it was important for me to create a scale that probably covers large parts of the autism community, because there's not only one picture of an autistic person", says Hacki...

"In the beginning of golf, I happen to know that there were only 13 rules made. Now, there's a whole thick, little rule book of when, and if, and that, and lawyer language that nobody understands. Do I drop it here or not? It's yes or no. It should be black or white, but it's not", says Tammy Mayfair. Tammy and Billy Mayfair talk about  how the rules of professional golf are...

"I really felt that this was maybe my calling to give back, not just to the game of golf, but to sports and to the community. Something I'm very passionate about, I've learned over the past three years, I love discussing about this, helping people, and to see little things that I can tell people that might help them along. Coming out with it was never a big issue", says Billy May...

"It was nice to have that regularity. I knew what podcasts were going to drop on what days. I can expect to hear those familiar voices and feel those familiar sensations on my familiar walks. That's a great comfort when you're an autistic person....my thanks to anyone who's done a podcast on Autism Stories over the last 12 months", says Christopher Banham. Christopher  joins...

"The place that I'm currently working is a hotbed for neurodivergence. A lot of folks there that kind of just understand a lot of things that are happening everyday. You'll see folks in the hall taking a stim break, and it's totally normal. Nobody's bothering them, or worried about what they're wearing, or what they're doing, as long as they're not hurting anybody....