Autism Stories

"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...

"Definitely being aware and working out when your executive functioning is most impaired by your menstrual cycle is a really good thing to do. Then trying to schedule that particular week or two week period with less demands in it, you might find using more visuals too," says Robyn Steward. Robyn joins us to discuss her book The Autism Friendly Guide to Periods and how periods look and feel like a...

"It's a space to explore what autism and D.I.D. is like for me and it's a place where I can learn about the other people inside of me because I know I have alters. I also don't always remember who they are so it's sort of a way where we can get to know each other," says Autistic Selves. Autistic Selves joins this episode of Autism Stories to discuss being autistic and having dissocative identity d...

"In this group specifically we absolutely saw a lot of positive changes after 50, people being less likely to  after 50 be suicidal, less likely to be on medication for depression, more likely to have positive experiences overall personally and interpersonally. They were more likely to celebrate their differences than try to hide them," says Eric Endlich. Eric joins this episode of Autis...

"The struggle, I try to share a lot of humor as well, what I'm hearing a lot from the community is how disenfranchised they are and they are tired of validating their experience. They are feeling like this is a safe place they can all come together," says Kirsty Clark. Kirsty joins us to talk about her popular Neurodiversally Unbroken page on facebook and why so many autistic people have found it...

"SAP has a really good mentoring program. However, it was really based on neurotypicals doing the mentoring of autistic employees. When I ran a women's group at SAP, I thought we (autistics) could be doing peer mentoring. We could do it better," says Carrie Hall and Louise Stone. Carrie and Louise join us to discuss the creation of the Autistic Women's Alliance and how they are encouraging autisti...

"The amount of pain we are in is often grossly underestimated by providers. So many of us deal with chronic pain that we are so used to a certain level of pain in our bodies at all times.  Autism does create difficulties in communication so we don't often communicate pain in a conventional way, if we communicate it at all," says Sarina Gregoire. Sarina joins this episode of Autism Stories to...

"Animation is a gateway to a different reality if you will, as autistics they got bogged down by the reality of the world we live in. I think animation is not only a visual representation, but also an internal representation of what people with autism want to be as they live their lives," says Jeff Snyder. Jeff joins us to talk about how the world of animation helps autistics and discuss  his...

"I was almost 47 when I was diagnosed. How can you advocate for yourself, how can you know your needs if you don't know yourself? I didn't know myself. I say self awareness is the greatest gift you can give yourself," says Wanda Deschamps. Wanda joins this episode of Autism Stories to discuss her work on increasing the participation level of the neurodiverse population in the workforce. To be upda...

"I didn't even know what an instructional designer was. I did my own research and from what I read thought this would actually be a pretty interesting field. When you don't learn like everyone else you feel left out. I realized as an instructional designer I might be able to help shape curriculum or instructional materials for people on the spectrum," says Dennis Hammers. Dennis joins us to talk a...

"Nothing about us without us. We must include those people that we are creating policies, making decisions, they have to be at the table in equal seating. Alot of these programs are born out of a deep desire for the community, but if you don't include neurodivergent people when you doing neurodivergent hiring programs or any of these initiatives you are greatly undermining your own success,"says A...

"A whole lifelong developmental embodying experience, when you look at the black community and they talk about passing, the LGBTQIA community and they talk about the closet. These are notions that marginalized groups talk about all the time. The autistic experience to this is often unique to autistic people in terms of how we do that. This the narrative of masking that is completely missed because...

"It's just a lot easier for everyone to be given one task at a time. The person giving the task might think oh thats a real pain because the person has to come back to me and then I have to tell them the next task. That may be inconvenient for you, but its your gift to that person youo can give only one task at a time and why wouldn't you give them that gift?" says Sam Warner. Sam joins us to talk...