Autism Stories

"I have one piece of advice, and it's not just for therapists and counselors. It's for family members and autistic people themselves. Just because something is automatic and easy for your brain doesn't mean it's automatic and easy for other people's brains", says Helen San. Helen joins this episode to discuss her work as a licensed counselor and how she supports her c...

"When I give a talk, one of the things I like to do at the start of the talks is what Stephen Hayes, the creator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy does, which is just say, what do you need for me right now to feel safe?", says Dr. Sean Inderbitzen. Dr. Inderbitzen joins us to discuss his work as a therapist integrating polyvagal theory  and his love of running.  To learn more about Dr...

"People are coming to you because they don’t have another option. You are the gatekeeper of their health care. See how you can work together collaboratively to achieve the outcome that they want or that they desire", says Marilise Blignaut. Marilise joins this episode to discuss her advice as a registered nurse for other healthcare providers. We also discuss creating educational content...

"But some of the things that I've asked myself that I didn't put in this book were more about my personal purpose, and the reason why I didn't put it in the book is because I wanted the book to be a guide for other people to figure out they're supposed to live or how they're supposed to heal or what their purpose is supposed to be. Rather, I want them to come to their own...

"It's not only about autism. I just want to speak about children and their behaviors and the way that they learn and just acceptance and all of that. I always want to bring a lesson with every single book that I write," says Nicole Krashin. Nicole joins this episode to discuss her book based on the relationship between herself and her daughter. To learn more about Nicole visit https:...

"But accessibility, web accessibility, teach you to understand that nothing is wrong with you. There are different people with different needs. You should calm down. Everything can be done in a better way. The problem is not in you. You are beautiful in the way you are", says Diana Khalipina. Diana joins us to discuss website accessibility. To learn more about Diana visit https://www.lin...

"[Corporate America was] like this rat race, like, I can't do it. It is really beating the shit out of me and I don't feel like I've got anything left in me to give", says Stephanie Bealer. Stephanie joins this episode to discuss transitioning to a career outside of corporate America. To learn more about Stephanie visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniebealer/ . Thank you...

“Looking back on it now, I realize I was hungry for authentically autistic characters in the media, and when I didn't find them, I took it upon myself to create them. Sometimes, by following our art's desire and taking care of ourselves by fulfilling our own needs, we create the very change we were looking for”, says Alfonso Camacho. Alfonso joins this episode to discuss authentically auti...

"These things keep happening because none of these engineers ever talk to the people. And so I feel like as an autistic person myself and as someone who’s like deeply concerned with the disabled population and I’m friends with them and I work with them, I would love to approach this, like these problems in a data-driven way", says Ben Dixon. Ben joins this episode to discuss his work  in...

"My special interest is neuroscience... I get paid to info dump now... I get a paycheck for doing my favorite thing that most time in the common day, people hate when I info dump. So now I get paid to info dump. What could be better than that?”, says Grace Blatt. Grace joins this epsiode to discuss being an adjunct professor in psychology. To learn more about Grace visit https://www.linkedin....

"People don't understand that they feel that speech is supreme. It's called speech supremacy", says TJ. TJ returns to discuss their creation of the  Black and Brown Communication Justice Project. To learn more about TJ and the Black and Brown Communication Justice Project visit https://www.facebook.com/Nigh. Functioning.autism Thank you to TR Sun for their song “All Good” on toda...

"The idea of sitting still when our bodies feel like they need to move [can be difficult]. So there are meditation practices you can do where you integrate movement, fidgeting, art, sensory play, and sound", says Tanya Roberts. Tanya joins this episode to discuss how meditation can work for us as autistic people.  To learn more about Tanya please visit https://www.mindfullydifferent.ca/...

On this episode Doug will be discussing his new creative project that is an extension of the Autism Stories podcast. Listen to learn how you can be involved with this project. Visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/angiepea?coupon=AUTISMSTORIES and use the promo code AUTISM STORIES to get some cool neuroaffirming t-shirts. Fill out this form if you would like to be considered in sharing your stim on the...

"I feel at its core that yoga is something that helps us to regulate sensory input and know what we want to prioritize in our life and what we want to just ignore, keep out, and to take us back to who we are at the core of ourselves and our true selves", says Mo Wilson. Mo joins us to discuss how yoga is for everyone. To learn more about Mo please visit https://monettawilson.com/ . Thank...

"For instance, for my community, it would be around creating a space of solidarity. So really just understanding that if you're working on diversity, equity, and inclusion in Europe, and on top of that, you're racialized, you get to experience a type of violence that is very unique because you kind of have to defend your ideas with organizations, but you also are affected by those ide...

"Then because of my testimony and the result of the litigation ending in a settlement with the school district, paying for me to go to a private school for autistic students, I think it was at that other school that I was able to flourish. Now I'm an undergraduate at UC Berkeley", says David Rivera. To learn more about David and Mentoring Autistic Minds visit https://mentoringautisti...

"When you look at universal design, it’s about creating things that benefit the larger population, while taking into account those edge cases. A good design helps everyone, not just a subset of the community" , says Jerry Marcus. Jerry joins this epsiode to discuss his career as a Senior Program Manager in Accessibility. To learn more about Jerry visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryma...

"The intent [of my podcast] is to look to change people's idea of non-speaking autism. I want them to know me and get a glimpse of how people like me function. Only listen to understand, that the podcast is my thinking being conveyed in the way that people listen", says Tarun Paul Mathew. Tarun joins this episode to discuss  his podcast about non-speaking autistic people. To learn mo...

"So for me, I'm always learning. And I think being Jewish or autistic is a very intriguing and interesting combination because it's an ongoing quest to integrate and work with these different parts of myself because I move between these different communities", says Sxdni Small. Sxdni joins this episode to discuss their identities, their publish works, and advocacy. Thank you to T...

"Too often, society confuses speech with intelligence, but speech is only one form of communication. I and many others have valuable contributions, even when we do not use our speech",says Dr. Emile Gouws. Dr. Gouws joins this episode to discuss being a non-speaking child and  turning lived experience into advocacy. To learn more about Dr. Gouws visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-emile...

"In trying to recover from autistic burnout myself, I created this five-phase framework that uses an intersectional lens because as I was saying earlier, autism shows up for me quite differently than a lot of other people because we're different human beings with different lived experiences", says Dr. Sam Rae. Dr. Sam joins this episode to discuss her creation of the Autistic Burnout...

"Any clinician who is diagnosing needs to understand the value of the diagnosis. So despite the fact that, yes, we can give you a diagnosis with lots of stigma placed upon you, [...] there's a value to that because it will reduce a lot of the other issues and a lot of the other chronic problems like the anxiety, the burnout", says Kelly Bron Johnson. Kelly returns to Autism Stories t...

"The main thing I would say people definitely need when it comes to dealing with autistic swimmers is just patience. Like there's going to be some days where the kids are going to have like a really good day [...] are going to be days where like, you know, like they're having like a rough day", says Jake Batista. Jake joins this episode to discuss  teaching neurodivergent swimmer...

"Art therapy really is about working with materials to be able to come to know something about yourself that emerges through that engagement and may or may not be communicated verbally at all", says Freya Pinney. Freya joins this episode to discuss art therapy and connecting with other neurodivegent people.  To learn more about Freya and her services visit linkedin.com/in/freya-pinney-49...

"Cannabis was a very confusing aspect of my life for a really long time because in high school I was trying it, but my family was very against it. There were actually aspects of it that seemed to be helping me a lot, but it wasn't clear to me how to use it", says PJ Letourneau. PJ joins this episode to discuss Pervasive Demand for Autonomy, the benefits of cannabis, and the processin...