The Squarepeg Podcast

Sara Gibbs has built a successful career, but also – like so many of us – experienced the challenges of being in the world as an autistic person.  After enduring vicious bullying and social exclusion during her school days, and having some pretty horrendous experiences in the workplace, she decided to become a writer. After taking a comedy writing course she has since written for Dead Ringers, The...

Helen Evans is Chief Executive of the PDA Society. She was diagnosed autistic aged 39 in October 2020, two years after her son, who has a PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) profile. She grew up in South London, and now lives in Oxfordshire.  From 2012 to 2015 Helen was Global Head of Safeguarding at Oxfam, and tried to get the organisation to tackle issues of systemic sexual abuse perpetrated by...

Shannon Collins is a social worker and educator from Denver, Colorado in the United States. Now 46, she decided to pursue an autism diagnosis in 2019, after her child was diagnosed. Shannon describes herself as 'an autistic, queer survivor of sexual and physical violence' and has spent over 20 years working to end domestic violence and sexual assault through advocacy, prevention and education. She...

Kelly Coons was diagnosed autistic as a teenager, and at 20 is both my youngest guest to date and my only guest so far to have been diagnosed in childhood. She lives in the United States and is a prize-winning fourth year English student at Smith College, a liberal arts college in New England.  Kelly has two autistic brothers, one of whom is her twin, who were both diagnosed before she was, and wh...

Ann Mølgaard is a teacher at a sixth form college in Copenhagen in Denmark. She is 34 and was diagnosed autistic and ADHD in May this year, after being told that her initial referral had been declined because she was "too high functioning". Since her diagnosis, she has chosen to be open about her neurodivergence with her colleagues and students. In our conversation we talk about: ➡ Getting a diagn...

Suzi Payton is a life coach, stand-up comedian, comedy improvisation teacher and autism trainer from Brighton in the UK. She is 46 and has been diagnosed with 'clinically significant autistic traits', but believes that her lifelong masking has prevented her from receiving a full diagnosis. She does have a diagnosis of inattentive ADHD.  When her 17-year teaching career ended after she experienced...

Carolyn Gage is a American playwright, performer, director, and activist. She was diagnosed autistic last year, at the age of 68. She is the author of twelve books and close to 90 lesbian and feminist themed plays, and her work is widely published and performed.  Carolyn toured for 22 years in her internationally-acclaimed one-woman show, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc. She has won numerous awar...

Sophie Adamkiewicz was born in Poland, but was brought up in Germany after her mother emigrated there when the Berlin wall fell, and she says that she has felt like an outsider all her life. At the time of our rerecording she was living in Ireland, but was about to move to London. She is 37, and is currently self-diagnosed and on the waiting list for her autism and ADHD assessments.  She has worke...

Kathy Carter is a writer and neurodiversity-affirming hypnotherapist. She was diagnosed autistic herself in 2017, after realising that her son was probably autistic. She in her 40s and lives in Kent in the UK. She works with neurodivergent, highly sensitive and anxious clients and her hypnotherapy is adapted to autistic needs. She has recently been appointed Neurodivergence Advisor to Therapy Toda...

Yenn Purkis is an inspirational autistic and non-binary author, advocate, public speaker and community leader from Canberra in Australia. They also have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Their journey has taken them from serving time in prison, poverty and rejecting their autism diagnosis, to self acceptance, advocacy and a successful career. They are the author of nine published books on autism (soon...

Becky Beasley is an award winning visual artist, receiving the highest UK award for Visual Arts in the country, a Paul Hamlyn Artists Award, in 2018, and also teaches Fine Art part time at Goldsmiths College. But alongside her career success she has battled with mental health and hormonal problems, prompting her to go on a research journey that ultimately lead to her autism diagnosis in February t...

Daisy Shearer is a PhD candidate in experimental condensed matter physics at the University of Surrey in the UK. She is a passionate researcher, science communicator, and educator with a drive to make STEM more accessible and inclusive, focusing on disabled and neurodivergent people. Now 25, she was diagnosed autistic at 21. I discovered her through her very popular Instagram account, Notes from t...

Holly Smale is a multimillion-bestselling and award-winning author of young adult fiction, famous for her Geek Girl and The Valentines series of books. Geek Girl heroine Harriet Manners is a 15 year old, socially awkward girl, and Holly says that it was only after being diagnosed autistic herself at 39 that she realised that her character Harriet is also autistic - and that she had actually been w...

Jo Casey is a business coach for quirky, artisanal business owners (think coaches, healers and makers) who want to build a sustainable online business without any shiny, shouty nonsense. Jo is 49, lives in Manchester in the UK and was diagnosed autistic just a few weeks before our conversation, having self identified in February this year - so this is really new territory for her. But she has a re...

Wilma Wake was diagnosed autistic in her mid 60s. Now 74, she lives in Maine in the United States, where she is a licenced clinical social worker and retired ordained minister. Despite working with autistic people, she never thought she might be autistic herself until she read a book that changed her life.  She became active in an autistic adults' peer support group after her diagnosis, and is now...

Luize is self diagnosed. She's 26 and lives in Latvia, where an autism diagnosis is not available for adults. She briefly studied medicine at university, before switching to Sociology. She has spent time volunteering abroad with animal rights and environmental organisations , where for the first time she felt a sense of belonging, despite the challenges of living and working in a group situation i...

Bernard Grant   first identified as autistic in 2012, but it wasn't until 2020, at the start of the pandemic, that they finally fully accepted this. Now 35, they are a writer and editor in Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States, where they recently finished a PhD in Creative Writing and Comparative Literature. They are nonbinary and asexual. In our conversation we talk about: ➡ Coming to terms with...

My guest this week is a 39 year old autistic mum from Cheshire in the UK, who identifies as fitting the PDA profile. She is a certified Forest Bathing Guide and is training to become a Nature Therapy Practitioner.  She believes that nature connection can help Neurodivergent people form a strong personal identity and help combat burnout and overwhelm.  She is also interested in the links between au...

Lottie Jones was diagnosed as a result of her son being identified as autistic PDA in 2018, when he was eight. She is a single parent in her late thirties, and lives in Pembrokeshire in Wales, where she home educates her son, makes macrame and sells vintage items. This conversation came out of a discussion we had on one of my Instagram posts about parenthood and autism, and the particular challeng...

Victoria Evans is a linguist and liberal politician from London. She received her autism diagnosis shortly after graduating university and now regularly takes part in autism and synaesthesia research studies . Victoria believes that diversity of thought brings both social and economic benefits and wants to work to ensure that more autistic people have the opportunity to progress in work.  In our c...

Corinne Cariad is self diagnosed autistic and currently waiting for her assessment, but already has a diagnosis of ADHD. She's 40 and lives in Pembrokeshire in Wales, where she is a consultant with a focus on third sector, food and education. Food has been a special interest for most of her life, and she's worked in catering, run her own cookery workshops, and been a Food Technology teacher in hig...

Samantha Grierson Schwartz is a playwright and businesswoman, born in Yorkshire in the UK. She now splits her time between Glasgow, Rugby and London. Since being diagnosed autistic at 42, she has written a series of audio plays which deal with late autism diagnosis and motherhood - the first of which, Crocodile, stars LGBT icon Heather Peace, and tells the story of a bisexual woman dealing with he...

Squarepeg is a podcast in which neurodivergent women, and trans and nonbinary people, explore navigating a neurotypical world and share their insights, challenges and successes. My guest today is in her mid twenties and is currently awaiting her autism assessment after seeking help with her mental health following childbirth and the sensory challenges of parenting a small baby. She lives in Baglan...

Squarepeg is a podcast in which neurodivergent women, and trans and nonbinary people, explore navigating a neurotypical world and share their insights, challenges and successes. My guest today was diagnosed autistic very recently. She is originally from the Czech Republic, and now lives in Bristol in the UK. She is a life coach in her 40s, with a background in mathematics and computer science, and...

My guest today is Scottish comedian Fern Brady. Fern is in her 30s and was diagnosed autistic in January this year, after a series of meltdowns caused her to seek answers. She has been open about her diagnosis from the start, when a throwaway tweet about it went unexpectedly viral! ** Listen ad-free by joining my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/squarepegpodcast ** Fern started out as a journalist...