The Squarepeg Podcast

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. In a bit of a change from the usual format, in this episode I share some of the things that have changed for the better in my own life since I was diagnosed autistic, including feeling able to give myself permission to live and work the way I want to an...

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. Seven of my previous guests have returned to each share the three most important things that have changed for the better in their lives since they were diagnosed, or realised they were autistic. My guest today is Sarah Boon, an MA graduate and autism ad...

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. Seven of my previous guests have returned to each share the three most important things that have changed for the better in their lives since they were diagnosed, or realised they were autistic. My guest today is Alyssa Washington, a coach, speaker and...

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. Seven of my previous guests have returned to each share the three most important things that have changed for the better in their lives since they were diagnosed, or realised they were autistic. My guest today is Hannah Smith, a business owner from Hert...

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. Seven of my previous guests have returned to each share the three most important things that have changed for the better in their lives since they were diagnosed, or realised they were autistic.  My guest today is Stephanie Silvan, who lives in Finland...

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. Seven of my previous guests have returned to each share the three most important things that have changed for the better in their lives since they were diagnosed, or realised they were autistic. My guest today is Beth Rees, a mental health blogger from...

This special Squarepeg miniseries celebrates the great things that start to happen in our lives when we discover in adulthood that we're autistic. Seven of my previous guests have returned to each share the three most important things that have changed for the better in their lives since they were diagnosed, or realised they were autistic.  My guest today is Audrey Mitchell, a counsellor from Idah...

My guest today is Jess Hendrickx, owner of Hendrickx Associates, a company in East Sussex, UK that provides non-clinical adult autism assessments and support for autistic young people and adults. Jess was diagnosed herself in 2018, aged 30, and her partner is also autistic.  Jess supports autistic adults to build self-awareness, identify their goals and come to terms with their diagnosis. After wo...

Deborah Cullinan was diagnosed autistic about 10 years ago. She is a psychotherapist in her early 60s, working in a busy CAMHS clinic (that's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) in Hertfordshire in the UK. She started her career as an artist and art teacher, before retraining and qualifying in Psychoanalytic Child Therapy in 1992, a very different time in terms of mental health. She has g...

Tara was diagnosed autistic last year, after a conversation with her husband prompted some research into autism. She is 49 and lives in the northern United States, where she works as an visual artist and online education coordinator . Her childhood was unusual, and she now believes that her parents were probably both undiagnosed neurodivergent, and that this impacted on their behaviour and her own...

Beth Rees is currently waiting for her autism assessment after being initially diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. She's a mental health blogger in her thirties, and lives in Caerphilly in South Wales, where she also works for a local charity. She's hoping that sharing her story will help other autistic people who have been misdiagnosed with BPD. In my conversation with Beth we talk ab...

Hannah Smith is 43 and was diagnosed last year - and her husband and two daughters are also autistic. She lives in Hertfordshire in the UK, where she unschools her children at home, while also running her own face and body art business. She recently trained to be a mindfulness practitioner , and in the future hopes to combine this with therapeutic arts and use her skills and knowledge to serve the...

Max Marnau is an autistic counsellor in her sixties. She realised she was autistic seven years ago, and was diagnosed in 2019. She was born in London, the daughter of Austro-Hungarian Jews who escaped Nazi persecution just before World War 2. She now lives in the Scottish Borders, where she runs a thriving private practice counselling both neurotypical and autistic people. She also works for Edinb...

Noheli Rosas is 28 and was recently diagnosed, after first recognising she might be autistic two years ago. She lives in Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, where she runs her own eco salon specialising in henna body art, ayurvedic hair care and incense making. Her salon allows exposure space for over 30 artists , including many queer and neurodivergent people. Through her business she has found a way t...

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 30 and was diagnosed autistic about five years ago. She is Indian-American and lives in the US, where she works full time i n tech and also as a freelance writer , after spending years moving quickly betw...

Ella Pitt is 26 and was diagnosed autistic very recently. They're an English Literature graduate with a first class honours degree and they live and work in Brixton, London, in the UK. They also have a blog and write poetry. They struggled with an eating disorder in their late teens and early twenties, and they were eventually sectioned under the Mental Health Act as their health deteriorated. The...

Sophie Longley is an English teacher and reading specialist. She was diagnosed autistic in 2020, aged 28 and is based in Singapore, where she works with children with reading difficulties. She has spent the last four years living and working in Asia, after suffering from severe burnout from a corporate career in London.  Her recent Autism diagnosis and the ongoing struggles she has faced being aut...

Megan is 27 and was diagnosed autistic three years ago. No one ever suspected she might be autistic as a child, and she first realised she might be when she experienced some mental health breakdowns at university. She now lives in West Sussex, UK, where she is the Workflow Team Lead at a GP (family medicine) practice. In our conversation we talk about: ➡ Her time studying at Oxford, one of the top...

Alyssa Washington is 31 and was diagnosed autistic in November. Originally from Canada, she now lives in South East Asia, where she runs her own business as a coach, speaker and author.  Growing up, she suffered with numerous health conditions, anxiety and depression - that she believes were all linked to her undiagnosed autism. She has spent years learning about health and nutrition in order to i...

Hannah Cross is a writer and a student at York St John University, studying Creative Writing and Media. She is 29 and was diagnosed autistic very recently, just last month. Her writing includes novels, short stories, memoir, articles, and poetry. She has resumed her education a little later in life, after experiencing struggles at school and in her early adulthood, including substance misuse and b...

Artist and writer Charlotte Amelia Poe says they were diagnosed autistic 'by complete fluke' when they were 21, after suffering for years with anxiety. In 2018, they won the inaugural Spectrum Art Award with their video piece, How To Be Autistic, and they went on to publish their first book under the same title in 2019.  Charlotte is from Suffolk, UK, and says they've wanted to be an author their...

Sarah Boon was diagnosed autistic last year, at the age of 24, and was diagnosed with ADHD this year. She initially self diagnosed, after assessments during her childhood failed to diagnose her. She lives in Surrey in the UK, is a former TEFL teacher, and has recently completed an MA in Psychology of Education. She recently started an online survey exploring how autistic psychology students feel a...

Audrey Mitchell discovered she was autistic while in the process of getting a diagnosis for her teenage daughter. She lives in Idaho, USA, where she works in private practice as a counsellor. She's also a writer.  She's experienced plenty of adversity in life, and struggled to establish herself in adulthood due to her undiagnosed autism. She says that when she was starting her path to diagnosis, s...

Rachel Stelmach was diagnosed autistic in her 40s. She works for a disability arts organisation here in Wales, where she works with disabled artists in the fields of Creative Technology and Combined Arts.  She's also a Disability Equality and Mental Health First Aid trainer.  Her career has included launching her own art and design agency, working for a women's music festival and running holiday p...

Becca Kerl was diagnosed at 38 - after a lifetime of wondering why she didn't seem to quite fit into the world - and three of her children are on the spectrum too.  She has spent years supporting the autistic community and helping others advocate for services. She recently completed a Masters degree in Counselling and is in the process of starting a counselling practice in Las Vegas, USA.  She's a...