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Sep 28, 2026 · 23:58
"I really wanted it to be an authentic perspective—my authentic perspective. Autism shows up in a lot of different ways. I’m discovering people-pleasing is something I’m trying…
Sep 21, 2026 · 14:59
"I do understand why it’s so hard for many autistic lawyers to open up about their neurodivergence, because if you are open about your neurodivergence, you are more likely to be…
Sep 7, 2026 · 29:59
"Something is not working, and I would argue that what is not working is the framework. Neurodiversity justice asks a different set of questions. Instead of asking how…
Aug 31, 2026 · 18:45
"You can be college capable on paper, but not college ready. You can have that 4.5, 5.5 weighted GPA, but if you’re not college ready with the social-emotional piece of it, and…
Aug 24, 2026 · 14:24
"Our coaching flows around obstacles rather than through them, just like water. Instead of pushing straight at a barrier, we reframe that obstacle itself, leaning into…
Aug 17, 2026 · 44:41
"“Oncology nurses need to think about how they communicate before what they communicate. No matter how much incredible knowledge that oncology nurse has, unless and until they…
Aug 10, 2026 · 21:46
"I felt really strongly about this title because I wanted that idea of perfectionism. Neurodivergent folks, we are often so hard on ourselves. A phrase my husband and I have…
Aug 4, 2026 · 26:30
"Being AuDHD, I think the autistic part of me is more organized and likes an element of organization, whereas the other part lets it evolve as I go along. I like to have some…
Jul 27, 2026 · 41:08
"Autistic minds and a PhD go together like bread and butter. As far as doing the research, thinking about the concepts, and all of that, many of us have strengths that are…
Jul 20, 2026 · 42:08
"Sixty-two percent said that after they disclosed [their autism], colleagues privately expressed support but publicly failed to intervene or advocate… When it mattered in public,…
Jul 13, 2026 · 32:27
"We don’t have to hate ourselves just because we’re having a hard time functioning in the system. The system wasn’t made for us. Of course we’re not thriving in it… At the very…
Jul 6, 2026 · 27:18
" I think the reason I’m drawn to governance or being on boards is because they’re often within a structured environment… it’s about making sure that the voices of autistic…
Jun 29, 2026 · 23:31
"A conventional virtual assistant will go off and do the things you delegate. But when you’re neurodivergent, there is so much nuance. There is so much other stuff going on which…
Jun 22, 2026 · 14:52
"When I first saw Love on the Spectrum , I said, I want to do that show someday… years later, I did the show, and I’m so happy about it", says Dylan Aguilar. Dylan and Dr. Laurie…
Jun 15, 2026 · 35:03
"She’s already feeling that pressure of, I need to be as performant as my male colleagues. But to add on to that, she’s struggling with ADHD symptoms, autism symptoms, sensory…
Jun 8, 2026 · 29:59
"It amazes me, the resilience [autistic people] have, that we’ve built over these decades of awful experiences… we’re incredibly tough in so many ways. We keep on going", says…
Jun 1, 2026 · 12:09
"Getting to make this show [about The Beatles] is the greatest joy and privilege of my life. A lot of people misunderstand non-speakers with autism, or may not know we exist.…
May 25, 2026 · 22:40
"You can be into kink, you can be into the idea of sex, you can even enjoy certain actions related to it and still be on the asexuality spectrum. And that [fact] widened my…
May 18, 2026 · 18:41
"My] books don’t have that clinical language. I’m not a therapist, I’m not a professional. I just have the experience of actually living autism every single day with my kids……
May 11, 2026 · 27:31
"It’s hard enough for most autistic people to connect in the first place. There’s such a hunger to meet other people like ourselves… What I’ve learned is that it’s a lonely…
May 4, 2026 · 22:07
"They enable autistic and other adaptive athletes to run a Boston Marathon with slightly different requirements. [I thought] I’d love to be a part of it. And then a year later, I…
Apr 27, 2026 · 18:44
"Kids can look at [Hans Christian Andersen's] story and say, oh wow, here’s this famous author, and he went through this. Oh, there’s hope… not only make it through, but do…
Apr 20, 2026 · 12:30
"No one can truly wrap their head around the horror of living in silence. Finding spelling was the first step to healing", says Talia Zimmerman. Tailia joins this episode to…
Apr 13, 2026 · 15:46
"I want to build things that last… I want to make sustainable systems. And I want it to be beyond me, that it doesn’t rely on me", says Mandy Pinckley. Mandy joins us to discuss…
Apr 6, 2026 · 14:26
"I always take a lot of breaks, have a lot of snacks, have a lot of fidget toys… in order to prevent that from happening and having a meltdown… I always tell my agency and my…
Mar 30, 2026 · 29:48
"This project I’ve been working on recently was actually specifically intended to help leverage AI to bridge communication between neuro types... That’s the idea that AI could…
Mar 23, 2026 · 11:02
"I would like you all to understand that I am a non-speaker and I spent many years in silence. Many people believed I had very low cognition. I was unable to prove my…
Mar 16, 2026 · 47:32
"Games really do not have to be that way, or at least they do not have to be inaccessible in ways that feel unnecessary. Accessibility is not about taking something away from…
Mar 9, 2026 · 21:28
"When I started doing comedy, it happened after my autism diagnosis. So that was like a brief grieving period of, oh, you mean to tell me that I was never normal? Like I wasted…
Mar 2, 2026 · 25:22
"There have been many stories that captured the essence of my experiences, but I haven't found a singular form of representation where it's like all parts of me in one character…
Feb 23, 2026 · 22:04
"Sometimes when we accidentally find sensory self-care, it can actually lead to shame. Stimming would be a perfect example of accidental sensory self-care. But then if we've got…
Feb 16, 2026 · 45:14
"And we need to dig and uncover the realities, or we're never going to heal. It's not going to happen. And for me, it's not about a reparation. It's more about a restoration of…
Feb 9, 2026 · 24:24
"Water is a precious resource for all communities and war-affected communities even more so. I think when we talk about disasters, war being one of them, what's a lot more…
Feb 2, 2026 · 23:04
"Peace doesn't arrive like a sunrise. It limps in mud caked hollow eyed curled at the edge of my ribs like a sleeping dog I'm afraid to wake. Peace means owning that I'm autistic…
Jan 26, 2026 · 24:28
"Even some of my classmates and coworkers, they've attended colleges for the entertainment industry and learned more here at Exceptional Minds than going through college", says…
Jan 19, 2026 · 11:35
“And we need to uplift people who truly understand us and not just attempt to speak for us, but really speak over us, people who really are part of our world, who understand us.…
Jan 12, 2026 · 28:35
"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…
Jan 5, 2026 · 46:04
"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,…
Dec 29, 2025 · 25:24
"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…
Dec 22, 2025 · 30:29
"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…
Dec 15, 2025 · 12:51
"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…
Dec 8, 2025 · 28:47
"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…
Dec 1, 2025 · 33:57
"[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…
Nov 24, 2025 · 25:53
“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,…
Nov 17, 2025 · 28:08
"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…
Nov 3, 2025 · 40:04
"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…
Oct 27, 2025 · 29:17
"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…
Oct 20, 2025 · 25:42
"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,…
Oct 13, 2025 · 11:04
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.…
Oct 6, 2025 · 18:42
"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…
Sep 29, 2025 · 26:18
"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…
Sep 22, 2025 · 28:16
"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…
Sep 15, 2025 · 40:07
"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…
Sep 8, 2025 · 13:19
"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…
Sep 1, 2025 · 31:14
"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…
Aug 25, 2025 · 28:32
"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…
Aug 11, 2025 · 25:09
"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…
Aug 4, 2025 · 25:19
"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,…
Jul 28, 2025 · 12:02
"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…
Jul 21, 2025 · 30:43
"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…
Jul 14, 2025 · 19:32
"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…
Jul 7, 2025 · 27:53
"What grief really is, isn't a getting over the loss, but an adjusting to a life that encapsulates the loss. And I think that that's a lot of what sometimes happens when we come…
Jun 30, 2025 · 20:05
"Many people] don't care as much about, okay, these are the statistics of what percentage of people get deported actually commited any crimes. It's very, very low. [...] They…
Jun 23, 2025 · 34:16
"Anytime you have a default, anyone whose brain learns things, processes, communicates differently is going to feel othered. The idea with universal design is not having any…
Jun 16, 2025 · 33:11
"I was going down the rabbit hole of adult play and the benefits of that could bring to a corporate environment when it comes to things like communication, creativity, innovation…
Jun 9, 2025 · 36:55
"The veils are perceptual filters and autistic people have fewer filters. And so they're receiving a lot of information. [...] Bright lights, the way things sound, the way…
Jun 2, 2025 · 19:08
"I want to feel connected to you, but if you're talking at me or if I'm bored with the conversation, then we have to adjust and your feelings being hurt isn't really my…
May 26, 2025 · 45:35
"I'm hoping that what is happening with AI can go down a path that ultimately allows more people to tell their stories more effectively and with less limitations and with less…
May 19, 2025 · 28:27
"Autistic women, especially those of us who are late identified, have spent our entire lives performing outside of our comfort zones just to survive, just to pass, to feel safe.…
May 12, 2025 · 16:42
"[My book's] about the generational trauma that can come from masking for generations and the complexity of neurodivergence and the complexity of how it can manifest, how it can…
May 5, 2025 · 31:20
"I would go so far as to say that there is a distinct form of people pleasing that autistic people engage in[...]. [...] It's like, this is my personality because it's my mask.…
Apr 28, 2025 · 21:33
"A huge part of my early discovery and then building a life that's more resilient to burnout has been understanding my sensory profile, getting to know what actually works for my…
Apr 21, 2025 · 19:24
"But for me, at least, music has always emphasized my emotions with an internal soundtrack, if that makes any sense, it's as much a part of my brain and internal dialogue as…
Apr 14, 2025 · 22:44
"That's kind of where I stepped in with, yes, if I want to help people to improve their quality of life, I need to understand what quality of life looks like for autistic…
Apr 7, 2025 · 25:17
"I think that's one of the things that's helped me [...], writing about it, right. Writing about these characters that are not afraid to advocate for themselves. [...] And think…
Mar 31, 2025 · 16:17
"It was actually fascinating because going into [The Traitors], I thought the missions would be the thing that I would like the least. [...] But the missions for me in my season…
Mar 24, 2025 · 20:05
"That diagnosis when I got it, just really floored me, because I've always been verbal, very verbal, and I'm very outgoing, [...] I just have always been what I am, and things…
Mar 17, 2025 · 31:05
""The services [Autistic Black Coders] are going to be providing is that it's going to be a business service that is providing people in the black community that are going to be…
Mar 10, 2025 · 20:02
"One of the rules is that you don't discuss certain topics in public. And those topics include things like sex and body parts. So it can be hard to overcome that taboo and…
Mar 3, 2025 · 27:36
"In the film [Sensory Overload], it's based on the premise that 20% of the population has significantly higher sensory processing than everyone else, it's a large proportion of…
Feb 24, 2025 · 22:54
"We're still paying [airline] customers, [...] I feel like wheelchair users or people that use mobility aids should still be treated like human beings and seen as valuable as…
Feb 17, 2025 · 44:35
"A place where we spend a lot of time is in front of our laptops, computers and phones, and in many cases those spaces aren't very calming because the colors and other things on…
Feb 10, 2025 · 28:00
"Many leaders are fearful of coming out, so to speak, with being neurodistinct. That's unfortunate. There is a popular statistic that 20, 25% of Fortune 500 CEOs identify as…
Feb 3, 2025 · 12:08
"Autism is my divinity, so I am grateful to my mind for being different. I am grateful to my parents for being my support system. Gratitude is my attitude. Always be grateful for…
Jan 27, 2025 · 19:12
""I was the drawing kid, I was the art kid always. And it was part of my regulation is just to draw, and I would get in trouble all the time in school for drawing when actually I…
Jan 20, 2025 · 44:04
""Basically, preventing dysregulation is the biggest lever that we can push to improve the medical and behavioral health. So anything we can do to [...] give [people] a little…
Jan 13, 2025 · 29:41
"What is your responsibility to your community? [...] One thing I often say is you have the right to ask for help and the duty to assist when possible. I think that really…
Jan 6, 2025 · 15:26
"I think the first thing people need to remember is that their experiences aren't one size fits all. The autistic community is incredibly diverse. So just because someone's…
Dec 30, 2024 · 21:03
"I co-wrote the opera with my partner Zane, who wrote the words. And it was very important to both of us that we both capture my experience as an autistic adult [...], but also…
Dec 23, 2024 · 37:36
"Within the drag community I just see [people] struggling to be themselves and they're too worried about what everyone else thinks of them, which is why I create spaces so people…
Dec 21, 2024 · 12:17
"Tone tags have taught me the importance of advocating for my needs, while also accepting that not everyone will understand or accommodate them. When people do respect that…
Dec 9, 2024 · 30:32
"Maybe I could say I'm autistic out loud at a meeting at work. So I'm finding that as I stand up and talk about autism a lot of people at work are reaching out to me discreetly…
Dec 2, 2024 · 33:39
"I used to encounter burnout a lot when I was undiagnosed because I was a bit of a perfectionist. Everything had to be perfect all the time. And I had to, you know, you hear that…
Nov 25, 2024 · 54:57
"There's a lot of neurodivergent scientists that are [...] becoming more confident in calling ourselves neurodivergent scientists. We are, you know, leaving academia. We are…
Nov 18, 2024 · 34:17
"I'm going to make the claim. We want to be creative. We want to have agency over our lives. [...] But if you're in a workplace or a home life or whatever kind of environment…
Nov 11, 2024 · 15:40
""You know, I think [NASCAR is] doing a pretty good job right now when it comes to sensory needs, because you go to the tracks and you'll see earbuds for children. I've seen some…
Nov 4, 2024 · 19:51
"One of the biggest parts of how I move through my life is when I deal with stress or overwhelm, is to have some sort of practice to channel that energy forward instead of…
Oct 28, 2024 · 10:09
"With online learning, I can concentrate better on what truly matters, which is my academics. In fact, for junior and senior year of college, I'm doing fully online, not…
Oct 21, 2024 · 14:28
"One of the skills that I realized that I had early on is I could read text written by one person. And if I had enough of it, I could mimic their style. I could mimic their…
Oct 14, 2024 · 17:04
"My goal is to have us be a part of, not exclusionary. I think that there is a way that we could have everything be sensory safe across the board", says Joanna Cetaj. Joanna…
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