Go to todaysautisticmoment.com for the transcripts for this or any other episode.
In this wrap up episode for Season 4, Dr. Angela Kingdon from the Autistic Culture podcast joins Philip for a discussion about Embracing the Intersectional Autistic Culture. All of the episodes in 2024 have been focusing on our Intersectional Autistic Adult Communities. During this episode we will be exploring what embracing the Intersectional communities means so that all of us feels like we belong together. We will talk about engaging with the diversity of Neurodivergent people and empowering them to keep embracing each other as we journey into an uncertain future. At the end of this episode is the end of the year dedication to all guests, sponsors, and our amazing audience.
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Dyslexic Accessible Transcript: Embracing the Intersectional Autistic Culture
Spanish Accessible Transcript: Abrazar la cultura autista interseccional
German Accessible Transcript: Die intersektionale autistische Kultur annehmen
French Accessible Transcript: Adopter la culture autistique intersectionnelle
Chinese Simplified Transcript: 拥抱跨界自闭症文化
Transcript
Embracing the Intersectional Autistic Culture
December 22nd, 2024
Episode Preview
Dr. Angela Kingdon joins us to celebrate and conclude our year-long exploration of Intersectional Autistic Adult Communities. Throughout this season, we’ve featured diverse voices from our community, including Autistic people of color, transgender individuals, those previously misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, Jewish Autistics, and Autistics in rural areas, among others. In this final episode of 2024, Dr. Kingdon will discuss how embracing our own intersectionality can foster self-care and strengthen the Neurodiversity Movement, making it a truly inclusive initiative for the coming year.
♫ Background Music begins with Introduction to Today’s Autistic Moment ♫
Segment 1
Welcome everyone to Today’s Autistic Moment: A Podcast for Autistic Adults by an Autistic Adult. My name is Philip King-Lowe. I am the owner, producer, and host; and I am an Autistic Adult. Thank you so very much for listening.
Today’s Autistic Moment is a member of The Autistic Podcasters Network.
Explore, Engage, Empower: Today’s Autistic Moment-The Podcast for Intersectional Autistic Adult Communities
This first segment of Today’s Autistic Moment is sponsored by The Autism Society of Minnesota, known as AuSM throughout Minnesota’s Autism community. As Minnesota’s First Autism Resource for more than 50 years, AuSM serves the whole state, the whole spectrum, for the whole life. Visit AuSM online at ausm.org. ♫ Music ends.
Please visit todaysautisticmoment.com where you can listen to the podcast, get transcripts, program updates, read the guest bios pages, and the Adult Autism Resources Links Page. Please visit the Future Shows Page to read the titles, guests, and descriptions of all the shows coming up. The transcripts are sponsored by Minnesota Independence College & Community. There is a link provided to get access to a document form of the transcript without the purple-colored background so that you can print it without using up the ink on your printer. The written document has a font that is accessible for dyslexics. There are additional transcripts available in Spanish, German, French, and Chinese Simplified. The transcripts have hyperlinks that are mentioned by the guests.
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Be sure to stay with us after this first commercial break in segments 2, 3 and 4 when Dr. Angela Kingdon and I will talk about Embracing the Intersectional Autistic Culture.
♫ Segment end music. ♫
Commercial Break I
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Segment 2
Philip King-Lowe
Dr Angela Kingdon from the Autistic Culture Podcast, welcome to Today's Autistic Moment. I am so thankful that you've taken time out of your day to join us.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here.
Philip King-Lowe
Thank you. This episode is bringing up the rear on 2024 for Today's Autistic Moment. And we have all been focusing on the Intersectional Autistic Adult Communities. We have really covered lots of lots of subjects, topics, employment, our women's communities, and so much more. And while we're definitely not finished talking about Intersectional communities, that's a topic that's going to continue on because of how intersectional we are. This one, I want to talk about Embracing that Intersectional Autistic Culture. And, you know, we're going to just dig in here. What do we mean when we say Embracing the Intersectional Autistic Culture? What do we mean when we say that?
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Well, I think this is really a great question, because everyone means different things by it, but I really want to respect that and highlight that as a starting point for our conversation. So, I happen to be queer and Autistic and so happen to be white, and I happen to be middle class and privileged in a lot of ways. And not living in the United States, possibly being the largest among them. So, when I talk about my queerness and my Autisticness loudly, proudly, and basically just about every hour of every day, I am embracing my Intersectional Autisticness, because I can. Because I am very unlikely to face violence because of it, I am very like, unlikely to be interred because I am outside of The United States. So, embrace. I want you as a listener to think of on a continuum with safety at the heart of that for you. And so, to me, I am very loud. I embrace it on my podcast. I embrace it in social media. I write books, I share my Intersectional experience, because I know a lot of people can't. Because they might lose custody of their kids. That's another advantage I have. My kids are both over 18, so there are lots of reasons why you might want to embrace this quietly in your journal with nobody having access to it, but how you embrace it internally, I think, is what matters most, and that concept of embrace can mean like, hey, everyone should wear a shirt that says I'm Queer and Autistic, at which I am wearing a shirt that says that today, but, but not everyone should say that. Everyone should think about their safety and their security and their food supply first, but embracing it in your heart, I think, is the most important part of the definition.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, I like how you say that. And it's difficult for us to embrace it in our heart when there's when these Intersectional identities we're living in an age where it's become socially acceptable to attack our Intersectional communities. I mean, I mean, its all-over social media networks, it's all over, you know, social life in general. And as many of my guests have pointed out, the world is just not made for Neurodiversity. And, you know, with the rise in racist talk, we've seen the rise of the attacks on our transgender, Autistic communities, and we've seen so much happen, you know, and that's why I've covered topics like post-traumatic stress disorder and anger management, because we're just feeling this social rejection that's just intensifying. And as my guest, Precious Leslie pointed out back in February, it's not that it's intensifying. It's becoming socially acceptable to do that even more so than it probably ever has.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I have made decisions I know a lot of people have to become low contact with many family members and end friendships, because I only have so many spoons, right, and I feel like my identity is attacked by strangers on the internet, like that's hard enough, or by my readers, or maybe someone leaves a bad comment about my podcast, but I'm not going to volunteer to spend time and break bread with people who do not accept my humanity like I just don't. I got enough to deal with. So, I think a lot of us have to make very difficult decisions about where we are spending energy. We talked earlier about a former guest of yours and ours on The Autistic Culture Podcast, Becca Lory Hector, and she talks a lot about Autism as an energy management condition. Yeah. And that, to me, was so helpful learning that, in her book, Always Bring Your Sunglasses. She has a course where she talks about this too, and it was just like, oh, wait. If that is the case, what do I want to do with this energy? So, when you're thinking about Intersectional identities, the more of them you have, the more energy gets dissipated on educating other people that are well meaning or fighting people that actually want to destroy your humanity, or just navigating basic tasks, like going to the doctors, like there are so many going to the post office. There's so many extra things you have to deal with that, the and the at the top of the food chain. I just reread everybody should read this if you're thinking about intersectionalism. Isabella Wilkerson's book Caste. I love how she sets this up. So, if you are at the top of the caste, and she makes the parallel to Indian culture. And at the top of the caste are the Brahmans. That's the highest caste. And then, of course, if you are a male Brahman, you are at the highest point in society. Now, if you are a colonizer that comes in, you might be higher than the Brahmans, but within the Indian culture, that is the top point. And every intersectional identity you add. So, if you add woman, if you add black, if you add Latino, if you add fat, if you add queer, everything that you add as an intersectional identity moves you lower on the caste system. And you are expected all day long, to take microaggressions, to straight out abuse in in the system. The system is just designed for you to accept those abuses, and that absolutely sucks your soul and your humanity and your energy. And my rule is when we talk about embracing intersectionality, is like whether you tell anyone or become an advocate or whatever your first goal is to protect your peace. That is to limit the amount of exposure. You can't have none, because you're going to need to probably go to the grocery store, although thank God for home delivery, but limit the hell out of it, because you're going to face it, they're going to have to do something, so don't ever choose it. And then the second thing, and to me, what our podcast is about, at The Autistic Culture Podcast, to me, the second part is to relish joy. Whatever brings you joy. You, number one, have to identify it, which is harder than it sounds. And number two, you have to do it with abandon. If it's dancing in your kitchen, do it with abandon, because that, to me, is our greatest resistance against, you know, being forced down in the caste system that we live in.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. And what I love about what you do is that you show how the Autistic Culture is everywhere, and that's one of those things that we as Autistics need to be embracing.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
We could do a podcast on the bad things about being Autistic all day long. But the reason why we focus on the joyful things and the way that we contribute. So, if you look at the invention of motion pictures that was straight Autistic Culture. That was an Autistic person doing a deep dive. If you look at Hans, Christian Andersen, if you look at Emily Dickinson, if you look at Taylor Swift, and you see aspects of Autistic Culture that is an Autistic person in their full joy, just experiencing Autistic joy, and when we see that in others, it makes it easier to find and see the moments we have in ourselves.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And embracing the Intersectional Autistic Culture requires us individually to embrace the intersectional identities within us. And that starts with you know, Becca Lory Hector and I have also discussed this turn off the negative social media for some of your day, or however long you need to do it. Just turn it off. It's okay. But also, to spend some time embracing I'm going to call it your eternal truth. But these identities are who you are. You know, and no matter what the culture at large is saying, you can embrace your interior self. Now it means, it can mean I should say, Forgive me. It can mean that I you're going to have to pick your relationships, the relationships that give you the positive energy. And it does mean, you know, somewhat cutting off some of those that don't. But the thing is, is that ultimately, each Autistic person who is part of those Intersectional identities, you have to embrace your own identities. And I know it's hard, because we've got all of these messages coming at us, you know, pathological, you know, we have difficulties with social interactions. We have difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communications, all of which is part of the, like I said, the medical pathology of Autism. And one of the things that I've been focusing on and staying on Today's Autistic Moment for the past three years. We are not limited to that. If we embrace our Autistic identity, we are so much more than all of those things that it says. Because again, another guest of ours Lisa Morgan, we talk about the strengths of Autism, which is, if you're a rule-based person, if you're someone who's honest to a fault, if you're somebody who needs to make your lists, and even if it's we call, you know, habitual or obsessive. That's part of your Autistic culture, and those are the things that you need to invest in. Go ahead and talk about that.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Well, I do think that is really true, but I also want to say like there is so much internalized ableism that is so very hard to see. And then intersectional identity so like internalized sexism, like, look at the queer people, black people, women, white women, white women of childbearing years who vote against their own interests, right? That has nothing to do with Autistic people. So, then you add the idea, by the way, an idea that is only 80 years old, that Autism is a deficiency that needs to be fixed. So, for most of us, our entire lives, that's the water we're swimming in. Like there's nothing else that most of us could imagine as an alternative. Now, if you grew up in an Indigenous culture, that might not be true. Maybe if you're 100 that might not be true. But for most of us, there is no world in which someone who is Autistic is not broken and in need of fixing. So, undoing and unraveling our own bias, to me, has to be a part of this mix. It doesn't, it won't happen automatically. You will, you will scroll through. What did I scroll through the other day? Why do they do this to me? Some supplement I was going to take that was going to clean up my gut health and fix my Autism. There's some vitamin that's going to cure my Autism. Because that's how it works. This will get your mTOR proteins going, and no longer will you have a lack of synoptical pruning. This is how genetics work. We will reprogram your DNA with vitamins. So, you're going to see that, and it will the way this will show up is you will, you'll scroll through something, and you won't necessarily the way you started this was to say, like, turn off the negative stuff. It doesn't necessarily feel negative at first. You scroll through it and you're like, oh, maybe I should try those supplements. I like to knock out some of this Autism. It will just look good. There is not a day that goes by that I am not invited to a group or a book I bought. I bought a book that looks so good. It was called something like Life Coaching on the Spectrum. And I thought, let's see what this nice life coach has to say. No, well, oh my God, but if you don't know to look for it, you won't see it. It won't feel negative. It'll feel even the book. We did an episode on this, one of my favorite episodes, it's Productivity is Autistic, where we talk about the book atomic habits. So that book has a huge following of ADHDers who love the book Atomic Habits and never do a single thing in the book and just feel badly about themselves that they did not implement the advice, the productivity advice in that book that is not suitable for Neurodivergent people. So, it's just, it's not going to work. You can love the book all you want. So, you must, you must de program yourself, and I don't know a way to do that, except for these two things, community among other Autistics, community among people who share your Intersectional identities. Community and reading and finding the right information. What are the people in those communities reading and absorb information? I say reading, but however you take it information. Maybe it's watching videos, maybe it's listening to podcasts, but suck up that information to deprogram the self-hate inside you, and then know that is an ongoing journey, that isn't going to end.
After this next commercial break, Dr. Kingdon will talk about self-care and how to make our Autistic communities more inclusive and express our concerns about the future of DEI programs.
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Commercial Break II
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Segment 3
Philip King-Lowe
You know, you're saying something that I heard a long time ago. When there are campaigns that are working against your identities. Internalizing those messages is an unavoidable consequence. You talked about internalized ableism. You know, there's always something out there that wants to diminish our worth based upon our disabilities. You know, among transgender people, there's been this incredible attack on bodily autonomy, both for transgender people and women. I mean these things, they're powerful. And, you know, internalizing that self-prejudice, I would say, is unavoidable. The other thing that I would like to say, as I want to pick up from here and talk about what Rachel Cullen said last April, that embracing the Intersectional Autistic Communities begins with how Autistics embrace these communities. We have the power to change the culture by embracing all of our other Autistics and talk with each other.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Yeah, yeah. No, exactly. I mean, I obviously justice, sensitivity is a huge part of Autistic Culture, so we get deeply what it feels to be marginalized. And I think there's that Steve Silverman wrote about it in Neuro Tribes. Is it called Autscape? It is a conference in the UK. I remember I haven't been to this, but I remember reading about it in that book. It's a conference in the UK organized by Autistic people for Autistic people, and he talks about how, by accommodating Autistic needs, so many other people's needs were accommodated. So, they have people with kids there that they were able to accommodate. They obviously have people with different disabilities. Autistic people come with, we come with a variety of disabilities. It was not a, you know, a straight, white, cis-gendered space. Primarily, it wasn't centering that. And if you go anywhere, if you go to the movies, that's what that's what we're centering. That's what we're designed to set you. It's not a universal design. We are designing for straight, white, cis, gender, middle class people like that's what everything's designed for. So how can we create spaces that have a universal design. One of the things that helps is when we actually design for Autistic people, that makes our spaces more accessible. But then how much further can we take that? How can we include different abilities? How can we think about making people who have English as a second language more comfortable. So, for instance, not every podcast, and I don't know if you do so I'm not trying to call you out, but not every podcast has closed captions or a transcript available. But when you make transcripts available, which for Autistic people like me that have serious auditory processing challenges, it also makes it easier for people who have English as a second language, or maybe don't have English language at all, that they could more easily copy and paste our transcript and get it translated. So, when we make spaces more accessible for Autistic people, we are already being more inclusive. How can we take that even further?
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, well, I'd like to interject here and say that's one of the reasons why Today's Autistic Moment not only publishes a transcript, but I have begun this year transcribing them in Spanish, German, French and Chinese Simplified. Cause I can't offer the actual audio and other languages, but I can give you give them a transcript in their language. One of the points that I would like to say, and I brought this up with quite a few of my past guests, the Autistic culture, the Autistic communities have a strength within us to embrace intersectionality, probably more so than a lot of other communities. This is something I've seen on LinkedIn. I've seen it in so many ways. Now that's not to say we don't have our issues to address. Of course we do. But I can honestly say I see so many of our Autistic folks that are embracing our diversity, wanting to reach out for that diversity. And I can't say that about a lot of other communities. I mean, I'm part of the LGBTQ queer communities, and those communities have a lot of work to do about embracing diversity. Okay, you know, one of the things that we're staring in the face of a new year with changes that are some out of our control. And I recently wrote a blog about this. You know, we have DEI programs that are on the chopping block. And the thing that amazes me is that in the conversations I'm seeing on social media and other places, nobody's talking about it. We have DEI programs that are part of part of helping jobs and other communities embrace diversity, embrace intersectional identities. And right now, those programs, many of them, are looking at erasure. There have already been certain companies in the US that have already been rolling them back. What I'm saying is that during the pandemic, before 2020 we saw companies and others embracing DEI programs. And now we're seeing them setting them aside, which tells me that they've started doing that because it's no longer politically or socially advantageous for them to do that. Okay? So, you're going to hear from Devon Price coming up in my 100 show in a few weeks. But you know, he's been talking about how these DEI programs have been so essential for the trans communities, and they have only have been able to make little progresses because of all the pushback they've been getting. So, I want to really call out that as Today's Autistic Moment is looking at rolling into the Navigating the Future of our Leadership as Multi-dimensional Autistic People, we're going to be talking a little bit about how, about how important those DEI programs are. And that you know why preserving them is so very important. So, like I say, embracing these communities means that when we speak up and we advocate for one of us, we really have to advocate for all of us in some way, shape or form.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Yeah, no. I mean, I think that is so easy to lose sight of in the exhaustion of being Autistic today. There was a in the academic space, and forgive me, I won't get the title, right. Someone can look this up, but there was an article recently on how much of the research done around Autistics is done by white, wealthy western researchers. And it's an important discussion, and it's important to bring up, but at the same token, when I read that, I was like, well, that it is true, but also it doesn't mean the exhaustion and the oppression that we face isn't worth researching. Like, I wish more people were researching Autistics in, you know, marginalized communities in Kenya, of you know, different tribes or something, but like that, that doesn't mean the oppression we face at work. In our relationships. In getting basic medical needs met, those aren't worth researching. And there's amazing research that has improved education, for instance, for many Autistic people, who hopefully will go on to research more marginalized communities. So, it's intersectionality, and DEI work is very important. And I want to say, let's not eat, let's not eat our own babies here. Like we are. We are oppressed. We are doing our best, like I don't have transcripts out in Spanish. But instead of not that you were, but instead of attacking someone for not having that, like, give me an idea, I will add that to our list. Like, what a fantastic idea. And yes, of course, we all need to be doing more. But even as you're listening to this, what I want to say is like, what can you do that doesn't extinguish your flame? This is why I come back to the heart of embracing intersectionality is joy, because we must fuel our own internal spark. Yes. We could feel bad all day about how people have it worse, and how we could be doing more. And it's true. And if you fully immerse yourself and you defy the forces that want you to be miserable and enjoy, I don't know, crocheting a succulent that my friend is resistance. Like sometimes that is all we can do for intersectionality, and sometimes that is more than enough.
Philip King-Lowe
And I like to say that part of that goes back to my point I've made since I started this podcast, you must become the expert about your own brand, make and model of Autism. And you must also become the expert about communicating about it. You know, I've had multiple shows where I've talked about, unfortunately, you're gonna have to advocate for yourself as much as you can with medical experts, because the medical community just isn't getting it. And so, like I've said this before too. I mean, I'm a diabetic, and I have had at least several certified diabetes educators that I've had to educate them about interoception, which shouldn't even be,
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Right.
Philip King-Lowe
Right? But I've had to, I mean, I had one. I said, do you know what interoception is? No, well, I tell them what it is, what it means. And you know, you're gonna have to learn how to do that. As I always say, part of becoming the expert about your own brand, make, and model of Autism, and communicating about it or with it is by telling our stories about what being Autistic means for us individually. You know, if it means like you know, again, telling your doctors you know that being Autistic is not just neurological, it's physical. We don't know how many times I've had to explain that it is physical and you and that's one of our multidimensions, okay, about how we're neurological. Yeah. And we're physical and we're relational. Okay, you're gonna have to do some of that for yourself, and you have to find the best ways that work for you to do that, whether it's creating lists or what are you doing,
Dr. Angela (she/her)
And grieving that that isn't you don't get that. You might have been taught that you get you might have been taught teachers are here to take care of you. Doctors are here to take care of you. Your boss or your manager is here to take care of you. I think grieving the fact that you need to not only learn your own make, model and brand of Autism, but you are now an educator. No one's there's no doctor, no one's going to know you better than you, not even your partner.
Philip King-Lowe
Yeah, and there is no substitute for them to hear it directly from somebody who's impacted by these things. I can't think you could. You could read all of the books you like, and I want to listen to our podcast, but you can listen to all the podcasts you like, but when they actually hear it come from your mouth, and I know sometimes you feel like you're talking and it's falling on deaf ears, and no one's even interested. I agree. But it has to start somewhere, and sometimes it has to start with each Autistic individual communicating these things to them. We know that, you know, the more Autistic people that do communicate, the more they might, you know, I they might be in a meeting, say, I've had several Autistic people who have come in, who have told us this. And maybe no guarantees here, maybe it will lead to a change that we don't see yet. You know, it does happen. And, I mean, we've got journalists and authors like Eric Garcia, whom I've had on a couple times. We've got others like Lisa Morgan, who is helping Autistics in crisis to really work through, you know, suicidal ideation and that sort of thing they're doing these works. Carol Jean Whittington, Mind Your Autistic Brain, working through burnout and helping us find these things. The purpose of our podcasts and authors and such is helping us to determine those unique parts of us, as Autistic individuals, those unique parts of our Intersectional identities, and using them, talking about them, and we know that every Autistic individual has their own way of communicating, and we're validating that. Your way of communicating is your way, and that's good, but how do you use that to advocate? And that's one of the hardest things sometimes. I think it is for us to do, especially with those internalized ableism and all those other internalized messages we have about how our identities are not equal to anybody else's.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
Yeah. Yup. So that, so that the journey and expanding into a being able to identify and relate to and embrace other marginalized communities comes by increasing your what you give to yourself, increasing your capacity, increasing your energy. You have to you have to get yourself to a place where you can be emotionally regulated. You have to get yourself to a place where you can advocate for yourself. That's where all that work starts. And then we make more room. And as you have more capacity, if you are a part of the Autistic community, and you have that capacity, it is your responsibility to let more people into the circle.
After this final commercial break, we will thank Dr. Kingdon for our conversation followed by the end of the year dedication.
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Commercial Break III
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Future Shows
The Premier of Season 5 in 2025 on January 12th will be Today’s Autistic Moment’s 100th Show. My guests will include sponsors, guests and listeners. Together we will celebrate what we are achieving, talk about why the sponsors support the podcast, and look to where we are going in 2025. You are all invited to join us on January 12th.
Join my guests A.J. Locashio, Jessica Jahns and I on January 26th when we will explain the focus of Season 5, Navigating the Future of Multidimensional Autistic Leadership. Being Autistic is neurological, physical, cultural, awareness, avoidance through masking, seeking, relational, personal, social, and engaging. During Season 5 my guests and I will be encouraging Autistics to navigate our future as leaders through the multidimensional aspects of our Autistic identity. If you are feeling depressed about the future of the Intersectional Autistic communities, this discussion will help you to find strength and energize us to carry on in our work of advocacy.
Thank you for listening to Today’s Autistic Moment.
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Segment 4
Philip King-Lowe
Well, Dr Angela Kingdon, I want to thank you so much for coming today and for having us this, this conversation. You know, we're both coming up to our 100th shows together. You, you're in January, me and in January, yeah, you know, starting an Autistic podcast boy, let me tell you, that has been a journey. It's a wonderful journey. I'm so glad I did it, and so glad we're doing it, because we know that the need for Autistics to hear from other Autistics what we're experiencing and what we're finding, we need that so much out there, especially to you know, acknowledging the internalized ableism that many of us feel. Acknowledging that we need supports with each other, acknowledging that we are all somehow have these intersectional identities within us and around us, and this has been so important.
Dr. Angela (she/her)
I've learned so much. I loved having this conversation with you. And yes, happy 100th episode on the way.
Philip King-Lowe
And congratulations to you too. Okay, so we'll be seeing you in 2025.
End of the Year dedication.
This episode brings season 4 of Today’s Autistic Moment to a close. In 2024 my guests and I have been talking about our Intersectional Autistic Adult Communities. We have only begun to meet many of our Intersectional communities that make up who the Autistic Community is and where we are going. In the months ahead we will be hearing from many groups of people who are Autistic about discovering each other.
I would like to say thank you to all the guests who have been part of the 4th season. Daren Howard. Eric Ringgenberg. Jen White-Johnson. Precious Lesley. Karen Timm. Nigel Rising, Esq. Rachel Cullen. Holt Mills. Silas Zacharias. Angela (AJ) Locashio. Oluwatobi Odugunwa. Becca Lory Hector. Dr. Devon Price. Michele Markman. Lisa Morgan. Nicole LeBlanc. Kathryn Parsons. Dr. Ludmila Praslova. Shalese Heard. Madaline Smith. Matthew Lawrence. Dr. Angela Kingdon.
I want to say a special thank you to our generous sponsors. The Autism Society of Minnesota. Best Care Minnesota. Minnesota Independence College & Community. Looking Forward Life Coaching. The Autism Mentorship Program. Lisa Morgan Consulting. Matthew Lawrence the #ActuallyAutistic Coach.
I also want to recognize our generous sponsors who have donated to Today’s Autistic Moment through Ko-fi and Patreon.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you in my listening audience. Recent statistics indicate that Today’s Autistic Moment experienced a remarkable 40% increase in new listeners in 2024. This growth reflects the dedication and effort put into producing this podcast, which aims to connect with Autistic Adults by celebrating your strengths and resilience. Regardless of our specific experiences within the Autistic community, this podcast is designed for you. As an Autistic Adult myself, I share the feelings of pain, doubt, and uncertainty about what lies ahead in 2025. Alongside my guests, sponsors, supporters, and you, the audience, Today’s Autistic Moment will accompany you as we navigate the unknown future together. We are committed to advocating for Autistic Adults as individuals who deserve acceptance to embrace our identities with dignity and respect, free from the pressure to conform to neurotypical expectations of being cured or changed. This podcast will continue fostering discussions with our exceptional guests to inspire change led by Autistics for the benefit of all Intersectional Autistic Adult communities.
Thank you for listening to Today’s Autistic Moment: A Podcast for Autistic Adults by An Autistic Adult.
I wish you all an Autistically Amazing holiday season and a Happy New Year.
♫ ♫ Closing Background Music with credits ♫
All of the guests meet with me on Zoom to record the interviews. The interview transcripts are provided by Otter. The podcast is prepared and edited on WavePad Masters Edition by NCH Software. The podcast is published by Spotify for Podcasters. The Music that you hear is licensed to Today’s Autistic Moment by premiumbeat.com.