Embrace Autism Podcast

In our fifth and final episode of season 1 of our podcast, Matt Medina talks with Riah Person, an autism advocate that focuses on topics including sensory processing, stimming, and the black autistic experience. She also runs the website riahsweirdjourney.com, where she shares her life experiences and knowledge she has gained along the way. One of her presentations explores play, stimming, and sensory processing in relation to autistics and divergent human experiences.

• Website: riahsweirdjourney.com
• Twitter: @lilririah

0:00:18 Intro 0:01:23 Blackness and autism 0:02:47 Racism 0:04:28 Cycle of racism 0:05:26 George Floyd 0:07:01 Peaceful protest 0:08:04 Non-violent methods 0:09:33 Jon Stewart 0:10:48 Kenneth Clarke 0:11:50 No action 0:13:24 Blackness & diagnosis 0:15:11 School difficulties 0:16:17 Masking 0:17:09 ADHD 0:17:58 Military brat 0:18:49 Living in Guam 0:19:49 Not my fault 0:21:06 1st grade fight 0:24:01 School issues 0:26:27 Misread 0:28:43 YMCA abuse 0:31:20 Being a parent 0:32:55 Threatening appearance 0:34:54 Enter advocacy 0:38:19 Here together 0:41:47 Space for being 0:45:00 Stim-dancing 0:46:41 Mind–body connection 0:47:42 Ballroom dance 0:51:07 Western-ayurvedic 0:52:39 What is dance 0:56:15 Special interests 0:59:11 Neurodivergent friends 1:03:20 Diagnostic support 1:04:43 Stims 1:07:54 Squeaking teeth 1:10:27 Jamaica thanksgiving 1:13:40 Riah’s contact information

In our fourth episode, we talk with Christine Condo, who runs the blog This Great Ape, and writes for NeuroClastic. She is a late-diagnosed autistic woman living with chronic pain, and writes her blog as a way to process her experiences.

• Websites: ThisGreatApe.com
• Twitter: @ThisGreatApe

0:24 Christine’s diagnosis 1:45 Matt’s diagnosis 2:45 Christine’s early career 4:21 Autistic characteristics and school 5:34 Christine and school 6:31 Work experiences and limitation 7:45 Difficulties in school 9:17 Christine can’t remember faces 10:07 Spiky skills profile 12:33 Alexithymia & visual skills 13:36 Autism obscured 15:47 Pathologizing conditions 16:34 Labels 17:19 High & low-functioning autism 18:57 Savant myth & stereotypes 20:42 Masking 22:03 Autistic burnout 24:03 Socially ostracized 25:55 Great Ape blog excerpt 27:44 Empathy 28:40 Alexithymia & empathy 29:35 Depression, anxiety, PTSD 30:14 Trusting people 32:46 Support from neurodiverse friends 33:09 Trust & manipulation 36:02 Honesty & masking 36:54 Introversion & extraversion 38:16 Neurodiversity movement 39:18 Women on the spectrum 42:30 American Disabilities Act 44:30 Autism & employment 47:10 Double empathy problem 49:44 Parents of autistic children 51:03 Autistics need social connection 52:10 Autistic extravert 53:15 Masking 53:37 Autism paradox 54:38 Accommodations 55:38 High & low-functioning dichotomy 56:58 Sensory sensitivity 58:34 Definitions of intelligence 1:00:06 Labels 1:01:02 Autism experts 1:03:57 Disability model: deficits 1:04:54 Communication and empathy 1:09:29 Direct communication on the job 1:11:38 Dispel stereotypes about autism 1:12:32 Great Ape Blog’s name origins 1:14:47 The autism experience 1:16:51 Where to find Christine 1:18:36 Christine’s Washington Post article

In our third episode, we talk with Aaron Orsini, co-founder of the Autistic Psychedelic Community, collaborator with neuroscientists, and author of the book Autism on Acid, about how LSD helped him understand, navigate, alter, and appreciate his autistic perceptions.

• Websites: AutisticPsychedelic.com & AutismOnAcid.com
• Twitter: @AutisticPsyched & @AutismOnAcid
• Aaron’s book: Autism on Acid

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• MAPS website: MAPS.org
• Heffter website: Heffter.org

01:16 Aaron’s diagnosis 04:20 Aaron coming out as autistic 05:15 Wrestling with the pood, the bad, and the ugly of autism 06:35 The stages of grief and autism diagnosis 09:20 Dealing with depression and other blocks in personal development 10:36 Neurological contact lens 15:00 Autism, psychedelics, and neural rewiring 17:50 Alexithymia and autism 21:00 Autistic Roomba 23:25 Martin’s tree experience 26:26 Hypersensitivity and trauma 31:35 Synesthesia 33:40 Psychedelics aiding a person with overwhelming synesthesia 35:00 Comparing and contrasting conscious experiences in NTs and autistics 36:47 Serotonin is (seemingly) ubiquitous: the model neurotransmitter 39:10 Parallels between infant brains and adult brains on psychedelics 40:10 Aaron’s role as a bridge between autism and psychedelic neuroscience 42:40 Other autistics’ positive experiences with psychedelics 43:44 Meditation and then mushrooms help Matt with his alexithymia 45:10 Martin embraces empathy on MDMA 45:40 Aaron’s first LSD trip 49:00 Dissolving the mask: LSD improves Aaron’s social intuition 50:55 Attempting to explain the ineffable, such as falling in love for the first time 52:48 Aaron takes control of his meta-programming 54:10 Aaron’s struggle to manifest his goals 55:55 PSA on doing and acquiring psychedelic substances 57:15 Collabs & more collabs: Aaron’s goals for autism and psychedelic research 59:45 Psychedelics’ medicinal uses 1:00:00 Lessons learned 1:04:00 LSD saves Aaron’s life 1:05:00 Taking interest in others 1:07:20 Research on psychedelics as disorder treatment 1:08:45 Psychedelics easing defense mechanisms and facilitating trauma resolution 1:09:56 Aaron embraces his autism post-LSD trip 1:11:30 Founding Embrace ASD 1:11:57 Love yourself 1:12:30 Knowing an experience vs. knowing about an experience 1:13:32 Insights don’t come for free 1:16:00 Aaron makes binaural beats 1:16:30 Set and setting 1:17:55 Alicia Danforth’s study on MDMA to alleviate social anxiety in autistic subjects((Reduction in social anxiety after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with autistic adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study (Danforth et al., 2018))) 1:18:55 Aaron’s vision for psychedelic-assisted therapy for autistic people 1:21:10 Aaron finds his calling in life 1:22:40 Weekly autistic meetup group 1:23:00 Tempering expectations 1:23:30 Growing support and Aaron’s identity as a community-grower 1:24:18 Aaron’s social media/wrapping up

In our second episode, we talk with Arik Marmostein; he is a serial entrepreneur who’s founded Mimoona, RefreshBox, and most recently Spectroomz, a remote freelance blog for autistic talent. Arik lives in Israel with his wife and his autistic son.

• Website: Spectroomz.com
• Facebook: AutismJobsBlog
• Twitter: @Spectroomz

0:38 Greetings and quarantine 1:11 Arik as a serial entrepreneur 3:00 How Arik manages all of his projects 4:43 Ro’im Rachok: Autistics in the Israeli Defense Force 6:40 Major corporations specifically hiring autistics 8:15 Corporations resist neurodiversity 10:14 Autistic work preferences 11:16 Matt’s bad work experience 11:46 Martin’s work preferences 12:00 Arik loved studying law but not practicing it 14:35 Arik’s aspie traits and broad autism phenotype 15:15 Rare mutation turns Arik’s son into an autistic X-Men 16:23 Arik’s son suffers a seizure 17:45 Arik embraces his son’s autism 18:35 Autistics speak on the torture of ABA therapy 19:35 Eye contact can be tough 20:45 Arik’s son’s diagnosis 21:22 Verbal, high IQ autistic kids dig older folks but struggle with other kids 23:10 The issue of a lack of knowledge on autism 24:50 Autism had awful public relations 26:22 Matt’s 25-year-long journey to receive an autism diagnosis 28:23 River otters spotted! 29:18 Autism research focused on children (particularly boys) at the expense of adults 30:00 Gatekeeping achievements 31:40 “If he didn’t have that mutation, he’d be a genius” 32:50 Googling for hope: Autistic geniuses 34:00 Autistics withheld from showing off their talents 34:46 Remote work to help autistics and NTs 35:17 Autistics are more than code monkeys 38:23 The variety of behaviors on the spectrum 39:53 Autistics prefer detailed instructions and minimal social interactions 41:20 The sociological issues of the treatments of autistics 42:55 MDMA reduces anxiety in autistic study participants 46:22 Supposed empathy deficits in autism really caused by co-occurring alexithymia 47:25 Coming out as autistic at work 48:22 Everyday discrimination 50:02 The Moses of neurotypes: How Arik bridges the autistic–NT divide 54:00 Neurodiversity isn’t a priority at most organizations 56:00 Fluorescent lighting sucks 56:26 Accommodations at work 57:36 Bigger organizations lack flexibility 58:45 The mission of Spectroomz 1:00:17 What Arik’s learned from working with autistic people 1:02:08 Nevo’s (Arik’s son) special interests 1:05:38 Arik doesn’t dig the Foo Fighters 1:06:46 Arik and Nevo’s Infinite Playlist 1:08:18 Two very important questions 1:08:51 The best hummus in Israel 1:09:53 The great US hummus hoax 1:10:39 More on Sonya Bot 1:12:00 How Arik created Sonya Bot 1:13:18 Sonya Bot is universal 1:14:28 Sign up for Spectroomz! 1:15:10 Arik’s social media