WE ROAR Issue 02 - Flipbook - Page 78
The Autistic Experience Podcast
(previously called The Social Survival
Guide) is a podcast aimed at distilling
neurodivergent experiences into easily
digestible chunks of audio to provide
some helpful advice or, at the very least,
the knowledge that you're not alone in
the world.
Kieran: I've been wanting to make this
podcast for about two years now, with
the idea of "writing down society's
unwritten rules" for socially awkward
and introverted people -- I'd always
struggled in social interactions, and
having a set of written rules to follow
seemed comforting to me. The podcast
format was ideal, as I'm a massive audio
nerd and am just finishing my TV and
Radio Production degree as a mature
student.
However, it was only about six months
ago that I was formally diagnosed as
autistic, and that's when things began
to make sense. After a lot of reading
and interacting with other autistic folks,
it became clear that the original idea
needed a rethink. Instead of writing
down
the
rules
devised
by
neurotypicals, it should focus more on
supporting other neurodivergent people
and trying to talk about our experiences
in an open and honest way. That's kind
of where it all started, for real.
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Chloe: I'm also in the process of pursuing
an autism diagnosis, and currently at the
mercy of NHS waiting times (and the
general bias against autism in women),
and we spend a lot of our time talking
about issues we're having with the
'outside world', so the podcast is
effectively
putting
a
microphone
between us for the chats we have during
everyday life.
In each episode, hosts Chloe and Kieran
take a subject that's of no interest to
neurotypical people but that we
experience differently (like haircuts) and
talk about their experiences with the aim
of putting together a few guidelines to
make things a bit more bearable.
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