Welcome to another edition of This Week in Autistic Culture, our magazine podcast that brings together the stories, conversations and ideas shaping Autistic culture each week.
With Simon away on a much-needed holiday, Angela is joined by ACPN’s Head of Finance — and her husband — Paul Kingdon. Together, they dive into journalist and broadcaster Scott Bryan’s story of discovering he was Autistic at 34, after experiencing sensory overwhelm while working at Eurovision. His lifelong love of the competition had already helped shape his career, bringing together late diagnosis, fandom and the power of special interests.
That leads into a wider conversation about what happens when a special interest becomes your job. Angela and Paul reflect on their own experiences of turning passions into professions, and ask whether something can still provide the same comfort, joy and regulation once deadlines, expectations and sensory demands become attached to it.
As always, we’ll also take you through everything coming up across the Autistic Culture Podcast Network this week, including Bridget Jones’s Diary on Still Growing Up Film Club, cultural mismatch on Autistic Standpoint Theory, sensitivity and belonging on The Neuro Complex Creative, the return of Clinical Misfits, another Neurodivergent Experience and a Friday rewind exploring Autistic productivity.
Plus, we head to the Community Notice Board for new books, research, resources and events from across the wider Autistic community, including a free programme for recently identified Autistic adults, new research into Minecraft and sensory regulation, and opportunities for Autistic young people.
📌 Community Noticeboard
The Community Noticeboard is your space to share what’s happening across autistic culture. Whether you’re launching a book, hosting an event, releasing a podcast, starting a creative project, celebrating a milestone, or have something you’d like the community to know about, we’d love to hear from you.
Send your announcements, links and updates to autisticculturepodcast@gmail.com, and we’ll feature as many as we can in a future edition of This Week in Autistic Culture.
This Week’s Topics:
Books and Research:
Events:
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