Autistic Culture Presents...

In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, hosts Dr. Angela Kingdon and Matt Lowry, LPP take listeners on a virtual culture trip into the intersections of autism, sex, gender, and sexuality. This episode spotlights the life and work of Alfred Kinsey, the ground-breaking scientist who transformed how society understands human sexuality.🎧 What You’ll Learn:Why Alfred Kinsey’s autistic traits—like bottom-up processing, obsessive data gathering, monotropic focus, and a drive to uncover hidden truths—fueled his pioneering research.Kinsey’s famous 18,000 interviews that became the foundation of modern sexology, and the revolutionary Kinsey Scale showing sexuality as a spectrum.How Kinsey’s work directly challenged conservative Victorian attitudes about sex, sparking backlash that contributed to his declining health—a reflection of how autistic advocates are often punished for disrupting the status quo.Connections between Kinsey’s findings and today’s research, showing that autistic people are more likely to reject binary notions of gender and sexuality.His commitment to justice and advocacy, including volunteering in prisons, as an expression of autistic values of fairness and honesty.Reflections on Kinsey’s early death, which Angela and Matt frame as symbolic of autistic burnout and heartbreak—an urgent reminder of why autistic life expectancy remains so low.A celebration of autistic strengths like intense focus, honesty, and data-driven thinking, and a critique of how flawed diagnostic criteria and allistic systems erase or stigmatize autistic and LGBTQ+ identities.Resources:Alfred Kinsey: Asperger disorderMatt’s Reframing of DSM Autism CriteriaChristiane Rudolph’s research on Autistics and sexual orientation in StockholmRelated episodes:Apple is AutisticThe Trouble with TempleGreta is Autistic🌟 Connect With Us📱 Follow us on Instagram🎧 Find us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify🛍️Our Autism-affirming merch shop🌐 Learn more at www.autisticculturepodcast.com

In this week’s Reddit Stories episode, Jordan and Simon do things a little differently, turning to some of Reddit’s funniest and most wholesome pet stories after Jordan shares the sad news that his beloved Sheepadoodle, Milo, has passed away.First, a woman who deliberately got a cat because she doesn’t like dogs discovers that her new companion apparently missed the memo and behaves exactly like one. From constant licking to greeting people at the door, Jordan and Simon talk about the weird personalities our pets develop, sensory sensitivities around animals, misophonia and why neurodivergent relationships with pets can be so powerful.Then, a husband asks whether he was wrong to veto his wife’s choice of name for their new Golden Retriever: "Bitch". What follows is a spectacular detour through inappropriate pet names, questionable baby names, the strange nicknames we give our animals and whether telling someone they can name a dog “anything they want” really means anything.Next, a woman accidentally trains her dog Molly to respond almost exclusively to the nickname "Poopypants". Jordan and Simon discuss the ridiculous language we develop around our pets, echolalia, quotes that become permanent parts of our vocabulary and the mildly embarrassing consequences when a private nickname has to be shouted in public.Finally, a cat owner reveals the strange bedtime ritual her boyfriend has developed with his cat Magoo: letting him lick the inside of his mouth. Jordan and Simon attempt to understand why anyone would willingly participate in this arrangement, before the conversation descends into cats stealing food, questionable animal hygiene, Robin Hood impressions and general chaos.*The stories discussed in this episode are public Reddit posts. Titles may be shortened for readability, and all opinions expressed are those of the original posters.• I got a cat because I don’t like dogs and my cat acts like a dog• AITA for not letting my wife name our dog something stupid?• TIFU calling my dog by a not very mature pet name• TIFU by giving my dog unintentionally the best damn day of his life• TIFU by accidentally teaching my boyfriend’s cat that love means shoving her foot in your mouth• TIFU by petting a dog during a meetingOur Sponsors:🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com

Two California girls, one meditation university in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, and a friendship that can only be described as cosmic.In this episode of The Neurocomplex Creative, Vicki Peterson reconnects with her first-ever roommate, visual artist Summer Love, whom she met at Maharishi International University when they were just seventeen.Together, they revisit coming of age in an unconventional world of golden domes, mandatory meditation, yogic flying and rules that shaped their everyday lives. They reflect on finding friendship and belonging within that environment, being seen for who they were rather than who they were connected to, and developing a bond built on understanding, shared experience and a lot of laughter.Summer also reflects on her life as a visual artist, staying true to her own creative lens and finding beauty in the world around her. It’s a conversation about self-definition, creativity and the rare friendships that allow us to be completely ourselves — even when they begin in the strangest of places.📝 Go deeper on Substack:https://ahatonahatonahat.substack.com/☕ Support the show:https://buymeacoffee.com/vickipetersonProduced for the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.🎧 The Neurocomplex Creative is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

In the first episode of Autistic Standpoint Theory, Isha Snow is joined by Dani Stephens to explore what changes when neurodivergent people begin to understand themselves — and are finally given the support they need to succeed.Dani shares their journey through ADHD and autism identification, navigating university as a neurodivergent student, and the difference that access to accommodations has made to their education. Together, they discuss burnout, disability support, inaccessible systems and what happens when struggles previously understood as personal failings are viewed through a neurodivergent lens.They also explore the importance of finding community. Inspired by Isha's own peer support work, Dani created a neurodivergent social group at Washington State University that became a registered student club.From discovering a new understanding of yourself to building spaces where others can belong, this conversation asks what becomes possible when neurodivergent people are supported rather than expected to become someone else.Autistic Standpoint Theory is part of the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.🎧 Autistic Standpoint Theory is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

What can surviving a zombie apocalypse teach us about surviving everyday life?In this episode of The Still Growing Up Film Club, Cece Fanning takes an unconventional coming-of-age trip into Zombieland, following Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock through a world where staying alive requires rules, resilience, courage — and occasionally a desperate search for a Twinkie.Using Columbus's famous survival rules as a starting point, Cece explores our need for structure and predictability, the comfort of self-imposed rules, and what happens when keeping ourselves safe begins to get in the way of actually living. Through a neurodivergent lens, she reflects on anxiety, hypervigilance, vulnerability, finding safe people and the complicated process of learning when to trust ourselves enough to take a risk.But survival is only part of the story. Zombieland is also about finding your people, knowing what keeps you going, doing things even when you're scared, enjoying the little things and making room for fun when life feels overwhelming.Because sometimes the rules that keep us safe are exactly what we need. And sometimes growing means knowing when it's okay to break them.Follow Cece:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenotoriouscece📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thenotoriouscece✍️ Blog: https://cecewhatimean.com/🛍️ Store: https://stillgrowinguppodcast.dashery.com/Produced for the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.🎧 The Still Growing Up Film Club is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

Welcome to another edition of This Week in Autistic Culture, our Sunday magazine podcast that brings together the stories, conversations and ideas shaping Autistic culture each week.This week, Angela and Simon dive into the unexpected new Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything, created by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. From Fielder’s famously awkward interviewing style and fascination with aviation to Holmes’ carefully constructed public persona, routines and intense eye contact, they explore the Autistic traits they recognise in both figures — and what happens when we look at familiar cultural stories through an Autistic lens.That conversation also raises a bigger question about so-called “armchair diagnosis”. Is there a difference between diagnosing somebody and recognising Autistic traits in another person? And why can simply suggesting that somebody might be Autistic provoke such a strong reaction? Angela and Simon consider whether some of that discomfort reveals more about the stigma still attached to autism than the act of recognising those traits itself.As always, we’ll also take you through everything coming up across the Autistic Culture Podcast Network this week, including the launch of Isha Snow’s Autistic Standpoint Theory, alongside new episodes exploring Zombieland, friendship and creativity, nervous-system regulation, Neurodivergent tales from Reddit, Alfred Kinsey and a joyful deep dive into the world of Pokémon.Plus, we head to the Community Notice Board for books, events and opportunities from across the wider Autistic community.📌 Community NoticeboardThe 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:New Nathan Fielding/Lance Oppenheim releasing Elizabeth Holmes surprise movieIf you don’t know Nathan Fielding, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8AYmVyIFscElizabeth Holmes podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dropout/id1449500734Matt Lucas has publicly shared for the first time that he is autistic, disclosing while speaking to Romesh Ranganathan on BBC Radio 2.Books and Research:Burning The Behaviorist Blueprint by Scott R Frasard, PhDEvents:XMTR.FM/FESTIVAL - Annual Audio Arts Festival in St Leonards-on-Sea. 25th-27th September 2026📻 Listen to Autistic Culture Radio🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

If the word gratitude has ever made you roll your eyes, this episode is for you.This isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending everything is fine. It’s about neuroscience.In this episode, Ashley explores how gratitude reshapes your Reticular Activating System (RAS) — the brain’s internal filter that decides what gets noticed. For neurodivergent nervous systems wired for intensity, pattern recognition, and threat detection, that filter can easily become tuned toward what’s overwhelming or missing.Gratitude, practised intentionally, becomes a neural training practice.You’ll learn how negativity bias and modern media hijack your attention, why simply searching for something to appreciate changes your brain, and how a simple six-week challenge can gently retrain your inner lens.This is grounded, science-backed, and fully relevant to the lived experience of neurodivergence.Gratitude isn’t naive.It’s neural.Our Sponsors:🧘‍♀️ Ashley Dupuy – Integrative Coaching, Breathwork & Hypnotherapy & https://insighttimer.com/AshleyDupuy🤝 Sophie James - Neurodivergent Mentoring: sophiejamesndmentoring.com🎧 The Neurodivergent Experience is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com

Aaron Wyatt joins Hannah Brockway to explore the art of music composition, sharing how his passions for composing, conducting and computer programming have shaped his career.Together they discuss Aaron's work developing the Decibel ScorePlayer app, composing and performing contemporary classical music, and the creative possibilities that emerge when music and technology come together. The conversation also explores the growing recognition of Indigenous Australian classical music and the importance of using composition to tell stories, preserve culture and inspire audiences.Find out more:🎼 Decibel: https://decibelnewmusic.com/🎓 Aaron Wyatt's research profile: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/aaron-wyatt/🖤 Reconciliation Australia – Voice to Parliament: https://www.reconciliation.org.au/support-a-voice-to-parliament/📺 Spicks and Specks: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsPVOdZ3LN6elvOMcOt4bbyYrhQXugyfSInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/house_elf_hannah/https://www.instagram.com/hannah_unmasked/eBook: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Hannah_Brockway_A_Cautionary_Tale?id=VeAHEQAAQBAJ&pli=1Book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Cautionary-Tale-Hannah-Brockway/dp/0648399915Blogs:https://reframingautism.org.au/masking-for-survival-my-life-as-a-sleeper-agent/https://reframingautism.org.au/autism-and-eating-disorders-a-dangerous-duo/https://lifestoriesdiary.com/2024/07/01/autism-and-anorexia-the-difference-a-diagnosis-makes/https://lifestoriesdiary.com/2024/08/12/how-do-i-differentiate-between-autistic-rigidity-and-anorexia-nervosa/https://www.edneuroaus.com/post/hannah-part-1https://www.edneuroaus.com/post/hannah-part-2Produced for the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.🎧 Info Dump is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

What changes when Autistic people aren't simply the subjects of knowledge — but the people producing it?Autistic Standpoint Theory is a new podcast hosted by researcher and author Isha Snow, exploring how Autistic experience can offer a distinct way of understanding ourselves, each other and the systems around us.Hosted by researcher and author Isha Snow, Isha is joined by Autistic thinkers, researchers and advocates for conversations spanning Autistic history, identity and culture, religious trauma, the Double Empathy Problem, epistemic injustice and the systems that shape whose knowledge gets recognised.Drawing on decolonial theory, attachment science, and the Double Empathy Problem, the show builds a rigorous, accessible framework for understanding neurodivergence not as a deficit, but as a legitimate standpoint, for listeners who are done being explained and ready to explain.🎧 Autistic Standpoint Theory is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast