In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, Matt and Angela are joined by Shakespeare scholar Dr. Sonya Freeman Loftis to explore how Shakespeare’s plays connect with autistic experiences—from emotional intensity to characters whose traits feel deeply neurodivergent.
🎧 What You’ll Learn:
- Autistic-coded heroes – How characters like Hamlet, Coriolanus, Othello, and King Lear embody autistic themes such as moral intensity, social disconnect, and emotional overload.
- Disability lens on the Bard – Dr. Loftis shares her journey into studying Shakespeare through a disability perspective, and the rise of autism-friendly and relaxed performances at venues like The Globe.
- Bottom-up processing & inertia – Why lines like “To be or not to be” can feel like expressions of autistic inertia, and how Shakespeare’s language structure invites bottom-up processing that resonates with neurodivergent minds.
- Otherness & ableism – How portrayals of “the outsider” in Shakespeare’s works reflect societal treatment of autistic people, and where ableist framing still appears.
- Shakespeare as therapy – From prison programs to elder care, and even modern neurodivergent Shakespeare meetups, his works offer catharsis and connection.
- Was Shakespeare neurodivergent? – Considering his prolific, atypical perspective on language and emotion as possible indicators of neurodivergence.
Featured Guest: Dr. Sonya Freeman Loftis
Dr. Sonya Freeman Loftis is a Shakespeare scholar, disability studies researcher, and author whose work explores how literature intersects with neurodivergence and lived experience.
🔗 Explore Dr. Loftis’s Academic Profile on Academia.edu
📖 William Shakespeare Was on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger’s Syndrome) – Read on ResearchGate
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🎙️ Executive Producers: Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.
🎧 Producers: AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.
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