67. S5, Ep12: The vibrant neurodiversity movement: marginalisation, diversity and equity in the autistic community

Rhonda Moore is a medical anthropologist in her early 50s. After self diagnosing as autistic in 2019, she was formally diagnosed the following year.

She spent her childhood in Chicago, USA, and now lives in Bethesda, Maryland, where she is Program Director in Global Mental Health at NIH (the National Institutes of Health, the main US government agency responsible for public health research). 

She has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University and postdoctoral fellowships from Stanford Medical School and the University of Texas, and has published four books, with a fifth – about mental health equity – on the way.

In our conversation we talk about:

➡ Intergenerational autism

➡ The impact of growing up autistic in an abusive home

➡ Autism, trauma and resilience

➡ The intersectionality of autism, gender, age and race and its impact on marginalisation and health

➡ Being neurodivergent at work, disclosure, accommodations and career progression

I hope you’ll get as much out of our conversation as I did.

Content warning: During this conversation Rhonda shares her childhood experience of domestic violence, so if this is something you don’t want to hear about, you might choose not to listen to this episode.

Squarepeg is a podcast in which neurodivergent women, and trans and nonbinary people, explore navigating a neurotypical world and share their insights, challenges and successes.

I hope that these conversations will be inspiring and thought provoking, open you up to new ways of thinking about being neurodivergent, and help you feel more connected to a worldwide community of people with similar experiences.

I’m Amy Richards, and after being diagnosed autistic at the age of 37 I’m now on a mission to learn more about different perspectives and issues around being a neurodivergent adult in a world that feels like it doesn’t quite fit.

 

EPISODE LINKS:

Rhonda’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/skyymoore

Her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondamoore/

 

If you'd like to connect or get in touch with Squarepeg, you can find me on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarepeg.community/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/squarepegautism 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/squarepegautism/ 

Or on my website: https://squarepeg.community/ 

 

THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS!

A HUGE thank you to my amazing patrons, who support my work on the podcast:

Abi Hunter, Amy Adler, Amy-Beth Mellor, Abigail J Moore, Ben Davies, Benita Borchard-Thierbach, Caroline, Cat Preston, Catrin Green, Cindy Bailey, Corinne Cariad, Danielle Warby, Dawn Trevellion, Elizabeth Williams, Elise, Jackie Allen, Jeff Goldman, Kate Faust, Katharine Richards, Katherine Lynch, Lea Li, Lilli Simmons, Lyb, Mandy Allen, Pete Burke, Rebecca Kemp, Sarah Jeffery, Sarah Swanton, Sioned Wynn, Susan Millington, Suzanna Chen, Suzanne, Tree Hall, Una Walkenhorst, Vera Cady, Vicki Temple and Victoria Routledge.

If you’re enjoying the Squarepeg podcast and would like to help me carry on making new episodes, you can become a member of the Squarepeg community on Patreon from just £3 per month: https://www.patreon.com/squarepegpodcast