Today’s Autistic Moment: A Podcast for Autistic Adults by An Autistic Adult

Living independently gives Autistics a way to stay in their own homes and receive in home supports.  GT Independence gives Autistic Adults and others with varying disabilities the opportunity to be their own employers in deciding who they hire or terminate and gain some control over their care.  Dan Carmichael is an Autistic Adult who is also a parent of an Autistic son, and is the co-owner of GT Independence.  Dan is my guest to talk about the work GT Independence does and share his thoughts about being an Autistic business manager and what that journey has meant for him.

Some great episodes coming in May 2021. Listen to this trailer.

Many Autistic Adults need supportive service to help with day to day self-care.  During this episode, I will be talking with Sara Swan the Owner and Founder of Looking Forward Life Coaching.  Sara and I will talk together about how difficult obtaining such services is in Minnesota and elsewhere.  We will reveal the results of the survey through which Autistic Adults told us of their experiences with applying for supports and what they experienced with service providers.

April is Autism Acceptance Month. Ellie Wilson, the Executive Director at The Autism Society of Minnesota joins me to talk about the importance of Autism Acceptance.

Autistic Adults have a lot of challenges with executive functioning, self-care management and dealing with the unexpected.  There is one tool that can be very helpful for Autistic Adults to manage their lives and that is social narratives.  Eric Ringgenberg the Director of Educational Programs at the Autism Society of Minnesota joins me to talk about what social narratives are and how Autistic Adults can use them.

Each autistic adult is unique. Our individual neurology is why every autistic adult has abilities and challenges that differ from other autistic adults. The word for those differences is neurodiversity. My dear friend Robyn DeCourcy talks about the history of neurodiversity and how it brings a greater acceptance of the diversity among people with neurological differences.

Autistic adults age differently because of our unique neurology.  Our bodies and brains have challenges such as communicating our needs to others more challenging.  As we age, our needs for medical help as well as our daily self care increases.  However the information as to what to understand as we age, and how to communicate our needs to medical professionals is more difficult. Dr. Theresa Regan joins me to talk about Aging Autistic Adults: What We Needed Yesterday.  Thank you for listening to Today's Autistic Moment: A Podcast for Autistic Adults by An Autistic Adult.

While great strides for people with disabilities have been made through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and research have brought great advances for autistic adults: there remains one common stigma: Ableism. Ableism often comes in the form of micro-aggression and/or very good intentions. Sue Swenson joins me to talk about ableism in terms of human rights and respect for the dignity of disabled individuals.

COVID-19 has changed the world as we once knew it.  Autistic Adults have experienced routine changes that challenges our social support networks, therapy options and self-care more than they were before the pandemic.  On this episode of Today's Autistic Moment, Philip is joined by Olivia James from the Office for Communications and Marketing at the Autism Society of Minnesota to discuss how COVID-19 affects autistic adults.  Olivia offers great information, describes the barriers and strengths for autistic adults during this time, and gives crucial advice for self-advocacy.  Join us for this important conversational podcast.

Pilot: Introduction to Today's Autistic Moment.   Why a podcast for Autistic Adults?  During the pilot, Philip tells of why he is making the podcast, his goals, the topics and questions.  Hear the list of do's and don'ts for the podcast.  Hear more about who Philip is and why producing this podcast is so important to him.  Click to download and listen.  Enjoy the show