#96 Discovering You're Autistic Later In Life; An Interview with Ellen Shepherd

Ellen Shepherd is a coach specialising in working with women who have been diagnosed with autism in later life. Find her at unjumbled.me. Ellen is a Mother to a little girl (and a cat called Peppercorn) and she based in South East London, UK.Ellen and I met at a women's circle at the beginning of 2025, led by Zoe Charles (who runs 'The Cheek Of It!' school of Burlesque and Cabaret) and it's great to talk about this topic that is common to SO many women I know.TRIGGER WARNING: From 45 minutes 40 seconds to 47 minutes Ellen speaks about early pregnancy loss/miscarriage.From 47 minutes to 48 minutes Ellen speaks about having a beautiful birth experience which turned difficult so please go gently if this may be triggering.In this episode we speak about:a bit about Ellen's *journey being diagnosed and how it led to the work she does (*Ellen thought she was 'just' anxious before learning more and getting diagnosed)figuring out our emotions and how to process them in a healthy waynot comparing ourselves to everyone's different experiencesEllen's two deeply POWERFUL whysexpressing our rage and why it mattersthe process of getting an autism diagnosis, finally quietening the curiosity about it AND the reactions of people around her when declaring her diagnosishow motherhood can be such a melting pot and brings things up to explore/processhaving our needs met and not gaslighting ourselves into gratitudeThemes: autism, ableism, processing emotions, healing, parenting, motherhood, matrescence, early pregnancy loss/miscarriageWe mention Zoe Charles, Glennon Doyle, Minna Dubin, Audre Lorde, Jane Hardwicke Collings, Cath Counihan, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz and Cleo Wade.To learn more about Ellen see here on her website. And to connect with Ellen on Instagram click here.At the end, I read a poem written by Jessica Jocelyn.Did you enjoy this episode? If so, I would really appreciate it if you could please leave a review on the platform that you listen. For more insights and to contact me you can find me on Instagram, and/or on my website: www.lucywyldecoaching.com.