"His Name Is John": magnAUtism & allyship in Luke 1

A clip from a full episode of Laura Sommer's Autistic Liberation Theology podcast in which Avery and Laura discuss John the Baptist and his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah. The two friends connect John's joyful leaping in the womb to Laura's coined term "magnAUtism" — the way autistic persons are drawn to and connect with one another. They also discuss how Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah are impacted by the autistic joy & defiance of their children even before and just after birth — especially how Zechariah's insistence "his name is John" makes him a patron saint of the parents of trans children today. Episode transcript. Content Warning: brief discussion of ableist violence, antiblack violence. Talking Points:  (0:00 - 9:14) Introducing the topic; MagnAUtism, "autistic oxygen" (9:15 - 15:17) Autistic gifts to the whole community: joy, defiance, questioning the status quo (15:18 - 18:04) The wrong and right ways to react to an autistic child — "be your child's first ally, not their first bully" (18:05 - 25:02) "His name is John!" Zechariah as patron saint of parents of trans kids (25:03 - 29:20) Autistic John the Baptist (29:21 - end) Wrapping up __ Blessed Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast   Network. Find more shows at  www.rockcandyrecordings.com. This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn.