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Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America

by Tabitha Zeigler

Tabitha Zeigler hosts a fiery, truth-packed podcast filled with people doing the work in the trenches for autism and neurodiversity advocacy. These everyday heroes are leading the way for the next generation. At a time when so much is at stake, ordinary individuals rise up to fill the inequalities in our society. Join us in our struggles and triumphs while trying to provide resources, access, and programs for all. We welcome you to the fight. Learn more at https://staringdownthestorm.com

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Episodes

  1. When Power Goes Unchecked, Who Pays the Price? With Nicole Locklin

    What happens when you stop yelling at the television and decide to actually run for Congress? That’s where my conversation with Nicole Locklin begins. Nicole is an attorney, a late-diagnosed neurodivergent woman, a survivor, and now a candidate for Florida’s 26th Congressional District. She…

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  2. The Graceful Revolution: Leading From the Heart. With Dr. Melissa Bird

    What happened to the idea that loving your neighbor, caring for your community, and wanting a better life for everyone were simply… good things? Why have we allowed compassion to become a political position? I sat down with Dr. Melissa Bird for a conversation about Indigenous sovereignty…

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  3. They Don’t Live in the Country they Govern! Who is America Working For? With Dr. Mariah Lancaster

    What happens when the people making decisions about our lives have never had to worry about making rent, paying for healthcare, or watching student debt grow despite making every payment? I sat down with Dr. Mariah Lancaster, a veterinarian, former federal employee, and congressional candidate in...

  4. Can Humanity Survive Modern Politics? With Mike Stringham, Cefore X. Plosives.

    In this conversation, I sat down with Mike Stringham of Cefore X. Plosives, to tackle a question that feels more urgent than ever: what happens when ordinary people stop speaking up? We dug into corruption, political manipulation, systemic injustice, and why so many of us have been conditioned to...

  5. When Suing Becomes Policy: A Mother's Fight Against the System. With Kay Anderson

    As parents, we're told to trust the education system. But what happens when that system isn't built for your child? And worse—what happens when advocating for your child comes with legal threats and financial consequences? That's exactly what I unpack with Kay Anderson, a mom of two incredible...

  6. Politics Without Humanity Isn't Leadership. With Chelsey Hockett

    What pushes someone to run for Congress? For Chelsey Hockett, it wasn't ambition - it was reaching a point where staying silent was no longer an option. We talk about immigration, racism, political division, and why so many mothers are stepping into leadership because they're tired of watching…

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  7. Why Compassion Feels So Radical Today. With Melissa Fisher & Erica Pearson at New Wave Wellness.

    What happens when we stop seeing people as diagnoses, case numbers, or "clients"—and start seeing them as human beings again? That's exactly the conversation I wanted to have with Melissa Fisher and Erica Pearson, the co-founders of New Wave Wellness. Their stories are deeply personal, but what...

  8. How LGBTQ+ People Became the Target of a Mistranslation of Biblical Proportions. With Rocky Roggio

    I sat down with Rocky Roggio, filmmaker, advocate, and someone who isn’t afraid to challenge deeply held assumptions about faith, identity, and power. We talked about her work exposing misinformation surrounding the Bible—particularly the ways scripture has been used, and often misused, against...

  9. We Keep Asking Families to Do the Impossible. With Tiffany Neal

    For years, we've been told that autism advocacy is about awareness. But what if awareness isn't enough anymore? What if the real challenge is building communities that actually support families, caregivers, and autistic individuals where they live—especially in places that often get overlooked?…

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  10. Building a More Inclusive Georgia. With Bella Bautista

    What does it mean to truly represent a community that has been pushed to the margins? That's the focus of my conversation with Bella Bautista, the Democratic nominee for Georgia House District 14. Bella shared her journey into politics, her experiences as a trans woman in the South, and her...

  11. The Working Class Has No Party. With Andrew Rice

    What happens when the people who claim to represent us stop listening to the people they're supposed to serve? That's the question at the heart of my conversation with Andrew Rice, who is challenging a long-time incumbent and taking aim at what he sees as a Democratic Party more interested in...

  12. Connecting Through Podcasting: A New Era of Advocacy. With Carlos Gomez

    At what point do we stop pretending the system is working? That’s the question I kept coming back to in this conversation with Carlos Gomez, better known as Coconut Justice. Carlos walked away from corporate advertising and started using his creative skills to support grassroots political...

  13. Your Life Gets Bigger the Moment You Leap. With Chad Ennis

    Chad Ennis doesn’t fit neatly into a box — and honestly, that’s the point. In this conversation, we talked about identity, travel, race, power, education, masculinity, and what happens when you finally stop performing the version of yourself the world expects. Chad shared stories about growing up...

  14. Campaign Debrief: Reflections From the Trail, and on the State of America

    Early this year, I decided to leave my job with the US Postal Service and become a candidate for Indiana's 8th Congressional District, in this fall's midterm election. With the primary on May 5th, I had roughly three months to get set up, attend events, gain recognition and most of all, learn…

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  15. Autism Isn’t The Problem - Ignorance Is. With Brianna Newhart

    What happens when the life you built your identity around suddenly stops making sense? That’s what I talked about with Brianna Newhart — creator of “Recovered Republican” — and this conversation goes way beyond politics. We talked about grief, religion, autism, disability, misinformation, and the...

  16. The Disability System is Collapsing. With Taylor Hines

    I’m still thinking about my conversation with Taylor Hines where we didn’t sugarcoat a single thing. What’s happening to families navigating disability right now isn’t just frustrating—it’s unacceptable. Services are being slashed, hours reduced, and the people making these decisions? Many of…

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  17. How Much Should a Parent Have to Fight to Keep Their Child Alive? With Erika Thomison

    I sat down with my friend Erica Thomison, and honestly, I’m still angry. Not at her—at the system. Because how is it that a mom with a master’s in social work, someone who knows how to navigate the maze, is still spending 20+ hours on the phone just to get life-saving medication for her son? What...

  18. From Fighting Fires To Fighting For Florida. With Bernard Taylor

    I sat down with Bernard Taylor, a firefighter turned congressional candidate, and this conversation didn’t feel like politics - it felt like a reality check. When you’re responding to 911 calls and seeing how people actually live, you don’t get to hide behind talking points. You see the...

  19. We’re Lying About War - And Veterans Are Paying For It. With Melinda Grisby

    We need to stop lying about war. Not softening it. Not dressing it up. Lying. Because what Melinda Grisby shared with me isn’t the version you see in movies—it’s the version we actively avoid. Limbs torn apart. Burned bodies. Children caught in the blast radius. So let me ask you—why are we still...

  20. Democracy for Who? Not You. The Truth About Ballot Access. With Bri Woodson

    I don’t think we talk enough about where leaders actually come from—and what they’ve had to survive to get here. In this conversation, Bri Woodson shares a story that is anything but polished politics. Addiction. Trafficking. A suicide attempt. Medical neglect. Grief. And somehow, through all of...

  21. The Price of “Cost Cutting” in Disability Care: Protect Your Child's Future. With Yolanda Kincaid

    Last year, I met with Yolanda Kincaid, CEO of Sycamore Services, and we had one of those conversations that makes you stop and ask: who exactly are these policies supposed to help? Because right now, it feels like families are being told their child is “done” with support based on a number on a...

  22. AI, Data Centers, and Indiana Farmland: What’s Really Happening. With Barbara Bessolo

    This episode kicks off the first conversation in a new series I’m doing with Barbara Busolo, and let me tell you — we’re not easing into this topic gently. If you’ve been hearing nonstop hype about AI lately and wondering what’s actually real versus what’s marketing, you’re not alone. I’ve been...

  23. The Political System Isn’t Broken — It’s Corrupt. Enough Is Enough. With Jackson Franklin

    I sat down with Jackson Franklin, and this wasn’t a polite political conversation. This was someone saying out loud what most politicians are too afraid to admit: the system isn’t broken by accident — it’s working exactly the way the powerful want it to. A combat medic, a paramedic, and now a...

  24. Storytelling Transcends Labels: Disability, Empathy, and Advocacy. With Mitch Stevens

    We have two episodes for you this week! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the stories we tell ourselves about other people. Especially when it comes to disability. Why do we assume limitation before we ever take the time to understand the person standing in front of us? In this episode, I sat...

  25. “Don’t Comply in Advance.” Courage in Rural American Politics. With Natasha Baker

    What happens when you grow up surrounded by one political worldview… and realize it just doesn’t fit? That’s exactly the journey Natasha Baker shares in this conversation. Raised in a deeply conservative Hoosier family, Natasha didn’t suddenly become “political.” She simply started asking...

  26. “God Don’t Make No Junk!” With Dr. Stuart Jones, part 2

    Last week, Dr. Stuart Jones and I started a conversation about disability advocacy, faith, and the responsibility we all have to stand up for people who are too often ignored. This week, we keep going—and honestly, we go deeper. Stuart shares powerful stories about his brother Stephen and the...

  27. The Invisibility of Disability: Stephen’s Story and the Fight to Be Seen. With Dr. Stuart Jones

    I sat down with Dr. Stuart Jones to talk about For the Love of Stephen — but this conversation is bigger than one book. It’s about who we decide is fully human. When Stuart’s brother Stephen was born in 1954, his parents were told to institutionalize him. Put him away. Out of sight, out of mind....

  28. “Jesus Would Be Flipping Tables.” Faith, Race & Refusing to Stay Silent. With Jaclyn Peterson

    What happens when your very existence challenges the boxes society demands you check? This week, Jaclyn Peterson and I go deep — into ancestry, apartheid, passing, and the audacity of being told to “pick a race.” From her South African Cape Colored heritage to growing up an Air Force brat in...

  29. Who Told You Who You Are? Decolonizing Identity, with Melinda Grisby

    What if the system isn’t broken—what if it’s working exactly as designed? I sat down with Melinda Grisby to talk about decolonization as more than a buzzword. We unpack whiteness as ideology, privilege as proximity to power, and how nationalism and capitalism rely on keeping us divided. If we’re...

  30. Power, Pain, and the $30,000 Price Tag. With Sierra Martin, part 2

    Last week, Sierra Martin and I opened the door. This week, we walk straight through it. The baby is babbling in the background of this episode, and honestly, it’s the perfect soundtrack. Because this conversation is about who we claim to value—and who we actually take care of. Sierra was 18 when...

  31. How Power Betrays Communities - and Calls It Policy. With Sierra Martin, part 1

    I sat down with Sierra Martin - a full-time student, mother, and someone done pretending power is accidental. We talked about Arab history in Indiana, post-9/11 surveillance, how fear is manufactured to justify erasure. We traced the throughline from stripped cultural education to Zionism as a...

  32. Autism, Power, and the Women Who Were Never Heard, with Jennifer David

    I’m deep in my own origin story right now, so this conversation with Jennifer David landed hard. Jennifer is a board-certified behavior analyst, an autistic woman, and an advocate who understands—intimately—the cost of being the one who speaks up. We talk genealogy, identity, and the…

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  33. Rethinking Stuttering, Disability, and Dignity: Conversation with Andy Fitzenrider

    We say we value communication — but do we really? Or do we only value it when it looks, sounds, and feels the way we expect it to? In this episode, I sit down with Andy Fitzenrider, a passionate advocate for people who stutter, to talk about what happens when society decides there’s only one...

  34. Every Life Has Value - Are We Acting Like It? Conversation with Mary Pat Torbeck

    When Mary Pat Torbeck first heard the word autism, the statistic she was given was one in thirty thousand. That was 1989. What happens when you raise children with autism before there were services, language, or even a willingness to say the word out loud? And what happens when, decades later, we...

  35. From Flight Attendant to Autism Advocate: Getting to Know Tabitha

    Did you know that Tabitha, our dear host and guide, grew up in rural Indiana, attended both University of Southern Indiana and Indiana State, learned French, considered the military, and then stumbled into the field she would end up working in for 17 years: a flight attendant in the airline...

  36. From Pulpits to Pavement: Redefining Service, Faith, and Responsibility with Allies for Humanity

    The word gratitude gets thrown around a lot. But gratitude without action is just a performance. In this episode, I sat down with KT White and Brenda Killeen of Allies for Humanity to have an honest, necessary conversation about what real service actually looks like — especially when it comes to...

  37. When “Guidelines” Become Weapons Against Small Farmers, with Tad Streepey

    I grew up on a homestead, so I’ve always understood the value of growing your own food — not as a trend, but as a way of life. That’s why this conversation with Tad Streepey of Gypsy Rain Organics hit such a nerve for me. At its core, this episode isn’t just about organic farming. It’s about…

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  38. Neurospicy Families, Tracing Roots, and the Courage to Be Aligned, with Charlie Biluck

    Growing up in a neurodivergent family doesn’t come with a manual — it comes with chaos, humor, grief, resilience, and a crash course in empathy. In this conversation, Charlie Biluck and I get honest about what it really means to live inside a “neurospicy” family system, where love is fierce,...

  39. Transforming Disabilities into Abilities: The JD Angel's Family Care Story

    In this episode of Staring Down the Storm, I sit down with the incredible team from JD Angel’s Family Care to talk about what it really means to support individuals with intellectual disabilities—and why so many systems keep failing them. We dig into the origin of the organization, which started...

  40. A Bold Conversation with David Delisle: How Our Choices Shape Money, Culture & Community

    I’ll be honest: the conversation we should be having about financial literacy is so much bigger than budgets and bank accounts. It’s about values, agency, and the courage to question systems we treat as inevitable. That’s why I wanted to talk with David Delisle — because he’s not just teaching…

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  41. Turning Disability Advocacy Into Art: The Rise of The Gypsy King, with Caleb Banks & Amy Betzold

    I’m struck by how much of Caleb Banks and Amy Betzold’s journey began with one radical choice: taking Caleb’s ideas seriously. A single painted horse sparked The Gypsy King, and together they built an entire world from it. Why do we treat kids’ creative instincts as optional instead of worthy of...

  42. "Growing Up Misunderstood," The Neurodivergent Reality. Conversation with Erin Geddes

    In this episode, I sit down with Erin Geddes to explore the emotional and often overlooked experience of growing up neurodivergent without a diagnosis. She shares what it feels like to move through childhood and adulthood believing you’re “not trying hard enough,” when the real issue is that the...

  43. Allies For Humanity, part 2: "Community Engagement is Vital for Creating Change," with TK & KT

    We continue our conversation with TK & KT of Allies for Humanity, focusing on the importance of advocacy for autism and the need for community engagement to create meaningful change. We explore the impact of foster care on children, particularly those with autism, and emphasize the collective...

  44. Allies For Humanity, part 1: "Showing Up in Love Fosters Positive Interaction," With TK & KT

    In the first of a two-part episode, I am so pleased to welcome my friends TK and KT to the podcast. They are the co-founders of Allies For Humanity in Indianapolis, an organization dedicated not just to housing those in need but to building strong, healthy communities. In part one, we explore the...

  45. "We Must Decide What Battles are Worth Fighting For." Conversation with Kari Sheward

    Kari Sheward of the Tangram organization in Indianapolis joins me today to talk about their coaching and support work for people with disabilities, but also her perspective on advocacy and choosing the battles that are necessary. We get pulled in many directions, but this is what brings us back…

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  46. The Autism Female Empowerment Movement. Conversation with N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas

    In this week's episode, I travel to Oklahoma to meet N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, candidate for US Senate, who shares her journey as an autism mom, nurse, and military spouse. Jasmine and I discuss the importance of indigenous rights, environmental stewardship, and the role of matriarchy in her…

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  47. A Hopeful Future Includes a More Inclusive Workforce. Conversation with Jennifer Wiese

    Jennifer Wiese joins me to talk about the importance of including people with disabilities in the workforce, addressing the stigma and barriers that still exist. Jen is well placed to have a keen perspective on this, as she is the owner with her husband of BeeFree, producers of gluten-free snacks...

  48. Traveling with Accessibility in Mind. Conversation with Phoenyx Powell

    My friend Phoenyx Powell joins me to share her journey as an advocate for accessible travel, discussing her personal experiences with chronic illness, neurodivergence, and the impact of a traumatic brain injury. Phoenyx emphasizes the importance of pacing oneself while traveling, the need for...

  49. Improving Cultural Awareness thru Travel & Mindfulness. With Moulay Hicham Aamalki & Kenia Aamalki

    I have a bonus episode for you this week (in addition to my upcoming conversation with my friend Phoenyx), which features my friend Moulay Hicham Aamalki and his wife Kenia, who lead wellness retreats to Morocco. In fact, they have an upcoming trip that runs from October 26-31 and there is one…

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  50. How Do We Depoliticize our Health Care? with Sarah McCorkle

    With the unfortunate and completely unnecessary "announcements" over the past couple weeks, trying to link Tylenol with autism, scaring mothers and pregnant women, and perhaps worst of all, dragging the stigma of shame and doubt back into families with autism - we need to talk. And that's what…

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Tabitha Zeigler hosts a fiery, truth-packed podcast filled with people doing the work in the trenches for autism and neurodiversity advocacy.

These everyday heroes are leading the way for the next generation. At a time when so much is at stake, ordinary individuals rise up to fill the inequalities in our society.

Join us in our struggles and triumphs while trying to provide resources, access, and programs for all.

We welcome you to the fight.

Learn more at https://staringdownthestorm.com

HOSTED BY

Tabitha Zeigler

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America have?

Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America currently has 73 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America about?

Tabitha Zeigler hosts a fiery, truth-packed podcast filled with people doing the work in the trenches for autism and neurodiversity advocacy. These everyday heroes are leading the way for the next generation. At a time when so much is at stake, ordinary individuals rise up to fill the inequalities...

How often does Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America release new episodes?

Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America has 73 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

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Who hosts Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America?

Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America is created and hosted by Tabitha Zeigler.
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