PODCAST · science
The Autistic VOICE Project
by The Autistic VOICE Project
VOICE stands for Validating Our Identity, Culture, and Experience. This is a show led by Autistic professionals who talk about Autistic experiences and how to live happier and healthier Autistic lives. We'll be joined by Autistic people from different walks of life in search of finding ways to live more authentically Autistic!Want to reach us? Please email [email protected]
Episodes
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Episode 48: Leaky Foundations, Low Spoons, and Building Something That Lasts
Matt and Erin are wrapping up Season 1 of The Autistic VOICE Project this week — and after 48 episodes, they’re talking honestly about burnout, sustainability, community, and what it takes to keep showing up as Autistic people doing work they care about. We cover: Why we're taking a summer break...
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Episode 47: Friend-Shaped People, Autism Sparkle, and the Spreadsheet Method of Making Friends
Matt, Erin, and friend of the show Hunter Hammersen are here this week talking about something a whole lot of Autistic people want and struggle with at the same time: friendship. Specifically, how do you make local, in-person friends when leaving the house already feels exhausting? Hunter shares...
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Episode 46: Autistic Grief, Co-Regulation, and the People Who Keep Us Human
Matt and Erin are back for another mailbag episode — and this one gets deeply personal. From losing an “anchor person” to navigating autistic grief, relationships, PDA parenting, and co-regulation, this episode explores what happens when the people who help hold our world together are suddenly…
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Episode 45: Nintendo Fidgets, Neutrality, and the Nervous System We Forgot About
Matt, Erin, and guest Nyck Walsh are here this week — and this episode turns into a really good conversation about somatic therapy, autistic processing, nervous systems, sensory joy, and why neutrality can feel radical when your body has spent years stuck in survival mode. We talk about: Rocks,...
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Episode 44: Perimenopause, Medical Gaslighting, and Figuring It Out Without a Map
This episode gets into perimenopause through an autistic lens—what it actually feels like, why it hits differently in autistic bodies, and how little real guidance exists. Matt, Erin, and Eleda talk through the biology, the lived experience, and the frustration of trying to make sense of…
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Episode 43: Special Interests, Safe Spaces, and Saying No to Shame
Matt, Erin, and Eleda get into special interests, collections, and what it means to have a space where Autistic joy isn’t hidden—it’s the whole point. This one’s about building community through the things we love, and why that matters more than most people realize. We cover: Turning a business...
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Episode 42: Horses, Hyperfocus, and the Accidental Autistic Gathering Place
Matt and Erin are joined by Eleda Towle, an Autistic store owner whose lifelong focus on model horses turned into a business—and a gathering place for other Autistic people. This one moves the way Autistic conversations often do: tangents, deep dives, and a lot of “wait, that connects to this.”...
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Episode 41: Crystals, Experiments, and Figuring Out Who You Are (Without Losing Yourself)
Matt, Erin, and Jamie Roberts are here this week—and we get into identity development for autistic teens, the pressure to turn yourself into something “useful,” and what it actually looks like to figure out who you are when the world keeps handing you scripts that don’t fit. It’s real, a little...
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Episode 40: Teen Girls, Missed Diagnoses, and the Cost of Just Calling It Anxiety
Matt, Erin, and guest Jamie Roberts sit down to talk about autistic teen girls—the ones who get missed, mislabeled, and pushed through systems that don’t fit. This is about what’s actually happening underneath the behaviors adults dismiss. Highlights: Why teen girls are overlooked in...
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Episode 39: Chaos, Data Gaps, and Why “Just Wing It” Is Not a Real Strategy
This week, we’re talking about chaos—the real kind. The kind that shows up in your body, your routines, your relationships, and your nervous system. Matt and Erin break down what it actually means to be a bottom-up processor in a world that expects you to “just wing it,” and why autistic people...
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Episode 38: Gatekeeping, Theory of Mind, and Why Awareness Keeps Missing the Point
Matt and Erin take this one straight on: why autism “awareness” looks the way it does—and who built it that way. This is about power, bad science, and what happens when non-autistic voices control the narrative. Highlights from this episode: • Why outdated theories (like “lack of theory of mind”)...
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Episode 37: Shop Titans, Small Talk Scripts, and the Autistic Art of Socializing
Small talk is weird. Especially when you’re autistic. This week, Matt, Erin, and returning guest Dr. Kade Sharp dig into why neurotypical small talk revolves around scripts like weather and sports, while autistic conversations often jump straight into deeper topics, shared interests, and joyful...
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Episode 36: Driver’s Licenses, Gatekeeping, and Why Bullies Love Bureaucracy
This week’s episode happened fast. Matt and Erin pulled in returning guest Dr. Kade Sharp to talk through a situation unfolding in real time—and why it matters far beyond one state. We talk about the sudden policy in Kansas invalidating driver’s licenses for many trans people, what that actually...
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Episode 35: PDA, Breadsticks, and the Persistent Drive for Autonomy
Matt and Erin flip the script this week — Erin takes the lead, and Matt talks about living as a PDAer. It’s direct. It’s personal. And yes, there are breadsticks. We’re talking about what PDA actually is (and isn’t), why “pathological demand avoidance” misses the point, and what changes when we...
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Episode 34: Safety, Spark, and the Autistic Refusal to Shrink
Matt, Erin, and returning guest Kate McNulty are back — and this one moves from burnout to shame to safety, with stops at birds, clocks, and emotional support cheese. We’re talking about what happens when your spark goes out… and how to find it again without shaming yourself into motion. We…
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Episode 33: Rain Man, Cornflakes, and the Regulation Nobody Talks About
Matt and Erin are joined this week by Kate McNulty, LCSW — therapist, teacher, late-identified Autistic human, and one of our own. We start with “special interests”… and end up square dancing, grinding coffee beans, and dismantling white supremacy. So. You know. A normal episode.We talk about:...
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Episode 32: Discipline, Dysregulation, and Why Punishment Doesn’t Work
This week is a mailbag episode, and Erin and Matt take on two common questions from allistic listeners that come up constantly in real life. Both questions sound simple. Neither one is. Episode highlights: If ABA is harmful, does that mean all discipline or behaviorism is bad — and what…
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Episode 31: Shutdown, Overdrive, and Other Ways Autistic Bodies Say “Enough”
This week, Matt and Erin slow things down and talk plainly about stress — what it actually does to autistic bodies, and why it hits so hard. From shutdowns and migraines to doomscrolling, snacks, and dogs who run bedtime, this is a lived-in conversation about surviving a loud world. We cover: Why...
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Episode 30: Threat, Trauma, and Why “Just Don’t Look” Isn’t an Option for Us
This week’s episode is heavy. Matt and Erin slow things down to talk plainly about safety, community, and what it means to stay human when systems built on control and cruelty become more visible. This is a grounding conversation about fear, responsibility, and why autistic ways of seeing the…
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Episode 29: Belonging, Burnout, and Why Kids Need Somewhere Safe to Land
Matt and Erin are back with returning guest Maisie Soetantyo for a deeper, wider conversation about what happens after diagnosis—inside families, across cultures, and over a lifetime. This episode shifts from systems to home, from protocol to relationship, and from “fixing” kids to protecting...
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Episode 28: Compliance, Regulation, and the Cost of Looking “Fine”
Matt and Erin are joined this week by longtime colleague and friend of the show, Maisie Soetantyo—an openly autistic, multiply neurodivergent advocate with decades inside the autism service system. This episode is a slow, honest unpacking of what it means to start inside ABA, believe you’re...
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Episode 27: Justice Sensitivity, Content Creation, and the Trauma of Being Perceived
This week, Matt and Erin are joined by Arielle Juliette—autistic creator, studio owner, and justice-sensitive human living very online in a very loud world. We talk about trauma, visibility, and what it actually costs autistic people to speak up right now. This is a wide-ranging, honest...
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Episode 26: Movement Hunger, Belly Dance, and Letting the Nervous System Finish the Sentence
Matt and Erin are back this week with returning guest Arielle of Dance Life Studio and Fitness, and the conversation goes exactly where Autistic conversations tend to go: movement, joy, systems that don’t fit us, and what actually helps people thrive.We talk about belly dance, autistic nervous...
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Episode 25: New Year’s Dopamine, Ultimate Combos, and Why Systems Beat Resolutions
Matt and Erin sit in that strange in-between space after Christmas and before New Year’s, where everyone’s supposed to feel hopeful but most of us are just tired. This episode is a grounded, funny, very Autistic conversation about why New Year’s expectations don’t work the way people think they...
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Episode 24: Chicken Nuggets, Capitalism, and the Autistic Holiday Survival Guide
Matt and Erin are back just before Christmas, talking honestly about why the holidays are often overwhelming instead of joyful for Autistic people. This episode names the stress, the sensory overload, and the impossible expectations—and offers realistic ways to get through it. Highlights of the...
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Episode 23: Vaccines, Disinformation, and Why Autism Is Not Worse Than Death
Matt and Erin are back this week, and we’re taking on the zombie myth that refuses to stay dead: the claim that vaccines cause autism. It’s blunt, it’s necessary, and yeah—we’re not being cute about it. This episode breaks down where the lie came from, why it keeps resurfacing politically, and…
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Episode 22: Invisible Disabilities, Chronic Illness, and the Kind of Pain That Rewrites Your Life
Content note: This episode is heavier and much longer than usual. It runs about an hour and a half, and it covers medical trauma, chronic illness, and the grief that follows years of being dismissed. If you don’t have the spoons for that right now, it’s completely OK to skip it entirely or come...
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Episode 21: Food Sensitivities, Colonial Myths, and the Chaos of Family Tables
Matt and Erin are back this week with a Thanksgiving episode that’s… honestly, a lot. Food sensitivities, MCAS, sensory overload, historical truth-telling, and why beige food is basically an autistic love language. We also get into the real history behind the holiday, the weirdness of family...
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Episode 20: Executive Dysfunction, Bottom-Up Brains, and Why YouTube Broke Us Before We Even Hit Record
Matt and Erin come in hot this week after a 30-minute derailment caused by YouTube’s brand-account labyrinth. Which, of course, turns into a very on-brand deep dive into autistic executive dysfunction, bottom-up processing, and why chaotic systems wreck us more than most people realize.We cover:...
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Episode 19: Tiny Joys, Big Feelings, and the Radical Art of Being Too Much
Matt, Erin, and returning guest Hunter Hammersen (of Tiny Nonsense) are here this week — and we dive straight into the joy of doing small, “impractical” things that make the world softer. Hunter talks about the sensory comfort and connection of knitting, why autistic joy matters, and how choosing...
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Episode 18: Self-Compassion, Sunglasses, and Why Pants at 8:55 a.m. Still Count
Matt, Erin, and guest Becca Lory Hector are here this week — talking about what it means to rebuild your life after a late autism diagnosis, why “shoulds” are poison, and how self-compassion can literally save lives. Becca shares her story of getting identified at 36, how autism gave her the...
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Legends of Autistica- Chapter 3- The Halloween Dragon
Smokescale meets what appears to be a small human, until the Dragon saw through the mask.
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Episode 17: Neurotypical Privilege, Rocks, and the Autistic Love Language of Info-Dumping
Matt and Erin are back this week talking about mixed-neurotype relationships — what happens when one partner learns they’re autistic, and the other isn’t. They get into the messy, funny, and very real ways brains collide (and connect) when communication styles, sensory experiences, and love...
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Episode 16: Algorithms, Time Travel Emails, and Why Autistic Creativity Isn’t for Sale
Matt, Erin, and guest Shawn Coots (creator of the webcomic "Future Emails") are here this week — and we get into the weirdness of algorithms, the curse of self-promotion, and the joy of making art just because it feels good. From time-traveling emails to the autistic creative process, this…
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Episode 15: Fibromyalgia, Shark Boobs, and the Fine Print of Medical ‘Understanding’
Matt, Erin, and guest Dr. Stacey Greeter (psychiatrist and fellow autistic human) get real about the chaos of telling your doctor you’re autistic. From medical gaslighting to communication breakdowns, they unpack what happens when autistic patients meet a healthcare system built for everyone…
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Episode 14: Insurance, Burnout, and Why Autistic Care Still Costs Too Damn Much
Matt and Erin sit down with psychiatrist and fellow Autistic professional Dr. Stacy Greeter to talk about what it’s really like navigating healthcare — as both the patient and the provider. Together they unpack why medical systems feel so broken, how shame and burnout shape the doctor–patient...
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Episode 13: Tylenol, Smoke Screens, and Why Awareness and Acceptance Doesn’t Require Suffering
Matt, Erin, and guest Tiffany Hammond (of Fidgets and Fries and A Day With No Words) are here this week — and we dive into the Tylenol conspiracy circus, the politics of distraction, and why autistic advocacy has to push past dehumanizing narratives. We talk about balancing anger with connection,...
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Episode 12: Routines, Chaos Buffers, and Why Your To-Do List Is a Hydra
Matt and Erin dig into the everyday architecture of autistic life — routines, habits, systems, and the sacred chaos buffers that keep us from falling completely apart when the coffee runs out. We unpack why neurotypical “just make it a habit” advice fails us, how to tell the difference between...
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Bonus Episode (11.5)! Autistic Professionals respond to Tylenolgate
Matt and Erin along with Kade Sharp, PhD, LCSW; Rachel Kraus LCSW-C; Stacy Greeter, MD; and Kat Flora, MA - all Autistic and all professionals, discuss the recent declaration that Tylenol causes autism. Spoiler alert! We disagree.
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Episode 11: Scaffolding, Doom Piles, and the Autistic Art of Doing It Your Own Damn Way
Matt and Erin are back for Part 2 of the identity conversation — diving straight into how to autistify your life so you can function in a world that was definitely not built with you in mind. From dismantling bad assessment practices to designing LEGO-level organizational systems, we get into the...
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Episode 10: Self-Identification, Spoons, and the Myth That Girls Can’t Be Autistic
Matt and Erin go full “autistic agenda” this week — planning breaks, managing meat-body needs, and calling out the diagnostic nonsense that’s been gatekeeping autism for decades. From James Gunn’s echolalia table moments to the staggering scarcity of autistic clinicians, we dismantle how bias,...
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Episode 9: Murderbot, Masks, and the Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon
Matt, Erin, and guest Hunter Hammersen go deep into why Murderbot Diaries is peak autistic representation—both in Martha Wells’ books and Apple TV’s adaptation. We compare notes on Murderbot’s layers of literal and figurative masking, its deep loyalty to a few trusted people, and its preference…
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Episode 8: Love, Muffin Baskets, and the Myth of “Too Sensitive”
Matt, Erin, and returning guest Dr. Kade Sharp tackle the messy intersections of self-knowledge, love, and trauma. We break down why RuPaul’s “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell [are] you gonna love somebody else?” isn’t the full story, how neglect can be invisible until you see what…
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Episode 7: Two Genders? That’s Cute. Let’s Talk Reality.
In this episode, we pull the lid off the “just two genders” box and set it on fire—politely, with data, and some Weird Al references. Matt, Erin, and guest Dr. Kade Sharp dig into: Why autistic folks are 6–9 times more likely to be trans How bottom-up processing makes “two boxes” thinking look...
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Legends of Autistica Chapter 2- The Christmas Dragon
This was a story I wrote for my son. It's largely biographical, and it's why we have presents delivered by The Christmas Dragon each year!
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Legends of Autistica, Chapter 1 (the Legend of Autistica)
This is the legend of the Autistic people. It features a mighty warrior, a dragon, and people being forced to make small talk. Who will save them?!
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Legends of Autistica Introduction
A while back, I wrote some stories about dragons and the Autistic people. I recorded two of these stories on other podcasts, but now they're here, uninterrupted and free of commentary! Enjoy the Legends of Autistica!
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Episode 6: Stimming, Scripts, and Why “I’m Fine” Is the Biggest Lie Ever Told
In this episode, we dig into what autism actually looks like outside the narrow DSM lens—and how trauma, masking, and sensory life shape our identities and relationships. We call out the biases baked into the system and talk about what an autism-affirming perspective can look like in practice. We...
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Episode 5: Autistic Identity vs. Diagnosis, and Comic Con
This week's episode, we’re diving headfirst into autistic identity—what it means, how it differs from a medical diagnosis, and why the DSM criteria kind of miss the point. We’re also calling out the neurotypical gatekeeping that makes getting a diagnosis way harder than it needs to be. Here’s…
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Episode 4: Cassandra Syndrome, Misattunement, and Tangents We Refuse to Edit Out
In this episode, we talk about Cassandra Syndrome - what it is, why it’s a problem, and how it shows up in cross-neurotype relationships. We get into the double empathy problem, developmental trauma, and the kinds of anxiety that come from being chronically misunderstood. We also go off on some...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
VOICE stands for Validating Our Identity, Culture, and Experience. This is a show led by Autistic professionals who talk about Autistic experiences and how to live happier and healthier Autistic lives. We'll be joined by Autistic people from different walks of life in search of finding ways to live more authentically Autistic!Want to reach us? Please email [email protected]
HOSTED BY
The Autistic VOICE Project
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Autistic VOICE Project have?
The Autistic VOICE Project currently has 53 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Autistic VOICE Project about?
VOICE stands for Validating Our Identity, Culture, and Experience. This is a show led by Autistic professionals who talk about Autistic experiences and how to live happier and healthier Autistic lives. We'll be joined by Autistic people from different walks of life in search of finding ways to live...
How often does The Autistic VOICE Project release new episodes?
The Autistic VOICE Project has 53 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Autistic VOICE Project?
You can listen to The Autistic VOICE Project on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Autistic VOICE Project?
The Autistic VOICE Project is created and hosted by The Autistic VOICE Project.
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