A relaxed conversational style podcast from two autistic people discussing various topics around autism from their own perspective and experience, things from the autism community and some academic research.
20/11/2022
Years ago we did some talks and wanted to attempt a video. It went awful but we laughed endlessly so Melissa put together a blooper reel of it. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hPB6Ocmu_h4
CW for dark humour, mention of alcohol and one swearing moment
Captions are in progress but Sophie has never done them before so its not quite going to plan, especially with executive dysfunction!
Captions are in progress and will be added by the end of November, Sophie hasn't done them before, so its erm delayed. Years ago (pre-podcast) both of us wer...
19/11/2022
Hello everyone!
This page is still *active* (sophie occasionally remembers to check) and we plan to be more active on social media while we plot the podcast.
We always said that it was never going to be regular due to being students and a pandemic obviously made things a lot harder especially for us. Increased demands meant we haven't been able to consistently bring anything back but we are in dicussion mode at the moment.
With twitter being precarious right now this post is mainly a reminder that we are here and also over on instagram autism_by_autistics. We are not planning to leave our twitter either @ AutisticsTalk.
Is there anything you would like to see on our socials, Sophie manages the Twitter and Facebook and Melissa manages the instagram. I am looking for suggestions!
-Sophie
18/03/2021
This week has been Neurodiversity celebration week.
In our first episode we talked about what it is like being autistic as well as our much loved Lemur explanation from Melissa.
Throughout the podcast we have talked about some of the positives we find in being autistic.
What positives do you find in being neurodivergent?
12/03/2021
Hello all!
Quick update on life and podcasting, long story short, very busy for us both. Big unknown around the podcast schedule.
But, I am starting to make some more social media plans for Facebook and twitter, let me know what you'd like to see and discuss!
-Sophie
12/03/2021
Hey everyone!
Recently both of us appeared as guests on another podcast, The Mental Health Check In Podcast.
We had a lovely time discussing autism, pandemic life and mental health.
Show Mental Health Check-In Podcast, Ep "Autism by Autistics" feat. Sophie Williams and Melissa Chapple - Mar 7, 2021
08/01/2021
Happy Friday!
This week we are taking a break while we adapt to the new year. Do take the time to check out our previous episodes, if you already have which is your favourite?
Stay safe everyone!
31/12/2020
Hi everyone!
Yesterday evening we uploaded our Christmas episode. It is an informal chat about our favourite decorations, foods, media and some christmas memories from both of us.
Happy new years eve to all hope you all find ways to enjoy your evening!
23/12/2020
Hi everyone!
Another Wednesday another episode of Autistics in the Wild.
This week’s episode has more talk around being autistic including reduced sensory tolerance and autism vs concerts as well as a lot more of our general chatter.
Content warnings include: mention of having to read ABA research (no details at all) and pandemic chat.
Any feedback on if people are enjoying the new format and new series would be appreciated!
Hope you enjoy the episode and the rest of the evening.
This week on Autistics in the Wild we have better audio for Sophie to provide you with topics such as Melissa vs keeping tea in the cup, books, Sophie’s deep love of Eurovision, autism vs concerts, reduced sensory coping, the reason for the episode title and more. Do be aware each episode in this ...
18/12/2020
Hello all!
Really exciting news is that this week we launched the new episode of our series 1.5 which we have titled Autistics in the Wild as these episodes will be more informal and rather than being focussed on a specific autism related topic is simply us two talking about anything and everything with autism somewhere in the mix as it is us!
We believe these episodes provide a different insight into being autistic because there is an everyday side to our existence as well.
Episode one will go over why we have been gone for about a year besides the obvious pandemic as well as why we call the series what we have done.
Fair warning is that there are audio issues, we have never recorded via distance before so it has been a learning curve for us both and hopefully in an episode or 2 we will have figured it out! Do stick with us.
We hope you all enjoy the new format and the episode should be out on all major podcast platforms now. Do let us know your thoughts!
Stay safe and enjoy our return!
-Sophie
14/12/2020
So we recorded one of the informal episodes today. Some technical issues so stick with us as we figure out how to do this via distance and different tech.
We also had to listen to an intro of an old episode to remember how we did that!
Both of us had lots of fun though and now as Melissa edits we are having lots of confusion.
Once we figure out scheduling we will update you all.
06/12/2020
06/12/2020
06/12/2020
Hello everyone,
Apologies it has been such a long time since I (Sophie) posted here and since we have done a new podcast episode. A combination of personal circumstances, studies, illness and then the pandemic made it impossible to record. However, we are currently planning to change our set up to record online and bring more content to you all.
Our current plan is to release an episode we recorded over a year ago on travel we have archived then do a pandemic episode talking about that and the impact that has had which will round off season 1.
We then plan to pre-record season 2 episodes so we have them all ready to go for release in Spring hopefully. While we are doing that we are going to do what we have been calling tea break episodes similar in style to our World Mental Health day podcast where it is more of a conversation between us two with less structure.
The tea break episodes will not be themed on a topic relating to autism but be more casual and unstructured to an extent. Of course being us autism and likely mental health will be mentioned it just will not be the sole focus. Instead we will be talking about what we have been up to and general chatter.
Of course this is a very different set up so do let us know any concerns or feedback and especially if you do like the sound of this format. I personally think it will provide insights into what autistic friendship and general existence is like.
Stay safe, wear a mask (properly) unless you cannot and social distance!
-Sophie
02/04/2020
As much as the World Health Organisation are doing their best with COVID-19, today they posted harmful stereotypes about autism for World Autism Day. So for clarity, from someone who is autistic and works as an autism researcher:
- people don't develop autism, it's a difference in neurological cognition that we're born with
- autism always persists throughout life, it's a life long difference
- it isn't necessarily a bad thing, we have advantages and disadvantages same as anyone does with their cognition regardless of whether you're neurodiverse or not
- society is not yet sensitive to neurodiversity, things are better than ever but have a long way to go. If environments were more autism-friendly and people more understanding we'd have a lot less in the way of disadvantages
- we do like to socialise (just with periods of alone time and in smaller groups or one on one), we can empathise and we have lots of emotions
- interventions that seek to support e.g. Explain things to us, show us how things work and keep us healthy and happy are useful
- 'treatments' which can be medical or behavioural (I.e. ABA) are like conversion therapies that cause immense amount of damage to autistics especially on a psychological level and 'evidence' of improvements is vastly floored
Regardless of WHO advice, if you're close to someone autistic or work with autistics 1) try and understand their unique perspective as they try to understand yours 2) be supportive and treat us like you would anyone else 3) do not consider harmful 'treatments' we can be supported, we cannot be treated, one day the community fight against ABA and other harmful interventions will hopefully work but right now we need societal level understanding
- Written by Melissa
19/10/2019
Sorry for the lack of posts, hosts have been ill which means I (sophie) have neglected the social media. We had no episodes this week due to both hosts being ill but last week we did upload twice! Our usual podcast on Sensory Processing and a Mental Health day special!!
This week we discuss overload, meltdown, burnout and we mention shutdown which are experiences not always talked about as often as they should. Melissa expla...
The YouTube video will be released later to tomorrow due to some issues in its creation.
This week we discuss overload, meltdown, burnout and we mention shutdown which are experiences not always talked about as often as they should. Melissa explains block theory (version of spoon theory), Sophie moans about the stress of having a new kitchen being fitted alongside both discussing what e...
31/08/2019
Episode 4 is now up. This week we discuss socialisation.
We also mention research by Catherine Crompton and Sue Fletcher Watson from Edinburgh University, more information can be found here http://dart.ed.ac.uk/research/nd-iq/
In this episode we discuss socialisation from social chit chat, Melissa's struggle with the greeting 'alright', Sophie's panic question, the difference betwe...
Episode 3 will be out tomorrow! This week we talk about disclosure, a huge choice to make when you are autistic.
We talk about it with honesty, some humour and personal experience as usual.
Lookout at 9am tomorrow!
16/08/2019
Unfortunately there will not be an episode this week.
Good news is there are 2 available to listen to if you haven't already and we are on even more platforms!
Weekly episodes will return next week!
I also made it available for download on soundcloud so please do not abuse this power. Also please leave us an iTunes review!
Join Melissa and Sophie as they discuss various topics surrounding autism from personal viewpoints, own experience, the autistic community and academic research.
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Join Melissa and Sophie as they embark on a podcast adventure. This first episode looks at the big question of what it is like to be autistic. From not actually knowing, to never being asked, finally
We discuss what it is like to be autistic From not knowing, to not being asked, finally figuring it out and having to hide it. Also we talk about lemurs.
When it is processed on other sites we will tweet more links!
Join Melissa and Sophie as they discuss various topics surrounding autism from personal viewpoints, own experience, the autistic community and academic research.
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Why a podcast?
Autism by Autistics is an autism advocacy and informative venture by Melissa Chapple and Sophie Williams, two autistic students from the University of Liverpool. Melissa is currently working towards a PhD on Reading and Autism with aims to look at how reading can be used to connect autistic people and non-autistic people (neurotypicals). Sophie is an undergraduate about to enter her final year of her Psychology degree with a research project on carers of autistic adults with hopes to pursue further research around autism.
As autistic women within the circles of Academia and a society that very much misunderstands autism and is often ignorant towards neurodiversity as a whole, we decided a podcast is another avenue to have open and honest conversations about what autism is and many specifics and topics surrounding it from the perspective of two autistic people themselves.
There is a huge movement happening around autism of giving autistic people the platforms to have our voices heard and the first ones to be listened to. Who better to talk about autism than autistic people? What better platform than a podcast?
Naturally a podcast felt like a fantastic way to do this especially combined with other advocacy work we both do together and as individuals. It allows us to reach anyone and everyone. To have those open and honest conversations with each other exploring questions we somehow haven’t gotten round to asking each other yet or hadn’t even thought of. To talk about questions we get asked often as well as the questions we believe people should be asking.
We opted for a casual conversational style letting our friendship and natural openness with each other create a relaxed but informative podcast intermixed with the general laughter and ridiculous conversations we somehow always find ourselves having no matter the topic or tone of a conversation.
We hope anyone who listens takes something away from any episode that we do, a new outlook on autism, learning something they didn’t know before, finding solidarity in knowing there are others with the same viewpoint you do or even a smile and a chuckle from something we say.
Please enjoy our podcast and let us know what you think!
