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PODCAST

The Autistic VOICE Project

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 podcast@autisticvoiceproject.com

science social sciences

All Episodes

00:44:14

Episode 39: Chaos, Data Gaps, and Why “Just Wing It”...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/03/27

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 aren’t overreacting to unpredictability—we’re responding to a lack of usable data.Highlights:Bottom-up vs. top-down processing—and why autistic brains need more data, not fewer expectationsHow chaos shows up

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00:51:43

Episode 38: Gatekeeping, Theory of Mind, and Why...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/03/23

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power, bad science, and what happens when non-autistic voices control the narrative.Highlights from this episode:• Why outdated theories (like “lack of theory of mind”) still shape diagnosis, services, and public understanding—and why they don’t actually hold up in real autistic lives• How research built on young, white, cis boys created a distorted definition of autism that

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00:41:02

Episode 37: Shop Titans, Small Talk Scripts, and the...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/03/13

Small talk is weird. Especially when you’re autistic.This week, Matt, Erin, and Cade 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 info-dumps.Highlights from this episode:Why small talk works as “social lubrication” for neurotypicals — and why it often feels pointless or exhausting for autistic peopleHow parallel play and shared activities (like gaming) can be a

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00:51:59

Episode 36: Driver’s Licenses, Gatekeeping, and Why...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/03/07

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 means in everyday life, and why community support and mutual aid matter right now.Highlights from the episode:• What the Kansas policy means in practice—how invalidating IDs can affect driving, voting,

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00:41:12

Episode 35: PDA, Breadsticks, and the Persistent...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/02/27

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 reframe it as a persistent drive for autonomy.Highlights from this episode:Why “pathological” says more about the system than the person — and why autonomy isn’t a disorderWhat PDA feels like on the inside:

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00:44:19

Episode 34: Safety, Spark, and the Autistic Refusal...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/02/20

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 cover:• How to rebuild momentum in burnout — from “skip a step” strategies to using curiosity as fuel• What shame actually is, how it forms in dysregulated relationships, and why it disconnects us from safety•

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00:41:29

Episode 33: Rain Man, Cornflakes, and the Regulation...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/02/13

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:Kate’s late diagnosis at 60, the “lost generation,” and how stereotypes shaped by Rain Man left many of us masking for survivalWhat a “special interest” actually is: intensity, flow state, intrinsic motivation

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00:46:10

Episode 32: Discipline, Dysregulation, and Why...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/02/09

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 discipline is actually forWhy punishment fails to teach, and how it damages trust, learning, and regulationThe difference between misbehavior driven by dysregulation vs. misunderstandingWhy discipline should mean

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00:54:51

Episode 31: Shutdown, Overdrive, and Other Ways...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/01/30

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 autistic stress isn’t just “in your head,” including interoception, shutdown, overdrive, and burnoutHow bodies give clues when stress is too much — and how many of us were taught to ignore those

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00:46:59

Episode 30: Threat, Trauma, and Why “Just Don’t Look”...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/01/28

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 world matter right now.We cover:What it feels like to live under threat — and why many white autistic people are only now feeling what Black and Indigenous communities have lived with for generationsWhy

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00:46:22

Episode 29: Belonging, Burnout, and Why Kids Need...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/01/23

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 connection.We talk about parenting autistic kids without shame, why reward systems and compliance fall apart in real life, and how culture, gender, and family expectations shape autistic identity in ways the

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00:39:23

Episode 28: Compliance, Regulation, and the Cost of...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/01/17

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 helping, and then realize the system itself is doing harm.We talk about visible “progress,” invisible trauma, and the moment when following the protocol stops making sense—especially when you’re autistic yourself

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00:49:29

Episode 27: Justice Sensitivity, Content Creation,...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/01/10

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 conversation about justice sensitivity, burnout, online harassment, and why “keeping the peace” so often means silencing ourselves.Highlights from the episode:Autistic justice sensitivity, trauma exposure, and why the

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00:44:15

Episode 26: Movement Hunger, Belly Dance, and Letting...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2026/01/03

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 systems, and why building a life that works for your body isn’t indulgent—it’s survival.In this episode, we cover:*Growing up with an autism-affirming secure base, masking as a survival skill (not a moral

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00:38:45

Episode 25: New Year’s Dopamine, Ultimate Combos, and...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2025/12/27

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 do—and what actually does help.Highlights from the episode:• Why New Year’s resolutions rely on dopamine, not sustainability—and why that backfires for autistic nervous systems• Systems over habits: menus

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00:46:34

Episode 24: Chicken Nuggets, Capitalism, and the...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2025/12/19

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 episode:-Why the holidays are a perfect storm of sensory overload, social pressure, and emotional burnout-Food expectations, texture aversions, and why chicken nuggets, fries, and safe foods count as real

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00:32:56

Episode 23: Vaccines, Disinformation, and Why Autism...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2025/12/13

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 how it harms autistic people, public trust, and actual human lives.We cover:Where the vaccines-cause-autism myth actually started (Andrew Wakefield, 1998, 13 kids, bad science, revoked license)The difference

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01:33:33

Episode 22: Invisible Disabilities, Chronic Illness,...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2025/12/06

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 back when you have more capacity.Matt and Erin are here this week — and we start out thinking ahead toward Christmas traditions and Krampus, but then everything drops into the reality of bodies that are

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00:38:38

Episode 21: Food Sensitivities, Colonial Myths, and...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2025/11/28

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 gatherings, and how to make eating day actually work for your nervous system.We cover:Why Thanksgiving foods can be a sensory minefield (taste, texture, histamines, executive functioning)Family chaos: noise,

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00:43:11

Episode 20: Executive Dysfunction, Bottom-Up Brains,...

The Autistic VOICE Project ·

2025/11/22

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:What executive functions actually are, and why autistic brains struggle when systems make no senseSignposting, scaffolding, and why clear structure helps reduce overwhelmThe Google/YouTube “brand manager”

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