A new podcast ‘Autistic Counterstories’ celebrates and affirms the diverse perspectives of autistic people, informed by research developments and lived experiences.
The podcast, co-produced by Dr Dieter Declercq at Kent’s Centre for Health and Medical Humanities and commissioned by the University of Antwerp’s Autism Ethics Network, presents listeners with a selection of ‘counterstories’ to dispel myths and counter oppressive narratives, and instead honour the diversity of autistic lives.
‘Autistic Counterstories’ was born out of the knowledge that lived experiences of people with autism need to complement existing autism research. The interviewees played an important role in defining the topics of conversation. Each of the three podcast episodes dives deep into an underexposed element in conversations and research about autism.
Episode 1: When we imagine an autistic person
Taking a look at late diagnosis, the validity of self-diagnosis, and the intersection of autism, race, and gender. Many autistic people know that they’re autistic before receiving a formal diagnosis, a process that’s often frustrated by stereotypes, racial disparities, cost, and diagnostic gatekeepers. In this episode, you’ll hear from three people who found out they were autistic later in life: Imane, Leila, and Silke. Listen to a teaser
Episode 2: Autism as a mixing board
This episode explores autism and communication, featuring interviews with Gabriel at his piano class, Silke reading poems by the autistic poet Birger Sellin, and Christiane, a friend of the Sellin family, who uses facilitated communication to talk to her own autistic son, Christoph. Listen to a teaser
Episode 3: On autistic and queer identities
In this final episode, listeners meet Terre, Sym and Maysa who reflect on the connection between gender and autistic identities, and the concept of ‘difference’. You’ll also hear from Louis, assistant producer of the podcast, who reflects on his own autistic experiences growing up. Listen to a teaser
The concept of the series, which was funded by Research Foundation – Flanders, has been developed through conversations with researchers from the Autism Ethics Network, who inspired the production team by sharing research findings and making introductions to the people you hear in the series.
Dr Dieter Declercq is co-producer, lead editor and academic liaison for ‘Autistic Counterstories’. He is also co-host of the podcast Conversations about Arts, Health and Humanities. He said: ‘Autistic Counterstories is an exciting collaboration between researchers, podcast makers, autistic people and students. We built on our expertise in research-focused podcasts at the University of Kent and the strengths of our Media course, including student interns who applied the skills they learned on the course.’
The Executive Producer is Elena Dikomitis from Studio De Nok. She is an award-winning audio documentary maker (‘Drawn’, ‘Stew with Za’atar’) and a senior humanitarian professional specialised in communication, policy and advocacy. In her audio work, she focuses on under-and misrepresented groups and combines literary storytelling techniques with robust community-engagement and research (‘Girls Make The City’, ‘Sikh Silences across Generations’). She said: ‘Autistic Counterstories is a non-narrated series and that was a very intentional production decision. Each episode unfolds around autistic peoples’ own words, writing, and music, so that their experience stands alone. Their stories can feed into further scholarly work on autism and will be debated during upcoming academic listening events.’
You can listen to the whole series on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podcastle and Learn out Loud. You can also watch a subtitled version on YouTube, where you can also access the show notes, including contact details and the full list of credits.