Listen now (75 mins) | Abuuhh! It’s spooky season, and we’re talking vampires! From heightened senses to “masking” and their outsider status, Angela and Matt sink their teeth into why vampires are totally autistic!
Bringing this thread back from the dead (so to speak), but I have been thinking about late diagnosis a little like being a new vampire. I have a helpful autistic friend who I refer to as my 'sunglasses vampire;" he can just throw on some shades and maybe a parasol and wander around feeling totally comfortable being autistic/vampire in the world. I, on the other hand, am like the portrayals of new vampires you often see in fiction, just huddled cluelessly in a corner licking a dead rat because I haven't quite learned to deal with everything yet. Very special thank you to your show for helping me start to emerge from my dead rat era.
B) 100% please release an album called Dead Rat Era
C) Great analogies. If you wanted to expand this would make a great submission as a personal essay to the Neurodivergent Narratives Anthology. We will be doing a call for submissions during summer hiatus. Stay tuned!
B) I would love to do some writing with your prompts. I've already started formulating some ideas, but I haven't found the time/energy to expand on them. I'll definitely see what I can come up with before break.
C) Thank you again for reading my note on the 100th episode. I was overwhelmed with joy to suddenly hear it on my ride home that day. I'll never be able to fully express the happiness that moment gave me.
This is a specific comment about the part of the episode around 40-43 minutes in where you're talking about autistics always wanting facts rather than feelings. . . I'm autistic (AuDHD, specifiacally.) I have an autistic mother, an autistic daughter, and LOTS of autistic family members. Several of us also have various auditory and language processing issues. Over the years, I have learned that I process a lot of things at a non-verbal level, and it takes a great deal of effort to pull them up to a level of my brain where I can put them into words that actually make sense to other people. To them, my decisions and actions often seem like they're "intuitive" (or "thoughtless", if they disagree with me!)
I have had to train myself to be aware of my "feelings" about things and to follow them, even when my conscious mind can't put them into words. That doesn't mean I don't have solid reasons, but it DOES mean that if I'm in a discussion with someone who demands reasons from me to justify something I say, I'm at a real disadvantage. The stress will render me mute until I can process what I'm being asked. However, since I'm highly verbal under most situations, many people (including many autistic people) don't acknowledge that I actually have sound reasons for most of my decisions and actions.
PLEASE show some consideration for this when talking about our autistic desire for facts and decisions. It's easy to assume that other people don't have reasons for their actions or positions - but just because I can't easily and quickly explain WHY I think or say something doesn't mean that I didn't have a logical reason for it, even if it takes me a while to pull it up to a level where I can put it into words.
I can really relate to the experiences you're sharing. I've tried to explain it to people by saying....my brain is trying to formulate an entire Ted Talk length answer (which i could give if I wasn't feeling put on the spot) but it all comes flooding into my brain too fast and I try to talk and it's like nothing will come out in the moment, except the feelings.
Hey I won trivia! I remember reading that about salt and silver as well though I've also seen the purity and the need to count the grains of salt as reasons they were effective. I love a good multipurpose supernatural repellent!
The looking young thing also just went on my list of supporting evidence. I have to have the conversation at least once every couple of weeks that yes, I am really this old. Yes, I don't look it. But growing up, I would run the library and help teach classes and was way closer to adults than other kids.
Bergamot is a citrus used in tea and perfume and soap making. It is what gives Earl Grey tea its signature flavor (which I think tastes like soap. Not a fan. And I wanted to like it so badly. Sorry Picard). I made myself listen to the whole episode before commenting but I was so antsy to answer with I KNOW WHAT THAT IS AND I MUST SHARE!
This is the BEST episode yet! This is the most validating episode I've heard and I have a newfound like for vampires. I used to be "meh" about them, but now I have turned. The stories and parallels helped explain some of the experiences I have been having and I regained confidence in myself and feel powerful! Now I'm wondering if two energy vampires converse, do they feel drained or energized afterwards?
Regarding the witch trials mentioned near the beginning.... has anyone watched the show A Kind of Spark? It's an AMAZING show and it's got multiple autistic characters played by autistic/neurodivergent actors, and a neurotypical character played by an autistic actress as well. In the first season the main character develops a special interest in the witch trials that happened in her town and they draw excellent parallels between autistic traits and the traits the women in her town were persecuted for. It's a wonderful comfort show and made me feel so seen. I especially love season 2. Can't wait for the third season!
Holy cow--the younger / older thing is BLOWING. MY. MIND. (And I have always hated how people insist I look so young, and the way others assume this must be *so great* for me.)
Yay an episode about my special interest!! Angela, did you get a new audio setup? It's so CRISP!! Excited for this new season, thank you for all that you do. :D
Thanks for noticing! It was really hard to get good audio during my move. I’m finally stable in a room with lots of soft things so the sound doesn’t bounce.
Bringing this thread back from the dead (so to speak), but I have been thinking about late diagnosis a little like being a new vampire. I have a helpful autistic friend who I refer to as my 'sunglasses vampire;" he can just throw on some shades and maybe a parasol and wander around feeling totally comfortable being autistic/vampire in the world. I, on the other hand, am like the portrayals of new vampires you often see in fiction, just huddled cluelessly in a corner licking a dead rat because I haven't quite learned to deal with everything yet. Very special thank you to your show for helping me start to emerge from my dead rat era.
A) This made my day!
B) 100% please release an album called Dead Rat Era
C) Great analogies. If you wanted to expand this would make a great submission as a personal essay to the Neurodivergent Narratives Anthology. We will be doing a call for submissions during summer hiatus. Stay tuned!
A) Well it made my day that it made your day!
B) I would love to do some writing with your prompts. I've already started formulating some ideas, but I haven't found the time/energy to expand on them. I'll definitely see what I can come up with before break.
C) Thank you again for reading my note on the 100th episode. I was overwhelmed with joy to suddenly hear it on my ride home that day. I'll never be able to fully express the happiness that moment gave me.
This is a specific comment about the part of the episode around 40-43 minutes in where you're talking about autistics always wanting facts rather than feelings. . . I'm autistic (AuDHD, specifiacally.) I have an autistic mother, an autistic daughter, and LOTS of autistic family members. Several of us also have various auditory and language processing issues. Over the years, I have learned that I process a lot of things at a non-verbal level, and it takes a great deal of effort to pull them up to a level of my brain where I can put them into words that actually make sense to other people. To them, my decisions and actions often seem like they're "intuitive" (or "thoughtless", if they disagree with me!)
I have had to train myself to be aware of my "feelings" about things and to follow them, even when my conscious mind can't put them into words. That doesn't mean I don't have solid reasons, but it DOES mean that if I'm in a discussion with someone who demands reasons from me to justify something I say, I'm at a real disadvantage. The stress will render me mute until I can process what I'm being asked. However, since I'm highly verbal under most situations, many people (including many autistic people) don't acknowledge that I actually have sound reasons for most of my decisions and actions.
PLEASE show some consideration for this when talking about our autistic desire for facts and decisions. It's easy to assume that other people don't have reasons for their actions or positions - but just because I can't easily and quickly explain WHY I think or say something doesn't mean that I didn't have a logical reason for it, even if it takes me a while to pull it up to a level where I can put it into words.
I can really relate to the experiences you're sharing. I've tried to explain it to people by saying....my brain is trying to formulate an entire Ted Talk length answer (which i could give if I wasn't feeling put on the spot) but it all comes flooding into my brain too fast and I try to talk and it's like nothing will come out in the moment, except the feelings.
Hey I won trivia! I remember reading that about salt and silver as well though I've also seen the purity and the need to count the grains of salt as reasons they were effective. I love a good multipurpose supernatural repellent!
The looking young thing also just went on my list of supporting evidence. I have to have the conversation at least once every couple of weeks that yes, I am really this old. Yes, I don't look it. But growing up, I would run the library and help teach classes and was way closer to adults than other kids.
Bergamot is a citrus used in tea and perfume and soap making. It is what gives Earl Grey tea its signature flavor (which I think tastes like soap. Not a fan. And I wanted to like it so badly. Sorry Picard). I made myself listen to the whole episode before commenting but I was so antsy to answer with I KNOW WHAT THAT IS AND I MUST SHARE!
This is the BEST episode yet! This is the most validating episode I've heard and I have a newfound like for vampires. I used to be "meh" about them, but now I have turned. The stories and parallels helped explain some of the experiences I have been having and I regained confidence in myself and feel powerful! Now I'm wondering if two energy vampires converse, do they feel drained or energized afterwards?
Regarding the witch trials mentioned near the beginning.... has anyone watched the show A Kind of Spark? It's an AMAZING show and it's got multiple autistic characters played by autistic/neurodivergent actors, and a neurotypical character played by an autistic actress as well. In the first season the main character develops a special interest in the witch trials that happened in her town and they draw excellent parallels between autistic traits and the traits the women in her town were persecuted for. It's a wonderful comfort show and made me feel so seen. I especially love season 2. Can't wait for the third season!
Oh yeah, it really makes a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing about your trip!
Holy cow--the younger / older thing is BLOWING. MY. MIND. (And I have always hated how people insist I look so young, and the way others assume this must be *so great* for me.)
Right????
Yay an episode about my special interest!! Angela, did you get a new audio setup? It's so CRISP!! Excited for this new season, thank you for all that you do. :D
Thanks for noticing! It was really hard to get good audio during my move. I’m finally stable in a room with lots of soft things so the sound doesn’t bounce.