Autistic Small Talk

Episode 17 – Autistic Burnout and Unmasking

admin — Sat, 11 Jul 2026 22:58:57 +0000

Vince and Vanessa race through a discussion of Autistic Burnout by going through a paper that describes it and its causes. Masking is a big contributor so they also talk about Devon Price’s book Unmasking for Life. They open with describing implicit bias.

Autistic Burnout and Unmasking | RSS.com

Show Notes

UK Mental Health Care

Iacobucci G. Over 17 000 serious incidents reported in mental healthcare last year BMJ 2023; 383 :p2348 doi:10.1136/bmj.p2348

Keep Our NHS Public

Privatisation Appendix: Mental health clinical services

Implicit Bias and The Double Empathy Problem

Kilgallon E, Botha M, Dwyer P, et al. What the Double Empathy Problem Is (and Is Not). Autism in Adulthood. 2026;0(0). doi:10.1177/25739581261456653

Heasman B and Gillespie A (2019) Participants Over-Estimate How Helpful They Are in a Two-Player Game Scenario Toward an Artificial Confederate That Discloses a Diagnosis of Autism. Front. Psychol. 10:1349. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01349

Autistic Burnout

Raymaker DM, Teo AR, Steckler NA, Lentz B, Scharer M, Delos Santos A, Kapp SK, Hunter M, Joyce A, Nicolaidis C. “Having All of Your Internal Resources Exhausted Beyond Measure and Being Left with No Clean-Up Crew”: Defining Autistic Burnout. Autism Adulthood. 2020 Jun 1;2(2):132-143. doi: 10.1089/aut.2019.0079. Epub 2020 Jun 10. PMID: 32851204; PMCID: PMC7313636.

Price, Devon. (2024) You Might Not Recover from Burnout. Ever.

Unmasking

Price, Devon. (2025) Unmasking For Life

Workplace Accommodation

Toney Lieu, Sara Lacarte, Stephen Gentles, and the Summer 2022 Policy Development Working Group. (2022) Promoting Workplace Inclusivity. Autism Alliance of Canada.

Toney Lieu, Sara Lacarte, Stephen Gentles, and the Summer 2022 Policy Development Working Group. (2022) An Accommodations Checklist for Autistic Employees. Autism Alliance of Canada.

Supporting Autism & Neurodivergence in the Workplace: What Employers Want to Know About Accommodations

Researchers and Organizations

AASPIRE

Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Dora M Raymaker
Hoshi and the Red City Circuit

Alan Teo
(ResearchGate)

Nicole A. Steckler

Brandy Lentz

Mirah Scharer
(ResearchGate)

Austin Delos Santos

Steven K. Kapp
(ResearchGate)

Morrigan Hunter

Andee Joyce
(Video Series)

Christina Nicolaidis

Episode 16 – Mad Studies and Neurodiversity

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 19:07:09 +0000

Vince and Vanessa talk with some alacrity about how Mad Studies and Neurodiversity can work together, as well as about Mad History and Politics.

Mad Studies and Neurodiversity | RSS.com

Show Notes

Mad Studies and Neurodiversity

McWade, B., Milton, D., & Beresford, P. (2015). Mad studies and neurodiversity: a dialogue. Disability & Society, 30(2), 305–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2014.1000512

Mad Politics and History

Frazer-Carroll, Micha. 2023. Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health

Hearing Voices

Hearing Voices Network

Phillips J, Fallon B, Majeed S, Meador K, Merlino J, Neely H, Nields J, Saunders D, Norko M. Undiagnosing St Joan: She Does Not Need a Medical or Psychiatric Diagnosis. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2023 Aug 1;211(8):559-565. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001654. Epub 2023 Apr 4. PMID: 37015107.

Luhrmann, T.M., Padmavati, R., Tharoor, H. and Osei, A. (2015), Hearing Voices in Diﬀerent Cultures: A Social Kindling Hypothesis. Top Cogn Sci, 7: 646-663. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12158

Mad and Disability Justice

Shaping Our Lives

Madlove: A Designer Asylum

Transformative Justice: A Brief Description by Mia Mingus

Number of autistic people in mental health hospitals: August 2025

‘The biggest rollback of disability rights in a generation’ – Charities respond to Supreme Court ruling

Passante, Vincenzo. 2023. An introduction to the Trieste model, and why it matters

Power to the Plurals

Trans Healthcare in the UK

Unacceptable waits for adult gender clinic appointments, review says.

Britain Still Has Conversion Therapists. Here’s Why. Philosophy Tube.

Researchers

Brigit McWade

Damian Milton
(Participatory Autism Research)

Peter Beresford
(ResearchGate)

Micha Frazer-Carroll

Jesse Meadows
(Sluggish)

Episode 15 – Hypercuriosity and Critical ADHD Studies

admin — Sat, 09 May 2026 23:36:27 +0000

Vince and Vanessa zip through 2 papers on hypercuriosity as a framework for ADHD. The first lays out the theory, and the second is a survey-based study on curiosity and ADHD traits.
They then discuss a paper making a call for the establishment of Critical ADHD Studies as a field.

Hypercuriosity and Critical ADHD Studies | RSS.com

Show Notes

Spoon Theory

The original spoon theory essay

Christine Miserandino reading her original piece about spoon theory

Spoon Theory For Autism And ADHD: The Neurodivergent Spoon Drawer

Hypercuriosity

Le Cunff, AL. Distractibility and Impulsivity in ADHD as an Evolutionary Mismatch of High Trait Curiosity. Evolutionary Psychological Science 10, 282–297 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-024-00400-8

The Hypercurious Mind

Le Cunff, AL., Russell, C. & Dommett, E.J. Hyperactive–impulsive ADHD traits predict higher curiosity in adults: evidence from a cross-sectional study. BMC Psychol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-04504-7

Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II survey
Navas-León S, Pérez-Moreno PJ, Santin Vilarino C and Diaz-Milanes D (2025) Revalidation of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II (CEI-II) using network analysis. Front. Psychol. 16:1514959. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1514959

Calls For Critical ADHD Studies

Jackson-Perry, D., Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., & Brown, A. I. (2025). Moving forward: a call for Critical ADHD Studies. Disability & Society, 40(12), 3519–3524. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2025.2458016

Jesse Meadows. (2021) We Need Critical ADHD Studies Now

Researchers

Anne‑Laure Le Cunff
Ness Labs

Charlotte Russell

Ellie Dommett
(ResearchGate)

David Jackson-Perry
(ResearchGate)

Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist
(ResearchGate)

Andrew Ivan Brown
(ResearchGate)

Jesse Meadows
(Sluggish)

Episode 14 – Autistic Flow

admin — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 05:50:09 +0000

Vince and Vanessa discourse expediently upon 2 papers about Autistic Flow. The first describes a proposed theory of Autistic Flow and the second is a qualitative study of Autistic people transitioning in and out of flow. We also talk about anarchist callisthenics.

Autistic Flow

Show Notes

Anarchist Callisthenics

Anarchist Callisthenics video by Jon Jon

The Happy Urbanist

Autistic Flow

Heasman, B., Williams, G., Charura, D., Hamilton, L. G., Milton, D., & Murray, F. (2024). Towards autistic flow theory: A non-pathologising conceptual approach. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 54(4), 469–497. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12427

A podcast of the authors discussing the paper

Wain, D., G.Williams, D.Charura, et al. 2026. “Transitioning in and out of Autistic Flow: A Qualitative Study Presenting a Non-Pathologising Approach to Autistic Well-Being and Conceptualising Autistic Ways of Being in Clinical and Therapeutic Settings.” Counselling and Psychotherapy Research26, no. 1: e70073. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.70073.

Researchers

Heasman Flow Lab

Gemma Williams

Divine Charura
(interview)

Lorna Hamilton
(RaY)
(BlueSky)

Damian Milton
(Participatory Autism Research)

Fergus Murray

Daniella Wain

Deborah Wortman

Weird Pride Day

https://weirdpride.day/

The Double Empathy Problem

Milton, Damian & Waldock, Krysia & Keates, Nathan. (2023). Autism and the ‘double empathy problem’. 10.4324/9781003189978-6.

Milton, Damian. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem’. Disability & Society – DISABIL SOC. 27. 1-5. 10.1080/09687599.2012.710008.

Monotropism

A website with tonnes of resources and links about monotropism:
monotropism.org

Episode 13 – Models of Disability and Research Supporting Damian Milton’s Double Empathy Problem

admin — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 05:28:02 +0000

Vince and Vanessa concisely review 9 different models of disability and a chapter in “Conversations on Empathy”,authored by Damian Milton, Krysia Emily Waldock, and Nathan Keates, and titled: Autism and the ‘double empathy problem’.

Models of Disability and Research Supporting Damian Milton’s Double Empathy Problem

Show Notes

Odd Pride (Astrid)

Odd Pride

Shanidar 1

Disability Models

Lawson, A., & Beckett, A. E. (2021). The social and human rights models of disability: towards a complementarity thesis. The International Journal of Human Rights, 25(2), 348–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2020.1783533

Berghs M, Atkin K, Graham H, et al. Implications for public health research of models and theories of disability: a scoping study and evidence synthesis. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2016 Jul. (Public Health Research, No. 4.8.) doi: 10.3310/phr04080

10 Principles of Disability Justice

Damian Milton

The Participatory Autism Research Collective

The Double Empathy Problem

Milton, Damian & Waldock, Krysia & Keates, Nathan. (2023). Autism and the ‘double empathy problem’. 10.4324/9781003189978-6.

Milton, Damian. (2012). On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem’. Disability & Society – DISABIL SOC. 27. 1-5. 10.1080/09687599.2012.710008.

Rachel Cullen’s Autistic Communication Hypothesis

Discussion with Annette & Chloe of Academy

Interview on Today’s Autistic Moment podcast

Rachel Cullen’s Consultancy website

Rachel Cullen’s poster
“Autism: Deficit or Diﬀerence? A reconsideration of the way we assess Theory of Mind”

Rachel Cullen’s bio at aucademy

Monotropism

A website with tonnes of resources and links about monotropism:
monotropism.org

Episode 12 – Nick Walker’s Doctoral Dissertation Part 3

admin — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 01:51:51 +0000

Vince and Vanessa efficiently finish their discussion of Nick Walker’s dissertation (Transformative Somatic Practices and Autistic Potentials: An Autoethnographic Exploration). They talk about ParaTheatrical ReSearch, Autistic aptitudes, reconnecting with stimming, and autistic wellbeing.

Nick Walker’s Doctoral Dissertation Part 3

Show Notes

Nick Walker’s doctoral dissertation

Walker, Nick (2019) Transformative Somatic Practices and Autistic Potentials: An Autoethnographic Exploration. [Doctoral Dissertaion, California Institute of Integral Studies].

Weird Luck

(Nick Walker’s comic with co-creators Andrew M. Reichart, and Mike Bennewitz)
https://weirdluck.net/

Connected with Jen and Shannon

What the Heck is Embodiment Anyway with Nick Walker

ParaTheatrical ReSearch

Archive

Expressive Movement/Dance Therapies

(Transformative somatic practices for reconnecting to stimming)
Continuum
Authentic Movement

Songs of the Gorilla Nation

Songs of the Gorilla Nation by Dawn Prince-Hughes

Episode 11 – Nick Walker’s Doctoral Dissertation Part 2

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:08:55 +0000

Vince and Vanessa dash through part 2 of their discussion of Transformative Somatic Practices and Autistic Potentials: An Autoethnographic Exploration by Nick Walker. This includes stories of Nick Walker’s experiences with Aikido, how he came to start training, how it changed his embodiment, and how his Autistic traits benefitted not only him but his students.

Nick Walker’s Doctoral Dissertation Part 2

Show Notes

Nick Walker’s writings

neuroqueer.com

Murmurations

Beautiful footage by Jan van IJken of starling flight.

Episode 10 – Nick Walker’s Doctoral Dissertation Part 1

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 03:07:50 +0000

Vince and Vanessa fly through part 1 of excitedly describing Nick Walker’s doctoral dissertation, which is entitled: Transformative Somatic Practices and Autistic Potentials: An Autoethnographic Exploration. As you can imagine, Vanessa is completely delighted.

Nick Walker’s Doctoral Dissertation Part 1

Show Notes

ABA causing harm
(Citations from Nick Walker’s dissertation about lifelong post-traumatic stress symptoms)

Asasumasu, K. (2013b, November 7). The tyranny of indistinguishability: performance [Web log post].
Retrieved from http://timetolisten.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-tyranny-of-indistinguishability.html

Bascom, J. (2012). Quiet hands. In J. Bascom (Ed.), Loud hands: Autistic people, speaking (pp. 177–182). Washington, DC: Autistic Press.

Dawson, M. (2004). The misbehaviour of behaviourists: Ethical challenges to the autism-ABA industry.
Retrieved from http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html

Kupferstein, H. (2018). Evidence of increased PTSD symptoms in autistics exposed to applied behavior analysis. Advances in Autism, (4)1, 19–29.

Silberman, S. (2015). NeuroTribes: The legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity. New York, NY: Avery.

Yergeau, M. (2018). Authoring autism: On rhetoric and neurological queerness. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Episode 9 – Dyslexic Strengths

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 22:28:54 +0000

Vince and Vanessa have a brisk chat about Dyslexic Strengths and Complimentary Cognition.

Dyslexic Strengths

Show Notes

Professor Chesko

“You Can’t Blame Everything on Your Autism”
A Response to a Critique I Never Asked For
By the excellent Professor Chesko

Dyslexic Strengths and Complementary Cognition

Taylor H and Vestergaard MD (2022) Developmental Dyslexia: Disorder or Specialization in Exploration?. Front. Psychol. 13:889245. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.889245

Taylor H, Fernandes B, Wraight S. The Evolution of Complementary Cognition: Humans Cooperatively Adapt and Evolve through a System of Collective Cognitive Search. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 2022;32(1):61-77. doi:10.1017/S0959774321000329

Erbeli, F.; Rice, M.; Paracchini, S. Insights into Dyslexia Genetics Research from the Last Two Decades. Brain Sci. 2022, 12, 27
https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12010027

Neanderthal Art

It’s Oﬃcial: Neanderthals Created Art

Episode 8 – Autistic Joy and Glimmers

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 05:18:05 +0000

Vince and Vanessa cruise through Elliot Wassell’s paper Experiences of Autistic Joy. Then they discuss glimmers, and share 2 field recordings containing stories of Autistic Joy.

Autistic Joy and Glimmers

Show Notes

Autistic Joy

Wassell, E. (2026). Experiences of autistic joy. Disability & Society, 41(1), 236–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2025.2498417

Autistic Girls Network

Glimmers

https://autisticrealms.com/glimmers-autistic-joy-and-monotropism/

Life writings of Autistic people mentioned in Wassell’s paper

McAnulty, D. 2020. Diary of a Young Naturalist. London: Ebury.

Kedar, I. 2012. Ido in Autismland: Climbing out of Autism’s Silent Prison. Sharon Kedar.

Tammet, D. 2006. Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir of Asperger’s and an Extraordinary Mind. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Williams, D. 1992. Nobody Nowhere. London, Doubleday.

Mór, C. 2007. A Blessing and a Curse: Autism and Me. London: Jessica Kingsley.

James, L. 2017. Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World. London: Bluebird.

Lawson, W. 2000. Life Behind Glass: A Personal Account of Autism Spectrum Disorder. London

Mountain Mansion

(Mentioned in Vince’s field recordings.)
https://mountainmansion.bandcamp.com/