Autism Knows No Borders

Discover what’s possible when you seek to understand. 

Dr. Gwen Palafox is a licensed psychologist with a focus on helping teens and young adults find their most fulfilled and joyful lives. She has been supporting disabled and neurodivergent individuals for over two decades, and is also the host of the podcast Dr. Gwen Empowered. 

In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• Why Gwen is passionate about working with autistic individuals
• Some common challenges autistic adolescents face when forming their identity
• How to find a sense of belonging in the right environments
• How neurotypicals can interact with autistic people from a trauma-informed perspective
• Characteristics of dually-diagnosed autism and ADHD
• Self-acceptance, masking and burnout
• The medical model vs the social model of disability
• Gwen’s podcast Dr. Gwen Empowered
• Her ideas to cultivate a meaningful life, including employment and relationships

To learn more about Dr. Gwen Palafox, please visit meaningfulgrowth.com.

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Discover what’s possible when a child can fly free.

Bobby Rubio is the writer and director of the Pixar SparkShort Float, which is a short animated film inspired by his relationship with his autistic son, Alex. Float is available for streaming on Disney+. 

Bobby is known for his work on Hercules, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Incredibles 2, which earned him an Annie Awards nomination for Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production. Bobby is also the creator and owner of his independent comics and intellectual properties: Alcatraz High, 4 Gun Conclusion, and Neighborhood Legend. 

In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• Bobby’s journey of accepting his son’s autism
• The creative process of producing Float
• The stigma of mental health within the Filipino community
• Tips for parents whose children have received an autism diagnosis 

To learn more about Bobby Rubio, you can check out his Instagram: @bobbyrubio. 

This conversation with Bobby Rubio was originally released on March 11, 2021. 

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Discover what’s possible when family comes first. 

This week’s episode is a recording of one of our Global Autism Community exclusive events! The topic of this roundtable discussion was Family Dynamics.

Participating in this event were Autistic Self-Advocates Mary Johnston and Corben Havener, as well as autism sibling and occupational therapist Cheryl Albright.

In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• Parent-child relationships
• What it’s like to have neurodivergent or neurotypical parents 
• Why divorce rates are high among parents of autistic children
• Sibling relationships
• How to support adolescents transitioning into adulthood
• Choosing a life partner
• Starting your own family
• Taking care of aging parents
• The importance of creating plans for elder adulthood

Roundtable discussions like the one you’ll hear today are open exclusively for members of our online Global Autism Community. We select a different theme each month, and our moderators monitor posts daily to ensure that our online space remains safe and respectful.

If you’d like to attend and participate in any of our future events, you can sign up today at community.globalautismproject.org. 

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Discover what’s possible when you listen before you practice.

Both Liz Lefebre and Amy Evans are Board Certified Behavior Analysts with specializations in Precision Teaching, Fluency Based Instruction, Instructional Design, and Assent Based Treatment. They are also the Co-Founders of Octave, an organization dedicated to improving skill sets of behavior analysts, teachers, and instructional designers. 

In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• Why Liz and Amy decided to start Octave
• What Octave’s values and mission are
• What Precision Teaching, Instructional Design, and Assent Based Treatment are 
• What Liz and Amy have learned from listening to autistic voices and how that has affected their programming 
• Why practitioners should move away from “traditional ABA" and undo the training that they might have undergone
• What some of the potential barriers to ethical practices in ABA are
• How to increase a client’s appetite for learning
• Advice for other practitioners

To learn more about Liz Lefebre and Amy Evans, please visit octavetraining.com. 

Related episodes:

139. Responsive Skills Training: An Autistic-Informed Curriculum, with Molly Ola Pinney and Ann Beirne

35. The Do Better Movement, with Dr. Megan Miller

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Discover what’s possible when cultural humility prompts curiosity and understanding. 

This week's guests are Brandy Collins and Crystal Thompson. 

Brandy is the founder and owner of Guiding Light Concepts, an autism center in Killeen, Texas. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, or BCBA, and a Certified Brain Injury Specialist with over 12 years of counseling experience. Brandy has dedicated her life to advocating for children and young adults in her community. 

Crystal is the founder and owner of Believe Autism in Jacksonville, Florida. Also a BCBA, Crystal combines her passion to help children with autism and their families with her love for dance, as well as provides various opportunities through art classes, tutoring, and support groups. 

Brandy and Crystal are members of our SkillCorps® Alumni community, having traveled with the Global Autism Project on SkillCorps volunteer trips to several of our partner sites, including SOREM in India and Rumah Tiara in Indonesia — which you may remember from episodes 6 and 16. 

SkillCorps® is an opportunity for self-advocates, professionals, and family members to travel to our partner sites around the world and work directly with local communities on initiatives around outreach, awareness, and employment for autistic adults. 

You’ll hear us mention Leadership Academy, which is a workshop our organization provides to prepare future SkillCorps trip leaders. Another term I use in the interview is RBT, which stands for Registered Behavior Technician. This is the direct-care level position that usually works 1:1 with clients. 

In today's episode, Brandy and Crystal candidly share their experiences as Black women in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Brandy and Crystal have grown both personally and professionally from participating in our SkillCorps volunteer trips
• Their takeaways on supervision, teamwork, and cultural humility
• Brandy and Crystal’s experiences as Black women in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis
• Their views on how the stigma around disabilities makes it harder for families in under-resourced areas to access services 
• Some of their ideas to make the field more diverse

This conversation with Brandy Collins and Crystal Thompson was originally released on July 9, 2020. 

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Discover what’s possible when kindness starts with one. 

Our guests today are mother and son, Sandy and Ben Hartranft. An Autistic Self-Advocate and public speaker, Ben visits schools, businesses, and organizations with the message of spreading kindness and inclusion. Sandy's book Swinging From The Chandelier: Finding Joy In The Journey Through Autism was published in 2022.

In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• Ben learning about his autism
• How the right speech therapist opened up doors for communication
• Ben’s special interests
• His experience being a guest on The Ellen Show and participating in The Price is Right
• Challenges autistic people face when looking for a job
• What employers can do to accommodate autistic employees
• Ben’s company Benergy and his takeaway messages for students
• What Ben wishes people understood about him
• His dating experiences
• Why Sandy’s blog is titled “Ben’s Kite String”
• What Sandy wishes she’d learnt sooner about motherhood

To learn more about Ben and Sandy Hartranft, please visit benergy1.com.

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Discover what’s possible when action is the path to acceptance. 

This week’s episode is a recording of one of our Global Autism Community exclusive events!

After a few months of working behind the scenes on various projects, we’re happy to announce that our community events are back up and running. The topic of this roundtable discussion was Shifting From Awareness to Acceptance. 

Participating in this event were Autistic Self-Advocates Stephanie De Kremer, Michelle Vinokurov, and Sara Bradford, as well as community members Danielle Terrell, Cheryl Albright, Laura Leonard, and Brenda Canas.

You’ll also hear from our new cohort of moderators, Andrew Bennett, Cassidy Hooper, Stephane Guidon, and Korey Taylor.

In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• What acceptance means, including self-acceptance
• How to educate the public about autism
• The importance of community outings
• Inclusion in society 

Roundtable discussions like the one you’ll hear today are open exclusively for members of our online Global Autism Community. We select a different theme each month, and our moderators monitor posts daily to ensure that our online space remains safe and respectful. If you’d like to attend and participate in any of our future events, you can sign up today at community.globalautismproject.org. 

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Discover what’s possible when diversity strengthens the workplace. 

Our guests today are Stephanie De Kremer and Russell Botting. Stephanie and Russell are employees at Auticon, which is an IT consulting business that employs over 200 adults on the autism spectrum as IT consultants. Stephanie is one of them, and Russell is her job coach. They work together at Auticon’s office in London, England. 

With branches across the UK, US, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Australia, Auticon is an international social enterprise whose mission is to improve the employment prospects of autistic people. They aim to provide high-quality careers for skilled autistic adults, shift perceptions in the workplace by placing consultants into client teams, and act as a catalyst for clients to bring more neurodiversity to their wider workforce. 

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Stephanie and Russell's experiences working at Auticon
• Ideas about how other companies could increase neurodiversity in the workplace
• What services are available to families in the UK from diagnosis to adulthood
• What it was like for Stephanie to find out about her autism later in life
• What Stephanie wishes neurotypicals would consider when communicating with her
• Stephanie's special interests and strengths related to autism

For more information about our guests and the work that they do, please visit Auticon UK. To learn more about Stephanie's wrestling career, you can follow her on Instagram @kiara_wrestler. 

This conversation with Stephanie De Kremer and Russell Botting was originally released on December 3, 2020. 

Stephanie currently works as a Data Analyst at Cognizant. She continues her professional wrestling career as "Kiara" and holds the following belts: Squared Circle British Champion and CPW Galaxy Champion.

Stephanie is also an active member of our online Global Autism Community and has served on the Committee of Contributors to our Responsive Skills Training. 

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Discover what’s possible when you remember your why. 

This week we are celebrating the 3-year anniversary of this podcast, as well as the 2-year anniversary of our online Global Autism Community! 

It’s been an eye-opening journey that continues to surprise, inspire, and move us. We’ve learned so much from self-advocates sharing their experiences, family members talking about acceptance, and professionals discussing best practices in the field of autism services. 

We’ve covered a wide range of topics, such as ableism, bullying, masking, the neurodiversity movement, intersectionality, disability rights, dating, communication, personal growth, cultural humility, and international collaboration, as well as controversial topics like person-first vs. identity-first language, the puzzle piece symbol, and ABA therapy. 

I recently went back and listened to episode 1. Honestly, I hadn’t listened to it since it was first released back in 2020. What a trip down memory lane! I was brought back to all of the preparation leading up to our launch: the nervousness I felt during my first interviews, the late nights spent editing, the fears of what people would think of the show…

Yet, listening back, I could also hear the optimism in my voice. I was reminded why I decided to start Autism Knows No Borders in the first place, and that why remains the same today. Through shared stories of struggles and breakthroughs, we hope to expand the reach of human connection and remind people that they are not alone. 

Three years after launching Autism Knows No Borders, we are more energized than ever to keep going. There are many meaningful stories we still want to share with you. We will continue to elevate autistic voices and do our best to help them be heard. We want their stories to travel across the world, so that more people can join the cause for autism awareness, acceptance, and hope. 

A huge thank you to all of our guests for openly sharing and educating us with their perspectives, as well as to our team members who keep making this podcast happen: our visual creator and social media manager, Anh Ngoc; and our sound designer and editor, Marc Aliana. 

And, of course, many thanks to you, our dedicated listeners, for tuning in each week, sharing your takeaways, and ultimately giving meaning to what we’re doing. By the way, we’re honored to celebrate 100,000 downloads this month! So again, thank you for that — and cheers to the next 100,000! 

If you’re a new listener, we’d like to welcome you as well!

Our online Global Autism Community has been growing over the past couple of years. This is a space where members have the possibility to share insights, listen to different perspectives, and create real change in their own communities — whether they’re autistic individuals, family members, or service providers. A huge thank you to our community moderators, who monitor posts daily to ensure that our online space remains safe and respectful.

Today you’ll hear from our new cohort of community moderators: Andrew Bennett, Cassidy Hooper, Stephane Guidon, and Korey Taylor. 

Join us today at community.globalautismproject.org! Let’s work together to transform how the world relates to autism.

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Discover what’s possible when you work kinder, not harder. 

Today we’re bringing back the CEO and Founder of the Global Autism Project, Molly Ola Pinney, along with the organization’s Head of University and Training Programs, Ann Beirne.

For the past several months, Ann and I have been working together on a very special project. We’ve developed Responsive Skills Training, a curriculum for entry-level autism service providers that teaches the required skills for the RBT, IBT, and ABAT credentials. 

This course was co-created with the Autistic community to transform the way in which services are provided across the world. Our committee of contributors included prominent self-advocates, such as Temple Grandin and Stephen Shore, different family members, like parents and siblings, and a wide range of professionals, including speech therapists, occupational therapists, and transition specialists. 

Our purpose with Responsive Skills Training, or RST for short, is to give entry-level service providers a more well-rounded understanding of autism by hearing directly from those with lived experiences. 

In today’s conversation, we discuss: 

• Why we decided to create RST
• The needs of the international community
• The importance of listening to autistic voices
• Reforming Applied Behavior Analysis to include neurodiversity-affirming practices
• The process of co-creating RST with a committee of contributors 

After the conversation with Molly and Ann, you’ll also hear testimonies from several RST contributors about why they decided to join this project. These were recorded in the field during our last SkillCorps volunteer trip to Kenya in March. 

Featured RST contributors:

Andrew Bennett, Autistic Self-Advocate, BCaBA (US)

Mafer Chang, Director/Founder of Centro Enigma (Ecuador)

Alexis Sevieri, Sibling Advocate, RBT (US)

Laura Leonard, BCBA (US)

Sangeeta Jain, Vice Principal of SOREM (India)

To learn more about the Global Autism Project’s Responsive Skills Training, please visit globalautismproject.org/rst. 

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