The Autistic Culture Podcast Angela Lauria

This episode originally aired on December 13, 2022 under the title “Peanuts is Autistic.”
“Our relationships are based on the three F's. Friends, family, and fictional characters.”
“He was a very big proponent of gay rights because one of his best friends is Billie Jean King and Peppermint Patty is directly based on her.”
“The entire world seems incredibly chaotic to us. And we need this structure and we need this routine in order to be happy, in order to be healthy, in order to be productive. And it seems like Charles Schultz really, really leaned into this because that is what helped him be who he was.”
“This is so pathologizing and so incorrect because we, These are the things that give us life. These are the things that bring us joy.”
“He said, ‘that's what life was about to me.’ He didn't say ‘that's what I liked.’ He didn't say ‘that's what I loved.’ He said, 'that's what life was about.”

Which Peanuts character do you relate to the most?
Fan Favorite Game, design #5 (get yours here)
Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rules
Episode 06: Lemony Snicket is Autistic
Episode 12: Parks & Rec is Autistic
Episode 20: Sesame Street is Autistic
Ready for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!

Check us out on Instagram
Find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify
Learn more about Matt at Matt Lowry, LPP
Matt’s social media: Autistic Connections Facebook Group
Learn more about Angela at AngelaLauria.com and Difference Press
Angela’s social media: Twitter and TikTok
TACP’s TeePublic merch shop


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe

This episode originally aired on November 7, 2022 under the title “Poetry is Autistic.”
“That seems largely like Autistic torture, because leaving the sanctity of a well-stocked library to go make small talk…” “Yeah, literally.” “Oh, my God.”
“Due to the monotropic mindset, when we find something that is appealing, we have to dive deeply and fully into it…whatever it is that feeds this passion for us. If we are in the zone, we are healing.”
“And can you imagine, like, the social anxiety? All you want to do is read. You're in the middle of a great book and you have to go see some fake ass people and smile and drink tea.”
“This is a thing that I don't understand about neurotypical culture, because it's based largely on colonialism, white supremacy, puritanism, and all this stuff. There's this element of, ‘Have you tried just suffering?’”

Do you write poetry? Are you an Autistic rebel? How do you relate to Emily?
Fan Favorite Game, design #4 (get yours here)
Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rules
Episode 06: Lemony Snicket is Autistic
Episode 11: Sherlock is Autistic
Episode 24: The Trouble with Temple
Ready for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!

Follow us out on Instagram
Review us on Apple podcasts and Spotify
Matt Lowry, LPP
Autistic Connections Facebook Group
AngelaLauria.com and Difference Press
Angela’s social media: Twitter and TikTok
TACP’s merch shop


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe

This episode originally aired on October 17, 2023, under the title “Dungeons and Dragons is Autistic.”
“This gives us a safe place where we can be ourselves, where we can be other people, where we can bond with people, where we can have a ritual of getting together once a week and spending lots of time eating snacks and socializing in a safe and effective way where we all know the rules of socialization.”
“You have a specified time. You have a specified reason for hanging out. You have a specified goal during the game. It meets our socialization needs.”
“So like what you like, because whatever it is, they'll find a way to call you weird.”

Are you a D&D fan? Tell us about your favorite character or campaign! How has D&D helped you to tap into authentic joy and connection?
Fan Favorite Game, design #3 (get yours here)
Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rules
Episode 10: Star Trek is Autistic
Episodes 16: Pokémon is Autistic
Episode 28: Superheroes are Autistic
Ready for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!

Check us out on Instagram
Find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify
Matt Lowry, LPP
Autistic Connections Facebook Group
AngelaLauria.com and Difference Press
Angela’s Twitter and TikTok
TACP’s merch shop


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe

This episode originally aired on December 20, 2022, under the title “Fairy Tales are Autistic.”
Angela’s all-time favorite episode! #ActuallyAutistic co-hosts discuss how HCA used imaginative stories to reframe common Autistic traits (that we’re frequently bullied for) as treasured gifts.
“We are not defective neurotypicals. We are not ugly ducklings. We are swans. We do swan things. We don't do duck things.”
“They claim that we have no empathy—we are just overwhelmed a lot by emotion because they're so big for us.”
“It's all about the research because, god, we love the research.”
“They did these brain scans, and it turns out that neurotypical people tune out 98% of all sensory data. 98%. And we don't.”
“The world is overwhelming for us. It's chaotic. And this is exemplified in ‘The Princess and the Pea’ because she feels it, whereas other people wouldn't…And that's the reason she's royalty.”

Which fairy tale (or fairy tale character) do you relate to most?
Fan Favorite Game: design #2 (get your “not a duck” design here OR your “HCA was framed” design here)
Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rules
Episode 03: Poetry is Autistic (The Emily Dickinson episode)
Episode 25: The Legend of Autistica
Episode 34: Beauty and the Beast is Autistic
Episode 63: Elsa is Autistic
Ready for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!

Check us out on Instagram
Find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify
Learn more about Matt at Matt Lowry, LPP
Matt’s social media: Autistic Connections Facebook Group
Learn more about Angela at AngelaLauria.com and Difference Press
Angela’s social media: Twitter and TikTok
TACP’s merch shop


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe

This episode originally aired on December 12, 2023 under the title “Autistic Centered Therapy - AuCT”
Matt Lowry, LPP, tells his co-host, Dr. Angela Lauria all about AuCT: a style of therapy that he created to help support his autistic clients in an authentic, neurodiversity-affirming way.
“CBT just taught me, like, “Mask harder. Don't be annoyed. Ignore your senses.”
“CBT does not work for us because it's not structured for our brains.”
“(CBT)'s essentially gaslighting. But for neurotypical people, it starts pruning their synapses. But, since we don't do that, it's completely meaningless for us.”

What do you think the world would be like if AuCT was taught in graduate school programs for therapists and social workers? Where else should it be taught?
Fan Favorite Game, design #1: (get yours here)
Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rules
TrailHouse.org
Episode 36: Bad Autism Diagnosis
Episode 38: Productivity is Autistic
Episode 62: Protecting Kentucky Kids
Ready for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!

Check us out on Instagram
Find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify
Matt Lowry, LPP
Autistic Connections Facebook Group
AngelaLauria.com and Difference Press
Angela’s social media: Twitter and TikTok
TACP’s merch shop


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe

Matt Lowry, LPP, gives his co-host, Dr. Angela Lauria, a special infodump about one of his idols: George Lucas.
* Lucas’s early life, including his relationship with his Vader (“father”).
* The vital role that PDA played in Lucas’s first film company. Plus, the many Autistic traits that helped Lucas to think outside of the box and change the way that movies are made.
* Movie casting and socializing with the actors - Autistic style!
* George Lucas’s personal journey from scrappy Rebel to lord of Empire.
“George Lucas is a socially awkward man who does not like eye contact or small talk, loves talking about: cars, things that move fast, technology, film editing. He loves mythology. He loves sociology. He loves how myth can make the world a better place. He's got a lot of social justice sensibilities. Yeah, I really think that there is a lot of evidence that says that he firmly belongs enshrined in the Autistica Hall of Fame.”
“He had a lot of new outside-of-the-box ideas. He did not follow traditional patterns. He was very, very much a learner.”
“Carrie Fisher said he had two directions: ‘Faster and more intense!’”
“But he said, ‘F**k the systems. F**k all the systems. I am out of the systems. I'm going to do the things the way that I want to do them.’ Because PDA.”
“She is and will always be an icon. She is one with The Force. May she rebel in peace.”
“He changed the way that movies were made.”

Are you a George Lucas fan? Or, are you a passionate filmmaker? Tell us about it in the comments!
George Lucas' father issues unfold on film
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Book: Empire Building: The Remarkable Real Life Story of Star Wars by Gary Jenkins
Video (45 min): Icons Unearthed: Star Wars Empire of Dreams
Video (64 min): From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
Episode 04: Industrial Light & Magic is Autistic
Episode 37: Motion Pictures are Autistic
Episode 63: Elsa is Autistic
Episode 64: Taylor Swift is Autistic
Ready for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!

Check us out on Instagram
Find us on Apple podcasts and Spotify
Learn more about Matt at Matt Lowry, LPP
Matt’s social media: Autistic Connections Facebook Group
Learn more about Angela at AngelaLauria.com and Difference Press
Angela’s social media: Twitter and TikTok
TACP’s Autism-affirming TeePublic merch shop


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe