Dads in Autismland

Mark, thank you so much for doing this podcast. My son is nearly 11, and although he’s high functioning, we still have (what feels at times like more than) our fair share of struggles. As with others on this journey, we have had some wonderful highs, and some awful lows. During the past year, however, it has felt like the lows are greatly outnumbering the highs. There have been some terribly lonely nights when I haven’t had the energy to do a single thing other than find a way to give up. During this time, I have searched for support and, although it’s understandable, have lamented that everything I found was catered to women/mothers. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that dynamic, but I felt like there really needed to be something out there for the fathers, as we are just as much a part of this journey as the mothers. Finally, my wife happened upon an ad for your podcast, and I can’t tell you how much hope I have for this. Because of the chaotic schedules that this life deals out, I don’t feel like I can even take time out to get one on one help from a therapist, something that I desperately need. But now I have this; a “therapy” that I can access whenever I have a free moment, even if just for five minutes at a time. Of course I don’t expect to get solutions to our specific needs and challenges, since, as we all know, each of our situations is unique. But if nothing else, I know it will be nice to hear other dads share their sorrows and triumphs, letting me know that, although we’re each wandering our own path here, we’re all travelers in this strange, wonderful, scary, challenging, surprising, daunting, incredibly emotional, sometimes downright horrific, yet at the same time happy and beautiful place called Autismland.

As a father to a little boy with ASD, finding community has been a struggle. In the last year finding our tribe has been an incredible experience and this podcast would be a great fit within our group. I will be sharing your show with other dads in autismland! Thank you

Awesome show. Thanks for having the guts to create this and you will definitely have my loyalty and support. Side Note, your son and my son sound pretty similar in their behaviors and I also did speech therapy until I was a kid because I couldn’t pronounce my R’s.

I'm passionate about raising autism awareness because it hits close to home for me. As a parent of a son who began his journey non-verbal and is now making incredible strides, I deeply understand the challenges he faces and the hurdles we navigate as a family in society. Sharing your stories and truth is appreciated.