Greetings. I started becoming a regular listener during Heather and Dave's recent hiatus so got into the Podcast while Jason and Natalie were sitting in as guests. As the father who's raising a 6YO boy on the spectrum as an expat in Southeast Asia, I really enjoy a chance to get news, expertise and no-nonsense discussion that are useful to me in the Podcast format. I mainly listen while driving, and you give me a chance to be productive while stuck in traffic and commuting. Thanks for that.
My main suggestions for making this Podcast truly essential to folks like me:
(1) Respect listeners' time: Please dive right into the meaty stuff without quite so much small talk. In their first episode back, Dave and Heather took more than 7 minutes to really start the program in earnest, i.e. dive into a meaningful autism topic. Once you're on, you're terrific, but you could get there quicker. No offense, but people are more interested in what you're bringing of value than in you personally.
(2) Stay on topic: We're tuning in to hear about autism. Commentary on political matters unrelated to autism, such as Obamacare, unions, the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, etc. don't really belong much in a podcast with this title. Autism podcasts that are good are precious few, and talk radio provides abundant sources of that stuff. I suspect others feel the same way.
(3) Keep it real: I love the way there's a positive, encouraging overall tone to the Podcast (Lord knows, caregivers like me need that) but I also love it when you talk about the hard truths. I was deeply touched, for example, by the letter that Jason read in Episode 96 from the UK man who was despairing about a post-university future for his ASD brother who is suffering from unrealistic expectations. We need to hear that, too.
Thanks so much for what you do, and keep up the good work.
