A warm Mancunian welcome to all my listeners.   It's Autistic Pride Day on 18th June.  The purpose of Autistic Pride Day is a uniquely autistic led initiative celebrating neurodiversity and the strengths of autistic individuals. It empowers the autistic community, promotes self-advocacy, and fosters a sense of pride and unity, challenging stereotypes and inspiring change.   In the third episode, the Meet the Mancunian podcast talks to Charlie Michael Baker, author about supporting autism awareness through his book Charlie Baker: Autism and me. Diagnosed with autism at a young age and overcoming bullying, Charlie shares his journey of writing the book, which has become a global success. Throughout the interview, Charlie discusses his personal experiences, the challenges faced by autistic individuals, and the impactful charitable contributions from his book's proceeds. He also addresses myths about autism and offers advice for those looking to start similar movements. In Charlie’s own words: “Autism, it basically means that you just think differently to other people. A neurodiverse person and a neurotypical person will look at the same things, but take different things away from that. Autistic people see things differently to other people. It's not anything bad, obviously. Sometimes we struggle with friends, relationships and we just take different things away from different things, really.”   #Autism #Awareness #GM #manchester #community #SocialImpact #NonProfit Hosted by Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe (https://www.instagram.com/meetthemancunian/).     Did you know:   ·      Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. ·      Over 1 in 100 people are on the autistic spectrum. ·      There are over 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK. ·      Autistic people have difficulties with interpreting both verbal and non-verbal language like gestures or tone of voice. ·      Some autistic people are unable to speak or have limited speech while other autistic people have very good language skills but struggle to understand sarcasm or tone of voice.  ·      Many famous people are thought to be on the spectrum Key resources: Charlie’s Instagram handle National Autistic Society   Time stamps of key moments in the podcast episode & transcript: (01:58) Introduction to Charlie Michael Baker (02:11) Charlie's Journey with Autism (02:58) The Inspiration Behind the Book (03:11) Insights from 'Charlie Baker Autism and Me' (03:35) Understanding Autism (05:33) Challenges and Overcoming Them (06:24) Writing and Publishing the Book (08:24) Impact and Philanthropy (11:00) Future Projects and Advice (13:11) Signature Questions    Listen to the episode and read the transcript on www.meetthemancunian.co.uk