Broadcaster, John Offord chats to autistic comedian and writer, Joe Wells. Joe Wells' writing career began when his first book 'Touch and Go Joe' about his experiences of OCD was published, since then he has made a name for himself as a stand up comic, writer and speaker. Joe now focuses mainly on his unique brand of comedy. For more details, please see: https://www.joewells.org.uk/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/message Support this podcast:...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Adam Feinstein, an acclaimed author, poet, translator, journalist, film critic, Hispanist and autism researcher to talk about neurodiversity. Adam’s book A History of Autism: conversations with the pioneers received widespread praise.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Shain Neumeier. Shain is an American autistic and nonbinary transgender attorney from Los Angeles, California. Shain is best known for advocacy against coercive and forced treatment, including advocacy to close the Judge Rotenberg Center, an institution for people with developmental disabilities that has been condemned by the United Nations for torture due to its use of electric shocks on people with disabilities. --- Send in a voice message:...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Lydia X. Z. Brown, an American autistic disability rights activist, writer, attorney, and public speaker who was honoured by the White House in 2013. Lydia talks about disability justice, ableism, Neurodiversity, models of disability, intersectionality and connections between trans, queer and disability experiences.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to English actor and recipient of an Emmy Award and nominations for two BAFTA Awards and star of The A-Word, Christopher Eccleston. For those who haven’t watched it, The A Word is a family drama TV series with an autistic twist. The plot focuses primarily on Paul and Alison Hughes, whose son Joe is on the spectrum. Since 2016, Eccleston has played Maurice, the grandfather of Joe. Maurice has an extremely abrasive and blunt personality; he also provides us with...

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster  John Offord chats to Ted speaker, Adam Ockelford, a Professor of Music and Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton, London.  Adam wrote the official biography of the musical savant, Derek Paravicini, entitled "In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini". Derek was born three and a half months prematurely, and is blind and has severe autism. But with perfect pitch, innate talent and a lot of practice, he became a concert...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Chris Packham CBE, an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995 and the BBC’s nature series Springwatch, including Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, since 2009. Extraordinarily creative and prolific, Chris Packham has led a remarkable life. He’s gained recognition as a naturalist, television presenter, writer,...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to his friend, Ashley Kirk who has recently been diagnosed with Autism. Although autism is predominantly diagnosed in childhood, increasing numbers of adults are finding out that they too have autism. This issue, of later life diagnosis, was brought to light recently after nature photographer and TV presenter, Chris Packham, went public with his experiences. About 1% of the adult population has been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum – with more people...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Simon Baron-Cohen, one of the world’s leading authorities on autism, and Director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge about autism theory and his latest book “The Pattern-Seekers: A New Theory of Human Invention” which argues that autistic people have been crucial to our creative and cultural history for the past 70,000 years. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to psychologist, speaker and the author of "The Book of Overthinking: How to Stop the Cycle of Worry", Gwendoline Smith about mental health and her own experiences of Bipolar Disorder. Please see http://www.gwendolinesmith.co.nz more details. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Neurodiversity advocate, Tumi Sotire, aka "The Black Dyspraxic" about his experiences and thoughts on the intersection of race and disability. Tumi says “Living with the intersectionality of being a black man with dyspraxia presents the challenge of disentangling whether social barriers presented are due to race or neurodivergence. Companies that are inclusive on the grounds of ethnic diversity are not necessarily organizations with neurodivergent...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Jake Hobson who shares his own personal experiences of Dyspraxia, a Developmental Coordination Disorder, a  common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults. Please see www.michaelbarton.org.uk for more details. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Michael Barton, an autistic keynote speaker aiming to spread the message of autism to everyone. Michael is an experienced speaker on autism, Asperger's syndrome and Neurodiversity, having given over 100 talks to date and been featured around the media from Channel 4, the BBC and the Week Junior to the New Scientist magazine. Michael has also spoken alongside world-renowned speakers such as Wenn Lawson, Luke Jackson and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. Please see...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Sarah Scott who had a stroke when she was 18 and now has Aphasia. Sarah appeared on the 2nd series of Undateables. Sarah runs her own YouTube channel and has inspired others to create their own websites and videos to show how language can recover after a brain injury. You can view Sarah’s YouTube channel documenting her recovery here: https://www.youtube.com/user/SymphUK --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. ...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Dr Nancy Doyle, CEO and Founder of Genius Within about Neurodiversity and Intersectionality. Nancy has worked with thousands of clients from Access to Work, to blue chip boards and within the prison service.  Nancy won Public Policy impact of the year at the BPS division of Occupational Psychology in 2019 for her working lobbying the DWP and several APPGs to take an evidence based approach to neurodiversity inclusion. See www.geniuswithin.co.uk --- This...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Chris Pittenger, Director of the OCD Research Clinic at Yale University in the USA about how Autism and OCD interact — and how they differ. Those distinctions could be important not only for making correct diagnoses but also for choosing effective treatments. People who have both OCD and autism appear to have unique experiences, distinct from those of either condition on its own. You can read more here:...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Francesca Happé, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in London about how people with autism experience the world around them and how our understanding of autism has developed over the past 30 years.  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to writer, mental health campaigner / advocate and freelance media consultant, Richard Taylor about male suicide to mark World Suicide Prevention Day. Suicide is the biggest killer of men in Britain between the ages of 20 and 50, but we don’t seem to talk about it.  You can read Richard's article in the Guardian here https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/15/we-need-to-talk-about-male-suicide-celebrities-vulnerable For more support, please see: CALM...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to award winning author, Steve Silberman who was once haunted by the question: Why have rates of autism diagnosis increased so steeply in the past 30 years? To solve that medical mystery for his book, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, Silberman went back to the first years of autism research, where he uncovered a series of events -- some long forgotten, and others deliberately buried -- that required the history of autism to be...

Broadcaster, John Offord chats to Debbie Mirza, author of The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist and Linda Barnes, Admin for the Healing After Experiencing Covert Passive-Aggressive Narcissism Facebook Group about the differences between overt and covert narcissism. You can read more here www.debbiemirza.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/differentminds/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Dr Radha Modgil, a medical doctor, media personality, campaigner for wellbeing, hopeful problem solver and co-host for BBC Radio 1's Life Hack’s about tangible takeaway tips for your mental health. You can visit  Dr Radha’s website here: www.drradha.co.uk --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/john-offord/support

Broadcaster John Offord chats to the originator of the term "Neurodiversity", Australian sociologist and author, Judy Singer. Judy is generally credited with the coinage of the word that became the banner for the last great social movement to emerge from the 20th century. You can read Judy's blog here: https://neurodiversity2.blogspot.com/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast:...

Broadcaster John Offord chats to Kathryn Wheeler, Head Writer at Happiful - a mental health and wellbeing magazine on a mission to create a healthier and happier society through inspiring life stories and positive news. Kathryn is passionate about normalising mental health conversations, tackling stigma, and equipping people with the language they need to communicate what they're going through. Please see: https://happiful.com/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way...

There is no doubting the power of the subconscious mind. But what is the subconscious? And how can hypnosis help us to 'reprogram' this part of the mind? Broadcaster John Offord chats to Julia Daley, a Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist from the UK about the fact that everyone has a subconscious mind with the ability to do wonderful things. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast:...