Episode 10: Self-Identification, Spoons, and the Myth That Girls Can’t Be Autistic

Matt and Erin go full “autistic agenda” this week — planning breaks, managing meat-body needs, and calling out the diagnostic nonsense that’s been gatekeeping autism for decades. From James Gunn’s echolalia table moments to the staggering scarcity of autistic clinicians, we dismantle how bias, racism, sexism, and outdated stereotypes warp who gets diagnosed (and how).

We dig into:

• Why self-identification isn’t just valid — it’s essential

• The racist and sexist diagnostic “pipelines” that mislabel Black, brown, and female-presenting kids

• How bad assumptions (“girls can’t be autistic,” “autistics can’t have kids”) still show up in clinical settings

• The real differences between PDA, general demand avoidance, and ODD

• The need to factor lived experience — not just external checklists — into diagnosis

• Spoons, crash recovery, and why autistic professionals can’t (and shouldn’t) mask as neurotypicals to do the job

Also: sarcastic mule metaphors, Happy Meals as special interest currency, placenta previa as connective tissue trivia, and the stunning .00017% of professionals who are both autistic and legally qualified to diagnose.