This week, Angela and Simon explore misophonia — the intense emotional and physical reactions that certain everyday sounds can provoke, and why our sensory experiences can be so difficult to predict.

After celebrating his engagement at a lively party filled with music, laughter and conversation, Simon found himself struggling with the sounds of a much quieter family gathering the following day. Why can one noisy environment feel perfectly manageable, while something as ordinary as chewing, throat-clearing or a particular pitch of laughter becomes unbearable?

Drawing on their own experiences, Angela and Simon discuss the realities of living with misophonia, from the sudden rush of anger or distress that certain sounds can trigger to the challenges of explaining those reactions to the people closest to us.

For this week's excavation into the Autistic Culture Archive, Angela turns her attention to one of the most recognisable and influential figures of the twentieth century: Princess Diana.

Using the Ten Pillars of Autistic Culture as their guide, Angela and Simon revisit Diana's extraordinary life, her complicated relationship with the Royal Family and the public, and the ways she challenged expectations of what a princess should be.

Rather than attempting to diagnose a historical figure, they explore the patterns, connections and cultural fingerprints that might offer a different perspective on her life and legacy through an Autistic cultural lens.

Is Princess Diana's legacy Autistic culture?

As always, we'll take you through everything coming up across the Autistic Culture Podcast Network in the week ahead!

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🎙️ Executive Producers: Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.

🎧 Producers: AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Dialogues, Kassiane Asasumasu, Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu, Renae Martin, and Oswin Latimer explore Autistic joy, community, accessibility, and the increasingly complicated relationship between technology and disability.

The group discusses the latest developments in US autism policy and research, including concerns around the IACC, the value placed on academic credentials within Autistic advocacy, and how the next generation can build on the work of earlier Autistic communities without recreating the same hierarchies and barriers.

As the conversation unfolds, they also tackle some very Autistic questions: what does active listening actually look like? Why is eye contact still treated as proof that somebody is paying attention? Do Autistic people really all have the same “safe foods”? And what happens when the technology designed to make life easier creates entirely new accessibility problems?

From football and barbecue to AI, AAC, pseudoscience and the return of some surprisingly familiar ideas about autism, this is a wide-ranging conversation about who gets listened to, whose expertise is valued, and why questioning the ideas presented to us remains so important.

The Dialogues is produced in collaboration with Foundations for Divergent Minds for the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.

🎧The Dialogues is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

🎙️ Executive Producers: Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.

🎧 Producers: AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.