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!

🌐 Subscribe to our newsletter and read our Autistic Culture Archive Field Reports: www.autisticculturepodcast.com

🎧 Listen: This Week in Autistic Culture is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major podcast platforms.

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This week, Angela and Simon tackle one of the most divisive subjects in the creative world: artificial intelligence. With the launch of our new AI and Autism series sparking passionate responses from listeners, they explore the complicated relationship between AI, accessibility and Autistic creativity.

Drawing on Angela’s experience as a writing coach and her book ‘The Equalizing Quill’, they discuss new research on how AI can improve employment opportunities for marginalised groups — and why better access to technology doesn’t stop discrimination.

For this week’s excavation into the Autistic Culture Archive, Simon introduces Angela to one of Britain’s biggest pop stars: Robbie Williams.

After Robbie’s public revelation of an Autism diagnosis of his autism, Simon and Angela use the Ten Pillars of Autistic Culture to look beyond the music and ask what his career, creativity and relationship with fame might reveal about Autistic identity and expression.

Is Robbie Williams Autistic culture?

As always, we’ll take you through everything coming up across the Autistic Culture Podcast Network this week!

🌐 Subscribe to our newsletter and read our Autistic Culture Archive Field Reports: www.autisticculturepodcast.com

🎧 Listen: This Week in Autistic Culture is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major podcast platforms.

🌈 Become a Culture Builder: Get early access, ad-free listening and our full podcast archive at AutisticCulturePlus

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

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

This week, Angela and Simon explore social media's role in Autistic identity and community. From the early days of Wrong Planet to finding your people through Instagram and YouTube, they discuss how online spaces have helped Autistic people understand themselves, connect with others and discover their culture. But as governments introduce new restrictions on social media access for young people, could we be making it harder for the next generation of Autistic people to find their community?

For our third excavation into the Autistic Culture Archive, Angela is taking Simon back into the extraordinary story of Elizabeth Holmes. Using the Ten Pillars of Autistic Culture as their guide, they dig deeper into the Theranos founder’s world, exploring communication, intense focus, innovation, ambition and the complicated relationship between recognising Autistic patterns and making assumptions about somebody’s neurotype.

By the end, there’s one particularly uncomfortable question left: could Elizabeth Holmes be an artefact of Autistic culture?

If this week’s excavation leaves you wanting to dig deeper, you can explore the full Elizabeth Holmes Field Report in the Autistic Culture Archive, where Angela brings together the research, evidence, rabbit holes and connections to the Ten Pillars that couldn’t fit into the show.

As always, we’ll take you through everything coming up across the Autistic Culture Podcast Network this week!

🌐 Subscribe to our newsletter and read our Autistic Culture Archive Field Reports: www.autisticculturepodcast.com

🎧 Listen: This Week in Autistic Culture is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major podcast platforms.

🌈 Become a Culture Builder: Get early access, ad-free listening and our full podcast archive at AutisticCulturePlus

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

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