In the final episode of season one of Unlearning Autism, Christine reflects on the journey of creating a neurodiversity-affirming podcast that centred the lived experience of late-identified Autistic people in their own words.Across 18 episodes, conversations explored identity after knowing, masking, burnout, motherhood, nervous systems, belonging, creativity, relationships, sensory overwhelm, and what changes when we finally begin to understand ourselves differently. Christine revisits some of the powerful moments shared by guests including Abigail Ward, Laura Crowley, Nicola O'Dwyer, Andrea Anderson, Laura Guckian, Katie Kerley, Eliza Fricker and Dr. Emma Offord.This episode is also a heartfelt thank you — to producer Abigail Ward, to Doerte Meyer for the beautiful podcast music, and to the thousands of listeners who supported, shared, and connected with these conversations throughout the season.Christine also shares a glimpse into season two, which will continue exploring identity, relationships, unmasking, hormones, nervous system sustainability, belonging, and what it means to build a life that truly fits after knowing.Thank you for being part of season one.

In this episode of Unlearning Autism, Christine reflects on the profound role of Autistic community and why connection with other Autistic people can feel so deeply regulating, validating, and life-changing.She explores the difference between being understood and being understood without explanation — the relief of hearing someone speak aloud an experience you thought was uniquely yours. Christine reflects on masking, misattunement, exhaustion, and the lifelong experience many Autistic people have of feeling “too much” or “not enough” in predominantly allistic spaces.This episode also explores:✨ Why Autistic spaces can feel energising rather than draining✨ The nervous system impact of constantly translating yourself✨ The difference between connection and misattunement✨ The vulnerability of stepping into community after years of adapting✨ What happens when your way of being becomes the norm rather than the exceptionAt its heart, this is an episode about belonging, recognition, and the quiet freedom of no longer having to explain yourself.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Emma Offord — clinical psychologist, founder of Divergent Life, and host of This Voice Is Mine.Emma’s work centres on late-identified Autistic and ADHD adults, and on what happens when we begin to understand ourselves outside of the medical model.We talk about the power of lived experience — how stories, not textbooks, often become the pathway to recognition.Emma shares her concept of positive disintegration — the process of things falling away so something more truthful can emerge — and how unlearning can be both unsettling and deeply liberating.We explore what it means to understand your neurobiology as a human right, not a privilege — and how that understanding can shift shame, reshape identity, and change how we relate to ourselves and each other.This is a conversation about:– coming home to yourself– questioning the systems we’ve been shaped by– and building lives that actually fitYou can find Emma’s work here:Divergent Life — https://www.divergentlife.co.uk/Podcast: This Voice Is Mine — https://open.spotify.com/show/7ioZvshGC5UnLaz3AYaZIT?si=064e96a6812c4cfb&nd=1&dlsi=ed9819a12ad340c6As always, this episode centres lived experience — the kind that so many of us were never given language for.🎧 Listen now on Unlearning Autism

Therapy can help deeply — but only when it understands what it’s looking at.In this minisode, Christine reflects on therapy through an Autistic lens — what can help, what can miss the mark, and why support should never be about forcing people to fit environments that are harming them.Therapy can be life-changing. It can also completely miss the point when Autistic experience is misunderstood.In this episode, Christine shares her reflections on therapy, support, and what many late-identified Autistic adults are really looking for when they reach out for help. She explores the difference between supporting a person and trying to change them, why nervous system realities matter, and why insight alone is not always enough.This is a thoughtful conversation about fit, understanding, and what healing can look like when we stop assuming the person is the problem.

In this episode of Unlearning Autism, I sit down with Eliza Fricker — author, illustrator, advocate, and one of the most respected voices in conversations around Autistic children, PDA, education, and parenting outside the traditional behaviour model.Eliza is the author of A Different Kind of Parenting, the Sunday Times bestselling Can’t Not Won’t, the autobiographical Thumbsucker, and her latest book Could Try Harder, out May 2026.Together, we explore what happens when children are misunderstood by systems built around compliance, performance, and narrow ideas of success. We talk about parenting children whose needs don’t fit the mainstream mould, the emotional cost of being repeatedly “missed,” and why so many families are forced to become advocates simply to protect their children.This is a rich, honest, deeply human conversation about education, identity, compassion, and the courage it takes to do things differently.This conversation touches on:• PDA and why traditional behaviour approaches can cause harm• the school system and children who are misunderstood within it• parenting beyond reward-and-punishment models• shame, blame, and the pressure placed on families• the emotional reality of advocacy for your child• how creativity and humour can tell hard truths• why different children need different ways of being supported• reimagining success, learning, and belongingEliza speaks with warmth, clarity, and lived wisdom about the realities many families know intimately but rarely hear reflected in mainstream conversations.Don’t forget to subscribe to Unlearning Autism to hear more guest conversations and my shorter My Autistic Musings episodes each week. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might benefit from hearing it.About ElizaEliza Fricker is an author, illustrator, and advocate working in the areas of PDA, Autistic experience, parenting, and education. She is the author of A Different Kind of Parenting, the Sunday Times bestseller Can’t Not Won’t, Thumbsucker, and Could Try Harder.Through her books, talks, webinars, consultations, and the much-loved Missing the Mark illustrations, Eliza has helped countless parents and educators better understand children whose needs are often misunderstood.Her work invites a more compassionate, informed, and human way of supporting children and families.Books: Could Try Harder is available for pre-order and is out in May 2026. Website: https://www.missingthemark.co.uk/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizafricker_missingthemark🎧 Listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / christinedoyle.ie🔗 Full transcript for this episode is available on Spotify PodcastsYou can connect with Christine on Instagram: @christinedoyle.ieVisit christinedoyle.ie for webinars, speaking work, resources, and the Wild Women Community.

In this short musing from Unlearning Autism, I share a simple, practical way I support myself in staying connected with the people I care about.For many Autistic people, friendship isn’t about a lack of care — it’s often about capacity, a busy or overwhelmed mind, and the very real experience of “out of sight, out of mind.”In this episode, I talk about:why staying in touch can feel difficult, even when relationships matter deeplyhow this can be misunderstood by othersand a gentle “friendship hack” I use to stay connected in a way that works for meThis isn’t about trying harder or being more consistent in a neurotypical way.It’s about creating small, intentional ways to show up — within your capacity.If you’ve ever worried that you’re not a “good enough” friend, this may offer a different way of understanding that.Many thanks as always to Abigail Ward for producing the podcast and to Doerte Meyer for composing and performing my podcast jingle.

You can be trained to recognise neurodivergence in others… and still miss it in yourself.In this episode of Unlearning Autism, I’m joined by occupational therapist Katie Kerley to explore late identification, masking, and what it means to finally see yourself clearly.Katie shares her journey to identifying as Autistic, ADHD and dyspraxic — including the complexity of “coming out,” the fear of being a fraud, and the shift toward authenticity in both life and clinical work.We talk about the hidden cost of masking, why so many women don’t recognise themselves in traditional narratives, and what truly makes practice neuroaffirmative — not just positive, but real.This is a conversation about identity, unlearning, and the quiet power of being understood — sometimes for the first time.Don’t forget to subscribe to Unlearning Autism to hear more guest conversations and my shorter My Autistic Musings episodes each week.If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might also benefit from hearing it.About KatieKatie Kerley is an occupational therapist and clinical director of Horizons Therapy Services in Dundalk. Katie is multiply neurodivergent (Autistic, ADHD and Dyspraxic) and has a strong interest in supporting neurodivergent people to be their truest and most authentic selves. Katie specialises in sensory processing and how it affects meaningful occupation. Katie provides one-to-one therapy to both children and adults, as well as OT assessments, and enjoys taking a person-centred, lived-experience and rights-based approach to each individual. Katie loves being part of continual professional development, both as a learner and as a teacher/ mentor. She provides webinars with a variety of organisations, including AUsome Training. Katie is passionate about being neuro-affirmative and is immersed in the neurodivergent community in Ireland, and is a member of the Therapist Neurodiversity Collective.Instagram:⁠https://www.instagram.com/horizonstherapyservices/ Website: ⁠https://www.horizonstherapy.ie/🎧 Listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / christinedoyle.ie🔗 Full transcript for this episode is available on Spotify PodcastsYou can connect with Christine on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/christinedoyle.ie/ ⁠Visit ⁠www.christinedoyle.ie⁠ for information on Christine’s webinars, speaking work, and the Wild Women Community.

In this My Autistic Musing, I share a very real, everyday moment of time blindness—and how it shows up in my life in ways that aren’t always obvious from the outside.What looked like “plenty of time” on paper felt completely different in my body. A simple task—something that could have been done the next morning—became something my nervous system couldn’t settle around until it was done. I explore the tension between what we’re often told should be easier (“you have loads of time,” “don’t be so hard on yourself”) and what actually creates ease for an Autistic mind.This isn’t about poor time management. It’s about regulation, predictability, and knowing what allows you to feel settled enough to rest.If you’ve ever been told you’re overthinking, too rigid, or making things harder than they need to be—this might help you see it differently.

In this episode of Unlearning Autism, I sit down with Laura Guckian — host of the award-winning MomFessions podcast and one of the UK and Ireland’s most recognised voices in maternal mental health and neurodivergent motherhood.Laura shares her deeply personal journey from severe maternal mental health challenges, including a psychiatric hospital stay, to becoming a coach, advocate, and storyteller supporting mothers across the world.Together we explore what happens when the idealised cultural story of motherhood doesn’t match reality, and why many women only begin to recognise their neurodivergence after becoming mothers themselves.I love this episode. It is unmasked, beautiful, passionate Autistic conversation. I am so proud of this and it is in here, in this vulnerable space that I share something I have never spoken about. This conversation touches on:• the intersection of autism, ADHD and motherhood• why the wellbeing industry often fails neurodivergent mothers• maternal mental health and the loneliness many women experience• how motherhood can expose masking and nervous system overwhelm• why late identification can radically change how we parent• rewriting the rules of motherhood on our own termsLaura speaks with honesty, warmth and courage about her experience and the powerful work she now does supporting mothers to understand themselves more deeply.Don’t forget to subscribe to Unlearning Autism to hear more guest conversations and my shorter My Autistic Musings episodes each week.If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might also benefit from hearing it.About LauraLaura Guckian is a motherhood coach, speaker and advocate specialising in maternal mental health and neurodivergent motherhood. She is the host of the award-winning MomFessions podcast, which was recently named Best British Parenting Podcast 2025.Following her own experience of severe maternal mental health challenges after becoming a mother, Laura has become a powerful voice in conversations about the realities of motherhood that are rarely spoken about openly. Through her coaching, podcast and advocacy, she supports mothers around the world to better understand their mental health, identity and nervous system.Laura’s work focuses on rewriting the rules of motherhood — helping women move beyond shame and unrealistic expectations to build lives and families that work for them.Podcast:Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mindmommycoaching/Website:https://mindmommycoaching.com/🎧 Listen on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / christinedoyle.ie🔗 Full transcript for this episode is available on Spotify PodcastsYou can connect with Christine on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/christinedoyle.ie/ Visit www.christinedoyle.ie for information on Christine’s webinars, speaking work, and the Wild Women Community.

In this episode of My Autistic Musings, I reflect on systemising — a tendency many Autistic people, particularly late-identified Autistic women, recognise in themselves. Systemising can show up in subtle everyday ways, bringing calm, focus and satisfaction through organising ideas, environments or information.Recently, I decided it was time to finally organise my nutrition. What followed was several hours of cutting, pasting, sorting and carefully arranging breakfast recipes from old downloads, courses, meal plans and recipe books. Pages were organised, photocopied, filed neatly into folders… and for a moment, everything felt beautifully in order.Six months later, I’m still eating the same breakfast I always do.But this musing isn’t really about meal planning. It’s about the quiet joy many Autistic people find in systemising — the sense of calm and clarity that comes from creating order, even when the system itself never quite gets used.As a late-identified Autistic woman, I’ve come to recognise how systemising shows up in everyday ways: organising the home, planning outfits, structuring routines, or bringing order to information.In the moment it brings a sense of calm and wellbeing — and perhaps that’s reason enough.If you recognise this tendency in yourself, this gentle reflection on the Autistic love of systems, patterns and organisation might resonate.Many thanks as always to Abigail Ward for producing the podcast and to Doerte Meyer for composing and performing my podcast jingle.