Dr. Amy Izuno-Garcia is an autism expert who was "literally birthed into it". We have just enough time today to scratch the surface of one of the biggest discussions in psychology right now: how to characterize the autism spectrum. Come on down into our rabbit hole for some myth busting, empathizing, and light philosophical quandary into the nature of humanity–both autistic and allistic.

Honorable Mentions:

-Dr. Izuno-Garcia’s personal and professional journey to her current autism work

-challenges…and STRENGTHS (examples: social difficulties, directness, masking/camoflauging, anxiety/internalizing difficulties, intense–but not necessarily “restricted”--interests, perspective taking [cognitive and empathetic and regulation and scope thereof], taking things literally, synesthesia, sensory differences)

-”disorder” vs. difference; (how) could we help without labels?

-why might it be offensive to say “We’re all a little autistic”?

-conflating “severity” with “functioning”

-building awareness and acceptance without creating “token” or stereotypical characters

-self-diagnosis (especially for adults and women); pros and cons of getting a “label”; recommendations and the journey beyond the diagnosis

-overemphasis on individual therapy (pssst: there’s no therapy “FOR autism”, only for associated distress and challenges) and underemphasis on re-examining society-wide attitudes/environments; ensuring help and support at all levels, not just individual

-neurodiversity perspective ~ our *working* description is this: Neurodevelopmental differences/traits/features are scattered across the population, “autism” represents a constellation of those traits (where “they all line up”), and “ASD” or “Autism Spectrum Disorder” is when the traits line up AND are impacting your functioning/causing significant distress; see https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-981-13-8437-0.pdf and https://lnkd.in/gBMxzWcX , for critique, see https://lnkd.in/gGEZF7_F)

Resources:

• Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network: https://awnnetwork.org 
• Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) https://autisticadvocacy.org 
• AANE (includes volunteer-supported concierge service  https://www.aane.org 
• Kate Loveland, PhD and the CLASS Clinic at UT Health https://med.uth.edu/psychiatry/autism-spectrum-disorder/ https://www.utphysicians.com/provider/katherine-a-loveland/ 

Amy Izuno-Garcia earned her PhD in school psychology from the University of Houston and completed her doctoral internship at the Marcus Autism Center in the clinical assessment and diagnostics track. She currently works at the CLASS Clinic with Dr. Kate Loveland in Houston, TX. Her research and clinical interests surround improving outcomes for individuals o

Welcome to The Psychologists Podcast, where we talk about all things psychology through a very personal lens.

Gill Strait PhD and Julia Strait PhD are both Licensed Psychologists (TX) and Licensed Specialists in School Psychology (LSSPs, TX). They are alumni of The University of South Carolina School Psychology Doctoral Program (Go Gamecocks).

Gill is a teacher, researcher, and supervisor at a university graduate psychology training program.

Julia is owner and therapist at Ocean Therapy in Houston, TX, offering telehealth therapy to young adults in their 20s and 30s who are struggling with anxiety. Check it out here: https://www.oceantherapy.net/