In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, hosts Dr. Angela Kingdon and Matt Lowry, LPP explore the powerful memoirs of two acclaimed autistic comedians: Hannah Gadsby (10 Steps to Nanette) from Tasmania and Fern Brady (Strong Female Character) from Scotland.

🎧 What You’ll Learn:

• Parallels in Gadsby’s and Brady’s lives, including struggles with misdiagnosis, gender-based violence, homophobia, and ableism.
• How both found comedy as a survival mechanism and a path to success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
• The comedians’ raw honesty about employment struggles, homelessness, and disordered eating—often hidden parts of the autistic experience.
• Comedy as both a masking strategy and a tool for truth-telling.
• Differences between autistic meltdowns vs. shutdowns, explained through their lived stories.
• Why their memoirs are must-reads for anyone seeking neurodiversity-affirming representation.
• How Gadsby and Brady reclaim their narratives through radical self-acceptance and creative expression.

Hannah Notes:

Book: 10 Steps to Nanette

Article: Hannah Gadsby's song of the self

Article: Hannah Gadsby Gets the Last Laugh in 10 Steps to Nanette

Fern Notes:

Book: Strong Female Character

Wikipedia: Fern Brady

Related Episodes:

Poetry is Autistic (Emily Dickinson episode)

Greta is Autistic (Greta Thunberg episode)

Bad Autism Diagnosis

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