TPP 256a: Autistic Therapist Kate McNulty on Mixed-Neurotype Relationships

episode

Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children 38 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed just now

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the purpose of the Playback Friday series and who is hosting this episode?

Unknown 0:00

Imagine setting your makeup, then forgetting it's even there. Meet New Grippy Setting Mist from Maybelline, New York. Gelda Mist Technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours with flexible, all-day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new Grippy Setting Mist from Maybelline, New York. Maybe it's Maybelline.

Debbie Reber 0:27

Hey, it's Debbie. For the month of December, Playback Friday episodes will be all about navigating family dynamics, partners, co-parents, grandparents, in-laws, and everyone in between. If this season tends to stir up old patterns or extra tension, these episodes will offer you grounding, perspective, and practical tools to help you move through it with more ease. Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Rieber. Today's topic is a little bit different, but certainly no less interesting, relevant, or helpful. Because, no doubt, if we are parenting a differently wired child, then many of us, whether we are neurotypical or neurodivergent, are coupled or co parenting with a differently wired partner.

Debbie Reber 1:20

My guest is licensed clinical social worker and family and couples therapist Kate McNulty. Kate is herself autistic and in this In this episode, we dig into a lot of important issues surrounding what she calls mixed neurotype couples, the common challenges and misconceptions, fostering connection and understanding as partners and parents, handling a later-in-life diagnosis, and much more. Kate also tells us about her new book, Love and Asperger's: practical strategies to help couples understand each other and strengthen their connection. Yeah. Thanks so much and now here is my conversation with Kate. Hello,

Kate McNulty 2:04

Kate. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, Debbie. Thanks for making time to talk with me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Debbie Reber 2:11

I'm really looking forward to this. I was intrigued when you reached out to me and you shared your new book with me. And yeah, I think we're gonna have an interesting conversation today. And before we get into that and learn more about your book and the work that you do, could you tell us a little bit about kind of who you are in the world and a little bit about your story?

Kate McNulty 2:32

Yeah, I've been a therapist for many years.

Who is Kate McNulty and how did she discover she was autistic?

Kate McNulty 2:35

This has been my only career and I didn't know much about autism until one of my kids started talking to me about it as a young adult and When that came up I I started reading and researching and recognized that I'm autistic and that I had two autistic kids and uh it's been really a a wonderful um pivot in my career to learn about this and get to work with more autistic people. And so when this um book was offered to me to write, uh I was just really delighted to plow into the r the research. Research and get uh even more well informed about it.

Debbie Reber 3:16

And how long ago was that that you self-identified as being autistic and kind of made that pivot?

Kate McNulty 3:22

It it's been about eight years now. So I've had a lot of time to get used to the idea and uh kind of construct a new identity because I think something that happens for many of us when we recognize this, especially later in life, is that you you do this kind of retrospective and it's like zooming through your life with a a wider lens. And so having that recognition that explains so many events or incidences or experiences is just really a lot to get used to.

Debbie Reber 3:54

Mm-hmm. Does that I'm curious if that still happens even, if you still are making connections about things from your childhood and your new identity.

Kate McNulty 4:03

Yeah, absolutely. And also just looking back through what I know of the generations as well and speculating on how my parents, who I now clearly recognize were autistic, may have um sensed things differently from the majority population or just had Maybe unusual experiences that I didn't I didn't come to recognize until sadly it was too late to talk to them about it, but I still kind of feel like I have conversations in my head with them all the time about being autistic.