An Autistic Journalist in Washington, with Eric Garcia
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Who is Eric Garcia and what is his role as an autistic journalist in Washington?
The primary purpose of Uniquely Human the Podcast is to educate and inform. The views expressed during all episodes are solely those of the individuals involved and do not constitute educational or medical advice. Listeners should consult with professionals familiar with each individual or family for specific guidance.
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Hi, I'm Dr. Barry Prazant, clinical scholar, researcher, and consultant on autism and neurodiversity, and a Brooklyn boy raised in the big city. And I'm Dave.
I'm none of those things, and I grew up on a farm in Illinois. But being on the spectrum myself, I have plenty of personal insight to lend.
And this is Uniquely Human The Podcast, a show that illuminates and celebrates autism and neurodiversity.
Uh today on Uniquely Human the podcast, uh Dave and I are thrilled to welcome Eric Garcia. Eric, we're so looking forward to chatting with you.
I'm really happy to be here. It's been a long time coming.
Yes, that's for sure. Yeah. And uh and not only that, but the timeliness of what we'll discuss is just spot on. So a little bit about Eric. Um Eric is the senior Washington correspondent at The Independent and a columnist for MSNBC. He is the author of the must-read book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation. And he has written for The Washington Post, The National Journal, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The American Prospect, and elsewhere. And he lives in Washington. D C So Eric, if if you uh don't mind, what I'd like to do is uh begin with a quote from We're Not Broken and uh kind of a dedication of your book and Eric said this, this book is a message from autistic people to their parents, friends, teachers, coworkers, and doctors, showing what life is like on the spectrum.
It also is my love letter to autistic people. For too long we have been forced to navigate a world where all the road signs are written in another language. What made you want to give that dedication at the beginning of your book?
Yeah. Um it's funny. I I I that was like one of those ones that I was trying to figure out the way to uh one of the things I'm sure that you know about writing a book is that you write the introduction at the end, typically. I I made the mistake of writing in the beginning. Um and I think what I was just I I think what I was trying to do is I was trying to at the m at the at the time when I was writing that, I was trying to not only inform people what the book was tr was was going to be, what they were about to open up. But also what I wanted it so it was also kind of like my North Star for that. It was my it was kind of my true North about like, okay, what do I want to do? Because like I mean it i if you look at the book it's it's it's relatively short.
And the way that I wanted it I wanted it to be is it because you know I live in I live in Washington DC as you said and my but my family lives in California. I wanted to be something that people could read on the plane. Um like like on a coast to coast plane ride and feel like they learned something. Um and I think that what I The the reason why I wanted to do that is I think that a lot of people Tend to think that Focusing on neurodiversity, focusing on autism acceptance automatically pits you against parents, educators, clinicians. all those things like I think that there's there's this you know, there's talk about the aughts of the wars and y you know, like you know, parents versus self advocates and I was like, no, like I mean I I what I what I think
we need and my my my my belief is that we need everybody And what we need and and and different people can contribute to different things and what but what I wanted them to do is what I wanted them to do is like at the core of it understand what autistic people are going through and have that navigate what uh like dictate what they were gonna push for, what they wanted to. And then for the the the second part of it Um, I think what I wanted to do is I just wanted to um
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who is Eric Garcia and what is his role as an autistic journalist in Washington?
0:00–8:35
2
Why did Eric dedicate his book *We’re Not Broken* to autistic people and their families?
8:35–14:44
3
How did Eric’s personal autism journey shape his perspective on neurodiversity?
14:44–22:04
4
What unique strengths does an autistic journalist bring to covering Capitol Hill?
22:04–31:20
5
Why is the Department of Education a flashpoint for autism advocacy and policy?
31:20–39:00
6
How does the potential repeal of Medicaid Home & Community Services affect autistic individuals?
39:00–43:51
7
What parallels does Eric draw between Elon Musk’s behavior and autism stereotypes?
43:51–49:54
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Uniquely Human: The Podcast
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